THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 4, 1995 TAG: 9503040559
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
As the ACC regular-season championship race goes down to the final dribble, so does the balloting for league all-star honors.
Maryland takes a one-game lead over North Carolina, Virginia and Wake Forest into the final weekend.
If the Terps lose at Virginia on Sunday, all four teams would tie for first place, provided Wake Forest defeats North Carolina State and UNC beats Duke today.
It is no surprise that the tightest league race ever is generating the most heated debate about postseason honors, too.
Sports Illustrated fueled the controversy this week by selecting North Carolina sophomore Jerry Stackhouse as its national player of the year.
Though Stackhouse probably will make the All-ACC first team, which will be announced next week, he might not even be among the top three candidates for ACC player of the year.
If Maryland's Joe Smith already had not proved he is No. 1 in the league and nation before, many felt he did so with Wednesday's 40-point effort against Duke that included the game-winning goal at the buzzer.
Still, Smith has serious competition. At least one media member contends Wake Forest's Randolph Childress wrapped up the honor with an outstanding performance in Tuesday's victory over UNC.
Some league coaches have said they would vote for UNC's Rasheed Wallace or Wake Forest's Tim Duncan.
The league's talented sophomore foursome - Stackhouse, Wallace, Smith and Duncan - almost certainly will knock some established seniors to the second or third teams.
Competition is just as tight for coach-of-the-year honors among Virginia's Jeff Jones, Wake Forest's Dave Odom, UNC's Dean Smith and Maryland's Gary Williams.
Jones, in the grand style of his teacher, Terry Holland, has done more with less and is the only coach among the four with a chance to tie for first place in the league without a dominating center.
My All-ACC picks:
First team: Joe Smith, Maryland; Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace, UNC; Tim Duncan and Randolph Childress, Wake Forest.
Second team: Travis Best and James Forrest, Georgia Tech; Bobby Sura, Florida State; Harold Deane and Junior Burrough, Virginia.
Third team: Cherokee Parks, Duke; Donald Williams, North Carolina; Johnny Rhodes, Maryland; Todd Fuller, N.C. State; and Drew Barry, Georgia Tech.
Player of the year: Joe Smith, Maryland.
Coach of the year: Dave Odom, Wake Forest.
Freshman of the year: Curtis Staples, Virginia.
THE SEEDINGS: If Maryland beats Virginia to win the regular season, the Terps could emerge the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament East Region and play their opening two games in Baltimore.
North Carolina, barring a loss to Duke and a poor tournament showing, could be the No. 1 seed in the Southeast and play opening games in Tallahassee.
Virginia and Wake Forest should be second or third seeds.
While seedings have certain advantages, Stackhouse knows not to attach too much importance to them: ``We were seeded No. 1 last year and lost in the second game.''
COACH K UPDATE: The largest media gathering of the season will converge Monday on Durham for coach Mike Krzyzewski's first public appearance in two months.
Krzyzewski turned the team over to his assistants in early January because of health problems.
With rumors swirling, CNN and ESPN have expressed intentions of attending.
But don't expect any major announcement or surprises. Krzyzewski already has promised to return to the Duke sidelines next year and that has not changed.
NEWTON OUT: Duke sophomore forward Greg Newton was declared academically ineligible Friday and will miss the remainder of the season, the school announced.
The 6-foot-10 Newton has played in 25 games, averaging 4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. He was a backup to Duke's big men, 6-11 Erik Meek and 6-10 Cherokee Parks.
Newton had been accused of cheating in a computer science class, an allegation he has denied. The allegations appeared in the school's student newspaper, The Chronicle, which also reported that Newton had been convicted of cheating. He had been appealing the process when the suspension was handed down. MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
ILLUSTRATION: ACC GLANCE
[For a copy of the chart, see microfilm for this date.]
by CNB