Account
ACC Tournament 2021: Betting Tips for Round 2 Odds, Spreads and Over-Under
March 10, 2021
The Duke Blue Devils began their last-ditch effort to qualify for the NCAA men's basketball tournament with a win in the ACC tournament first round on Tuesday.
The victory over the Boston College Eagles did nothing to change Duke's status well off the March Madness bubble.
To even get close to the bubble conversation, the Blue Devils must reel off a few more victories inside the Greensboro Coliseum.
However, that may be a hard task to achieve against a Louisville Cardinals team that beat Duke on two occasions in the regular season.
Despite those results, Duke is listed as a 2.5-point favorite for the second-round game, which means the Cardinals carry the most betting value of any team playing on Wednesday.
ACC Tournament 2nd-Round Schedule
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.
No. 8 Syracuse (-3) vs. No. 9 NC State (Over/Under: 146.5) (Noon, ACC Network)
No. 5 Clemson (-9) vs. No. 13 Miami (O/U: 126) (2:30 p.m. ET, ACC Network)
No. 7 Louisville vs. No. 10 Duke (-2.5) (O/U: 140.5) (6:30 p.m. ET, ACC Network)
No. 6 North Carolina (-6.5) vs. No. 11 Notre Dame (O/U: 150) (9 p.m. ET, ACC Network)
Betting Tips
Louisville (+2.5) vs. Duke
For some reason, the struggling Duke team is favored to beat the ACC's No. 7 seed by 2.5 points.
Louisville won three of its last five regular-season games. Its best win of that stretch came against the fourth-seeded Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on February 1.
The Cardinals have two wins over Duke, one by five points at home and the other by seven points in overtime in Durham, North Carolina.
In the overtime triumph, Louisville held Duke to 19 percent from three-point range and earned eight more rebounds.
Duke looked much better from the field on Tuesday, but that was because it was playing the worst team in the ACC. The Blue Devils blew out the Boston College Eagles by shooting 52.5 percent from the field and 46.9 percent from three-point range.
Those totals will likely regress against a tougher opponent, which is why there should be plenty of concern for Duke to win a second game in two days.
Mike Krzyzewski's team entered Greensboro off an 18-point loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels, and it failed to close out in overtime in the two games prior to that.
There should not be much trust, if any at all, right now in betting in Duke's favor, so Louisville makes sense as a 2.5-point underdog and at +120 (bet $100 to win $120) on the moneyline.
Clemson (-9) vs. Miami
Miami's two-game winning spurt is not indicative of its form throughout the entire season.
The Hurricanes struggled for consistency because of a large number of injuries and absences, and its quick run could end on Wednesday against a team it recently lost to.
The Clemson Tigers defeated Miami by eight on February 27. That was one of the lowest loss margins suffered by the Hurricanes in February.
Clemson's defense will be the key to victory in the No. 5-versus-No. 13 matchup. It held Miami to 58 points in its last meeting and concedes 61.8 points per game.
The concern with Clemson covering a nine-point spread is its offensive output, but it has reached the 70-point mark in three of its last five contests.
In the seven times in which the Tigers produced more than 70 points, it won five of those games by double digits.
If the Tigers open their ACC tournament run with that type of outing, they could comfortably cover the single-digit spread.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
Statistics obtained from ESPN.com.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL).
Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ/WV/PA), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), or call or text the TN REDLINE: 800-889-9789 (TN).
21+. NJ/PA/WV/IN/IA/CO/IL/TN only. In partnership with Meadows Racetrack & Casino. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.