A new ACC Nation is available.

On this week's show we talk with former American Idol contestant and future Boston College basketball star Ayla Brown.

We also preview the three ACC teams in the women's Final Four with Mechelle Voepel of the Kansas City Star and ESPN.com.

Jim Hobgood, Virginia basketball analyst, stops by. And Patrick and Chris do battle in the Sound and the Fury.

Visit ACC Nation for past show and more info about the program.

Rebuilding?
This has to be a make-it-or-break-it year for Virginia football coach Al Groh. Right?
Groh, who was given a raise to enter the $1.7 million-a-year club before last year's 7-5 campaign, is most certainly feeling the heat of expectations that he brought with him to Charlottesville from the NFL six years ago.
You utter the words "national championship" in your welcome-to-Grounds press conference, and hey, stuff happens.
So if you're a Cav fan, and you hear the guy making the big bucks talk about the "significant rebuilding job" that the program is facing this fall, well, I can guess that your head will eventually have to stop spinning.
"We have a significant rebuilding job in front of us. We're eager to get started on that particular job," Groh told reporters this week as the program worked to get ready for spring practice.
Groh didn't sound all that eager to get started on the 2006 season - which begins at Pittsburgh and concludes with a brutal November stretch of at Florida State, at home versus Miami and at Virginia Tech.
"The last two seasons there were only three teams that had a chance to win the championship on the last day of the season. Our last three games are comprised of those three teams," Groh said.
"So, in order to make a run at the end, which is the significant part of the season, then this team that we are in the process of putting back together again is going to have to mature quickly through the first nine games to be ready for the final three games," Groh said.
Getting to those final three with a chance at something other than a bowl sponsored by a tire company would seem to be imperative for Coach Groh.
- Chris Graham

Maryland's Laura Harper gives her thoughts on playing in the Final Four. Check it out at Friend of the Nation the Double-A Zone.

Cramming at UVa.
It wasn't easy getting ready for what turned out to be their final game of the 2005-2006 season in 48 hours - or less, as it turned out.
"We found out late on Sunday night, and then we had to fly out of Dulles. So we had a two-hour bus trip, and then a flight from Dulles to San Francisco. We were able to round up most of our guys and get on the practice floor for a 10:30 workout - and we spent about an hour on the floor," said Rob Lanier, an assistant coach at the University of Virginia, talking about the walkup to the Cavaliers one-and-done appearance in the Postseason NIT earlier this month.
Virginia found out late on Selection Sunday that they were to play at Stanford the following Tuesday night - about 47 hours later, doing some quick math.
What that forced the team to do, Lanier told the "ACC Nation" radio show last week, "was to use our shootaround on game day as a little bit of a live practice session to kind of get their legs going a little bit and get the game prep going for Stanford in terms of what we were specifically going to see them do from a strategic standpoint."
The Cavs lost the game with the Cardinal by a 65-49 count - and were never really in the game after an early 6-0 run in the contest's opening minutes.
"The game itself, I don't know how tough it was to prepare for that particular opponent. This time of year, particularly if you have experience with the NIT, a lot of times it's a little bit of a blessing in disguise that you have only a little bit of prep time, so that you can really focus on your team," Lanier said.
"When you're coming off your conference tournament, and we play ours late in the conference-tournament season, you get into a one-game-a-day type of mindset, so the preparation part of it wasn't as difficult from that standpoint," Lanier said.
The hardest part of the experience: "the travel."
"It wore on all of us. No excuse - the way the game played out, we just didn't play very well. But it was a tough trip - and it was an even tougher trip coming home," Lanier said.
"We hadn't traveled commercial all year. Our guys are a little bit spoiled. Guys like myself who have been at the midmajor level, we've been on a lot of bus trips. I really felt like it was a good experience for our guys," Lanier said.
- Chris Graham

Greenberg talks about Duke loss
Seth Greenberg is probably tired of hearing about how his Virginia Tech basketball team was thisclose to upsetting Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium in December.
OK, so I know for a fact that he's tired of hearing about how Sean Dockery's halfcourt prayer had to have ruined the Hokies' 2005-2006 season - given that Tech failed to qualify for even the NIT after a preseason filled with talk about the NCAAs.
"I don't think it affected our team," a bristling Greenberg told the "ACC Nation" radio show last week.
"Obviously, we were disappointed, but I also felt that we realized how close we were - and that we could go to Duke and play them right to the bitter end. It just showed our guys that if we compete and play at a high level, play hard, then good things can happen," Greenberg said.
One thing that Greenberg said he points out to people who bring up the Duke game - "we came back and won games after that game."
"It would have been great to have beaten the number-one team in the country on their home court, but it didn't happen," Greenberg said.
- Chris Graham

Get 'em ready
One note about last week's loss by Duke in the Sweet 16 ...
Mike Krzyzewski told a CBS reporter after Duke's 62-54 loss to LSU that he didn't think his team "ever completely adjusted to the physicality" of the game.
Which, it seemed to me, was code for the refs didn't call the fouls the way our guys in the ACC would have.
I mean, what else could that statement have meant? Particularly given that he repeated himself later in the interview.
The Dukies were called for 18 fouls on the night; LSU was whistled for 16. It was basically even until Duke had to resort to fouling late to extend the game.
The Blue Devils benefitted from generous officiating in 2005-2006 - going to the charity stripe 300 more times than their opponents and being called for 141 less fouls.
Perhaps the Atlantic Coast Conference could have helped Duke adjust to the physicality of the NCAA tournament by calling things a little more down the middle in the regular season.
Just a thought.
- Chris Graham

Is somebody out to get North Carolina?

Granted, the Tar Heels didn’t look good Sunday in beating Purdue, but at least the tournament’s top overall seed hung on to win.

Apparently, the committee forgot that part about Carolina being the top seed in this thing. How else can you explain that they had to face traditional power Purdue on Sunday, and then, as a reward for winning, play Tennessee Tuesday night?

Add in Rutgers (which Tennessee beat Sunday) and Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell called her region a Final Four before the tourney started. She was on the money.

Carolina and Tennessee are probably two of the top three teams in the country (argue if you like, but with Tennessee’s schedule and its win over LSU in the SEC Tournament, it’s tough to deny they are better than anyone outside of Carolina and Duke). Yet the Heels and Vols have to meet before the Final Four. Yeah, that’s fair.

