The 2018 ACC Conference Tournament began on TuesdayMarch 6. All tournament games are being held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York and features all 15 teams. Seeds 5 through 9 got a bye to the second round on Wednesday and the top four seeds get a double bye into the quarterfinals on Thursday. Virginia and Duke are fairly close in the odds, at +218, and +178 respectively ,compared to the rest of the ACC, which is interesting as Virginia lost just one game in the regular season with Duke losing five. Virginia and Duke come into the tournament as the # 1 and # 2 seeds.
Top Seeds and Betting Odds by BetDSI.eu
- Virginia 28-2 (17-1), +218
- Duke 25-6 (13-5), +178
- Miami 22-8 (11-7) (H2H tiebreakers), +1700
- Clemson 22-8 (11-7), +1100
- NC State 21-10 (11-7), +3200
- North Carolina 22-9 (11-7), +570
- Virginia Tech 21-10 (10-8), +3200
- Florida State 20-10 (9-9) (H2H tiebreakers), +3000
- Louisville 19-12 (9-9), +3600
- Notre Dame 18-13 (8-10), +3000
- Syracuse 19-12 (8-10), +6000
- Boston College 17-14 (7-11), +11500
- Georgia Tech 13-18 (6-12), +40000
- Wake Forest 11-19 (4-14), +35000
- Pittsburgh 8-23 (0-18), +100000
Team Records
Virginia is the class of this league with a 17-1 record. Every other team has lost at least five conference games. Right now, the ACC looks to be a nine-bid league, so there is a lot less urgency in a major conference tournament like this, but teams still want to hang those banners and improve those seeds for the NCAA Tournament. This is an extremely deep league and one that could make some serious noise in the NCAA Tournament.
Schedule
Virginia’s stifling defense led the Cavaliers to the top spot, but they could be tested playing athletic teams on back-to-back days in the later rounds. Miami and Clemson lucked out with the double bye based on tiebreakers that will force NC State and North Carolina into action on Wednesday.
There are some rest advantages for teams that play the earlier session. The tournament takes a long dinner break over the first three days, with games at noon, 2 p.m., and 7 p.m. on Tuesday for the first round and then the additions of 9 p.m. games for the second round and the quarterfinals. Teams that win early on Thursday have an advantage heading into the semifinals.
The contrasting styles of the ACC teams make this an interesting tournament. Syracuse plays the zone and Virginia plays the pack line and it takes a lot of effort to play both of those styles. Duke and North Carolina want to push the tempo offensively, much like Louisville and Florida State. While Notre Dame and Clemson play more methodical styles of basketball.
Tuesday March 6
#12 Boston College vs. #13 Georgia Tech
#10 Notre Dame vs. #15 Pitt
#11 Syracuse vs. #14 Wake Forest
Wednesday March 7
#8 Florida State vs. #9 Louisville
#5 NC State vs. 12/13 winner
#7 Virginia Tech vs. 10/15 winner
#6 North Carolina vs. 11/14 winner
Thursday March 8
#1 Virginia vs. 8/9 winner
#4 Clemson vs. 5/12/13 winner
#2 Duke vs. 7/10/15 winner
#3 Miami vs. 6/11/14 winner
Friday March 9
1/8/9 vs. 4/5/12/13
2/7/10/15 vs. 3/6/11/14
Saturday March 10
Championship Game at 9 p.m. ET
Outlook & Pick
Notre Dame will be a popular future since the team’s ceiling is much higher with Bonzie Colson back. Games at the Barclays Center were pretty high-scoring last year for the first installment of this tournament at the home of the Nets, which does help an efficient Notre Dame team. Drawing Pitt is a good way to ease into the tournament and Virginia Tech is something of a high-variance team. Unfortunately, we’ll be getting a poorer price on Notre Dame because of Colson’s return and the urgency for Notre Dame in that their tournament prospects are up for some debate.
Clemson would be a decent team with the double bye, a good defense, and a favorable draw on Thursday, but we have to worry about the depth of Brad Brownell’s team for this quick-turnaround format. They’re not a bad pick to take, as NC State is a pretty weak #5 seed in this conference, but you have to be ready to hedge. In a grind-it-out type of game against Virginia, with a very low number of possessions, offensive variance may be the difference and Clemson isn’t that far off, plus the Tigers would have played a game already. Virginia’s style leads to a lot of close games, so they are not a team to consider here and the reason why they are a little more vulnerable than most #1 seeds.
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