Greensboro Coliseum

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The Maryland women's basketball team's hope for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament is still alive - barely. The fourth-ranked and third-seeded Terps sleepwalked through much of a quarterfinal meeting with 11th-seeded Georgia Tech before waking up and escaping with a 71-66 win before 8,965 at the Greensboro Coliseum last night. Maryland vs. Duke ACC tournament, today, 4 p.m., Comcast SportsNet

There were plenty of competing feelings as the Terps quietly packed up their gear Saturday to leave Greensboro Coliseum, their home for four days. The strip containing the Maryland logo was removed from the locker room door. The Terps still were a little dazed that their ambitions of winning the ACC tournament -- and the automatic NCAA tournament berth that comes with it -- had been put to rest. Logan Aronhalt removed his ear buds  and patiently answered questions about his errant shot to try to tie the game with 10 seconds left.

The Maryland men's basketball team has drawn the seventh seed in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and will face North Carolina State at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C. The game will be televised by ESPN2. The Terps, who have lost three straight games entering the tournament, likely would need to win out to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament. The winner of the ACC tournament receives an automatic berth in the NCAAs. Should Maryland defeat N.C. State, its next opponent would be second seed Duke, a team that beat the Terps twice in the regular season, including by 18 points in College Park on Feb. 2. The Blue Devils -- along with top seed North Carolina, third seed Florida State and No. 4 seed Clemson -- earned a first-round bye in the ACC tournament.

The second-seeded Maryland women's basketball team had its bid to repeat as ACC tournament champions end with a 72-65 loss to North Carolina in Saturday's semifinals despite nearly a second straight triple double from Alyssa Thomas, who got little help during a second-half collapse in front of an announced 8,754 at Greensboro Coliseum. Thomas finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists less than 24 hours after recording the first triple double in ACC tournament history.

- Last season, Maryland was upset by Morgan State at home and later lost by 41 points at Duke. Each time, a portion of the fan base responded as if the sky were falling. Maryland coach Gary Williams knows bad defeats - and Wednesday's 83-77 loss to William & Mary qualifies - are inevitably met with criticism and tortured analysis of the team by Terps backers. The lesson of last season, Williams said, is that Maryland, with its three senior starters, can absorb a blow and come back.

Beginning with the 1990 season, the Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball tournament has been held in North Carolina 16 times and outside the state four times. It's a statistic well known - but not so well liked - by many Maryland fans, who believe the four North Carolina schools have a built-in advantage. Maryland coach Gary Williams acknowledged this week that playing in the ACC tournament - this year's is at Greensboro Coliseum - is often akin to playing an away game rather than a contest at a neutral site.

There were plenty of competing feelings as the Terps quietly packed up their gear Saturday to leave Greensboro Coliseum, their home for four days. The strip containing the Maryland logo was removed from the locker room door. The Terps still were a little dazed that their ambitions of winning the ACC tournament -- and the automatic NCAA tournament berth that comes with it -- had been put to rest. Logan Aronhalt removed his ear buds  and patiently answered questions about his errant shot to try to tie the game with 10 seconds left.

No, it wasn't a misprint, the Carolina Monarchs did nearly pack the Greensboro Coliseum to the rafters -- 16,244 -- for a recent American Hockey League encounter. All season the expansion team has been doing fairly well at the gate, averaging just under 4,400 fans. Why the explosion?Portland was in town and, as Pirates owner Tom Ebright explained, "It was 'Fill The Building Night' and they darn near did it. It was a really festive crowd and they had a heck of a game to watch."Translation: Portland won, 3-2, in overtime.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- With 32 seconds left, the sky-blue crowd rose as one last night at Greensboro Coliseum in tribute both to the dominance of North Carolina and the comfort of familiar surroundings.Serenaded by a heavily partisan crowd of 23,235, the No. 1 Tar Heels flogged Michigan State, 73-58, to advance to the NCAA tournament's final eight. Carolina will play No. 2 seed Connecticut, which defeated Washington, 75-74, tomorrow for a spot in the Final Four.The decibel level hardly could have been higher had Carolina been allowed to play in its Chapel Hill palace, the Dean Smith Center, just 50 miles up the road.

- The Atlantic Coast Conference tournament has a familiar feel for the second-seeded Maryland Terrapins. After all, they have played each of the participants this season and could find themselves playing at least one team for a third time. At the same time, the tournament is very different - the schedule is more compressed - than the regular season. Preparing for it requires a new set of procedures. About the only thing like it for No. 19 Maryland this season was the Maui Invitational, in which the Terps played three games in three days in November, losing two. The team could have a similar schedule at Greensboro Coliseum if it wins tonight and Saturday to advance to Sunday's final.

