UNC the basketball betting favorite at Florida State

The regular season championship in the ACC is within the grasp of the North Carolina Tar Heels, while an at-large NCAA Tournament bid is within the clutches of the Florida State Seminoles. There figures to be a lot of men’s college basketball betting as the two clubs meet in Tallahassee tonight.

#13 North Carolina (22-6, 12-2 ACC) at Florida State (20-8, 10-4 ACC)

Date/Time: Wednesday, March 2, 2011, 7:00 PM EST  

Venue: Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee, FL.

Broadcast: ESPN

Money Line: OFF

Spread: Florida State -2

Over/Under: 138 

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North Carolina enters play on Wednesday tied with arch-rival Duke for first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference on the final week of the regular season. The Tar Heels have shaken themselves back into their customary ways after blowing a huge halftime lead in the first meeting with Duke. UNC has lately been a solid selection in men’s college basketball betting, winning five straight since that devastating loss. Now they look to put themselves in position to win the league title outright.

But to do so, they must not overlook the Seminoles. Florida State may not have Chris Singleton, still nursing a broken foot that he hopes will not prevent him from playing in next week’s ACC Championship Tournament in Greensboro. And the Tar Heels did defeat the Seminoles in their first meeting, with Singleton fully healthy, by 20 points.

Still, when considering North Carolina in men’s college basketball betting, head coach Roy Williams has been stressing to his team that this game against the Seminoles is just as critical as the one on Saturday against Duke. The February 6 victory over FSU featured the debut in the starting lineup of freshman point guard Kendall Marshall. And what a debut it was.

Marshall, taking over as the quarterback of the offense from the departed Larry Drew II, dished out a North Carolina freshman record 16 assists in the victory. Marshall’s assists per game average of 5.3 is just ahead of Duke’s Nolan Smith as best in the ACC.

To pick up the slack for the Seminoles in the absence of Singleton, Deividas Dulkys has stepped up to help fill the void, which has led to some underdog wagering in men’s college basketball betting. He has reached double figures in each of his last three games, including 17 in their win on Saturday against Miami.

The Seminoles would all but assure themselves an at-large bid into March Madness with a home victory against the Tar Heels without Singleton in the lineup. But it seems to be just too much for FSU to overcome without their leading scorer to not select North Carolina in men’s college basketball betting.