Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990 TAG: 9003232599
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Half of the ACC's eight teams have made it to the final 16. And the ACC is 9-1 overall, easily the best mark by any league.
Sweet revenge for a league that believes it was slighted in the rankings during the regular season and then by the NCAA selection committee, which deemed no ACC team worthy of a seed higher than third.
Since 1979, when the NCAA first began seeding teams, the ACC had always had at least one team seeded No. 1 or No. 2 in a region. Until this year.
"The ACC has spoken," Clemson coach Cliff Ellis said Tuesday. "You got four teams in the Sweet 16, and the fifth one just missed it by the hair of its chinny chin chin."
Three of the four ACC teams play Thursday. No. 17 Clemson (26-8), the ACC regular-season champ, battles third-ranked Connecticut (30-5) and No. 15 Duke (26-8) meets UCLA (22-10) in the East Regional semifinals.
In the Midwest, North Carolina (22-12) meets No. 7 Arkansas (28-4). In the Southeast, ninth-ranked Georgia Tech (26-6) takes on No. 4 Michigan State (28-5).
"I think the NCAA tournament is showing how good the ACC really is this year," Ellis said. "I am not surprised at all that the ACC has four teams left in the NCAA tournament. I think it's just great.
"If you go back to my comments before the season started, I said that the ACC would stand up for itself, and it seems like that is exactly what we have done. There has been no doubt in my mind the ACC would be up there in the end. A lot of media people who said the ACC would be down this year are climbing back into the woodwork and changing their minds a little."
Ellis also feels the ACC's performance has helped vindicate his program.
"After we won the regular-season championship, people were saying, `Well, Clemson wins the league. It's a down year.' " Having four teams in the final 16 "makes me feel better because this has been a bad rap."
Still, no super team emerged in the ACC during the regular season - or in the NCAA tournament so far.
Clemson finished on top of the ACC during the regular season for the first time, yet the Tigers were given a No. 5 seed. Georgia Tech won the league tournament - and the ACC's automatic bid to the NCAA. But that wasn't worth more than a No. 4 seed.
Duke, which lost to Georgia Tech in the ACC tournament semifinals, earned the league's top seed at No. 3. Virginia, which lost to Syracuse in the second round of the Southeast Regional, was seeded seventh after losing to Georgia Tech in the ACC tournament finals.
North Carolina, frequently the ACC's top-seeded team in the NCAA, was the ACC's worst this time at No. 8. The Tar Heels, who reached double figures in losses for the first time since 1966, had never been seeded lower than No. 3.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, whose team has made it to the Final Four three of the last four years, said parity, not mediocrity, is the reason no dominant team emerged from the ACC this year. And he said that may be why the ACC is faring so well in the NCAA tournament.
"My feeling was that it was a great year," Krzyzewski said. "I mean, it was so darn competitive. . . . I think what happened is we got a lot of teams tournament hardened. To be 9-1 as a conference right now is damn good."
North Carolina coach Dean Smith said he felt the ACC was a strong league all year, but that having four teams in the final 16 shouldn't be overblown.
"I think we overreact to what the results are in an NCAA tournament," Smith said. "To say Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas aren't three of the best teams in the country would be to me ridiculous. I think they certainly are" even though the three Big Eight powers have been eliminated.
"But that's the beauty of our tournament and what makes it so much fun," Smith said. "One game and you're out."
Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins said he didn't expect four ACC teams to make it this far.
"I am a little surprised, but we've always had a great conference," Cremins said. "I hope at least one of us makes it to the Final Four."
by CNB