ACC Basketball in North Carolina: Thursday’s NCAA Tournament Seeds, Odds, Spreads, and Totals

The Atlantic Coast Conference is not sending an especially strong roster of teams to the NCAA Tournament this year. Duke and Virginia are the 2026 NCAA Tournament's only two ACC schools berthed with better than a sixth seed. UNC, touted as a Final Four hopeful over the winter, may not survive VCU in the first round.

The ACC hopes that its few marquee bids will overcome low quantity with supreme quality. Cameron Boozer and the Duke Blue Devils are the tournament's No. 1 overall seeds after winning a third ACC postseason title in four years. Virginia, the No. 3 Midwest Region seed that gave Duke all that it could handle in last weekend's conference title game, has a promising path to the Sweet Sixteen. Miami and Clemson will hope to become Cinderella squads via No. 7 and No. 8 seeds in the West and South, respectively.

Duke's buyers will quote the historical stats of No. 1 versus No. 16 games before picking the Blue Devils to succeed this Thursday, even if Duke's point spread against Siena is as wide as Patrick Ngongba II's wingspan. No one can feel so cocky about a UNC-VCU matchup that is the first-ever tipoff between the programs.

The 32-2 Duke Blue Devils try to earn their 12th straight win and a berth in the NCAA Tournament's Round of 32 when the top overall seeds face No. 16-seeded Siena in Greenville on Thursday at 2:50 p.m. EST.

Siena's 23-11 squad defeated Merrimack 64-54 in the MAAC Tournament finals to dance in March Madness. The sophomore guard Gavin Doty is leading the Saints with 17.1 points per game and an impressive 7.0 rebounds per contest. Siena holds a solid 4-6 record in NCAA Tournament games and a 10-26 record against the ACC. Tommy Valentine of News 10 Albany calls Siena coach Gerry McNamara an "iconic" Syracuse alum. 

Duke's sensational frosh forward Cameron Boozer is ninth in NCAA men's basketball point scoring with a 22.5 per-game average to go with a superb 40.9% mark from three-point land. Duke's head coach Jon Scheyer nevertheless doesn't want Boozer to work extra minutes against Siena, nearly a 30-point underdog on Thursday. Duke's 19-year-old bench guard Nikolas Khamenia might be a popular fantasy pick in the opening round after netting nine points and grabbing six boards against UVA in the ACC tourney final. 

Ngongba II plans to make his return from injury for March Madness, but may have to wait a round or two.

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Note: The above data was collected on March 19, 2026, and may have changed since writing. 

Are the Tar Heels regrouping, or are they lost without Caleb Wilson? That's the question speculators must ask as UNC prepares to meet VCU in the NCAA Tournament's first round at 6:50 p.m. EST on Thursday.

North Carolina's record before and after Wilson's sidelining marks the freshman guard's absence as one of the biggest injury narratives of the season in college basketball. With the engine of its offense intact, UNC upset Duke 71-68 on Feb. 7. Exactly one month later, the Tar Heels were outplayed and beaten by Duke 76-61, Wilson's partner-in-crime Henri Veesaar scoring just 11 points on seven attempted shots. UNC's next appearance resulted in an upset defeat to blue-collar Clemson in the ACC Tournament.

Those letdowns are why the date with Virginia Commonwealth feels so scary, especially as oddsmakers take only a couple of points from North Carolina on the spread. The 24-8 Tar Heels and the 27-7 Rams have never met on men's hardwood prior to this week's encounter. There's still no question that VCU is arriving as a hotter team after winning the A-10 tournament with a 70-62 triumph over 2026 March Madness host Dayton. VCU's freshman guard Nyk Lewis was 4-of-5 from downtown while producing a 17-point double-double in that contest, the type of performance that can spark an NCAA tourney upset.

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Note: The above data was collected on March 19, 2026, and may have changed since writing.