 UNC
vs. Georgia Tech: Tarheels Big -6 Favorite
February has been a
great month for Georgia Tech having won five of
seven games yet they are still a +6 underdog verses
the University of North Carolina Tarheels.
(all odds can be found
here).
The yellow jackets
close out their regular-season schedule this week
with a pair of important home games against two of
the top four teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference
standings, #8 ranked North Carolina and Boston
College. The Yellow Jackets need to win both to
finish with a .500 record in the ACC and get to 20
overall wins. Tech hosts the Tar Heels Thursday
night at 9 p.m on ESPN2.
Tech is 18-10 overall, 6-8 in the ACC, following
Saturday's 75-69 loss at #24Virginia. The yellow
jackets hope to even its season series with North
Carolina after the Tar Heels took a 77-61 victory
last month. Tech’s record is currently at a
seven-win improvement over last year's record and
identical at this point to that of the 2004-05 team
that reached the finals of the ACC Tournament and
the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Tech is in
seventh place in the conference standings, two games
behind Duke and Maryland (both 8-6), a half-game
ahead of Florida State (6-9) and a full game ahead
of Clemson (5-9). A win Thursday night would assure
the Yellow Jackets of at least a ninth-place finish
(eighth place if Clemson loses to Miami on
Wednesday). If Tech ties Duke at 8-8, it would win a
tie breaker over the Blue Devils.
Few college teams stack up to this years Tar Heel
team. At every position, and at least two deep, this
team is stacked with talent. Last season, after
losing the top seven players from the Tar Heels'
national championship squad of 2004-05, Carolina was
expected to go through a rebuilding process. Well,
that process took all of about a month, and they say
Rome wasn’t built in a day!
Lets start off with freshmen guards Ty Lawson and
Wayne Ellington. Lawson, the #1 rated prep point
guard a year ago, took over as playmaker in Chapel
Hill this season thanks to his wicked quickness and
his ability to push the ball on offense and pressure
it on defense. Ellington, a year ago, was the #1
rated shooting guard coming out of prep school and
is now Carolina's top outside threat. Another
freshman, multi-talented 6-10 forward Brandan
Wright, stepped into the lineup and became the
team's second-leading scorer. Sophomore forward
Tyler Hansbrough is a no-brainer All-American, with
his wonderful repertoire of moves around the basket
and vicious competitiveness. Senior forward Reyshawn
Terry is totally underrated surrounded by all of the
big named talent.
North Carolina is 24-5 overall and tied for first
place in the ACC at 10-4 after Sunday's 89-87 loss
at Maryland, and the Tar Heels close their regular
season Sunday at home against Duke. North Carolina
has an overwhelming 58-19 lead in the all-time
series between the two teams, and a 44-17 advantage
since Tech joined the ACC. The Tar Heels have won 17
of the last 23 meetings.
Although I live in the A, all my guy friends went to
UNC and said they’ll wash my mouth out with soap,
AFTER they use it on their bodies if I even think
about going with Tech. Sorry, cant chance that.
Bet
on This Game Here and Receive a Free Cash Bonus
---
Destiney Bleu
Lewis, Sports911.com
Originally
published March 1, 2007 1:11 pm ET
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