The ACC placed three teams in the top eight overall seeds for the NCAA baseball tournament with Miami (No. 1), North Carolina (No. 2) and Florida State (No. 4) all earning top seeds.

The top seeds all will host four-team regionals as did eight at-large schools, like N.C. State.

The Wolfpack (38-20) will host James Madison (38-17) in the 7 p.m. game of the Raleigh regional while Charlotte and South Carolina will also meet at Doak Field.

The Tar Heels (46-12) will play Mt. St. Mary's (21-32) at 6 p.m. Friday in Cary, with Elon and UNC-Wilmington rounding out the regional.

=> Read more!

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Jemile Weeks hit a three-run homer and Enrique Garcia threw seven scoreless innings to lead top-seeded Miami into the ACC championship game with a 5-2 victory over N.C. State on Saturday.

The Hurricanes (46-8) will play Virginia at 1 p.m. Sunday. Miami swept the regular-season series from the Cavaliers 3-0 at home and have a four-game winning streak against them.

=> Read more!

• How low can the ACC go?
• Boston College and Clemson
• Florida State and Maryland
• N.C. State and Wake Forest
• Miami and Ga. Tech
• UNC and Duke

2007 record: 11-3, 7-1 ACC (Coastal champs, ACC champs)

Returning starters: Offense 7, Defense 4.

Quarterback?: Yes. Sean Glennon (12 TDs, 5 INTs) and Tyrod Taylor (5 TDs, 3 INTs)

Avoid in the ACC: N.C. State, Clemson, Wake Forest

Coaching situation: Frank Beamer has won 167 games in 21 years at his alma mater and, if he wants, he can coach the next 21 years there.

=> Read more!

• 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.

=> Read more!

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.

=> Read more!

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)

=> Read more!

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:

=> Read more!

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Jeremy Crouch had 27 points, including a 3-pointer that sparked a run that blew open a close game, as Bradley beat Virginia 96-85 in the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitation Wednesday.

Crouch's 3-pointer with 11:42 to play sparked a 19-5 run that ended with Bradley (20-15) up 80-63 with just under five minutes remaining. Crouch hit three of his five 3-pointers during that run, and he finished shooting 9-of-18 and a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line.

=> Read more!

Staff photo by Robert Willett

Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt

Virginia coach Dave Leitao

• Box score

• Photo gallery

CHARLOTTE (AP) —Anthony Morrow scored 18 points in his return to his hometown Thursday night, and Georgia Tech pulled away from Virginia late, winning 94-76 in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

Jeremis Smith also scored 18 points for the seventh-seeded Yellow Jackets (15-16), who shot 56.9 percent — the team's best in league tournament play — and knocked down 54 percent of their 3-pointers. They won their third straight and advanced to Friday night's quarterfinal against second-seeded Duke.

Sean Singletary had 20 points and 10 rebounds and Mamadi Diane added 18 points while making his first seven shots for Virginia (15-15), which lost its league tournament opener for the second straight year.

=> Read more!

Today's topic: Joe and Tudor preview the ACC tournament.

Staff video: Rob Roberts, Tim Lee, Joe Giglio and Caulton Tudor.

• ACC Now: The Podcast archives

CHARLOTTE — More is less for the ACC Tournament.

In the expanded ACC, there are more games but fewer teams with a realistic chance of winning the title. For the third time since the league grew to 12 teams, eight teams will have to win four times in four days.

No team has been able to win four games at an ACC Tournament, an option which appeared in 1992, when Florida State joined the conference and created the infamous Thursday play-in game, which would later be renamed the “Les Robinson Invitational” in honor of the former N.C. State coach.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was one of the eight teams on the outside looking in last season. Coach K said matchups are more important than seeds, he doesn’t like the odds of the bottom eight seeds running the table.

“The chances are minimal,” Krzyzewski said.

=> Read more!

Virginia's 91-76 win over Maryland ends the regular season. The tournament seeds are set. With UNC No. 1 and N.C. State No. 12.

Look at that Thursday schedule: Has the ACC Tournament ever been this bad?

Thursday's games
8) Wake vs. 9) FSU, noon
5) Miami vs. 12) N.C. State, 2:30
7) Ga. Tech vs 10) UVa, 7
6) Maryland vs 11) BC, 9:30

Friday's games
1) UNC vs. 8-9 winner, noon
4) Va. Tech vs. 5-12 winner, 2:30
2) Duke vs. 7-10 winner, 7
3) Clemson vs. 6-11 winner, 9:30

• Photo gallery

GREENSBORO — Rashanda McCants might have hurt her ankle, but that didn't stop her from leading her No. 2 North Carolina women to a 80-65 win over Virginia in the ACC semifinals today.

McCants finished with 23 points, 19 of which she earned in the first half despite leaving the court for a few minutes to tend to a sprained ankle. McCants tripped over teammate Trinity Bursey with 13:12 left in the first half.

The Tar Heels will make their seventh straight appearance in the ACC Tournament final and their 13th trip in the last 15 years. UNC is seeking its fourth straight ACC title.

=> Read more!

With one game left for each ACC team, it's safe to attempt to wrap your brain around the seeds for the ACC Tournament next week in Charlotte.

Remember, the top four teams get a bye and the Thursday pairings are: 8-9 (winner faces No. 1 seed Friday), 7-10 (winner faces No. 2 seed Friday), 6-11 (winner faces No. 3 seed Friday), 5-12 (winner faces No. 4).

Most important, is trying to make the top four, because no team has won four games at the ACC Tournament (dating back to FSU joining the league in 1992.)

Next of importance, getting to seeds 5, 6, 11 or 12, who would avoid facing UNC or Duke until Saturday. For a team like Maryland, Miami and Virginia Tech, that could be the difference between making the NCAA Tournament and not.

The conference determines seeds between tied teams based on:

1) Head-to-head record;
2) "Group" record for a tie between three or more teams;
3) "Best" win — compare the tied teams wins against the first-place team and proceed down the standings.

Note, overall record is not a factor. Here's how the seeds shape up:

=> Read more!

Staff photo by Ted Richardson

• Photo gallery

Duke held Virginia without a bucket for the last 6:44 of the first half and cruised through the rest of the game for a 86-70 victory.

Five Blue Devils scored in double figures, led by Gerald Henderson's 19 and Kyle Singler's 18. Duke shot 50.8 percent from the floor.

Duke (26-3, 13-2 in the ACC) closed the first half with a 15-2 run — Virginia's two points came off of free throws - and held onto that momentum through the second half.

Virginia's Sean Singletary had 18. The Cavaliers are now 14-14 overall and 4-11 in the ACC.