By JOEDY McCREARY
AP Sports Writer
March 4, 2010
Only one thing is certain for this week's Atlantic Coast Conference women's tournament: Some traditional powers will be heading home early.
Duke, Maryland and North Carolina have combined to win the last 10 championships, and some combination of two of them have met for the title in every year but one since 2001.
There's no way that happens this year. The Terrapins and Tar Heels play in the first round Thursday in Greensboro, N.C., with the winner facing the top-seeded Blue Devils (24-5) in the quarterfinals.
That opens the door for several new faces to make deep runs -- possibly all the way to Sunday's championship game.
Like second-seeded Florida State (26-4), which has never advanced past the semifinals. Or No. 3 seed Virginia (21-8), which hasn't won multiple ACC tournament games since 1994. Or even fourth-seeded Georgia Tech (22-8), which for the first time claimed a bye into the quarterfinals.
"I think all of the teams have shown their nights of brilliance," Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "It's been a big year for equity and parity and things of that nature. ... I think that's what's going to be the remarkable thing about what our team did, to be as steady as we were, given the nature of this very volatile environment."
Indeed, heading into the final weekend of the regular season, there seemingly was only one constant: Duke's dominance.
The Blue Devils wrapped up the No. 1 seed with a rout of Virginia, and threatened to turn the tournament into the Duke Invitational, with the only thing standing between them and a 13-1 conference finish was a North Carolina team struggling through its worst season in years.
But in an untimely slip-up, Duke was upset by the Tar Heels to give the Seminoles a share of the regular-season title. The win also provided a glimmer of optimism for North Carolina and perhaps even expose a few flaws in the Blue Devils' lineup.
"I've been in the league a long time, and this year, it's just absolutely crazy," North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "I guess that's what makes it so good. It keeps the coaches from getting a lot of sleep at night, because you just never know what's going to happen, and I've just been shocked by some of the things that have happened this year. But I guess that's what ACC women's basketball is all about."
This topsy-turvy ACC season left Hatchell's Tar Heels (18-10), the preseason pick to win the league, falling to the No. 8 seed -- though they did play the year without top inside threat Jessica Breland, who continues to recover from an offseason diagnosis of and treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma. The young Terrapins (18-11), who lost graduated stars Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman from last year's championship team, slipped to the No. 9 seed. Those two schools have combined to win the last five tournament titles.
Sixth-seeded North Carolina State (17-12), under first-year coach Kellie Harper, won four of five to finish the year, including a season-ending upset of Georgia Tech that knocked the Yellow Jackets from the national rankings. No. 5 seed Wake Forest (17-12) finished at .500 in ACC play for the first time since 1988.
But there might not be a team with more to prove this week than Florida State.
The Seminoles came to Greensboro last year sharing the regular-season title, holding the No. 2 seed and looking like a team ready to take the next step toward becoming the newest perennial contender. Then came an 18-point semifinal loss to Duke that showed just how far they still have to come.
Now, after those season-ending upsets, Sue Semrau's team returns in exactly the same position.
"Our players have been talking about this time, this weekend, for a very long time," Semrau said. "Last year, we were able to have an opportunity to be able to be ACC co-champions of the regular season, and there just wasn't a lot of to-do about that (this time). It's really all about the tournament in everybody's eyes. We've been preparing and hoping to play some of our best basketball this weekend."
