One last chance for the ACC

At the gym yesterday, I saw a woman wearing a T-shirt that said, "I only pull for two teams: Carolina and anybody playing Duke." She must have been happy with last night's late game as Duke was embarrassed by Villanova, 77-54, but I was not.

I had been pulling for all seven teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and was embarrassed when four of the seven lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Then Maryland lost in the second round, leaving only UNC and Duke to defend the conference's reputation in the regional semi-finals. Carolina goes up against Gonzaga tonight as the sole ACC survivor.

I still contend that the ACC had some great teams — Wake Forest, Clemson, Boston College, Maryland (which grew stronger as the season progressed), Florida State. All of these teams under-achieved in the NCAA tournament, losing to teams they could have and should have beaten. I'm no college basketball expert. I didn't fill out a tournament bracket and never have. I watch very few games not involving my alma mater, but I do follow the ACC and cheer loudly and lustily for my team. I want the conference to do well (although I still think the ACC's expansion was a mistake; give me the original eight-team conference of UNC, N.C. State, Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia, South Carolina, Clemson and Maryland and let them play each other twice).

Now only one ACC team is left to defend the conference's honor, and judging from Duke's Thursday night embarrassment, Carolina might be in trouble, too. A tournament is the best way to pick a national champion (football coaches and officials, take note), but it does not guarantee that the best overall team will win. "On any given night ..." the saying goes, any team can beat any other team. It's a rare night when Duke shoots 26 percent from the floor, just as it was rare two years ago when Carolina squandered a second-half lead or last year when the Heels forgot to show up for the first part of the game in the NCAA tournament. Wake, Clemson and Maryland had awful off-nights in this year's tournament and lost games they were capable of winning.

I'll be pulling for Carolina until the end and will hope fans of other ACC schools will cheer on the Heels as they try to redeem the ACC's reputation.