ACC Linkfest 12/31/2016 - 2016 wraps with a full day of ACC Action

Friday gave us two more bowl games as UNC couldn't finish a comeback against Stanford and FSU won a wild one over Michigan.  Check out highlights of those games below.

We have 3 more bowl matchups today highlighted by Clemson's matchup versus Ohio State in the College Football Playoff.  Here's what you need to know about today's football action.

In ACC Basketball, we have 6 conference matchups as well as a great matchup between Louisville and Indiana.  Today kicks off with 3 games at the noon slot highlighted by Duke playing in Blacksburg against Virginia Tech.  The Blue Devils will be playing without Grayson Allen and should have some fire under their belts after an underwhelming performance against Elon a week and a half ago.  Virginia Tech comes in 11-1 with their only loss to a solid Texas A&M team.  You should see plenty of three point attempts in this one.  Duke struggled to defend the bigs shooting the 3 against Elon, can they defend the 3 against the Hokies?  Duke finally had their full roster back prior to Allen's suspension but looked disjointed in 2 games.  How will they look after a break?

UNC takes on Georgia Tech and while the Heels should win this game, but playing on the road in the ACC is never easy.  Ben Lammers played really well in non-conference play but how will he do against a solid Heels' front court? 

Clemson is coming off a really good win over UNC Wilmington on Wednesday and the Tigers travel to Winston-Salem.  Wake Forest is coming off a loss in their conference opener to FSU and we should see a battle of tempos.  Wake wants to get up and down the floor while Clemson likes to pick their opportunities to run.  Can Wake speed the Tigers up?  Can Clemson be disciplined enough to identify when the hold up and set their offense?  John Collins is looking to bounce back from a rough game and will matchup with Sidy Djitte and Jaron Blossomgame down low.  I like Collins' chances to put up a big game today.

Speaking of difference in tempos, FSU plays at Virginia and the league's 2nd fastest tempo (74 poss/game) meets up with the league's slowest (60 poss/game).  This should be a fascinating matchup.  The Noles are a few bad minutes against Temple away from being undefeated, how will they play in Charlottesville?  The matchup to watch is the FSU youth against an experienced, stout defense of the Wahoos.

Notre Dame travels to Pitt in a game that features two teams who really like to play small and score the basketball.  Bonzie Colson against Michael Young should be a fascinating matchup, but who for the Irish will guard Jamel Artis?  Look for Artis to have a big game today.

In the final conference tilt of the day, NC State travels to Miami and Dennis Smith Jr and the Pack should get their first taste of conference play.  Smith has been outstanding at times this season, but playing on the road in conference play is always difficult.  Miami is somewhat of an enigma to me, they're highly talented but haven't beat anyone of substance this season.  Ja'Quan Newton and Davon Reed are leading the scoring attack for the Canes this season.

Here are previews for several of those games, check out predictions and more links below.

• Game Preview: UNC vs Georgia Tech
• Game Preview: Duke vs Virginia Tech
• Game Preview: Clemson at Wake Forest
• Game Preview: Notre Dame vs Pitt
• Game Preview: FSU vs Virginia

Video of the Day

Check out more videos from the ACCDN's YouTube page.

NCAAGameSim.com Predictions

• UNC at Georgia Tech - UNC wins 84-62 Sim the game here
• Duke at Virginia Tech - Duke wins 77-71 Sim the game here
• Clemson at Wake Forest - Wake Forest wins 78-71 Sim the game here
• Louisville at Indiana - Louisville wins 81-68 Sim the game here
• FSU at Virginia - Virginia wins 75-67 Sim the game here
• Notre Dame at Pittsburgh - Notre Dame wins 80-74 Sim the game here
• NC State at Miami - Miami wins 76-67 Sim the game here

View more predictions at NCAAGameSim.com