ACC Weekend B-Ball Picks – 1/28-29

Posted by Brandon Rink on January 27, 2012 under ACC Basketball | Comments are off for this article

This weekend’s ACC games could be interesting…

(23-10 on season)

Saturday

12:00 PM ET – Clemson 66 Wake Forest 58 (Clemson) – As we’ve documented, the Tigers hold the homecourt down and this should be no different. For more on the matchup, check out my breakdown on OrangeandWhite.com here.

2:30 PM ET – Maryland 65 Virginia Tech 61 (College Park) – In their last two, Virginia Tech has won by scoring 47 points and lost by scoring 68 – who knows with this team right now, but they face a Terps team smarting from close-then-double-digit-losses to Duke and Temple.  The key here is Maryland coming off an emotional game with a packed house against Duke to another ACC game just a couple days later…I’m giving the Terps the edge because of homecourt, but wouldn’t be surprised by an upset.

8:00 PM ET – NC State 65 Virginia 62 (Raleigh) – Run the floor versus slow it down…this should be an intriguing matchup of solid teams (and could very well be an early elimination game for an ACC regular season title shot). The Wolfpack are second in the league in possessions per 40 minutes, while Virginia is last and 334th nationally (out of 347). And while the Cavaliers’ last game appears to be a blowout in the box score – it was anything but…Virginia pulling away in the final four minutes to a 66-49 win.  Of course, NC State is coming off the emotional loss to UNC, 74-55, but they had won their last three games going into Chapel Hill by 18 points per. Since Assane Sene went down against Georgia Tech, Virginia has really struggled to recover, and I need to see them play better on the road minus-him so I’m going Wolfpack here.

Sunday

1:00 PM ET – Miami 65 BC 59 (Chestnut Hill) – Oh, what to do with BC, who won two of its first three ACC games (by four points combined), and proceeded to drop its next three, all by double-digits. Miami has had a rough schedule to start the season – playing and losing to three of the better teams in the ACC, two on the road, so this is a big opportunity to keep some momentum after dominating Georgia Tech, 64-49. Miami is the better team, and I’ll take the risk that they’ll look like it after a long road trip.

6:00 PM ET – UNC 79 Georgia Tech 63 (Chapel Hill) – What’s next for the conference’s last place team on a four-game losing streak? Oh, a trip to Chapel Hill. Well, at least Georgia Tech has come out of the Triangle with a win already this season, downing NC State 82-71, but they face a whole different animal in UNC, who’s coming off one of its strongest performances of the season (74-55 win over NC State). The Tar Heels have won their conference home contests by 19.6 points per game so far. Odds on, this won’t be pretty.