College Basketball Picks & Predictions for Saturday, March 12, 2011
By Nate Steele
(The Spread) -North Carolina never led in its ACC quarterfinal game against Miami until its game-winning shot at the buzzer. Can the Tar Heels put together a more inspired performance Saturday versus Clemson?
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The Tar Heels (25-6) played so poorly at one point Friday afternoon in their 61-59 victory that at one point during the first half head coach Roy Williams subbed out his entire starting five for fresh bodies. North Carolina will have its opportunity to make Williams more happy today in its 1:00PM EST ACC semifinal against Clemson (21-10)
Oddsmakers and online sports book Sportsbook.com have made North Carolina 5.5-point favorites in the matchup and the over-under is listed at 131. According to the latest trends, North Carolina is 3-1 against the spread versus Clemson over the last three seasons. Two of the four games in this series have gone over the total the last three seasons. North Carolina has won three of the last four matchups straight up.
North Carolina, the ACC champions, have won eight contests in a row, and swept Clemson this season. The Tigers have won two contests in a row.
North Carolina vs. Clemson, 1:00PM EST (View Matchup)
College Basketball Free Pick: North Carolina is going to try to redeem itself from a poor game Friday against Miami, but it might not matter what it does. Clemson, allowing just 60 points per game this season, is stifling defensively as Boston College found out in Clemson's 70-47 victory to make it to the semifinals. North Carolina has two wins against the Tigers this season, but the last one was a tightly contested 64-62 affair at Clemson. The old cliche is that it is difficult to beat a team three times in a season and I think the Tar Heels find some real trouble in doing that today. In addition, they might already be looking ahead to a potential ACC final against rival Duke. Harrison Barnes has had a very good run of late for North Carolina to live up to his freshman hype, but Clemson's defense will be too much for him to handle today.
SATURDAY COLLEGE BASKETBALL FREE PICK: CLEMSON +5.5