Dishin’ on the ACC tournament
Site: Greensboro Coliseum
Top Seeds: (1) Duke, (2) Maryland, (3) North Carolina, (4) Florida State
Despite the loss of All-American candidate Chelsea Gray, the Duke Blue Devils have continued their success, winning the regular season title with wins over Maryland and North Carolina along the way. Making the ACC tournament final may be all that is necessary to clinch the Blue Devils a number two seed in the NCAA tournament.
A balanced attack is led on both ends of the court by ACC defensive player of the year Elizabeth Williams. Haley Peters, Tricia Liston and freshman Alexis Jones have all stepped up their game in Gray’s absence for Duke.
Maryland may boast the best one-two combination in the conference with forwards Alyssa Thomas and Tianna Hawkins, and coach Brenda Frese has done a great job convincing the Terps they can overcome their own injuries all season.
Beyond Maryland and Duke, as competitive as teams such as North Carolina and Florida State may be, they have enough flaws and inconsistencies that it would be quite a surprise for one of them to make the conference finals.
Other players to watch for include Tierra Ruffin-Pratt and Xylina McDaniel of North Carolina, Leonor Rodriguez and Alexa Deluzio of Florida State, Tyaunna Marshall of Georgia Tech, Morgan Stroman of Miami, and Ataira Franklin of Virginia.
Thursday, March 7
- Game No. 1 – Seed No. 5 Miami vs. Seed No. 12 Virginia Tech 11 a.m. (RSN)
- Game No. 2 – Seed No. 8 NC State vs. Seed No. 9 Clemson 2 p.m. (RSN)
- Game No. 3 – Seed No. 7 Georgia Tech vs. Seed No. 10 Wake Forest 6 p.m. (RSN)
- Game No. 4 – Seed No. 6 Virginia vs. Seed No. 11 Boston College 8 p.m. (RSN)
Friday, March 8
- Game No. 5 – Seed No. 4 Florida State vs. winner of Game 1 11 a.m. (RSN)
- Game No. 6 – Seed No. 1 Duke vs. winner of Game 2 2 p.m. (RSN)
- Game No. 7 – Seed No. 2 Maryland vs. winner of Game 3 6 p.m. (RSN)
- Game No. 8 – Seed No. 3 North Carolina vs. winner of Game 4 8 p.m. (RSN)
Saturday, March 9
- Game No. 9 – ACC Semifinal 1 1 p.m. (RSN)
- Game No. 10 – ACC Semifinal 2 3:30 p.m. (RSN)
Sunday, March 10
- Game No. 11 – Championship Game 2 p.m. (ESPN2)
