ACC Tournament Predictions, Betting Odds, Favorites to Win 2024

• The 2024 ACC Conference Tournament will be held at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., from March 12th through March 16th.

• The Duke Blue Devils are the reigning ACC Tournament champions, running through Pittsburgh, Miami, and Virginia to win their 22nd tournament title.

• North Carolina and Duke are the favorites to win the ACC regular season and ACC Tournament.

The favorites to win the 2024 ACC regular season are the Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels. These two teams are atop the conference standings and have established their dominance in a somewhat “down” conference this season.

However, plenty of other teams can string together a few wins once the ACC Tournament rolls around, including two other North Carolina teams: Wake Forest and N.C. State. Virginia and Clemson are also two talented teams that should make the NCAA Tournament field and could get hot at any moment!

Below are all the ACC championship favorites, including an in-depth analysis of their seasons and whether or not they can survive the ACC Tournament.

2024 ACC Tournament Predictions

Find our 2024 ACC Tournament predictions below, including our favorite teams to take home the hardware: the Duke Blue Devils, North Carolina Tar Heels, Virginia Cavaliers, Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and Pittsburgh Panthers. 

Duke Blue Devils

After winning the ACC Tournament championship by beating Pittsburgh, Miami, and Virginia last season, the Duke Blue Devils hope to secure back-to-back titles this season. And it certainly won’t be out of the realm of possibility given the team’s talent, which meshes together newcomers and returners.

In fact, Duke brought back its top four scorers from last season’s squad, including Jeremy Roach, Kyle Filipowski, Tyrese Proctor, and Mark Mitchell. The latter three players would have likely been selected in the 2023 NBA Draft had they declared last year; however, they decided to return for their sophomore seasons and give it one more run. That commitment to the program and one another is both impressive and a vital key to making a deep run in the conference tournament and the NCAA Tournament.

In addition to their top four players returning, Duke also brought in several talented freshmen, including Jared McCain, Caleb Foster, Sean Stewart, and T.J. Power. McCain and Foster have been more impactful in their freshmen seasons, but Duke is still a deep team with a ton of talent. McCain, in particular, has been phenomenal, averaging just shy of 13 points and five rebounds per game on very efficient shooting from the field and from behind the arc. 

The Blue Devils have five players that average double-digit points per game, including McCain, Filipowski, Proctor, Roach, and Mitchell. Filipowski is the team’s leading scorer and can score at all three levels, a coveted skill at the collegiate and professional levels. At 7 feet, Filipowski can space and spread the floor and take slower opponents off the dribble or post up on smaller players and score in the post. 

Unsurprisingly, this combination of elite offensive talents has resulted in the Blue Devils ranking in the top ten in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency metric for most of the 2023-24 campaign. Duke is not as effective of a team on the defensive end of the floor this season, but that could always change once the ACC Tournament rolls around. We have seen what this team can do when they are committed defensively, so between a more consistent effort on that end and their elite offensive attack, the Blue Devils can go back-to-back in the ACC Tournament.

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North Carolina Tar Heels

It has been a roller coaster the past few seasons for the North Carolina Tar Heels. Once Roy Williams stepped down from his head coaching position at UNC in 2021, it would be up to Hubert Davis to keep this “Blue Blood” program in the country’s upper echelon of powerhouse programs. Davis’ first season (2021-22) started a bit shaky at times, but the Tar Heels made the 2022 NCAA Tournament as an eight-seed and rattled off five consecutive wins to make the National Championship game. Unfortunately, UNC blew a big halftime lead, and Kansas walked away with the title, but it was an exceptional run for a first-year head coach.

The following season, the Tar Heels brought back nearly every key player, save Brady Manek, and were ranked the No. 1 team in the preseason. However, the 2022-23 season was an absolute disaster for North Carolina, as it became the first team ever to be ranked as the top team in the preseason and miss the NCAA Tournament altogether. It seemed like the magic from the previous year was gone entirely. In the off-season, the Tar Heels’ leading scorer, Caleb Love, entered the transfer portal, leaving Armando Bacot and R.J. Davis as key upperclassmen returners.

The change in scenery benefitted not only Love but the Tar Heels, too, as they have ranked in the top ten for a large part of this season. North Carolina has a boatload of talent, including Bacot and Davis, as well as transfers Cormac Ryan, Harrison Ingram, and Jae’Lyn Withers. However, the Tar Heels’ bread and butter has been on the defensive end of the floor, ranking in the top ten in adjusted defensive efficiency. The Tar Heels have dominated the ACC through mid-February and will be a tough team to beat in the conference tournament and the NCAA Tournament.

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Virginia Cavaliers

The Virginia Cavaliers got off to a slow start to the 2023-24 regular season, losing games to Memphis, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, N.C. State and Wake Forest before rattling off eight consecutive wins. Virginia was momentarily sitting in the A.P. Top 25 again but has since lost three of its past four games to Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, and UNC, which dropped it out of the rankings.

