Pittsburgh Panthers vs. Duke Blue Devils: ACC Tournament Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 3/9/2023

ACC Tournament Quarterfinals

Time: 2:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, NC

Where to watch: ESPN2

DraftKings: Duke -5.5

FanDuel: Duke -5.5

BetMGM: Duke -5.5

Caesars: Duke -5.5

Pittsburgh: 22-10

No. 21 Duke: 23-8

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I think it says a lot that the Duke Blue Devils have managed to find a way to become a scary team in this conference yet again. I don't think anyone anticipated them being a threat in the NCAA tournament nor do I think anyone anticipated them going on such a run to win six straight to close out the regular season, that they would soon then be ranked 21st in the country. I don't think that was bound to happen at any point whatsoever.

 

As a result of that and as a result of tiebreakers galore, we are here in the ACC tournament with essentially back to the status quo. The status quo, of course is Duke is a top team in the conference and they have as good a chance as anybody to win the whole tournament. Now they get to go on and take on the Pittsburgh Panthers, a team that really hasn't gotten the national respect that it should have this entire season, but a team worthy enough of going into a conference quarterfinal match up and taking down Duke.

 

Do I think that this is a realistic possibility? I don't know. Because I look at Duke and I look at how they close the regular season with these six straight victories. This is a team that knocked off North Carolina State and North Carolina and back-to-back weeks, manhandled a pesky Virginia Tech team, and annihilated Syracuse inside that big Dome in New York. This was coming off the heels of losing by 22 to Miami and by 7 to Virginia in overtime. We are on a collision course for Duke to play likely Miami in the semifinals where revenge is a dish best served cold.

 

Duke has known that this rebuild process after the end of the Mike Krzyzewski era was going to take some time. This is absolutely not the most talented Duke team that we have seen in recent years, but if you're looking for a team that is as balanced as any in this conference it might be Duke. They have this big man named Kyle filipowski who is averaging 15 points 9 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game as a center. He is somehow averaging less than a block per game as a big man. But he is still finding ways to impact the game. Jeremy Roach is the leading guard scorer at 13 points per game and neither of those two are shooting above 43% from the floor. The only one that is shooting close to 50% that's getting starters minutes is mark Mitchell at 27 minutes per game and he's shooting close to 49% from the floor. I have never seen a team with so much balance and yet so little star power and it's a Duke team. How was that even possible?

 

and yet no matter who the coach is, we get to this time of year where things start getting all topsy turvy and you start to think that maybe things are weird. Duke getting back to the NCAA tournament and making a deep run after everything that transpired in the coach K era is going to be weird.

 

PG: Nelly Cummings

SG: Greg Elliott

SF: Jamarius Burton

PF: Blake Hinson

C: Federiko Federiko

PG: Jeremy Roach

SG: Tyrese Proctor

SF: Mark Mitchell Jr.

PF: Kyle Filipowski

C: Dereck Lively II