NCAAB: Odds To Win ACC Regular-Season Title: Will Duke Get Back On Top?

Considered the best conference in NCAA college basketball, the Atlantic Coast Conference has four teams that could win the national championship. The one team that is always a contender is the Duke Blue Devils, who are the favorites to win the ACC regular-season title.

The Blue Devils may have the lowest odds to win the title according to online sportsbook Sportsbook but Duke hasn’t won it since 2010.

Following Duke on the oddsboard are the defending national champions, the Virginia Cavaliers, along with the Louisville Cardinals and North Carolina Tar Heels, all with +400 odds. The Florida State Seminoles follow at +1400 to round out the top five teams.

Why Duke Is the Favorite

Essentially a pipeline to the NBA, the Duke Blue Devils are the favorite to win the ACC regular-season championship every year because of the talent they recruit. Every season, head coach Mike Krzyzewski brings in two to three blue-chip five-star prospects to anchor his squad and enable it to compete on the national stage.

But having the best talent doesn’t always translate to championships. Otherwise, they’d win every year. Last season, he had the top three ranked NBA prospects in Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish. This season he’ll lean on top-five ranked recruits Vernon Carey and Matthew Hurt along with returning point guard Tre Jones.

Duke will be in the thick of things but with such high-end competition throughout the conference and the fact that most of its roster changes year to year, taking the Blue Devils as a +275 favorite may not be a great bet before we see how this team flows on the court.

Watch Out For Louisville and North Carolina

Since the departure of former coach Rick Pitino, it hasn’t been roses and sunshine for the Louisville Cardinals as they tried to recover from the scandal that rocked the program and its ability to recruit. Now that that stuff is in the rear-view mirror, the Cardinals can resume being a dominant force in college basketball and they’ve got the personnel to make some noise.

Forward Jordan Nwora should make another leap in his junior season, after he averaged 17 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while shooting 37.4 percent from behind the arc last year. He’s a top candidate for the Naismith Player of the Year and Louisville also nabbed a solid five-star recruit in SF Samuell Williamson to wreak havoc on the perimeter and improve athleticism. The Cardinals would be my pick to win the ACC regular-season title at +400 but you can’t discount another blue blood down the road from Duke.

The North Carolina Tar Heels lost some key pieces to the NBA draft but replaced them with five-star recruits in PG Cole Anthony and center Armando Bacot. Anthony is electric in the open floor and has all the skills that translate to being a top NBA prospect. He will have the keys to Roy Williams’ offense and while his offense is top-notch, his defense on the perimeter leaves a lot to be desired.

As for Bacot, he’ll be a stud in college basketball due to sheer size and footwork. The seven-footer is an old-school big man who likes to play with his back to the basket and control the paint. He’s not much of a threat from behind the arc so Williams will likely lean on him to control the glass and do the heavy lifting for rebounding and disrupting shots at the rim.

If both Bacot and Anthony can get up to speed, the Tar Heels may run away from everyone in the standings.

Odds as of November 5 at Sportsbook