On Wednesday morning, Syracuse basketball is listed as a small betting favorite over N.C. State as the Atlantic Coast Conference foes prepare to meet for the third occasion in the 2023-24 season, this time at the ACC Tournament in Washington, D.C.
Per FanDuel, the Orange is a 1.5-point betting favorite, with the over/under at 152.5 points. On the moneyline, the 'Cuse is -125, while the Wolfpack is +104.
Also at FanDuel on Wednesday morning, Syracuse basketball was +5500 to win the 2024 ACC Tournament. As I noted in a recent column, the No. 2 seed Duke had been the betting favorite to cut down the nets at this season's ACC tourney, but when I wrote this article, FanDuel had installed top-seeded North Carolina as a slight betting favorite to win this year's event in our nation's capital.
That makes sense, because the Tar Heels claimed the ACC regular-season title by a full two games, and UNC also swept the conference's No. 2 team, the Blue Devils, during the regular season, including a victory at Duke last weekend.
Syracuse basketball hopes to do some serious damage in the ACC tourney this week.
On Wednesday beginning at 7 pm from the Capital One Arena, with television coverage on ESPN2, the No. 7 seed Orange will try to go 3-0 against the No. 10 seed Wolfpack in 2023-24.
The 'Cuse (20-11, 11-9 in the ACC) and its first-year head coach, Adrian Autry, have to likely win the ACC Tournament or at least reach the title contest to have a shot at hearing their name called on Selection Sunday for the 2024 Big Dance following a two-year absence (winning the tourney, obviously, gets SU into March Madness automatically).
The Orange got to 20 regular-season triumphs for the first time in a decade. Autry has done a remarkable job guiding the 'Cuse, given the various circumstances that he's had to deal with in the current campaign, whether that be injuries, a player's dismissal from the program and a tough non-conference slate, among other things.
At present, the Orange's NCAA NET ranking is No. 80, which isn't great. The 'Cuse, candidly, needs more quadrant-one wins for its resume. Today, N.C. State (18-14, 9-11 in the ACC) has a NET ranking of No. 79, which I find a little comical, seeing that Syracuse basketball is 2-0 to date this season versus the Wolfpack, and the 'Cuse has a better overall record than N.C. State.
In any event, this is a quadrant-two opportunity for the Orange. Should Syracuse basketball defeat the Wolfpack on Wednesday evening, the 'Cuse would have a quadrant-one chance waiting in the ACC Tournament's quarterfinal round, when the Orange would face the No. 2 seed Duke.
One thing to monitor in tonight's ACC tourney second-round affair is the status of N.C. State graduate-student guard DJ Horne, who according to Mike Waters of Syracuse.com, is a "game-time decision."
In 2023-24, Horne is the Wolfpack's leading scorer, at 16.8 points per game, and he connects on an impressive 42.9 percent from beyond the arc.