The ACC owed us those two games after the athletic tripe we had to endure for the first two days of this tournament. Tomorrow’s final between North Carolina and Clemson should be a tremendous game. The Tar Heels and Tiggers played the two best games of this ACC season.

But if you’re interested in Virginia Tech, you still have to be worried about the Hokies getting an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. They are 1-7 against the top 50 in the Ratings Percentage Index. On the other hand, they passed the sight test yesterday, very much playing like an NCAA tournament team while almost knocking off top-ranked North Carolina.

Tech coach Seth Greenberg strongly expressed his opinion afterward that the Hokies should be in the NCAAs. Here’s one that I couldn’t fit into my game story ...

“In the end it’s a human decision. You can say all you want, and the committee’s going to be as objective as humanly possible. But it’s like basketball: The X’s and O’s are Janes and Joes. Those are human beings. Tell me that human beings are totally unbiased. Come on, now, give me a break. Everyone has an opinion. We’ll see who’s opinions are strongest.“

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Here’s what A.D. Vassallo had to say afterward about writing on a reporter’s notepad during the game to vent about a foul call ...

“I didn’t want to curse at the referee or say something stupid, so I felt that was the easiest way to relieve my frustration. And it worked. I didn’t do nothing stupid to hurt my team in any way.“

Even hours later, that remains a tremendously amusing sight.

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Here are three leftover notes that we couldn’t get into the paper this week ...

1. The ACC rookie of the year isn’t heading into his first NCAA tournament on a high note. Duke freshman Kyle Singler has shot 21 for 68 (30.9 percent) from the floor in his past six games. The 6-8 forward was 1 for 9 in Duke’s semifinal loss to Clemson. “Kyle looks tired,“ Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

2. Just when you thought this unraveled season couldn’t get more rotten for N.C. State, there is this latest insult: Because of its 12th-seed placement in the ACC tournament, the Pack will be the odd-team-out for next fall’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge—banished for the event as Miami was last November.
The squeeze for the ACC comes about because the Big Ten has 11 teams. The damage for State—which dropped its last nine starts to finish 15-16—includes the loss of a home game. It faced Michigan State on the road in the most recent Challenge.

3. This is the 12th ACC tournament to be staged in Charlotte. It could be the last.

When the ACC awarded this year’s event to Charlotte in 2000, the league had nine members and the city’s arena seated 23,000. Eight years later, the conference is 12-strong (or weak, depending on your view). Plus, the city’s NBA-friendly Bobcats Arena (lots of luxury suites) has a capacity of 20,200.
The upshot is that each school has fewer seats to dangle in front of its booster-group donors—it’s a major fundraising turn-on—and that’s the main reason Charlotte won’t get the tournament again for the foreseeable future.

Next year’s event will be at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, where the 2001 per-session average attendance was 36,505. It’ll return to the Dome in 2012. Otherwise the tournament will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum through 2015. Greensboro’s building has 23,500 seats. That translates into 250 more tickets per school than each gets in Charlotte.

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That’s pretty much all I’ve got, gang. Tomorrow’s selection show should be really compelling. Unfortunately, media members won’t be allowed to watch it with the Hokies. But if they do make the NCAA tournament, rest assured—and I’m sure you were very worried about this—I will be blogging from wherever they end up for the first round. I’m hoping for Denver.

Posted by Darryl Slater in • College Sports
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