But that’s not the only gripe Carolina should have against this committee. Earlier in the tournament Carolina had to play Vanderbilt on Vanderbilt’s home court, and Carolina was the higher seed.

Sylvia Hatchell wasn’t happy, but according to Rachel Carter, women’s basketball writer for Raleigh’s News and Observer and a frequent guest on ACC Nation, the Carolina players didn’t mind too much.

“The players were of the attitude they won at Connecticut, they won at Duke. They didn’t think it could get much harder than dealing with the Cameron Crazies,” Carter told ACC Nation last week.

Here’s the part I really liked. Carter said the Carolina players mimed putting up a glass wall around the Vandy court to keep the fan noise out. You’ve got a like any team that will result to mime to help win a game.

“The Heels themselves were pretty immune to the crowd,” Carter said. “Now, Vanderbilt got jazzed in the second half by its crowd, but it wasn’t as big a factor as the Heels had worried.”

Tennessee almost ended up with a similar situation. If Old Dominion had won its first-round game, the Monarchs would have played second-seeded Tennessee in Norfolk, Va., home to Old Dominion. By the way, ODU was a 10th seed.

Carter said this won’t be a problem next year because teams won’t be allowed to play on their home court early in the tournament (I guess later in the tournament it could happen depending on where the Final Four is played).

As for the Tar Heels, it’s true they’ve now beaten Duke, UConn and Vanderbilt on their home courts. But beating Tennessee (even if it’s in Cleveland) could prove to be tough. The Vols know how this thing works. And I’m not sure they’ll let Carolina stand in between them and the Final Four.

(By the way, early word is Ivory Latta will play. She had to be carried from the court Sunday, but a spokesperson said it was only a cramp and she should be fine for Tuesday night).

A few predictions? OK, here you go: Carolina falls on Tuesday. Duke wins. Maryland wins. And if Crystal Langhorne keeps playing like she did against Baylor Saturday night (34 points, 15 rebounds) …. Well, I’ll go out on a limb here - Maryland wins that national title this year.

Last ride for Vick?
The move by the Atlanta Falcons to hold on to backup quarterback Matt Schaub could speak to the future of starter Michael Vick.
Yes, I know, I'm a moron - but hear me out.
At some point, Vick, the top pick in the 2001 NFL draft, has to stop being the quarterback of the future. It's great having potential, but the Virginia Tech product is entering his sixth NFL season this fall.
The future is now - and that means no more passer ratings in the low 70s, no more second-half fades that take the team from the playoffs to the scrap heap.
Here's where the maneuverings involving Schaub get my attention. The Falcons were offered defensive end John Abraham for Schaub by the New York Jets, who reportedly wanted to install the Virginia product as their starter.
That the team decided instead to give up its first-round pick was not done to protect a backup quarterback who has one year left on his contract, in my mind.
Vick has struggled in the West Coast offense that coach Jim Mora prefers. Guess who ran the West Coast in college? Yes, that would be Matt Schaub.
And guess who was Schaub's quarterbacks coach in college while he was running the West Coast offense? That would be new Falcons quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave.
Are things starting to add up here now?
Vick's job is on the line, by all indications. One more 8-8 season, one more quarterback rating in the 70s, and Vick could be on his way out of Hotlanta.
Or the light bulb in his head goes off, he leads the Falcons to the promised land, finally starts earning all the millions that have been thrown into his lap - and Schaub rides off into the free-agent sunset.
I prefer the latter scenario, incidentally. That way, both guys end up winners.
You could say that's the compassionate side of the moron in me.
- Chris Graham

Pickin' on Ol' Roy
Roy Williams might have done himself in as far as the Coach of the Year honors that he had seemed not that long ago to be an absolute lock for.
And no, it wasn't because his team lost to George Mason of the CAA in the second round this past weekend.
It was how they lost.
Williams seemed to be out of sorts in the second half of the 65-60 loss to the Patriots - at one point slamming a chair at courtside, and at another forgetting what the score was and calling a press defense out of a timeout that led to a foul and a pair of Mason free throws.
Ol' Roy was at his best in leading the upstart Tar Heels - who lost seven of their top eight scorers from last year's NCAA championship team - to a 22-7 record and a number-three seed in this year's Big Dance.
Seeing Ol' Roy at his worst on Sunday was reminiscent of the Coach Williams who couldn't quite get over the hump at Kansas.
- Chris Graham

There are two new polls up at ACC Nation. Just visit the Sound and Fury section and tell us if you think Tyler Hansbrough will go pro this year and if Herb Sendek is still the man at NC State.

If you need some help making a decision about Sendek, here's a story in today's News and Observer that might help.

A new ACC Nation is now available. This week Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg and Virginia assistant Rob Lanier join Patrick and Chris to talk ACC hoops.

Also, Friend of the Show Rachel Carter of the News and Observer stops by to update us on the women's tournament.

As always, there's the Sound and the Fury, and on Inside the Nation Patrick and Chris try to figure out where they went wrong with their brackets this year. (And trust me, they went way wrong.)

Listen by clicking here: http://www.ourmedia.org/node/190387

Or visit www.accnation.com for more information.

Running up the score
It's hard to fault a team for playing 40 minutes.
But ...
"It was good for us mentally. We haven't blown a team out in awhile, and I think it was good for our confidence," said Duke women's basketball coach Gail Goestenkors after her team's 96-27 shellacking of Southern over the weekend.
Yes, you read that right.
It was 96-27 - and the game wasn't as close as the score would indicate.
The question that begs to be asked here is ... did the Dukies perhaps run up the score a little bit on the Jaquars?
For what it's worth, Southern coach Sandy Pugh didn't say as much in her postgame interview. She focused on her team's effort - or lack thereof.
One telling stat there: Duke outrebounded Southern 60-28.
"I'll bet Coach Gail doesn't have to coach effort with her team," Pugh said after the game.
"When you have to coach effort day in and day out, you can't compete on this level. And that is one of the things we will have to address next season," Pugh said.
"Am I disappointed? Of course. Did I expect to be sitting in the winner's chair? Well, I knew in Duke we were getting a beast by the tail. The most important thing is I wanted the kids to go out and play hard," Pugh said.
To Goestenkors' credit, she did empty the bench - giving 10 minutes or more of court time to 11 of her players.
But still, 96-27?
- Chris Graham

