Virginia tops in ACC betting
By: Michael Robinson
The hard-luck Virginia Cavaliers may only be 11-8 straight up on the year (2-3 in the ACC), but they easily lead the conference at 10-4 against the spread.
Virginia was expected to struggle after leading scorer Sylven Landesberg (17.3 PPG) decided he’d rather play in Israel than return for his junior season. The news got even worse recently when current leading scorer and rebounder Mike Scott (15.9 PPG, 10.2 RPG) was lost for the season with an ankle injury.
Scott only played 10 games this year, the last one right before Christmas. Coach Tony Bennett could have seen his team give up, but it’s battling hard at 3-4 SU and 5-1 ATS since Scott went down for good.
The Cavaliers have been particularly good against ACC competition, going 5-0 ATS. They even led Duke 36-27 in the second half at Cameron Indoor Stadium before being outscored 49-24. The 76-60 loss was still a ‘cover’ of the 21 ½-point spread.
Freshman guards Joe Harris (10.3 PPG) and K.T. Harrell (10.5 PPG) have both increased their scoring production recently, as has senior guard Mustapha Farrakhan (13 PPG).
The ‘over’ is 3-0 in Virginia’s last thee games after the ‘under’ was 7-1 in the prior eight games with totals.
Virginia will look to continue its ATS streak when it hosts Maryland on Thursday night (as four-point ‘dogs) before visiting Wake Forest on Saturday.
Duke is 18-1 SU and 10-8 ATS, but only 1-4 ATS in its last five at Cameron after starting 4-1 ATS there. The Blue Devils have ranged from 14 ½ to 35-point favorites in those last five home contests. They’re 16 ½-point home ‘chalk’ on Thursday night against Boston College.
No. 22 Florida State (15-5 SU, 8-6-1 ATS) is the only ACC team in the AP top 25 besides No. 3 Duke. The Seminoles are 4-0 SU and ATS in their last four games (all in the ACC), including a big 66-61 home win over Duke to knock it from No. 1.
The ‘under’ is 5-2 in Florida State’s last seven games, with the offense at just 65.6 PPG. Florida State will visit Clemson on Saturday.
North Carolina (14-5 SU, 7-9 ATS) is 4-1 SU and 2-3 ATS in the conference. The offense really struggled in the first three ACC games, averaging 61.3 PPG, while going 0-3 ATS (2-1 SU). The ‘under’ also went 3-0.
The Tar Heels’ offense has picked it up the last two games, wins and ‘covers’ at home versus Clemson (75-65) and at Miami (74-71). The ‘over’ went 2-0. They will host in-state rival NC State on Saturday.
Miami (12-8 SU, 8-7 ATS) feasted on an easy non-conference schedule to go 11-3 SU and 6-3 ATS. The ACC slate has been much harder at 1-5 SU and 2-4 ATS. The Hurricanes have lost their last three games by a total of seven points, and some of these close games could start to go their way. They visit Virginia Tech on Sunday.
Wake Forest (7-13 SU, 5-10-1 ATS) is the only under .500 team in the ACC and by far the worst ATS. The Demon Deacons are 0-5 SU and ATS in the conference, despite being at least 13-point underdogs every time. They’re second-worst in the conference in scoring (69.3 PPG) and dead-last in defense (76.1 PPG).