In the first round of the ACC Tournament, the Virginia Tech Hokies (10-21, 2-16) battle the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (13-18, 5-18). The game tips off at approximately 3:00 pm ET from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina and will be televised on ESPN2. Wake Forest is currently a 4.5 point favorite in this contest. http://www.march-madness-basketball-picks.com/ncaa-basketball-odds/

Virginia Tech comes into the ACC Tournament staggering having lost 7 straight contests. In their previous game, they were blown out by Miami 82-61. However, during the lost streak the Hokies did give very stern tests to highly rated programs Duke and Virginia. Virginia Tech is not a very strong rebounding team but when they played Wake Forest earlier this season the Hokies more than held their own on the boards. One interesting trend for Virginia Tech as well is that they are 7-3 against the spread in their last ten games following a contest in which they failed to cover.

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Wake Forest comes into this game losers of 5 of their last 6 outings. Most recently, the Demon Deacons suffered back to back blowout losses to Duke and Boston College. Wake Forest is not a strong defensive team and ranks near the bottom in the nation in points allowed per game. In their last 7 games, the Demon Deacons are 2-5 against the spread following a straight up loss. In addition, they are only 1-4 against the spread in their last 5 contests and on neutral court sites are only 16-35 in their last 51 games against the spread.

Free Pick on Virginia Tech +4.5

Earlier this season, Wake Forest squeaked out a 73-70 victory over Virginia Tech. . The Demon Deacons may have more talent but their lack of defensive intensity will allow the Hokies to score enough to keep things close again. Though the Hokies struggle on the boards, they were not dominated by the Demon Deacons in that category when they played earlier in the year. These two teams tend to play very close games of late as evidenced by the fact that the underdog is 1-4-1 against the spread in the last 6 games. I would expect another close contest here and for the Hokies to cover.