ACC Tournament Should Be As Wild As Regular Season
Published: Mar 5, 2007
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The bubble-angst drama that played out on basketball courts around the Atlantic Coast Conference all season reached a crescendo over the weekend, leaving Virginia's Sean Singletary lying face down in despair.
As Singletary fell to the floor at Joel Coliseum on Saturday following Virginia's 78-72 loss at Wake Forest, the Demon Deacons celebrated for one of the few times this season, preventing the Cavaliers from claiming their first outright ACC regular-season title since Ralph Sampson led them to the Final Four 26 years ago.
"We were chasing a championship, and they wanted to spoil it for us," Singletary told reporters after the game. "We didn't do anything right."
Virginia's loss opened the door Sunday for a pack of teams to claim a share of the regular-season crown and the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament, set to start Thursday at the St. Pete Times Forum.
A Virginia Tech victory against Clemson on Sunday - the final day of the regular season - would have provided Hokies coach Seth Greenberg, who spent seven seasons as coach at the University of South Florida, with an ACC regular-season title in only Virginia Tech's third season in the league. Instead, Clemson spoiled Senior Day in Blacksburg, 75-74, to significantly strengthen its dwindling NCAA Tournament bid.
Following Georgia Tech's win against Boston College on Sunday - the Yellow Jackets' victory gave the ACC seven 20-win teams in the regular season for the first time in its 53-year history - all North Carolina had to do was beat archrival Duke for the second time this season to earn a share of the ACC title and No. 1 seed in the tournament.
The Tar Heels got a little bloody in the process, but their 86-72 victory gave them a season sweep of the Blue Devils for the first time in 11 years and a much-needed extra day of rest for bloody-nosed center Tyler Hansbrough. North Carolina's quest for its 16th ACC Tournament title begins Friday against the Florida State-Clemson winner in Thursday's first round.
If the regular season is any indication, once FSU and Clemson tip-off at noon on Thursday, there is no telling what will happen the rest of the week as the ACC Tournament comes to Florida for the first time. The ACC is expected to receive at least seven berths to the NCAA Tournament, and with FSU and Clemson fighting to get off the bubble, some believe the league deserves as many as nine teams invited to March Madness.
Let the Madness begin.
"What we're seeing now is not a surprise to me," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said on the ACC's media conference call last week. "That's why I think this league is the best league in the country. Every night out you really got to put it on the line, because if you don't, you are certainly going to lose."
FSU fans won't have to wait long to see the tournament's host school and ACC Player of the Year candidate Al Thornton take the court. The FSU-Clemson game is the first of the 11-game tournament, and if the Noles are going to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998, they will have to defeat Clemson for the first time this season - they lost both regular-season games - and then likely upset North Carolina on Friday.
Of course, anything seems possible these days in the tradition-rich ACC.
"I thought [the league] would be competitive, but I've thought that in years past, and somebody like Duke or Carolina has taken off and just ran away with the thing," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "When some teams lose early, I think it gives everybody a little bit of confidence and hope that you can still be competitive with the top teams. I think there are a lot of teams like that this year."
Shortly after Singletary picked himself up off the court Saturday and found his way to Virginia's locker room through a rush of Wake Forest students, Cavaliers coach Dave Leitao may have described his team - and the rest of the ACC - best.
"I don't think we're a hard team to figure out," Leitao told reporters. "When we don't effectively play the way that we're capable of, a lot of teams can beat us."
Reporter Scott Carter can be reached at (850) 294-3088 or scarter@tampatrib.com.