Rebuilding effort in College Park
Memo to the Maryland Terrapins - if you want to make your case that you should have been included in the NCAA tournament, it might help to win a game or two in the NIT.
Instead, the Terps got bounced by Manhattan 87-84 over the weekend in the first round of the NIT in a game that the Jaspers controlled throughout.
For an indication as to why ...
"It was a matter of coming out and being ready," Maryland guard D.J. Strawberry said. "They came out and jumped on us early, and when a team like that has confidence and has good guard play, we're going to be in trouble for the rest of the night.
"We really didn't have our heads into it, and we made silly plays the entire game. It was a frustrating game. We had lay-ups that we should have made. It was frustrating because we're a better team than that, and we definitely should have beat them. They just outplayed us today," Strawberry said.
"Everybody wants to play in the NCAA tournament. Playing in the NIT was not one of our goals, but at the same time, we wanted to win. This team just wanted it a little more than we did," backcourtmate Mike Jones said.
"They were knocking down key shots, and they were a little more aggressive than we were. It's basically little things we're going to have to change for next year to get our team to where we want to be," Jones said.
Actually, Mike, it's going to be big things that you're going to have to change for next year to get the Maryland program - only four years removed from its first and only national title - back to where it was.
Coach Gary Williams sounded the warning signs to that effect after the Manhattan debacle.
"We have to earn the right to be a good team. We have several returning players that got a lot of experience as sophomores and juniors, and we have four new players coming in that want to get things done. Hopefully that becomes infectious. We have the opportunity to be a good basketball team next year, but we have to start working towards that in April," Williams said.
The attitude-adjustment part of that effort might need to get going sooner rather than later.
- Chris Graham

It was interesting watching Murray State almost pull off the upset over North Carolina Friday night. Interesting not only because Carolina almost ruined the ACC’s perfect first round (for that matter, Boston College and North Carolina State came close to blowing it also) but because of one of the Murray State players.

For Virginia fans it probably seems like a lifetime ago, but it was just four years ago that Keith Jenifer gave Cavalier fans hope that the team finally had the point guard it desperately needed.

As a freshman, Jenifer showed glimpses of granting Virginia fans their wish. Although he never looked to score first, Jenifer did hit a shot that turned out to be a game-winner for the Cavs against No. 3-ranked Duke. He also helped lead UVa. to a pair of wins over North Carolina that season.

A year later, Jenifer had 10 points, six assists and a pair of steals against Carolina in another Virginia win over the Tar Heels.

Interestingly enough, it would be three years before Jenifer got to face Carolina again, this time in the NCAA Tournament as a member of the 14th-seeded Murray State Racers.

Jenifer ended up getting suspended from the Cavaliers during his sophomore season after being charged with assault and battery (the charges were later dropped) and never returned to Pete Gillen’s program.

Instead, Jenifer transferred to Murray State, sat out a year, and has played for the Racers the past two seasons. He’s never accomplished what many thought he might while at Virginia, averaging just 7.5 points and four assists a game last year, and only five points and 3.4 assists this season as a part-time starter.

But until Friday night, Jenifer had never lost to North Carolina. And he would have played into the weekend if the Carolina freshmen hadn’t finally taken control. Tyler Hansbrough finished with 24 points, but it was Marcus Ginyard’s free throws with 16.5 seconds left that secured the victory for North Carolina, which now plays George Mason.

As for Jenifer, his college career is now complete. It didn’t turn out the way he or many Virginia fans thought it would. But give him credit for putting his troubles at Virginia behind him and getting one more shot at Carolina.

- Patrick Hite

Visit ACC Nation for a look at the results after day one of the ACC Nation Bracket Challenge. Just follow the link on the front page to the standings page.

A deep run
Tar Heel Monthly publisher Adam Lucas doesn't pull any punches when talking about the defending national champion North Carolina.
Lucas said on this week's "ACC Nation" that he wouldn't be surprised to see UNC go all the way to the Final Four - or lose its first-round matchup with unheralded Murray State.
I would have agreed with that assessment at the start of the 2005-2006 season - especially after Carolina's season-opening 83-80 win over Gardner-Webb and then a few weeks later after the team's embarrassing loss at Southern California.
But since then, things have changed for coach Roy Williams' young Heels - who had to replace seven of the top eight scorers from last year's title-winning squad and thus expected to go through some major-league growing pains.
What had the makings of a long campaign turned around, I think, in the second half of an 81-80 win at Florida State in January - when the Tar Heels reversed what had been a double-digit first-half deficit into a key road win in 20 minutes of game action.
These Tar Heels, for those keeping score at home, own victories over traditional powers including Duke, Kentucky and Arizona - and they're doing it with a style of play and grit and toughness that would make ol' Dean Smith proud.
So relax, Adam - you'll be covering these kids for at least another weekend. If not two.
- Chris Graham

We filled our first group, so we've started a second one. Because we have two groups, you'll have to monitor www.accnation.com for the standings.

Join Patrick and Chris for the ACC Nation Bracket Challenge during this year's NCAA Tournament. ACC Nation is a weekly, syndicated radio show. Learn more at www.accnation.com

We've got prizes for the winner.
First place: $100 cold, hard cash

Second place: Gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse

Third place: ACC Nation golf shirt

Last place: A bottle of aspirin (or, if you wish, we'll make it ibuprofen or acetaminophen)

Just visit http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/ and click on sign up. Pick your team name, follow the steps and, finally, click "Join a Private Group." At that point, enter the Group ID# (133823) and the Password (accnation).

Come on. It's fun. And you'll have a chance to show you know more than Patrick and Chris (as well as the Evil Q, who has already signed up his team).

E-mail patrick@accnation if you have any questions.

