THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 15, 1996 TAG: 9603150613
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
While spoiled North Carolina fans are whining again, several ACC coaches have come to the support of Dean Smith, whose Tar Heels are seeded sixth in the NCAA East Regional.
``I don't know how you measure greatness, but I think he has done a wonderful job,'' said Dave Odom, whose Wake Forest team won the ACC tournament last week.
The Tar Heels were knocked out of the ACC tournament in the quarterfinals by Clemson, leaving their unhappy fans with thousands of tickets to dump. It was their sixth loss in 10 games, a slide in which the Heels dropped from No. 8 in the AP poll to 25th.
Finishing the season at 20-10, the Heels open the NCAA tournament without being mentioned as a Final Four favorite for only the second time in the last 20 years.
They play 11th-seed New Orleans, which has won 10 straight, in the last of four first-round games today at the Richmond Coliseum. North Carolina has not lost a first-round game since a 78-61 double-overtime loss to Texas A&M in 1980.
But Carolina's seeding is its lowest since 1990 - a No. 8 seeding - and its second lowest since the NCAA began seeding in 1979.
Seven times the Heels have been a No. 1 seed and six times a No. 2.
Most Carolina fans would have welcomed a No. 6 seeding when the season began. Smith even worried the Tar Heels could be left out of NCAAs for the first time since 1974. It seemed a legitimate concern.
The Tar Heels had lost their top three scorers, including All-America sophomores Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace, off last season's Final Four team, and this was Smith's least experienced team in 35 years at Carolina.
But when the Heels jumped to a quick start and ripped through the first half of the ACC season with a 7-1 record, their fans figured it was business as usual.
Then, instead of winning the close games, they started losing them.
``One day people were telling us how great we were, and the next day they were telling us how horrible we were,'' says Dante Calabria, the only senior starter.
Odom says Carolina succeeded early in the season on the strengths of its backcourt, which includes junior Jeff McInnis.
``During the second part of the season others in the league saw what they were doing well and tried taking those things away from them,'' Odom said.
``I think, too, they caught some teams playing desperate basketball.''
Maryland coach Gary Williams had a potential Final Four team spoiled when he lost only one super soph, Joe Smith, to the NBA.
Williams said he admires how well the Tar Heels responded to losing Stackhouse and Wallace prematurely.
``I hope people appreciate what Smith did this year,'' Williams says. ``I'm not sure many other people could have done that under the same circumstances.''
Bobby Cremins, whose Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets won the ACC regular season, said the second half ``slump'' spoiled what could have been a great season.
``They still could be a dangerous team in the playoffs, though,'' Cremins said.
Although Carolina has lost three of its last four games, Smith does not think his team is in a slump.
``I guess it looks that way from the W's and L's,'' he said, ``but I prefer not to look on it as a slump.
``All of those losses, except to Florida State, were to NCAA tournament teams who were playing their best basketball.
``In fact, all but two of our losses were decided in the last minute.''
The Tar Heel player catching the most flak in the final part of the season was McInnis, a temperamental point guard who collected four technical fouls.
Smith admits that McInnis' play was ``more up and down than we would have liked.''
``But I think Dante and Jeff being the only two experienced players on our team felt they had to lead,'' Smith said.
``Any time we were down, they felt it was up to them and that was a hard thing to overcome. Both of them came up huge in our wins.''
McInnis says he is glad to get into the real postseason, where teams are not as familiar with the Tar Heels.
``Everyone in the ACC knows what the teams want to do, and where their weaknesses are,'' McInnis said.
``I think we have a good chance to go a long way in the playoffs against teams that don't know us that well.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
North Carolina coach Dean Smith has the Tar Heels in the NCAA
Tournament for the 22nd consecutive time.
by CNB