Virginia’s style of play is slow, as it ranks 362nd in adjusted tempo nationally. The Cavaliers rely on their exceptional defense (ninth in adjusted defensive efficiency) to compete with teams; their offense isn’t going to move the needle in most games, even with the talented trio of Ryan Dunn, Reece Beekman, and Isaac McKneely. In fact, this team ranks outside the top 100 in adjusted offensive efficiency, per KenPom, giving them an uphill battle in competing against teams like UNC and Duke.

The Cavaliers had won all 13 home games this season but just lost two of their past three bouts at John Paul Jones Arena. Further, they failed to reach 50 points in each of their past two home games, which is exceptionally concerning as their defense can’t always bail them out. Virginia has not been trending in the right direction, but if it were to get hot offensively during the ACC Tournament, it certainly has the defensive aptitude to string together a few wins against talented teams.

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Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Wake Forest is likely out of the running for the ACC regular season championship. However, it can still be a tough out in the ACC Tournament, given its balanced offensive attack, which features Hunter Sallis, Kevin Miller, Cameron Hildreth, Andrew Carr, Efton Reid III, and Damari Monsanto. Few teams in the country have as much scoring talent as the Demon Deacons, but they often live and die by the three-point shot quite a bit, contributing to some slower offensive nights. When they aren’t knocking down shots, they can be beaten by the top teams; however, when their perimeter shots are falling, which often happens (27th in 3P%, as of mid-February), they are extraordinarily tough to beat.

Sallis is Wake Forest’s star, posting just shy of 19 points per game on close to 50% shooting from the field and 40% from three-point land. The former Gonzaga player has found a home with the Demon Deacons, and it would not surprise us if he helped them make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, too. As mentioned above, though, what makes Wake Forest tough to beat is the ability for multiple players to step up and post some big numbers.

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Pittsburgh Panthers

If we momentarily ignore the 33-point beatdown that the Pittsburgh Panthers suffered at the hands of Wake Forest in February, then we will be able to avoid fixating on that eyesore and, instead, focus on the fact that they went 8-2 in ACC play between January 20th and February 24th. The Panthers were nowhere near an NCAA Tournament at-large bid in the middle of January but have since played their way to just outside the ever-dreaded “bubble.”

The Panthers are led by the trio of “Bub” Carrington, Blake Hinson, and Ishmael Leggett, who combine for close to 44 points and 16 rebounds per game. As a team, Pittsburgh is not a particularly talented team on either end of the floor, but they are consistent, motivated, and cohesive, as evidenced by their incredible win against the Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor.

Pittsburgh is currently hovering in the mid-40s of KenPom’s adjusted efficiency margin and the NET Rankings but should continue to climb in the next few games. The Panthers have a few regular conference season games left before the ACC Tournament, and they are all winnable.

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Who Will Win the ACC Tournament - My Pick 

Duke Blue Devils

The Duke Blue Devils have been on fire recently, logging wins in eight of their past nine games; the sole loss came on the road against Wake Forest, a terrific home team (15-1.) In that stretch, Duke has won its games by nearly 16 points per game while shooting 49% from the field and 38% from behind the arc. 

Additionally, the Blue Devils’ perimeter defense has been incomprehensibly good, allowing opponents to hit merely 27% of their three-point attempts in those nine games. That includes a 9-for-17 (52.9%) effort from Wake Forest, too. 

Much like last season, Duke has gotten hot at the right time and UNC has looked beatable, especially recently.

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ACC Tournament History

The ACC Tournament has been around since 1954, when the conference was incepted. With the exception of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced an early end to the college basketball season, the ACC Tournament has been a yearly event that takes place after the ACC regular season concludes. The Duke Blue Devils have the most ACC Tournament championships with 22, while North Carolina trails by four with 18 ACC Tournament championships. N.C. State (10) is the only other team that has double-digit ACC Tournament championships.

Past ACC Tournament Winners

Below is a look at all of the past 15 ACC Tournament champions, beginning with the most recent winners. Take a look:

How to Choose the Best Sportsbook for Betting on the ACC Tournament

Choosing the best sportsbook is the second-most important thing to picking the right bet! Oftentimes, sportsbooks have varying odds for the same bet, meaning you can get better value on one sportsbook versus the other. Odds shopping is undoubtedly one of the most vital aspects of sports betting.

Additionally, choosing a sportsbook for the functionality, user interface, welcome bonus, payment and withdrawal options, and withdrawal timing are also incredibly relevant. Find our table below to see which sportsbook you would prefer to bet on for the ACC Tournament:

How to Read ACC Tournament Winner Odds

Reading odds can seem like a challenge when you first begin betting, but we can make it incredibly simple for you. First, if there is a minus in front of a number, that indicates that the team is a favorite and has implied odds of winning that are greater than 50%. For example, if the Duke Blue Devils have -150 odds to win the ACC Tournament, then they have a 60% implied probability of winning. You would need to bet $150 to win $100 in this case, as Duke is a favorite, so wagering more to win less makes sense. 

If the North Carolina Tar Heels have +300 odds to win the ACC Tournament, then their implied probability is much lower (25%), so there is a greater chance for you to make money if they win. When a team is an underdog (has a + in front of their odds), then you only need to bet $100 to win that number. In this case, you would only need to put $100 on the Tar Heels to win $300.