The ACC regular season sets Saturday for Miami, which hosts Virginia Tech at noon in a nationally televised contest. Sporting 10-7 conference records, both teams are firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble and desperately need a victory to help their cause. Miami opened as a three-point home favorite.
Before picking either side, you need to see what SportsLine data scientist Stephen Oh -- who has put together an impressive 83-percent streak selecting Hokies games -- has to say.
Last week, Oh jumped on Louisville, a five-point road underdog, to cover against these same Hokies. He noted Louisville had a strong size advantage that would allow it to out-rebound and out-block Virginia Tech. The result: Louisville forward Dwayne Sutton snatched 11 of the team's 41 boards in a 75-68 upset. Oh cashed in the exact type of game he called for.
Now, Oh, who specializes in advanced statistical analyses, has examined every matchup, every player and every trend for Virginia Tech-Miami and locked in his confident against-the-spread pick.
He knows the best shot for Miami to cover will require sharing the orange with all five teammates. Three Hurricanes average double-digits, including Dewan Huell, who nets 11.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per outing. When Miami is trying to score inside, it needs to get the ball into Huell's hands.
But Virginia Tech can keep it within the spread -- or win outright -- with an active Kerry Blackshear Jr. manning the boards. The robust, 6-foot-10 forward isn't afraid to get rough-and-tumble with opposing bigs and he'll need to prevent Miami second-chance opportunities.
Also, forcing the Hurricanes to win from the charity stripe is an effective strategy since they convert just 67 percent of their free throws.
We can tell you he's expecting a low-scoring affair and is leaning toward the under, but Oh knows there's one stat that will ultimately determine the outcome.
So what side of Virginia Tech-Miami do you need to be all over? Visit SportsLine now to see the strong point-spread pick for Miami vs. Virginia Tech, and see what stat determines the outcome, all from the expert who is on an 83-percent run on Hokies selections.