NCAAB Conference Tournament Betting Preview: ACC Tournament

Mar 06, 2022

Lance King/Getty Images

Conference Tournament season has been outstanding. We've seen fantastic finishes, upsets and spectacular individual performances in the myriad of mid-major battles this past week. As we enter the first full week of March, we turn our attention to the major Power 6 conferences, which all start this week.

Today we take a closer look at the ACC Tournament, which starts on Tuesday.

In legendary head coach Mike Krzyzewski's last season, the Duke Blue Devils won yet another regular-season ACC championship. It was the 13th conference title for the Blue Devils, but only the first since the 2009-2010 season. Despite starting just 4-3 in the conference, North Carolina finished the conference season in tremendous fashion, winning their last five games. The Tar Heels' 94-81 win at Duke as 12.5-point underdogs was one of the biggest upsets of the year.

The remaining teams at the top of the conference were all surprises. UNC finished tied with the surprising Notre Dame Fighting Irish, just one game ahead of the also shocking Miami Hurricanes. Notre Dame was predicted eighth in the preseason poll and Miami was projected 12th overall. All four of these teams earned the coveted double-bye and will not compete until the quarterfinals on Thursday.

The ACC consists of all 15 teams in the conference, with the bottom-six teams playing on Tuesday. The games are played on five consecutive days, with the eventual champion earning their title on Saturday.

2022 NCAA Tournament Betting Previews

Atlantic Coast Conference Bracket

Atlantic Coast Conference History

The No. 1 seeded Blue Devils have found greater success in the ACC Tournament, winning five titles in the past 12 years. There was a six-year run from 2011 to 2016 that saw a different team win the title every season. That was a huge change from the previous decade, that saw Duke or North Carolina win nine of the 10 titles.

Duke is looking for its third tournament championship in the past five seasons, and Georgia Tech's 14-seed makes a repeat championship highly unlikely. Virginia (twice), Miami, and Florida State are the other unique winners during the past 10 years.