The 48th ACC Tournament begins tonight in Atlanta, and you may recall that the last time the ACC convened its showcase in Georgia strange things happened. That was 1989, the year eighth-seeded Maryland beat No. 1 seed N.C. State in the first round — by 22 points.
A lot of people believe unusual things will happen again this weekend. Maybe something as weird as no Big Four team reaching the finals. That’s happened exactly once. In 1990, when the planets aligned oddly over Charlotte, third-seeded Georgia Tech beat fifth-seeded Virginia in the championship game.
Wake Forest coach Dave Odom leads one of three nationally ranked Big Four squads, but acknowledges that 2001 could see a shakeup in the normal order of things.
“I don’t think ever in the history of the ACC have the four teams in this state (N.C.) all lost their Senior Day game,” Odom said. “This year it did. It shows you the strength of the league.”
North Carolina and Duke, of course, are still North Carolina and Duke. They are national powers with much on the line this weekend. Both need to win this tournament to wrap up a No. 1 seed for that even bigger tourney that follows the ACC.
Carolina and Duke are the top seeds, and at least one of them (and often both) has been in the championship game in 23 of the past 26 years.
But neither is exactly the hot team in the league at the moment. Duke is wounded and the Tar Heels have simply come unwound.
Carolina looked huge and invincible just three weeks ago, but that was B.C. — before Clemson. Now, after being vanquished at Virginia and destroyed by Duke in the Smith Center on consecutive Sundays, the Heels look ponderous and vulnerable and incredibly dependent on Joseph Forte’s shooting fortunes. Just as they did at this time last season when they managed to save face with a stirring NCAA run.
Duke, which has won the last two ACC tourneys, is a crippled squad. Paper-thin to begin with, it reached critical mass when center Carlos Boozer suffered a broken foot. Duke might be an early loser without Boozer.
In addition to Boozer’s injury, Mike Dunleavy’s outside shot has become iffy and Nate James, a third-team All-ACC pick, has disintegrated. If they voted today, James wouldn’t make seventh-team.
Duke had a magnificent victory over the Tar Heels last Sunday when superhuman efforts by Shane Battier, Jason Williams and coach Mike Krzyzewski disguised all its other problems. But Duke fans shouldn’t be misled. With its current configuration, Duke can be upset by almost anyone — even ACC first-round foe N.C. State. If it’s not raining in a solid percentage of its 3-point bombs, Duke’s done for. One-dimensional teams don’t survive.
Maryland is playing the best of anyone, and the Terps, who were one miracle minute away from sweeping Duke, are the popular choice to win the tourney.
“Maryland comes at their offensive glass like the north wind,” said Odom, who feels the game Maryland played against his team in Winston-Salem was the most impressive one he saw all season.
But can the third-seeded Terps really negotiate that minefield of a bracket they’ve been handed?
Gary Williams’ torrid troops would have to beat Wake Forest — maybe the best No. 6 seed in league history — in the first round. Then if the seedings held, they’d have to beat Duke on Saturday and Carolina on Sunday. The talent, the depth, the size and Duke-killer Juan Dixon are all in place, but that’s a ton to ask.
If it does come down to Maryland-Carolina on Sunday, figure that the Terps are due to finally beat the Tar Heels.
No. 4 Virginia, ranked 12th, has a shot at its first final since 1994, because it’s the only team in the league that’s beaten both Duke and Carolina.
The Cavaliers’ quickness and pell-mell style makes them a difficult semifinal matchup for the Heels. They play the breakneck style that Duke played Sunday all the time.
Of course, Virginia may not even survive the first round against over-achieving Georgia Tech, which will have the crowd at its back and has more at stake than anyone. A win would push the fifth-seeded Jackets to the good side of the NCAA bubble. A loss still leaves some doubt for coach Paul Hewitt’s amazing team, which has less talent than anyone, but somehow won eight league games.
The other three teams are merely spoilers, with N.C. State too fragmented, and Clemson and Florida State too young to do more than pull off one upset.
It’s easy to find a perfectly good reason why no one should win this thing, but, someone must. The one thing upon which everyone agrees is that this year there is doubt and uncertainty — and excitement.
The semifinals will almost certainly be thrillers, and while the final just might come down to Duke-Carolina for the 10th time, it could just as well be a man-bites-dog championship matchup of Maryland-Virginia for the first time.
“Carolina and Duke have had the two best years overall, so they’re close, there’s no prohibitive favorite,” said Gary Williams. “And this time, there’s probably two or three other teams that are in the range of those two. That’s the difference.”
After Duke’s win over Carolina Sunday, Battier joked about getting together with Tar Heel giant Brendan Haywood after the season to share a soda and commiserate over both of them losing their Senior Day game.
But their heart-to-heart could come even sooner than that. This could be the first time both of them lose in the ACC Tournament.
Mike London