College Basketball Betting Preview: Top-Ranked Tar Heels Prepare for ACC Rival Maryland

Deon Thompson and the Heels want to dunk on the Terps. (AP Images)

Want a reason to believe the Maryland Terrapins can knock off the top-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels Saturday?

Look no further than the sidelines, where Maryland coach Gary Williams owns an uncanny knack for the big upset. Williams has led Maryland to victories over No. 1 teams six times in his career, the most of any active Division I coach.

Williams last beat a No. 1 team in 2003, when Florida held the top spot. This time, he’s going against his 18-0 ACC rival and doing so on the road in Chapel Hill, N.C. But Maryland (11-7) does have a tough defense, holding opponents to 64.1 points per game, and Carolina is coming off a confidence-shaking one-point win over sub-.500 Georgia Tech.

So an upset could be in the making during a busy day in college basketball.

The Tar Heels won’t go down easily, though, as they proved against the Yellow Jackets. They escaped with a 83-82 victory thanks to a Tyler Hansbrough dunk. Hansbrough will need help from his front-court teammates like Deon Thompson and Danny Green because Maryland gets its offense from inside the paint.

For NCAA odds on all the action, pick and roll with the Bodog Sportsbook.