Group ID#: 133823
Password: accnation

Three up, three down
Three reasons why Duke will win the 2006 national title:
1. J.J. Redick. The 6-4 sharpshooter willed the Blue Devils to their 78-76 win over Boston College in last weekend's ACC tournament final, nailing seven of his 11 three-point attempts, including two key trifectas in the game's final two minutes that eventually put Duke in control. When the going has gotten tough, Redick has found a way to get things going just enough to put the Dukies on top.
2. Shelden Williams. Season averages: 18.4 points per game, 10.3 rebounds per game, 3.7 blocks per game. 'Nuff said.
3. Destiny. You saw the Duke-Virginia Tech game (a 40-footer from Sean Dockery wins it at the buzzer). And Duke-BC2 (a prayer at the end falls short as the Dukies take home yet another trophy). From a 17-2 run through the ACC to the 31-point blitz of Texas in December (and people actually have the Longhorns coming out of their region?), this is Duke's year.
Three reasons why Duke won't win the 2006 national title:
1. Tired legs. Their comeback in the ACC tournament notwithstanding, the Dukies looked sluggish down the stretch. All those minutes on Mike Krzyzewski's seven-man rotation are finally taking their toll.
2. Shelden Williams. "The Landlord" was outplayed and outclassed by North Carolina freshman Tyler Hansborough in Cameron earlier this month. A chink in the armor?
3. The zebras. Coach K can't bring his ACC refs with him to the NCAAs. This is the effect that Superman experienced with Kryptonite.
- Chris Graham

New polls up at ACC Nation.

Vote on which ACC team should have made the field of 65, and tell us which, if any, ACC team will reach the Final Four.

Freedom of the press - just watch what you say
How about that grilling that CBS commentators Jim Nantz and Billy Packer gave to NCAA tournament selection committee chair Craig Littlepage on live TV on Selection Sunday?
The duo utterly flambeed Littlepage, the athletics director at the University of Virginia, for his insisting that several midmajor schools received at-large bids over big-conference teams like Cincinnati, Florida State, Michigan and Maryland because they played tougher nonconference schedules.
It got so hot, in fact, that Littlepage - apparently no fan of the freedom of the press when it comes to his tournament - fired back in kind on Monday.
"They are certainly free to have those opinions and express those opinions. But to look at this in terms of the partnership, you would hope there would be a little better understanding of what it is that we do," Littlepage said.
It got better - or worse, depending on your perspective.
"I think what we have to have are more conversations about the partnership (between CBS and the NCAA) and how we need to work better together a little bit," Littlepage said.
Had he taken the intense questioning from Nantz and Packer in stride, Littlepage would have been playing the good sport - which is, after all, what the NCAA is supposed to be all about.
Right?
That he chose instead to play the Rovian game of shoot the messenger doesn't reflect at all favorably on the outfit that goes out of its way to refer not to teams but institutions and not to players but student-athletes.
Surely some of these institutions teach their student-athletes to think for themselves and ask the occasional difficult question of someone in authority.
In fact, at Littlepage's own University of Virginia - established by one of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson - this kind of thing happens every day.
Perhaps Littlepage and other powers-that-be in the NCAA can learn a lesson from this.
Taking uber-sportswriter John Feinstein's suggestion to allow a pool reporter to observe the committee in action would be a good place to start.
- Chris Graham

A new ACC Nation - the NCAA Tournament Special - is available.

Joining the guys this week, Adam Lucas of Tar Heel Monthly and the Courtmaster himself, Jim Johnson, help break down the brackets.
Plus, Patrick and Chris give you their bracket picks, all the way to the champion.

Don't forget there is time to join the FREE ACC Nation Bracket Challenge. You could win $100. Go to www.accnation.com for more information.

At least they're in
Boston College fans are feeling, well, blue.
Their Eagles got the shaft, they're saying - getting a four seed in the Minneapolis bracket with their 26-7 record that included two wins over North Carolina, which earned a three seed in the D.C. regional with its 22-7 record and, ahem, the aforementioned two losses to Boston College.
But that's just the first gripe.
The second has to do with the fact that BC has to play on Thursday - in Salt Lake City, Utah - after playing in the ACC title game on Sunday.
Craig Littlepage, the athletics director at the University of Virginia and the chair of the NCAA tournament selection committee, was asked on a conference call Sunday night why Boston College wasn't placed in a Friday game.
"At the time that we were putting the field together, unfortunately, we're not always able to take that into consideration to be able to place a team that played on Sunday by virtue of its conference's decision to play its championship game on Sunday," answered Littlepage, curiously, given that Virginia is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, which long ago made the decision to play its championship game on a Sunday.
"When we look at our policies and procedures, and we're going through that S curve, and it's about 3:30 p.m., and we know that we're up against a deadline, we're doing the very best job that we can to seed this field, to bracket it, to make sure that we're taking in consideration all of the policies and procedures," Littlepage said.
"Unfortunately, we don't look at it in terms of whether teams that played on Sunday should be moved automatically to Friday/Sunday. Maybe that's something that we could look at in the future, but it wasn't a part of our deliberations this weekend or in weekends in the past," Littlepage said.
OK, one down.
As to the seeding issue ...
"We looked at North Carolina and its comparison to a number of schools - and not North Carolina versus Boston College," Littlepage said. "Many times when people have issues or have questions, they like to frame it in terms of either-or. This is not a zero-sum game that we do in the course of our deliberations.
"When we looked at Carolina, yes, we looked at the strong finish to the regular season. We also looked at the strong nonconference resume that they put together - not specifically compared to Boston College, but compared to the field," Littlepage said.
- Chris Graham

Join Patrick and Chris for the ACC Nation Bracket Challenge during this year's NCAA Tournament. We've got prizes for the winner.

First place: $100 cold, hard cashSecond place: Gift certificate to Outback SteakhouseThird place: ACC Nation golf shirt

Last place: A bottle of aspirin (or, if you wish, we'll make it ibuprofen or acetaminophen)Just visit http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/ and click on sign up. Pick your team name, follow the steps and, finally, click "Join a Private Group." At that point, enter the Group ID# (3627) and the Password (accnation).

That's it. You'll be a part of the challenge. Come on. It's fun. And you'll have a chance to show you know more than Patrick and Chris (as well as the Evil Q, who has already signed up his team).

E-mail patrick@accnation if you have any questions.

I was ready to attack the NCAA selection committee after putting just four ACC teams in the tournament this year. We knew it was coming, but once it was official I had trouble believing it.

Give credit to Jim Nantz for asking Craig Littlepage, the chair of the selection committee and the athletics director at UVa., why the ACC only got four teams, the same as the Missouri Valley Conference.

