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Welcome
The Tar Heels are coming off a sad loss to Duke 95-81
The Creator
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The Tar Heels will have the No.1 seed in the ACC tournament
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ACC Tournament preview: Duke, North Carolina still the favorites
The 48th edition of the ACC Tournament leaves Tobacco Road for the Peach State, where it will be held in Atlanta for the first time since 1989.
League officials and coaches haven't been able to settle on one format for this nine-team league, so this year, the "Les Robinson play-in game" -- so named for the former N.C. State coach whose teams generally found themselves in this game pitting the eighth and ninth seeds -- is back.
That game, featuring No. 9 Clemson and No. 8 Florida State, will be the only one played Thursday night at the Georgia Dome.
The final will be held Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
The Favorites
Before Carlos Boozer's injury, you had to go with Duke or North Carolina, right? Now, it's got to be ... well, Duke or North Carolina, with Maryland surely in the mix as well.
Tournament seeds
1. North Carolina
2. Duke
3. Maryland
4. Virginia
5. Georgia Tech
6. Wake Forest
7. N.C. State
8. Florida State
9. Clemson
Three favorites? Sure. You try to whittle one of them out.
UNC is the No. 1 seed, no matter that the Tar Heels have lost three of five. Even without Boozer, Duke beat UNC at Chapel Hill 95-81 to close the regular season. The Blue Devils have to be there, too.
As for the Terps, they closed the season with a rush, beating three ranked teams in the final week: Oklahoma, Duke and Virginia. Their February swoon is over. This is a confident, dangerous team.
The Dark Horse
Let's go with Virginia. The Cavaliers looked awful in their season-ending 102-67 loss to Maryland, but any team that beat North Carolina and Duke in the same week clearly has the talent to win this tournament.
And Virginia has the frenzied style that can wear teams down, especially after playing games on back-to-back-to-back days.
The Stars
North Carolina's Joseph Forte surged down the stretch to overtake Clemson's Will Solomon for the ACC scoring title, with 22 points per game.
In the last four games, Forte averaged 28 points, and has had games of 36 and 33 points in the final three weeks.
He's part of the ACC's Big Three -- the others being point guard Jason Williams and forward Shane Battier of Duke. All three were unanimous selections to the Associated Press all-ACC team, and they will battle for national player of the year honors.
Of the Duke stars, Williams is the more mercurial of the two, with the possibility of a 10-turnover stinker lurking in the background. Battier is the steady senior veteran who shoots 3-pointers, blocks shots ... and does almost everything in between.
And don't forget Maryland's Juan Dixon, who can shoot his team past just about anybody, or Virginia's Donald Hand, who can lift the Cavaliers to great heights -- or crash them just as spectacularly.
Who's Hot
Would you believe Georgia Tech senior center Alvin Jones? He's not scoring like Forte or Solomon -- that will never happen -- but Jones is playing the best basketball of his career, averaging 14 points, 10 rebounds and 3.4 blocks. He was on the AP's all-conference team.
Maryland's Dixon is smoking-hot, averaging 25 points over his past six games.
Recent history
North Carolina and Duke have won the last four tournament titles, UNC winning in 1997 and '98, and Duke winning in '99 and 2000.
Last year, the Blue Devils beat Maryland in the championship game after North Carolina failed to each even the semifinals.
Don't be surprised if Duke and UNC play their third title game in four years.
Tidbits
UNC has entered the ACC Tournament as the No. 1 seed 18 times, but this is the first time since 1993.
North Carolina has won the most ACC titles with 15. Duke is next at 11, followed by N.C. State with 10. Clemson and Florida State have never won.
When Maryland played Duke for the title last season, it was the Terps' first appearance in the championship game under coach Gary Williams.
Who's Headed to the Dance
At least five teams, and probably a sixth, will be dancing.
North Carolina, Duke, Maryland, Virginia and Wake Forest are in. Georgia Tech has a very good case, despite a late loss to Florida State, and could seal a bid with a win or two in the tournament.
Anyone else has to win the tournament to get the league's automatic bid.
First round, March 8
At Georgia Dome, Atlanta
No. 8 Florida State vs. No. 9 Clemson
Quarterfinals, March 9
No. 1 North Carolina vs. Florida St./Clemson, 12:00 p.m.
No. 4 Virginia vs. No. 5 Georgia Tech, 2:30 p.m.
No. 2 Duke vs. No. 7 North Carolina St, 7:00 p.m.
No. 3 Maryland vs. No. 6 Wake Forest, 9:30 p.m.
Semifinals, March 10
Friday afternoon winners, 1:30 p.m.
Friday evening winners, 4:00 p.m.
Championship, March 11
Semifinal winners, 1 p.m. ET
  
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