Posted at 1:30 PM EST. Odds subject to change.

Pinnacle +7½ -103 BET365 +7½ -110 Sportsinteraction  +7½ -110  888Sport +7½ -110 

Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament

Capital One Arena - Washington, DC

Pittsburgh +7½ over North Carolina

Streaming: ESPN

7:00 PM EST. This is the time of the year when all eyes in the market are turning to college hoops, and The Tar Heels of North Carolina (UNC) are blood-bloods in Division I basketball. They are college hoops royalty, a name brand, synonyms with “Carolina” blue, Coach Dean Smith, and Michael Jordan.

The Tar Heels have won eight of 10 and seven in a row and come into this Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament (ACC) semifinal as the #4 ranked team in the national polls. UNC waffled Florida State yesterday, 92-67, as an -11½-point favorite, which was the Tar Heels tune-up game after they also beat Duke in Cameron to clinch sole possession of the ACC regular season title against their biggest rivals in a high-profile game last Saturday.

Regardless of the outcome of this game or their potential place in the ACC finals, Carolina is in the NCAA Tournament, and they are pegged to be the #1, although the media narrative is that they must win today, and finish better than Tennessee does in the SEC Tournament to secure that position. The Volunteers were upset by Mississippi State this afternoon, ending their SEC Tournament before the weekend and so now there is even more of a spotlight on the Tar Heels to take care of business, but the pressure is off even if it wasn’t already. If you think the selection committee is going to choose Tennessee over North Carolina now even if the Tar Heels lose today, we’ve got a pile of Connor Bedard Rookie Cards you should have a look at.

Meanwhile, there is much at stake here for the Panthers of Pittsburgh, who are looking to punch their ticket to The Big Dance. Pitt posted a 22-win season and finished fourth in a loaded ACC, and the Panthers are in this quarterfinal after beating a really good Wake Forest team (28) team by double digits, in a game the Panthers were a +2-point pooch. That was a quality win that helped to strengthen the Panthers case for an NCAA at-large big, but those “bubble” Bracketology projections are muddy and there are no guarantees other than to cut down the nets in this ACC finals. The Panthers might not have the market credibility of the Tar Heels, but that does not mean they lack quality, as they are ranked 40th in the power rankings and they are playing at a really high level at the moment, but nobody is talking about Pitt.

It is most interesting that the odds makers hung such a modest number on this game considering the Panthers don’t have anywhere near the high market profile of UNC and that they also did not fare well versus the Tar Heels this season, losing that only meeting 70-57 at home in Pittsburgh. Could the books not have made the Tar Heels a more significant favorite today as they did other top teams like Arizona, and UConn, who are also playing bubble teams in Oregon and St. John’s much like the Tar Heels? Pitt is playing with house money and the oddsmakers appear to be tipping their hands. While tempting to take the Panthers outright, the points here are a nice cushion just in case the Panthers catch a case of the “bad call” flu.

Sherwood

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------