I thought Littlepage's response that the committee was sending a message to the big boys to schedule better out-of-conference opponents was a lot of hot air. Did they take a look at some of the non-conference games the teams in the MVC played?

Bradley battled that always tough Chicago State and then took on Delaware State as well. Wichita State played Missouri-Kansas City (the always dangerous Kangaroos) and Texas Pan-American. And Arkansas Little Rock and Louisiana Lafayette showed up on Southern Illinois' schedule.

Still, the more I thought about it the more I realized Florida State and Maryland, not the NCAA, are to blame for Florida State and Maryland not getting to dance this year. Maryland fell apart down the stretch without Chris McCray and FSU only had to beat Wake Forest - last-place-in-the-ACC Wake Forest - to get in.

So now it's up to four ACC teams to win the conference's fourth title in six years. NC State is gone after game one, while Carolina won't make it to the Sweet Sixteen.

My pick to win it all is Duke, but I have Boston College in the championship game. Call me an ACC guy, but after watching BC this weekend I don't think too many teams can handle them. Duke can. And will.

Mike Patrick was wrong.

I love Patrick and usually don't have any problems with what he says.

(After all, I did choose to listen to Patrick and Dick Vitale on ESPN over Tim Brandt and Mike Gminski on Jefferson Pilot. Not that is was that hard of a choice. The arrogant Duke apologist Gminski babbled on and on and on while Brandt said "I agree" 3,257 times (I counted) in reference to the G-man's comments.

Why wasn't Dan Bonner doing the game? Even John Feinstein said on ACC Nation a couple of weeks ago that Bonner was as good at breaking down the games as anyone, including Billy Packer. But instead of Bonner we get stuck with Gminski. Oh well, it made choosing Patrick and Vitale that much easier.)

OK, back to my problem with Patrick. Near the end of the Carolina-Boston College game, with the Eagles leading 83-78 and the clock under a minute, the Tar Heels chose to play tough defense instead of fouling BC. Patrick couldn't believe it. And said so. Over and over again. If he had mentioned it once and let it go, maybe I wouldn't have a problem. But to keep repeating it just got to me.

I agree with Roy Williams' decision not to foul. Carolina was down just five and they almost got the defensive stop they wanted. Tyrese Rice missed a shot, but, to his credit, tipped the ball back in.

If, instead of the tip by Rice, Carolina would have pulled down the rebound, the Heels would have had 25 seconds or so to get down the floor and get a shot off.

Let's say them make a three. Then Carolina is only down two with 15 seconds or so left. Plenty of time to foul BC, hope for the Eagles to miss at least one shot and get back down the floor for a shot at winning or tying.

To me that makes more sense than putting BC on the foul line over and over again, as Patrick would have had the Heels do.

Also - yeah, I got a lot of problems with the announcers today - I don't agree that the major play in the game was Carolina letting Craig Smith catch an inbounds pass and scoring with 2 seconds showing on the shot clock. That play turned a 78-74 Eagles lead into an 80-74 lead with just under 3 minutes remaining.

Granted, that was a defensive letdown by Carolina (Reyshawn Terry, to be exact) and it did hurt them. Of course, in a game like this it's tough to pick one key point, but if I had to do it I'd say it was another error by Terry much earlier in the second half.

With about 15 minutes left Terry had the ball on the right baseline. He could have easily hit a short jumper and tied the score at 54. Instead, he tried to drive the basket and ended up committing his fourth foul.

Sean Marshall scored on BC's next trip down the floor. Instead of a tie game, Boston College was up four. Carolina never got closer than two the rest of the way and Terry ended up spending a little over 6 minutes on the bench. Over the last third of the season Terry has been one of Carolina's most potent offensive weapons. Obviously, he can't score by sitting on the bench.

But again, it's tough to say one play was the difference. Boston College just matches up with Carolina better than any other team I've seen this year. The big guys up front have power and speed and hurt the Heels inside, while stopping Tyler Hansbrough.

So Carolina fans shouldn't hang their heads. It's unlikely the Heels will meet too many teams like BC in the NCAA Tournament. That being said, I still don't see Carolina getting past the Sweet Sixteen.

Boston College on the other hand could go a lot deeper. I'm not saying they'll win it all, just that I won't be shocked if they do.

--------

Other notes of interest:

* Did Mike Hogewood really say, in discussing the Wake-Duke game before it started, that no No. 12 seed had ever won the ACC Tournament? Good call there Mike, especially since this is the first year a No. 12 seed has played in the ACC Tournament.

* Greg Paulaus really stepped up for Duke today. If he starts playing like that in the NCAA Tournament, Duke may be my favorite to win it all.

* Could announcers (yes, here I go with the announcers again) please stop talking about how well Carolina is doing after losing its top seven scorers from last year. It's March. And that's old, old news.

* Why did my ESPN feed of the game - possibly it was my cable system - keep running commercials right in the middle of game action during the Carolina-BC game? I had to switch over to the Jefferson Pilot feed whenever that happened. If you want to know how much I hated that, see above.

The Evil Q has finally come up with the prize list for the ACC Nation bracket challenge.

(Frankly, we're shocked he didn't keep the good stuff for himself and offer the winner a used Village People album and the spare change he found in his sofa).

Anyway, here is the list:

First place: $100 cold, hard cash

Second place: Gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse

Third place: ACC Nation golf shirt (Click here to see the golf shirt and other ACC Nation gear.)

Last place: A bottle of aspirin (or, if you wish, we'll make it ibuprofen or acetaminophen)

Now, to join just visit:http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/
Click on sign up. Pick your team name, follow the steps and, finally, click "Join a Private Group." At that point, enter the Group ID# (3627) and the Password (accnation).

Questions? E-mail patrick@accnation.com

I love the upsets as much as the next guy, but as an ACC fan I wasn't happy to see Wake Forest beating Florida State.

Of course, Wake's win of NC State has made things interesting. But that FSU loss will probably limit the ACC to four teams in the NCAA Tournament.

Maryland had a chance, but the loss to BC Friday night probably ended the run by the Terps.

So we're down to four: Duke, Carolina, Boston College and NC State. And if the ACC hopes to improve on three national titles in the last five years it has some work cut out for it.

Carolina didn't look sharp against Virginia, and Duke didn't impress anyone in beating Miami. In fact, Duke hasn't looked like a team that can win the national title in weeks now.

