Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 10, 1991                   TAG: 9103100115
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: TOM FOREMAN JR. ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium

IT'S UNC VS. DUKE - AGAIN

Top-seeded and No. 6 Duke, and second-seeded and No. 7 North Carolina made their way to the ACC basketball tournament for the sixth time Saturday.

The Tar Heels blew a big lead but recovered and beat Virginia 76-71. The Blue Devils whipped North Carolina State 93-72.

North Carolina leads the series of championship games 4-1, and Rick Fox is bent on - if not talkative about - increasing the edge, especially since he was around for the last one, a 77-74 triumph against the Blue Devils in 1989 in Atlanta.

Asked if the Blue Devils might have an edge in toughness, Fox responded, "We'll find out."

Are the Blue Devils a tougher team than the 1988 club that beat the Tar Heels in Greensboro for the ACC title?

"We'll find out," Fox said.

Is Duke tougher than this year's North Carolina team?

"We'll find out."

And, when coach Dean Smith was asked what would be a critical factor to North Carolina's success, he joked, "Who's officiating?"

"Duke's having a great year. They're playing by far their best basketball at this point," he said. "I think we've played some of our best basketball lately. I don't think you can pin it on one thing."

Duke center Christian Laettner, who said much more, noted that the Blue Devils are getting used to physical play, the type that seems to typify their recent meetings with North Carolina.

"Personally, I'm ready for the physical play," he said.

The first- and second-seeded teams have met 15 previous times in the ACC title game, and the top seed leads 13-2. The upset winners were N.C. State, which beat Duke 91-85 in 1965 at Raleigh, and South Carolina 52-51 against North Carolina in 1971 at Greensboro.

Fox already has prepared his talk for the underclassmen who haven't experienced the ACC championship game.

"No matter who scores the point, who grabs the rebounds, who gets the MVP trophy, as long as we win, it will be the best feeling. You'll talk about it for the rest of your life," Fox said. "People ask me what's my greatest moment in basketball, I still say the ACC Tournament in Atlanta."

Bigger than the shot he hit to beat Oklahoma in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year.

"That got us to the Sweet 16, but it didn't win the Final Four," he said.

Even before the Tar Heels played Saturday, a North Carolina fan posted a sign at the entrance to the parking lot behind the Charlotte Coliseum. It combined the fervor of the tournament with the recent daily reports from the Persian Gulf War.

"Baghdad Radio reports the Tar Heels will defeat the Satan Duke Blue Devils in the mother of all tournaments."