The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are laying too few points on the NCAAB odds board for Friday’s tilt with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Here’s a complete preview and my pick for tonight’s game.

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Georgia Tech odds, line: 2021 college basketball picks, Mar. 2 predictions from proven model The SportsLine projection model has a pick for the clash between Duke and Georgia Tech. An ACC battle is on tap between the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Duke Blue Devils at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday at McCamish Pavilion. The Yellow Jackets are favored by 1.5-points in the latest Georgia Tech vs. Duke odds from William Hill Sportsbook, and the Over-Under is set at 145.5. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (11-8, 7-6 ACC) vs. 16 Virginia Tech Hokies (14-4, 8-3 ACC) Date: Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021 Time: 7 p.m. EST Venue: Cassell Coliseum – Blacksburg, VA Coverage: ACC Network. GT vs VT Spread & Odds. All NCAAM betting lines, odds and prop bets are available on FanDuel Sportsbook.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets vs. Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Friday, March 5th, 2021 – 8:00 P.M. ET at Lawrence Joel Coliseum

This has not been a banner year for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Granted, neither was last year; the ACC is still stuck in fifth place on the conference rankings at Sports Reference. But it feels worse. There aren’t any ACC teams in the Top 10 on the polls. The Duke Blue Devils are on the wrong side of the March Madness bubble. The Louisville Cardinals are clinging to one of the last at-large bids. Dogs and cats, living together.

Also on the edge of the Big Dance: the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (14-8 SU, 13-9 ATS). They can improve their chances with a win Friday night over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (6-14 SU, 10-9 ATS), and they probably will after opening as 8.5-point road faves. In fact, 8.5 points seem like a bargain, given how poorly the Deacs have performed this year. Let’s find out, shall we?

Mind The Gap

Our journey begins as usual on Ken Pomeroy’s famous blue web page. Here are his advanced stats for both teams at press time:

• Georgia Tech: No. 30 overall (No. 20 offense, No. 57 defense), plus-18.69 margin

• Wake Forest: No. 164 overall (No. 192 offense, No. 152 defense), plus-0.68 margin

At least the math will be easy. Call it an even 18 points between GT and WFU per 100 possessions, multiply by two-thirds to reflect roughly how many possessions they get in per game, give the Deacons two points for home court in the time of coronavirus, and that’s Georgia Tech –10. We can buy that for a dollar. It’s only 1.5 points between this projection and the NCAAB lines, but we did cheat a little with the possessions – it should be closer to 67-68 in this matchup, according to Pomeroy’s Adjusted Tempo stats.

Holy Moses

Here’s the thing about the Yellow Jackets, and all the other bubble teams in the ACC: They’re actually pretty good. Yes, even Duke, who checks in at No. 38 on Pomeroy’s efficiency charts. None of them are elite, though, which may be skewing the perception of how well Georgia Tech has played this year. Tuesday’s 81-77 overtime win over the Blue Devils (+1 away) was their fifth win in a row SU and ATS. They’ve earned more respect than they’re getting.

At the same time, the Deacons have been slightly better than your average Division I team – which isn’t saying much. They’re about as vertically challenged as it gets in college hoops, relying almost entirely on perimeter shooting and defense. The Jackets are backcourt-heavy too, but they also have one of the ACC’s better forwards in Moses Wright (plus-8.5 BPM), whose strong two-way play helped Georgia Tech beat Wake Forest 70-54 as 9-point home faves when they met on January 3. So yes, we’ll be putting Tech in Friday’s college basketball picks. It’s just the right thing to do.

NCAAB Pick:Georgia Tech –8.5 (–110) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)

*The pick reflects the line at the moment the writer made the play, the odds at the beginning of this article show the live line movement. Since the lines might vary, don’t forget to refer back to our live odds.

Georgia Tech and Louisville will face off in a pivotal conference matchup that will help determine seeding for the ACC Tournament. What is the best bet, and which is the best sportsbook?

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets vs. Louisville Cardinals

Monday, February 1, 2021 – 2:00 PM EST at KFC Yum! Center

The Cardinals are coming off of a disappointing loss against Clemson last week, but they are still looking strong. They beat Duke at home before that game and are near the middle of the pack in the ACC standings.

Carlik Jones leads the team in points and assists. However, he had an underwhelming outing against Clemson in Louisville’s last game. He will be in a battle against the similarly-sized Jose Alvarado of Georgia Tech.

Louisville will be hosting this game, so watch out for the Cardinals as they face off against a familiar foe. Georgia Tech isn’t known as a basketball powerhouse, but they have been solid this year. They have won six of their last eight games, and they have momentum with a recent win against Florida State.

However, NCAAB odds favor Louisville by 3.5 points. Before we make a pick, here are the keys for each team.

Keys for Louisville to Cover the Spread

Louisville needs to stick to its strengths in this game. Defensively, that means relying on their strength to rebound the ball. They have been excellent at limiting second-chance points, and they need to keep that up against Georgia Tech. They aren’t great at forcing turnovers, but they pack the paint well enough to force ill-advised outside shots. Their opponents have terrible conversion rates, and that has been their key to playing well defensively.

The good news for Louisville is that this translates well. They are fundamentally sound, so they don’t rely on something volatile like steals or 50/50 plays.

Offensively, Louisville will rely heavily on their backcourt. They don’t have much in terms of size, but both Jones and Johnson are quality scores and rebounders. Johnson wins with the three ball, so look for him to spread the floor with his perimeter shooting.

Home-court advantage means incredibly little in this season with limited capacity seating, but the Cardinals still have the advantage of playing at home. They have only lost one home game all season, so this will be helpful as the Cardinals try to get back on track.

Keys for Georgia Tech to Cover the Spread

The bad news for Georgia Tech is that their biggest weakness is rebounding. They are near the bottom of the conference in rebounds per game. Credit part of this to their pace of play, but they still struggle to clean the glass. Going against one of the best rebounding teams in the ACC, they will have to find a way to improve on this front.

Georgia Tech is great at shooting the three, and they will need to get hot on the road. If shots aren’t falling, the odds of Georgia Tech pulling off the upset plummet. This will be a battle between a great perimeter shooting team and an excellent perimeter defending team. We’ll have to see which side prevails.

Georgia Tech is great at forcing turnovers. Since they will struggle on the glass, this will be their only way to find easy buckets in transition. These three facets of the game will determine their success. They will have to do the little things well also, but they can’t win unless they can hit the threes, improve on rebounding and continue to force turnovers. Thankfully, two of those three are in their wheelhouse. If they can just hit threes and force turnovers, this should at least be a close game.

Time for a Pick

This is a tough game to predict. Louisville is trending downward, but they are still the superior team on paper. Their ability to rebound and defend the three play well into how this game will likely go. Georgia Tech is also more volatile with their defensive style and perimeter shooting, so they could easily have an off night.

That being said, for my best bets I’m taking the Yellow Jackets to cover. It will be a close one, but the extra points on the spread sway my decision. Since it could easily go either way, a spread as large as 3.5 carries weight in the decision-making process.

NCAAB Pick: Georgia Tech +3.5 (-105) at Bovada (visit our Bovada Review)

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*The pick reflects the line at the moment the writer made the play, the odds at the beginning of this article show the live line movement. Since the lines might vary, don’t forget to refer back to our live odds.

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