Duke, Maryland favorites in ACC tourney
March 10, 2010
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP)—Duke and Maryland ended the regular season atop theAtlantic Coast Conference with plenty of separation from the rest of the league.Their last meeting was a tense fight that went to the final minute.
Yet they could have a difficult time setting up another matchup in thisweek’s Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
Fourth-ranked Duke (26-5, 13-3 ACC) is a good team, but coach MikeKrzyzewski acknowledges this year’s squad hardly has the powerful look of BlueDevils past—no matter how good struggling North Carolina made it look in lastweekend’s rivalry romp in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Meanwhile, No. 19 Maryland(23-7, 13-3) didn’t exactly overwhelm the league in the final month even as itcaught up to the Blue Devils and shared the regular-season title.
“We have to fight hard, and I’m sure every team in the league will,” saidMaryland’s Greivis Vasquez, who was voted ACC player of the year this week.“It’s an even league. Nobody really stands out and is like, ‘This is the bestteam.’ Every game’s going to be close. It’s going to be so much fun thisweekend.”
Duke, the defending champion, earned the top seed and will play the winnerof Thursday’s first-round game between Boston College and Virginia on Fridayafternoon. Last year’s title was the eighth in 11 years and 17th overall for theBlue Devils, pulling them in a tie with the Tar Heels for most championships inACC history.
“A lot of times, we’ve been playing our best basketball at the end of theseason, which is what you try to gear for,” Krzyzewski said. “Then you put alevel of importance on the tournament. Hopefully, it touches the guys so thatthey use their talents and their experience at this time and not look forward tojust the NCAA tournament.”
Maryland enters the tournament with momentum after seven straight victories,though the Terrapins had to work their way through nearly every one of them.They needed a last-second 3-pointer at home to beat NCAA bubble team GeorgiaTech, won by four in double-overtime at Virginia Tech and had to rally from 15down to beat Clemson.
Its “easy” win in that stretch? Rallying from 10 down at halftime to win67-58 at North Carolina State, the tournament’s No. 11 seed.
Last week, Maryland got several clutch baskets from Vasquez late to beatDuke 79-72 in College Park, Md. Duke won the first meeting by 19 points.
“We obviously would love that opportunity to get another chance at them (inSunday’s championship),” Duke senior Jon Scheyer said. “But that’s a long waysaway. First of all, we need to get there and worry about ourselves. There aresix other teams in that side of the bracket. We can’t worry about who comesout.”
Third-seeded Florida State—which lost to Duke in last year’s final—andfourth-seeded Virginia Tech finished three games back of the Blue Devils andTerrapins. That quartet earned a bye into Friday’s quarterfinals, and will facethe winner of matchups featuring teams playing for NCAA seeding, postseasoninvitations or just plain pride.
Wake Forest is the fifth seed, yet lost to North Carolina and N.C. State—both of which managed just five wins. Clemson had a chance to earn the thirdseed, but lost to the Demon Deacons in Sunday’s season finale to fall to sixth.
Next up is Georgia Tech, which has lost three of four games enteringGreensboro to put its NCAA chances in jeopardy. The Yellow Jackets face the TarHeels with the winner facing the Terrapins the next day.
“There are teams in our league that are good basketball teams that mightfeel they need to win a game (for NCAAs),” Maryland coach Gary Williams said.“Anytime you get in that situation, you have to be ready to play.”
Making matters more difficult for the teams playing in the first-round gamesis the fact that no team has won four games in four days in the tournament. N.C.State has come the closest, winning three games to reach the finals in 1997 and2007 before falling in the final each time.
That’s the challenge awaiting the defending national champion Tar Heels, whohave their lowest seed ever at 10th. After a miserable season filled withinjuries and youthful mistakes, North Carolina knows its NCAA chances arereduced to winning the title.
“We really have no choice but to play as many games as it’s going totake,” senior Deon Thompson said. “If it’s four games, it’s four games.”
AP Sports Writer Joedy McCreary in Durham contributed to this report.
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