2022 ACC College Basketball Betting Preview: North Carolina, Duke Headline Loaded Conference

College basketball is approaching quickly and it's time for us to do our homework.

We'll start in the ACC, where it will be the first time in more than four decades that Mike Krzyzewski isn't patrolling the sidelines for Duke and it will be Jon Scheyer moving forward. The Blue Devils will be looking up at their arch rivals, North Carolina, who bested them in an epic Final Four game last season.

The Tar Heels come back with much of their National Championship runner up roster and are the overwhelming favorite to win the ACC, is that justified?

Here is our preview of the ACC for 2022-2023.

2022-2023 ACC Preseason Poll

Take all of these with a grain of salt, but this just shows you where the sentiment is with North Carolina after their incredible run to the National Championship game.

The team returns the likes of Caleb Love, Armando Bacot, R.J. Davis, Leaky Black and Puff Johnson, but the top of the ACC should be tough with Duke still loaded with freshman talent under first year head coach Jon Scheyer in addition to Virginia and Miami, who bring back several key contributors.

ACC KenPom College Basketball Ranking

• Boston College: 74
• Clemson: 60
• Duke: 15
• Florida State: 65
• Georgia Tech: 117
• Louisville: 91
• Miami: 42
• North Carolina State: 81
• North Carolina: 9
• Notre Dame: 43
• Pittsburgh: 84
• Syracuse: 54
• Virginia 5
• Virginia Tech: 21
• Wake Forest: 80

ACC Favorite: North Carolina (+1000)

The Tar Heels made the NCAA Tournament as the No. 8 seed, a frustrating team that struggled to find consistency amongst all their talent. It all clicked in 'Big Dance,' though as the likes of Caleb Love and Armando Bacot helped propel the Tar Heels to the National Championship game and a near win over Kansas under first year head coach Hubert Davis.

Now, the team returns nearly the entire core as they look to avenge their runner up tournament run by cutting down the nets.

I may not be as bullish as the ACC media, who nearly unanmiously picked the Tar Heels to win the ACC, but this team is definitely the "favorite" heading into the season. However, if they get overtaken by Duke or another formidable roster, I would not be surprised mainly due to their defense.

The team struggled on that side of the floor all year, namely in the backcourt as Love and Davis struggled to limit dribble penetration. The team was bottom 10 nationally in turnover percentage and allowed opponents to shoot 47% on two-point shots (87th in the country).

If the team makes a leap on that side of the floor, they are rightfully a title contender. The team is as talented as any team in the country, replacing stretch big Brady Manek with Northwestern transfer Pete Nance, but I still need to see it before I'm rushing to the window to back North Carolina to cut down the nets.

ACC Dark Horse: Florida State (+7000)

In one of the worst seasons in recent memory for FSU, hobbled by injuries all season, the market has shifted too far on the Noles. The team finished 105th in KenPom's ranking but I think that is anchoring a clean slate in 2022-2023.

The team brings back Caleb Mills at guard as well as Cam'Ron Fletcher and Naheem McLeod, who all had injuries derail what seemed like promising seasons. The team played sound basketball, posting the 65th best adjusted shot quality rating last season despite their poor results.

I expect the aforementioned trio to provide stability now that they are helathy to a rotation that always has NBA prospects on hand, and this year it may be Jalen Warley. The rising sophomore was thrust into the rotation last season amidst all the injuries and he played well given the circumstances, he has the most assists of the returning Seminoles.

At 6'6", Warley give Leonard Hamilton another weapon on both sides of the floor and should have this FSU club back in the top four of the ACC , and maybe contending for a regular season title if the team hits their ceiling.

After a down year, it's time to buy Florida State at a discount.

ACC Team to Fade: Virginia (+4500)

I see the case for Virginia, and they will be much better than their NIT-bound 2021 season, but I'm not a believer in this team to be third in the conference like the media projects.

Tony Bennett is going to count on some regression to the mean from the perimeter and that the same cast of characters can round into form after a down season. The team has all five starters back and a stud transfer in Ben Vander Plas from Ohio to join forces with 7'1" senior Francisco Caffaro off the bench.

KenPom projects Bennett's pack line defense as a top five unit nationally after finishing 59th in 2022, and I'm not sold on that. Reece Beekman is a stud defender and Kihei Clark has been with the Woos for what feels like a decade, but with the same unit are we expecting a massive jump?

For what it's worth, other advanced metric systems are not as high on Virginia, who is ranked fifth by KenPom. Bart Torvik ranks Bennett's bunch 18th and Eric Haslam has them at 13th.

This will be a good team, but I think we are basing a lot of this on reputation. The team has several four-star recruits, but if they aren't instant impact players, where is the floor spacing comin from for a team for a team that posted a below national average effective field goal percentage?

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.