Miami Hurricanes Will Battle Against North Carolina Tar Heels In ACC Tournament

In the ACC Tournament, the North Carolina Tar Heels enter their first game facing a sneaky Miami Hurricanes team that has the power to make some noise by taking down the resurgent Tar Heels. By beating a Duke team that is down, North Carolina is still coming off the high and if they can’t beat Miami, that regular season win will mean nothing.

NCCA Basketball Picks for this matchup will be available late Thursday.

Even though Miami is not a team to back down, North Carolina brings a stifling defense and a team that plays hard under the basket. Miami gave North Carolina all they could handle, in the only meeting between the two teams early in the season. North Carolina breathed a sigh of relief when they walked out with the win as the final score was 74-71.

By winning seven of their last eleven and only four of their last seven, Miami has struggled. Miami made a run to the finals against Duke before they met their match as last season they turned it on in the tournament.

In this game shooting guard Malcolm Grant is the one to watch, who is the key shooting threat for Miami. By leading the team in scoring, he is hitting 46 percent from the three point arc.

For the Tar Heels, seven feet Tyler Zeller is the big man and leading scorer. By averaging more than seven rebounds per game, he is averaging 14.6 points per game. By averaging more than 14 points per game, Harrison Barnes is also a force down low for North Carolina.

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Saturday Clash Between Virginia Cavaliers And Duke Blue Devils

This Saturday, the Virginia Cavaliers will clash with the Duke Blue Devils. To this point in the season, the Blue Devils are currently the top ranked team in the nation and have shown little sign of weakness. The Blue Devils look to keep rolling behind the leadership of Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler as they have already won their first 15 games. On the season, the Cavaliers are currently 10 -6.

For this matchup, in college basketball betting lines, NCAAB Odds have not yet been posted.

When previewing this matchup, the Cavaliers appear to be overmatched. In almost every category, the Blue Devils are one of the top teams in the NCAA. By averaging 88 points a game, the Blue Devils shoot nearly 50 percent from the field. Their great ball movement is the key of their offensive success. In assists per game, the Blue Devils are the 20th best team in the nation.

That does not appear to have any particular feature of the game, what the Cavaliers are proficient at. On 43 percent shooting, the team averages just 64 points per game. At 11.5, they are 279th in the nation in assists per game. The Cavaliers are just 298th in the nation in rebounds per game at 32.1, in spite of being a very poor shooting team.

The Cavaliers did have a win over 17th ranked Minnesota that will give them hope even as they have not looked particularly good this season. Whether the team that beat Minnesota will show up, or if the team that lost to Washington by 43 will show up, is the only question and all signs point towards Duke winning this game.

Syracuse Orangemen Vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish On New Year Day

On New Year Day the No. 15 Notre Dame Fighting Irish travel to the Carrier Dome will battle against the No.5 ranked Syracuse Orangemen. After winning their first Big East Conference game over the No.9 ranked Georgetown Hoyas, Notre Dame is flying high. Syracuse remained undefeated with an 81-74 win as they battled Big East rival Providence.

For this matchup NCAAB Odds have not yet been posted.

Being undefeated is not a concern for Coach Jim Boeheim. When it comes to positioning his team for the Big Dance in March he is a master strategist. Even though Syracuse has only faced one ranked opponent this season they undefeated start to the season is unexpected. Entering this tilt Notre Dame has one loss and they lost to a strong Kentucky Wildcats team that was ranked No. 16 that time.

Even though Kris Joseph is also the leader on the court, he is the leading sniper on this Syracuse team. Averaging 14.9 points per game Joseph is a junior forward on this team as well as is leading the team from three point territory. By leading all starters, Joseph is hitting three’s at a 35 percent clip.

Tim Abromaitis, a senior forward scoring 16.1 points for each game is leading Notre Dame. On this team Ben Hansbrough is the bomber and he can take over a game when he gets hot. It is a guarantee that Syracuse will be looking to man up on him on the outside as Hansbrough is shooting three pointers at an amazing 48 percent.

Notre Dame which ranked eighth in the country in rebounds is the more physical team, whereas Syracuse is the better shooting team and ranked 33rd in the country in field goal percentage even as Notre Dame Ranks 84th.