NC State won't make it past next weekend. Carolina is a Sweet Sixteen team, but nothing more.

So it comes down to Duke and BC having to get it done for the ACC this year. Duke can certainly win it all, but something has to change from their last few outings.

BC? Perhaps this is the team that can win it all. After that slow start, the Eagles have looked as good as anyone in the conference. Forget the loss in Charlottesville to Virginia. With Smith and Dudley up front, there are few teams that can handle BC's power.

I'm not saying the Eagles will win it all this year. But if the ACC is to win another title it may be up to BC to pull it off.

Sayonara, Seminoles
I wouldn't have thought this before this afternoon - but Florida State isn't looking good right now.
The Seminoles, who fell 78-68 to last-place Wake Forest in the first round of the ACC tournament, entered the game needing a win to feel secure about their place in the NCAA tourney field.
They had to feel pretty good coming in - with a triumph over Miami in their season finale following a huge victory over then-top-ranked Duke earlier last week.
That left FSU at 19-8 overall and 9-7 in the ACC - but it also left them a middling 56th in the latest RPI.
That number is not going to be helped by a loss to 107th-rated Wake Forest.
Another problem is going to be the upset fever that seems to have taken hold this week. Syracuse, apparently in need of a win or two in the Big East tourney to get off the bubble and into the Big Dance, got what they needed and more with heart-pounding wins over Cincinnati and Syracuse in the last two days.
Then there was the surprise defeat of George Washington by Temple in the A-10 tourney - ostensibly taking another at-large bid off the table.
And it's not even Friday yet. A lot can and likely will happen between now and Selection Sunday.
But hey, it's not like the 'Noles can complain. All they had to do was beat the 12 seed in a 12-team tournament, and they were in like Flynn.
Happy NIT'ing.
- Chris Graham

Fan-tastic
The most boorish fans in the ACC (can you tell we're in a holding pattern waiting for the ACC Tournament to tip off, or what?) are ...
This is a tough question to answer.
The first thought that comes to mind is Maryland and the infamous game from a couple of years back involving the graphic reaction to J.J. Redick's appearance at the Comcast Center.
The "F.U. J.J." chants (the kids there didn't skimp on the F.U. part of the chant, either, for those who might have missed out on this one) weren't even the worst part.
(Remember, J.J. has a sister.)
Duke fans are themselves are a close second - the Cameron Crazies, far from being the cute, cuddly supersupporters that Dick Vitale would have us believe them to be, are the rudest, crudest and most obnoxious rooters in the state of North Carolina.
Third, I would say, are the fans at the University of Virginia. And actually, the 'Hoos - more whining than obnoxious - might give the Dukies a run for their money.
Not a game at University Hall was played without the denizens complaining vociferously from the opening tip to the final buzzer about the officiating.
It would have been nice for the finale over the weekend to have been different, but ...
The final group of fans that I'll pick on here are those from North Carolina - and for one reason. I'm not sure if this is where it started or not, but the first time that I ever heard the infernal "Over-rated!" chant was at the tail end of a UNC victory over an unbeaten Virginia team in 1992.
It wasn't totally unwarranted - the UVa. team in question was ranked in the top 10 after a win at Duke early in that season that followed an otherwise unremarkable pre-conference schedule.
Even so, the premise behind the chant is, well, stupid - given that the idea that you're getting across is that the team that your five has just vanquished isn't good, which would seem to devalue what your boys have just accomplished.
Commence to plucking me apart.
- Chris Graham

There is a new ACC Nation available. This week it's an ACC Tournament edition of the Nation.

Patrick and Chris preview the ACC Tournament with the Voice of the Tar Heels, Woody Durham; Jeff White of the (Richmond) Times Dispatch; the (Durham) Herald-Sun's Bryan Strickland; and Andrew Joyner, the ACC editor for Rivals.com.

The guys also reveals their tourney brackets and place an interesting bet with one another.

Plus, check out ACC Nation's Web site for two new polls.

Weird, wild, wacky stuff
So was Dave Leitao trying to send a message to junior forward Jason Cain by playing him all of a total of 15 minutes in a pair of blowout losses to Clemson and North Carolina last week?
We may never know.
What we do know is this - Cain played 39 minutes in Virginia's 71-70 loss to Maryland in the finale for University Hall Sunday afternoon.
And since they only play 40, that means he was on the court pretty much throughout.
That the apparent demotion of Cain was lifted in time for the Last Ball in U Hall has led to some speculation that Leitao might have pulled back on his decision to bench the power forward in the interest of covering his own hide.
Admittedly, no one who witnessed the debacles at Clemson and UNC would have been able to call the 'Hoos at all competitive without Cain on the floor - not with a straight face, anyway.
And so the thinking goes that Leitao gave Cain a temporary reprieve so that he could give his team a chance of satisfying the home fans and 90 or so Virginia basketball alums who were back for the last dance at University Hall.
Cain's nine-point, 11-rebound performance did give the Cavaliers a fighting chance - of that there is no dispute.
Nor is there any disputing how much Leitao wanted to win on Sunday.
"You can understand, for obvious reasons, how difficult this is for me. We fought, we scrapped, and we clawed - and obviously came up a little bit short today. But I wanted to win for you and our players more than anything that I've wanted in my life," he said in a postgame ceremony held at center court after the game.
Everything else is conjecture. We don't know that the coach and the player didn't work out whatever differences that they might have had in the walkup to the game.
Honestly, we're still not sure that there were differences to work out.
All we really can say is that it was curious that Cain was MIA in what turned out to be the two biggest games of the season for the Cavs - and that it was even more curious that he was on the front lines of the biggest game in recent memory in U Hall.
- Chris Graham

The Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association announced its all-ACC selections yesterday.

The first team included three unanimous choices, including the first freshman - Tyler Hansbrough - in conference history to get everyone's vote.

Duke also had a pair of unanimous selections, although the Blue Devils may have more important things on their minds.

But that doesn't mean ESPN's Dick Vitale is picking against the Dookies, even coming off a pair of losses.

