• UNC, Duke, Wake Forest preview

The ACC lost one underclassman to the NBA Draft. That's the fewest since the parade of juniors started to leave the college ranks 25 years ago.

Theoretically, that means the ACC is poised for a great season with, at the very least, a chance to send more than four teams to the NCAA Tournament, which it did in 2008 despite being the No. 1-rated conference by the RPI.

The league will certainly have a national power to fly the flag in UNC, the prohibitive favorite to win the national title in Detroit on April 6, 2009. And the face of college basketball in UNC senior Tyler Hansbrough, who'll become the conference's all-time leading scorer and UNC's leading rebounder before the tournament begins.

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Phil Steele's annual college football tome — all 328 pages in single-space, six-point type — is available for consumption. If you don't want to leave your house, you can order one at PhilSteele.com.

The magazine maestro talked with ACC Now on Saturday about his ACC predictions and his choice to win the BCS national title.

ACC predictions — Atlantic: Clemson; Coastal: Virginia Tech. Overall champ: Clemson

BCS champ: Florida

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Doneal Mack got lost in a crowded Memphis backcourt during the Tigers' Final Four season. The junior from Charlotte will finish his career elsewhere.

Mack's father said his son will leave Memphis and transfer to another Division I school. Greg Mack listed Clemson and Wake Forest as possible options for his son, who averaged 6.9 points in 12.5 minutes per game for the backcourt-heavy Tigers, who lost in the national title game to Kansas.

Mack originally committed to Florida out of high school but was denied admission.

The decision announced Monday by Wake Forest University to drop SAT and ACT test scores as an admission consideration will not pertain to prospective athletes at the Winston-Salem school.

Under NCAA rules, the body’s eligibility committee requires that all athletes meet a sliding scale of high school academic achievement in order to participate in sanctioned sports. An authorized SAT or ACT test result is part of that NCAA Clearinghouse eligibility formula.

Wake’s sports information department was advised by the school’s admissions department late Tuesday morning that all athletes still would have to go through the SAT and/or ACT process.

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Four ACC teams will open their football season on Thursday and Caulton Tudor isn't keen on the idea.

Basically Tudor argues that Thursday football is a gateway drug and if college football bosses aren't careful, they'll be mainlining whatever the television execs deal them — Tuesday? Wednesday? (See: Conference USA) — in the next round of contracts.

In part, Tudor's right. ESPN started the Thursday bandwagon as a showcase game and it was a good idea but it has proliferated into Baylor playing Wake on Fox Sports Waco.

But Tudor's also wrong because fans like Thursday games and this is one of the few carrots college leaders still feed fans.

Former Miami football player Kirby Freeman, now at Baylor, may be the first opposing quarterback that Wake Forest’s defense confronts in the 2008 season.

The 6-3, 210-pound Freeman, a graduate student and native of Brownwood, Texas, transferred to Baylor after the 2007 season. He’s immediately eligible under an NCAA rule that allows certain graduate students to avoid having to sit out the customary one season upon transferring.

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• How low can the ACC go?
• Boston College and Clemson
• Florida State and Maryland
• Va. Tech and UVa
• Miami and Ga. Tech
• UNC and Duke

2007 record: 9-4, 5-3 ACC

Returning starters: Offense 5, Defense 9.

Quarterback?: Yes. Riley Skinner (12 TDs, 13 INTs)

Avoid in the ACC: Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, UNC

Coaching situation: Jim Grobe's 46-39 in seven seasons at Wake. After going 20-7 in the past two seasons, and winning the ACC title in 2006, Grobe decided to stay at Wake, despite multiple offers to leave, notably from Arkansas last December. He has given every reason to believe he's a lifer.

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• Wake Forest and N.C. State
• Boston College and Clemson
• Florida State and Maryland
• Va. Tech and UVa
• Miami and Ga. Tech
• UNC and Duke

If you thought the ACC was bad last year, or the year before, or the year before ... brace yourself for 2008. The league could be even worse, if that's possible.

Attrition, either through the NFL Draft, graduation or suspensions, has hit the division champs, Boston College and Virginia Tech, hard.

Traditional powers Miami and Florida State, who went a combined 12-13 in 2007, are no longer reloading but out-and-out rebuilding. FSU is doing so with the handicap of an academic scandal.

The ACC, and Coastal Division in particular, is so bad that Duke could equal its combined win total since 2004 before October ends.

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When the ACC spring meetings begin Sunday at Amelia Island, Fla., discussions of expanded conference scheduling will not be limited to basketball.

Also under review will be the possibility of going to a nine-game league format in football. Under the current system, ACC teams play eight conference games. Each school in the two six-team divisions — Atlantic and Coastal — play the other five division members plus three from the opposite division.

Should a nine-game format be adopted, each team would play four games against teams from the opposite division.

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Athlon Sports tapped Wake Forest as the No. 24 team in the nation for its college football preview on Friday.

The publication is also picking the Demon Deacons to finish second in the ACC's Atlantic Division behind Clemson.

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Thursday, Aug. 28
Jacksonville State @ Ga. Tech
Charleston Southern @ Miami
N.C. State @ South Carolina
Wake Forest @ Baylor

Saturday, Aug. 30
Boston College vs. Kent State (@ Cleveland)
Alabama vs. Clemson (@ Atlanta)
James Madison @ Duke
Delaware @ Maryland
McNeese State @ UNC
USC @ UVa
Va. Tech vs. East Carolina (@ Charlotte)

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For DaJuan Morgan, the magic moment in the NFL draft came late Sunday morning.

That’s when the Kansas City Chiefs, with the fifth pick in the third round, selected N.C. State’s pad-popping safety. The announcement created euphoria and tears of joy, said Morgan, who was with his mother, father, brother and friends.

“My mom was in tears; I was crying a little,’’ he said Sunday afternoon. “But I was talking to the [Chiefs],, so I had to stay composed.”

Morgan’s teammate, defensive tackle DeMario Pressley, became the second Wolfpack player selected when the Green Bay Packers chose him in round five.

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North Carolina will play Michigan State at Detroit's Ford Field and Duke will play at Purdue in next season's ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

As expected, N.C. State will be left out of the made-for-TV event for the first time because it finished last in league play. The Big Ten features 11 teams; the ACC has a dozen.

The schedule:

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Staff photo by Robert Willett

Wake coach Dino Gaudio

Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton

Wake guard Ishmael Smith

Florida State guard Jason Rich

• Photo gallery

• Box score
CHARLOTTE — Wake Forest beat Florida State twice during the regular season. The Deacs would have traded either win for one Thursday at the ACC Tournament.

Florida State won its opening-round ACC Tournament game for the second time in as many years with a 70-60 win over Wake in the first game of the tournament Thursday afternoon at Charlotte Bobcats Arena.

Jason Rich (21 points) and Ralph Mims (16) led the Seminoles into Friday's second-round matchup with top-seeded UNC. The two teams met in 2007 with the Heels winning 73-58.

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Staff photo by Ted Richardson