Day Three of the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament

The ACC has always been very proud of its' long and accomplished basketball tradition. To fans of schools within the conference it is the best basketball conference in the nation.

Of the remaining charter schools in the conference (North Carolina, Duke, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Maryland and Clemson) all consistently produce winning records against outside opponents and post most of their losses from in-conference play.

Many fans of the conference were reluctant to expand the conference believing that the addition of schools outside of the conference's long dominant winning tradition would water down the league and its' long standing image as a power conference.

After the first two rounds of the conference tournament it appears those concerns can be put to rest as the most recent entrees to the conference beat three of the league's charter members. Shocked fans watched as two Florida teams best known as football powers, quickly sent home perennial powers Wake Forest and North Carolina State and low seeded Boston College eliminated a very talented Maryland team.

Standing by in the wings, the forth-new member, Virginia Tech, as a result of winning a high seed awaited the outcome of Miami - N.C. State game to learn who their second round opponent would be.

It appears that those fans concerned about the competitiveness of the new entrees into the conference can rest easy as after the first round of play four of the league's newest members will play in the second round while four senior members of the conference have been sent home.

In the second round of play both North Carolina and Duke played very competitive games against opponents, which did not seem to realize they were not suppose to win. UNC struggled until late in the first half to gain a lead over a very good and determined Florida State team and Duke had a similar problem with an aggressive and scrappy Georgia Tech team. Both UNC and Duke benefited from rest and from very deep benches as their opponents seemed to whither in the second half, perhaps the result of having played tough games the previous day.

It is interesting that both Duke and UNC won by the same score 82-70.

While the leagues pre-tournament favorites struggled to gain victories two lowered seeds scored impressive and dominating wins over two strong opponents.

Virginia Tech, perhaps demonstrating why their coach was picked as coach of the year dominated a big and talented Miami team 63-49 while Clemson eliminated Boston College by a startling 82-48.

While blowouts seemed the order of the day on Friday the semi-finals provided two very close, very exciting and very hard fought games that included one major and one near upset.

The first semi-finals game matched North Carolina with upstart Virginia Tech. While UNC came in ranked number one in the nation, but having struggled to win against Florida State, Virginia Tech entered on a season ending roll and demonstrated a high level of play and confidence while beating Miami by a score 63-49.

Virginia Tech took charge of the game early and maintained a lead throughout the first half by executing a fast paced offense and a sticky defense, which led to several UNC turnovers. Tech surprised everyone by matching UNC's vaunted fast break with a devastating one of their own. Taking advantage of the Tar Heels' frequent fumbles and miscues on offense Tech frequently beat the Heels down court and scored easily. The Tarheels on the other hand would run the break well only to miss easy lay-ups or turn the ball over as the result of over-passing or mis-handling passes.

In second half Tech led throughout as UNC tried desperately to close the gap, but the shots were not falling. Three point attempts, which normally save UNC, bounced off the rim and were rebounded by Tech and converted to points on the other end. Only with six minutes left in the game did the tide turn when UNC made one of its' patented scoring runs. It seemed as though only Hansbrough could score and he did grabbing every rebound and putting back several missed field goals until finally the game was tied.

With the game tied and the clock running out UNC put the ball in the hands of its' speedy point guard Ty Lawson who after running most of time off the clock drove in for a lay-up which he missed badly. Hansbrough, who was not in the best position to grab the rebound somehow did and after falling away nailed a jump shot which proved to be the game winner.

The Tarheels made an impressive and hard fought comeback, but did not deserve to win this game. They were badly outplayed by a tough and more deserving Virginia Tech team.

Anyone who still believes that the new league teams are not competitive did not watch this game.

In the second semi-final game seasoned Duke with its' rich history of conference titles and final four appearances took on a scrappy Clemson team which has not reached the ACC finals since the very early years of the conference (1961).

If the Duke team had witnessed any of Clemson's play against Boston College they (Duke) knew they were in for a battle from the opening tip....and they were.

Clemson used the same hustling, sticky defense and run a shoot offense to keep Duke off balance. Whenever Duke would be poised to make a run Clemson thanks to the hot hand of Cliff Hammonds would bounce right back. When in the first half guard Rick Paulus got hot from beyond the line by hitting 4 of 5 three-point shots he was matched shot for shot by Hammonds.

Duke could not shake Clemson and Clemson could not shake Duke. The game remained close throughout, causing a desperate Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to run onto the floor during a timeout and demand more enthusiasm and cheering from the Duke fans. In response Clemson fans, joined by Duke archrival UNC fans lead cheers for Clemson.

Clemson won the game with a tenacious defense and balanced scoring led by Cliff Hammonds with 17 points, Trevor Booker with 18 and James Mays with 16. It was Mays who ignited the Clemson charge by hitting two consecutive three-point shots to break a 56-56 tie and ignite an 11-4 run by Clemson. From which Duke never really recovered.

In spite of Paulus's first half performance the Clemson defense shut down Duke's three point scoring holding them to only 6 three pointers out of 26 attempts.

With time running our Duke sent Clemson to line, hoping to get the ball back without benefit of Clemson scoring points. Clemson however, made 7 of 8 free throws to hold their lead.

Final score Clemson 78 Duke 74.

For Clemson their appearance in the ACC finals will be their first in 46 years. Prior to this years' appearance Clemson had been 14-54 in ACC tournament competition.

In the upcoming final Clemson will meet the number one ranked team in the nation, the Carolina Tarheels. The tarheels however will have to play far better against Clemson than they have in either of their first two tournament games if they are to win the conference title. The Tigers of Clemson are playing better and more inspired basketball at this point.

If the Tarheels are to win they will have to generate scoring from someone other than Hansbrough. Otherwise it will be a long night for the heels.