Punch the ticket
If Florida State isn't an NCAA lock, then nobody is.
Sure, the Seminoles played a Cupcake City nonconference schedule - ranked 313th out of the 334 teams in Division I.
But you can't argue with the results that they posted when it mattered - and a 9-7 ACC record that includes a win at home over Duke and an overtime loss by a single point at Cameron 'taint bad.
Throw in a season sweep of Virginia, which until recently was on the NCAA bubble itself, and a heartbreaking 81-80 loss at home to North Carolina that started the Heels on the 11-2 run that could get them a two seed on Selection Sunday, and you're looking at a team that is probably a strong seven seed in next week's regionals.
Maryland, on the other hand, is a different story entirely. At 8-8 in the conference and 18-11 overall, the Terrapins would appear to be on solid footing - but the 4-7 stumble down the stretch isn't helping matters at all.
Neither is the fact that Maryland lacks that defining win that FSU has with its 77-72 triumph over Duke last week.
The Terps kept hope alive with their heartstopping 71-70 win in Charlottesville on Sunday in the last regular-season game in University Hall, but a win or two in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament this week might be necessary to get them their dance card.
- Chris Graham

Below is our first all-ACC Nation team as selected by Patrick and Chris. Let us know what you think.

ALL-ACC Nation
First Team
J.J. Redick, Duke
Shelden Williams, Duke
Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina
Sean Singletary, Virginia
Al Thornton, Florida State

Second Team
Craig Smith, Boston College
Guillermo Diaz, Miami
Robert Hite, Miami
David Noel, North Carolina
J.R. Reynolds, Virginia

Third Team
Jared Dudley, Boston College
Nik Caner-Medley, Maryland
Coleman Collins, Virginia Tech
Cameron Bennerman, North Carolina State
Justin Gray, Wake Forest

ALL-FRESHMAN
Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina
Greg Paulus, Duke
Bobby Frasor, North Carolina
Tyrese Rice, Boston College
Josh McRoberts, Duke

ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM
Shelden Williams, Duke
Vernon Hamilton, Clemson
Sean Dockery, Duke
Jamon Gordon, Virginia Tech
Zabian Dowdell, Virginia Tech

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Shelden Williams, Duke

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina

COACH OF THE YEAR
Roy Williams, North Carolina

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
J.J. Redick, Duke

ACC Nation Bracket Challenge

Join Patrick and Chris for the ACC Nation Bracket Challenge during this year's NCAA Tournament. We've got prizes for the winner (what those prizes are we're not sure yet, but the Evil Q is working on that night and day).

Just visit http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/ and click on sign up. Pick your team name, follow the steps and, finally, click "Join a Private Group." At that point, enter the Group ID# (3627) and the Password (accnation).

That's it. You'll be a part of the challenge. Come on. It's fun. And you'll have a chance to show you know more than Patrick and Chris (as well as the Evil Q, who has already signed up his team).

E-mail patrick@accnation if you have any questions.

Admit it - you got beat

Wow.

Knowing the history of this Carolina-Duke rivalry, I should have had a clue. But I admit it: I didn’t give the Tar Heels a shot at winning going into Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday night.

First, it was Cameron. Second, despite the way Carolina has surprised the college basketball world this year with its play, the Heels still aren’t nearly as talented as this Duke team. Third, and maybe most importantly, it was senior night at Cameron. No way Duke would lose in the final home game for J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams.

OK, maybe there was a way. Carolina won 83-76.

Following the game, I heard both Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and assistant coach Johnny Dawkins say that Carolina deserved all the credit for winning.

They didn’t mean it.

This is how I know: I listened to both on the postgame radio show. The next words out of both their mouths were something about how Duke was too tight. Krzyzewski said his players turned the game into something more than it was (I suppose if his team won it would have been a bigger game to him) and Dawkins said the players put too much pressure on themselves, being senior night and all.

Please.

If, for a moment, we play along with the Duke coaching staff and believe that the players were nervous about this game, shouldn’t that have shown itself in the opening minutes? It didn’t, of course. At least not for Duke. The Blue Devils led 13-3 in the early going and didn’t trail until less than six minutes remained in the first half.

Yeah, they came out real uptight.

See, I don’t buy that too tight stuff anyway.

Shouldn’t Carolina have been the team suffering from a case of nerves? For the most part they were a bunch of snot-nosed freshman making their first trip to Cameron. Shouldn’t the intensity of that alone have been enough to give Duke the edge?

And doesn’t Duke have four seniors in their top seven players? I just submitted my ACSMA All-ACC ballot on which I had Redick listed as player of the year and Williams as defensive player of the year. Both were on my first team All-ACC. These players have been through almost every possible situation in their careers. Are we to believe they were too tight to beat Carolina?

Look, we all know Duke is still the favorite to win the ACC Tournament. And the Devils are one of the favorites to win the NCAA title as well. Two losses, including one at home, in a four-day stretch last week doesn’t change either of those things.

All I’m asking is that Krzyzewski and Dawkins show a little more class.

Just admit that one Carolina freshman, Tyler Hansbrough, had his way against this Duke defense, while another one, Danny Green, stole the ball from a Duke senior, Sean Dockery, in the final minute to save the game for Carolina.

Admit that Carolina is playing better than anyone in the conference right now. That doesn’t make them the favorite – or even my pick – to win the ACC Tournament. Just the hottest team in the ACC as the regular season ends.

Just admit that Redick is struggling – it wasn’t just that Temple zone that had him baffled, but every team Duke has played since that game.

Admit that there are problems that need to be addressed if Duke is to win it all this season.

But don’t blame it on your team being too tight. Because if this group of seniors is too nervous to win a regular-season game in their own building, how in the hell are they supposed to win a national championship?

- Patrick Hite

The geezer speaks on crowd control

This will make me come across as the old guy standing on his porch, shaking his fist at some neighborhood kids while yelling, “Ya’ll get off my lawn.”

I’ll be accused of being so old that, since my own wild and crazy days are starting to fade from the memory banks, the only thing I can do now is make sure no one else can enjoy their hedonistic college days.

Maybe.

After all, I have started craving dinner around 4:30 every afternoon. And my pants are pulled up to my chest.

But I digress.

When the Florida State fans rushed the floor the other night after the Seminoles knocked off Duke – OK, actually mere seconds before the Seminoles knocked off Duke – I found it all rather childish. What happened to cheering on your favorite team, and then just leaving when the game was over? Happy if your team won. Not so happy if they didn’t.

