The ACC Tournament championship game features the 3-seed Duke taking on the 4-seed Florida State. Duke has been to the championship game 32 times in school history and has won 20 titles. This is just Florida State’s third trip and the Seminoles are 1-1.
Here’s the selection:
FLORIDA ST. (+9) vs. DUKE, 8:30 p.m.
Pick: Florida State (+9)
I’m still kicking myself for not picking Florida State (27-6) in the semifinal against Virginia. I read too much into the line and took the Cavs.
The Seminoles feel a bit disrespected and took out some of that frustration on top seed Virginia. Now they get to do the same against everyone’s favorite, Duke (28-5).
Should Florida State, which has won 14 of its last 15 games, win this game outright, a case could be made that the ACC deserves all four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. I would not argue against it.
Duke is coming off its one-point semifinal win over North Carolina, which avenged two regular-season losses to the Tar Heels, and just might start out a little flat. Hopefully it will be flat enough to let the ’Noles stay in the game.
Duke beat FSU, 80-78, earlier this season in Florida and I’m expecting another game of that nature this time. Florida State is 6-3 straight up this year and 7-2 against the spread against teams ranked in the Top 25.
Take the points and look for Leonard Hamilton and the ’Noles to keep it close against Coach K and the Blue Devils.