With a chance to repeat as champion in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in jeopardy, the 10th-ranked Maryland women's basketball team leaned on junior forward Alyssa Thomas, and the two-time conference Player of the Year delivered a performance that, coupled with a stifling defense in overtime, allowed the Terps to outlast Wake Forest, 92-81, in the quarterfinals Friday night at Greensboro Coliseum. Disregarding stomach discomfort that had been bothering her since Tuesday, Thomas collected the first triple double in ACC tournament history, scoring a career-high 32 points, including eight in overtime, with 13 rebounds and 10 assists.

Maryland had one more opportunity Friday night to get it right, one precious chance -- in a meaningful game in March -- to finally claim a memorable win against a ranked team while retaining a shred of hope of securing an NCAA tournament berth. After having gone 0-6 against Top 25 teams, the Terps fell, 87-71, to No. 5 Duke in perhaps the costliest loss of all because it ended their ambitious goal of winning the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament as a seventh seed and claiming the conference's automatic NCAA bid. It was a rough, contentious, quarterfinal played in front of a heavily pro-Duke crowd.

The Cliff Tucker Maryland needs in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament is the one who scored 22 points in a win over No. 5 North Carolina in 2009, or who rained down a buzzer-beater to defeat Georgia Tech last season. The Terrapins need the Tucker who doesn't brood. The interesting part about Tucker's final-second shot — it was the most memorable of his career — is there was no time to think. That's key for the senior, who conceded Wednesday that he tends to ponder and pout when not getting the playing time he believes he deserves.

The Maryland men's basketball team has drawn the seventh seed in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and will face North Carolina State at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C. The game will be televised by ESPN2. The Terps, who have lost three straight games entering the tournament, likely would need to win out to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament. The winner of the ACC tournament receives an automatic berth in the NCAAs. Should Maryland defeat N.C. State, its next opponent would be second seed Duke, a team that beat the Terps twice in the regular season, including by 18 points in College Park on Feb. 2. The Blue Devils -- along with top seed North Carolina, third seed Florida State and No. 4 seed Clemson -- earned a first-round bye in the ACC tournament.

The evening's only true suspense ended 10 minutes before game time when the bright red numbers on the overhead scoreboard blinked on, revealing the numbers of Maryland's starting five. Dissatisfied with his team's performance in its last outing, Maryland coach Gary Williams had not committed to his usual starters entering Wednesday night's game against UNC-Greensboro. But Williams ended up standing pat, and his lineup -- the one he's used all year -- delivered a 99-56 over a winless UNC-Greensboro team that has lost all eight of their games by double-digit margins.

The Maryland Terrapins let out a loud roar Sunday night at Comcast Center when they learned they would be facing Houston in the Midwest Region of the NCAA tournament. The Terps, the No. 4 seed, against the No. 13 Cougars - yeah, that was worth a few cheers and high-fives in the team meeting room. You only hope they're that fired up when they tip off against the Cougars on Friday in Spokane, Wash. I say that because the biggest mystery facing the Terps right now is this: Why were they so flat in the first half of their disappointing 69-64 loss to Georgia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament?

- A year ago, North Carolina was nearly upset in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. Then the Tar Heels were upended in the semifinals. To say North Carolina managed to recover would be an understatement. Three weeks later, the Tar Heels were national champions. There's a lesson there for Maryland, Florida State and Virginia Tech, which, like the Tar Heels in 2009, didn't live up to their advance billing in this season's ACC tournament despite first-round byes.

The evening's only true suspense ended 10 minutes before game time when the bright red numbers on the overhead scoreboard blinked on, revealing the numbers of Maryland's starting five. Dissatisfied with his team's performance in its last outing, Maryland coach Gary Williams had not committed to his usual starters entering Wednesday night's game against UNC-Greensboro. But Williams ended up standing pat, and his lineup -- the one he's used all year -- delivered a 99-56 over a winless UNC-Greensboro team that has lost all eight of their games by double-digit margins.

- A year ago, North Carolina was nearly upset in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. Then the Tar Heels were upended in the semifinals. To say North Carolina managed to recover would be an understatement. Three weeks later, the Tar Heels were national champions. There's a lesson there for Maryland, Florida State and Virginia Tech, which, like the Tar Heels in 2009, didn't live up to their advance billing in this season's ACC tournament despite first-round byes.

- The Atlantic Coast Conference tournament has a familiar feel for the second-seeded Maryland Terrapins. After all, they have played each of the participants this season and could find themselves playing at least one team for a third time. At the same time, the tournament is very different - the schedule is more compressed - than the regular season. Preparing for it requires a new set of procedures. About the only thing like it for No. 19 Maryland this season was the Maui Invitational, in which the Terps played three games in three days in November, losing two. The team could have a similar schedule at Greensboro Coliseum if it wins tonight and Saturday to advance to Sunday's final.