ACC Weekend Picks – 2/18-19

Posted by Brandon Rink on February 17, 2012 under ACC Basketball | Comments are off for this article

Tough bounceback games on both ends this weekend for a couple teams, while Charlie Brown (Clemson) tries to kick that football for the 56th time in Chapel Hill…

(49-17 on ACC season picks)

Saturday

1:00 PM ET – Miami 66 Wake Forest 61 (Coral Gables) – The Hurricanes received a scare Thursday after the UNC loss when both Reggie Johnson and Durand Scott had MRIs done on their knees – both came out negative, but Scott is still questionable for Saturday. They catch a break because the Deacs, though coming off a win over Georgia Tech, don’t exactly come to town on fire right now.

1:00 PM ET – NC State 72 FSU 67 (Raliegh) – FSU comes in off the emotional high of the late comeback win over Virginia Tech, while State is on an emotional low after coughing up a 20-point second-half lead at Duke. The Wolfpack can’t lose this one and want to feel secure about their NCAA chances. After a run of scoring 90, 84, 76, 75 and 68 in ACC play, the ‘Noles haven’t scored more than 64 points (and less than 60 four times) in their last four games (3-1 in that stretch) – a more FSU-like run. At 9-2 in conference play, both of the Seminoles’ losses have come on the road – 79-59 at Clemson and 64-60 at Boston College. Could go either way, but I’ll stick with the home team.

1:00 PM ET – Virginia 62 Maryland 54 (Charlottesville) –  The Cavaliers’ first game with second-leading scorer Joe Harris’ hand wrapped up (after fracturing it at UNC last Saturday) didn’t exactly go smoothly (18 turnovers, 60-48 loss at Clemson). Maryland’s Terrell Stoglin didn’t miss a start after airing some frustrations on Twitter last week – instead, he went off for 24 points in the Terps’ 81-65 win over BC. Maryland almost grabbed a win at Miami (90-86 double OT loss) and held off Clemson for their first road victory of the season, 64-62. If the same teams show up from the midweek games, Maryland has a good shot here, but Virginia will limit mistakes and keep the Terps at arms-length.

3:00 PM ET – Virginia Tech 64 Georgia Tech 59 (Blacksburg) – Georgia Tech just isn’t good at basketball this year, but the Hokies have been known for the occasional inexplicable loss too (like say, shooting 44 percent on free throws and losing an 8-point minute-and-a-half-to-go lead to a Michael Snaer buzzer-beater).

4:00 PM ET – UNC 73 Clemson 60 (Chapel Hill) – 56th time the charm? We’ll find out Saturday in a battle of diverging styles, but both are riding two-game winning streaks into Clemson’s to Chapel Hill, where the Tigers have neeeeeeevvvvveeeeerrrr won (0-55). Unless the Tigers shoot lights-out and UNC is disinterested, I’d expect more of the same here.

Sunday

6:00 PM ET – Duke 68 Boston College 61 (Chestnut Hill) – Duke at BC is one of those matchups that doesn’t really catch your eye, but they’ve been pretty close over the last couple years – Duke by 3 in 2010, BC by 6 in 2009, Duke by 8 in 2007 and Duke by 2 in 2006. Coming off the comeback against NC State, this is a definite trap game for the Blue Devils, but en route to a 5-0 ACC road start, only one game has been within five points (that guy Austin Rivers hit a big shot at the end against UNC – heard of that game?).