Now certain fans feel they have to be part of it. Being in the same building as the players, sitting in the stands watching the action, is no longer good enough. Now fans want to be on the floor.
And, in getting there, they’ll do whatever they have to. Like jump over press row. Friend of the Nation Luci Chavez, the Duke beat writer for Raleigh’s News and Observer, got kicked in the head by some of those FSU fans Wednesday night. She was simply doing her job and, for her efforts, got a foot upside the noggin.

Florida State officials were criticized by ESPN’s announcers – Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale – for not doing enough to stop this kind of thing from happening. I don’t buy that. Short of metal bars surrounding the court, how are school officials supposed to stop this?

For his part, FSU athletics director Dave Hart said his school will take a look at how they can improve crowd control. They even boosted security for the Duke game assuming that, after the ‘Noles double-overtime loss in Durham, Florida State might have a chance to pull off the upset.
Still hundreds of students versus a couple of dozen of security guards isn’t a fair battle. That’s why the blame has to be placed solely on the students.

Sure, college is fun. And students should enjoy themselves. But they’re also supposedly adults – or in the process of becoming adults – while at college and they need to act the part. Stop living for the moment and think for a second what could happen.

FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said after the game he’s never heard of a player getting hurt during a basketball celebration. So, what, does that make it OK? Hamilton’s lucky his own player, Andrew Wilson, didn’t get crushed. Suffering from leg cramps, Wilson was lying on the floor when the fans stormed the court. Pure luck or the grace of God saved him from becoming a pancake. Or worse.

Here’s what you do. Any fan who comes on the court during or immediately after the game is banned for a year from attending more games. And that’s the first offense. On the second offense, no more games ever.

I realize it sounds good, but enforcing it could be difficult. So how to do it I’ll leave up to the schools to figure out. I’m guessing a scarlet letter is out of the question. I know when I was in college we had to show our student IDs to get into games. Maybe finding a way to scan IDs would be the solution (or maybe they already do that – as I mentioned earlier it’s been some time since I was a student).

Go ahead. Call me an old geezer. I prefer that over seeing someone get maimed or killed. Or even just kicked in the head.

- Patrick Hite

The NCAA Tournament is just around the corner.

If you'd like to take part in the ACC Nation bracket challenge (prizes for the winner) just e-mail me at patrick@accnation.com or e-mail Chris at chris@accnation.com

A new ACC Nation is ready for your ears at http://www.ourmedia.org/node/177566

Is Leitao doing the right thing?
In a word, no.
Of course, we're all speculating at this point as to why Virginia coach Dave Leitao is snubbing power forward Jason Cain - who has played a total of 15 minutes in the Cavs' last two games, both blowout losses.
The word from those who claim to be in the know is that the first-year coach is disciplining Cain for some sort of attitude issues that apparently have arisen in the past two weeks.
The official position from Leitao has varied - he answered a reporter's question following the 99-54 debacle at Chapel Hill Wednesday night with a quick "coach's decision," and a similar question posed after the 90-64 loss at Clemson elicited "I wasn't happy with the way he was playing, so I didn't play him."
Cain, for his part, is letting on that he doesn't know why he isn't on the floor.
"I just don't know anything," he said after the loss at North Carolina.
Whatever the reason is, one has to question the timing - given that it hasn't been all that long since Virginia had seemed to play itself into an NCAA tourney spot with its 72-58 win over Boston College on Feb. 21.
Without Cain - who was the fifth-leading rebounder in the Atlantic Coast Conference heading into the UNC matchup - on the floor the past two games, the 'Hoos have been unable to rebound or get stops or basically do much of anything inside the paint.
If Leitao is trying to send Cain and his teammates a message, the more power to him. That's why he gets paid the big bucks.
With an NCAA tournament bid on the line, though, one might think that he could come up with other ways to get that message across.
Like, for example, a few dozen extra wind sprints.
- Chris Graham

Duke, Coach K and the refs
A mini-controversy seems to have erupted over at The News and Observer's ACC Now blog over a series of questions posed by staff writer J.P. Giglio to Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski regarding his relationship with game officials during Monday's Atlantic Coast Conference coaches teleconference.
The responses to Giglio have run the gamut - from Duke haters comparing Coach K's party-line responses to those from the Bush White House to queries regarding the Iraq war and the Dick Cheney shooting all the way to Duke fans questioning the merits of giving the years-old discussion of an alleged ACC conspiracy anything more in the way of legs.
I probably come down somewhere in the middle of the two extremes - with the feeling that it's certainly stretching it to sincerely believe that the ACC instructs its officials to give the Dukies special treatment, sure, but then again, when you look at the statistics, it's hard to argue that it doesn't appear that this is the case, at least on paper.
Through this past weekend's games, Duke was getting to the free-throw line nearly 10 more times a game than its opponents - which, I have to point out, in itself isn't evidence that the Blue Devils are getting favoritism, because it is indeed true, as Duke apologists have long asserted, that Krzyzewski's attacking offense is going to lead most games to additional trips to the charity stripe, one, and two that his teams are going to get to the line more at the end of games with opponents fouling to stop the clock when behind.
But as the critics would no doubt counter, that wouldn't seem to account for the nine-attempt difference that we see in the box score for the December win over Virginia Tech - which played even with the Blue Devils throughout and appeared primed for the upset until Sean Dockery nailed a 40-footer at the buzzer.
Neither would it account for the discrepancies in narrow wins over Florida State (Duke hoisted 43 foul shots to FSU's 11 in a one-point overtime triumph) or Boston College (Duke won the free-throw-attempt battle 37-13 in a two-point victory on the road).
That both the Seminoles and Eagles feature powerful inside games that one would expect to see result in more trips to the line should not be overlooked here.
Nor should the fact that Coach K's defenders are known across the ACC and across the country for their stifling brand of hard-nosed D - which one might expect to lead to a few extra whistles going against them on a game-by-game basis.
That all having been said, it's hard to make the case from a few casual scans of box scores and observations of a handful of conference games that Duke gets favorable treatment from the ACC.
Until Deep Throat emerges from the shadows of a Tobacco Road parking garage with something more in the way of documentation, I'm going to have to consider this case closed.
- Chris Graham


ACC roundup
Redick lets records speak for themselves
Noel knows about making changes
FSU fans look ahead to Duke