North Carolina vs. Georgia Tech Pick & Odds: March 11th 2010

North Carolina vs. Georgia Tech
Free Pick: Georgia Tech -3.5 -110 odds
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Georgia Tech is firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Yellow Jackets are in according to the early projections and I do find it pretty hard to believe that is the case. They are 7-9 in the ACC and as far as I am concerned, any team with a losing conference record should not even be considered for an NCAA Tournament bid, no matter how tough the conference may be. That being said, I think Georgia Tech is a solid team still but it needs to do some work in the ACC Tournament in my opinion. A loss here against North Carolina, who is top of the list in season disappointments, would realistically end the NCAA Tournament talk and give the chance for a more deserving team like Seton Hall or Mississippi a chance to go dancing. For this reason, I like Georgia Tech here and the possibility of a small future run. Desperate teams can be hit or miss when it comes to must win games but the talent of this Yellow Jackets team indicates that they can get the job done. Part of the recent problems for Georgia Tech has been its three-point shooting defense. Clemson and Virginia Tech were able to go off on the Yellow Jackets and over the last four games, they have allowed 45.5 percent shooting from long range (40-88). After not allowing an opponent to shoot 50 percent in its first 28 games, Georgia Tech allowed more than 50 percent shooting in its final two regular-season games against those aforementioned opponents. A lot of that can be considered just facing a hot team at the wrong time as this team is built on defense and it is unlikely that all of a sudden they have forgotten to defend. They are still is tied for third in the ACC at field-goal percentage defense, allowing 38.4 percent from the floor. Now they get to face North Carolina whose offense is no where to be found. The Tar Heels are averaging 66 ppg on 39.1 percent shooting including 31.3 percent from long range over their last five games. They scored 50 points in their regular season finale against Duke which was a season low. The Tar Heels have not scored 80 points in a game since December 30th against Albany when they tallied 87 points. This is a stretch of 17 consecutive games and the previous long such stretch in the Roy Williams era was a five-game streak in 2003-04. This year was the first in the history of the North Carolina program that it failed to reach 80 points in any ACC game. Georgia Tech has suffered some tough losses this season as three ACC setbacks came by two points and all of those came on the road so a couple breaks and the Yellow Jackets would be a lot better off right now. Georgia Tech won the first meeting in Chapel Hill and that was considered a big upset at the time. We know different now and Georgia Tech proved to be the better team again, winning the rematch at home by 17 points. The NCAA Tournament hopes remain alive after tonight. 3* Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets