Tar Heels

"Go West" was the advice for young men seeking their fortune in the mid-1800s. At the start of the 21st century, they've reversed their dribble. Maryland and North Carolina meet today at Comcast Center in College Park. The Tar Heels have three Californians, two in a potent freshman class. The Terps' leading scorer is D.J. Strawberry, and their top rebounder is Ekene Ibekwe. Both are from Los Angeles suburbs. Southern California talent like Jared Dudley and Sean Marshall eased Boston College's entry into the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Loyola women's lacrosse team learned that first-game jitters and a hungry top-five opponent don't mix.Still smarting from a bitter defeat to top-ranked Maryland Sunday, No. 4 North Carolina scored the game's first five goals and overwhelmed a young Greyhounds squad, 13-6, playing its inaugural game of the season at Curley Field yesterday.Senior co-captain and midfielder Kathleen O'Shea led the defending Colonial Athletic Association champion and No. 6 team in the nation with two goals and an assist.

COLLEGE PARK -- Ron Vanderlinden must feel a little like he is sitting on top of the world these days.The Maryland football team is off to a 5-2 start, is most likely just two wins away from a bowl bid and has reached the top of the nation's NCAA Division I rankings in turnover margin and kickoff returns.The Terps have a plus-16 turnover margin or an average of 2.29 a game, and they lead the country with an average of 32.1 yards on 14 kickoff returns.The third-year coach is also savoring the high national rankings of his two junior All-America candidates, running back LaMont Jordan and cornerback Lewis Sanders.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- North Carolina was terrific. Maryland's comeback was superb. And the Terrapins' loss to the Tar Heels in the ACC tournament semifinals yesterday won't matter when the NCAA tournament starts next week.But none of that absolves the Terps' abysmal performance in the first 28 minutes of a game in which they had much to gain.None of that absolves the troubling reality that the Terps basically failed to show on a day when they had a real chance to secure a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, bury North Carolina for one of the few times ever and advance to their first ACC tournament final in 15 years.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Maryland coach Cindy Timchal always preaches to her players before games about not trying to prove their the best, but simply compete for 60 minutes. Wait, change that to 66 minutes.After squandering a seven-goal, second-half advantage, the top-ranked Terrapins needed a Jen Adams' goal with 44 seconds left in the six-minute overtime to secure a 19-17 victory over No. 6 North Carolina yesterday before 750 in an Atlantic Coast Conference tournament first-round game.Adams scored two of her career best seven goals in overtime, and Christine Jenkins contributed five goals for Maryland, the nation's highest-scoring team that has only been pushed past regulation twice during its 22-game win streak.

Talk to the North Carolina men's lacrosse players about their losses, and the Tar Heels won't utter a word about their humbling defeats to Pennsylvania and Navy. Down in Chapel Hill, losses take on a more personal meaning.Over the past two tumultuous months, the Tar Heels have had one teammate commit suicide and another, starting defenseman Matt Kull, hospitalized for what university officials would only specify as "a serious medical condition." Tragedy has laced the North Carolina program, which has had four ordeals involving players since 1995.

COLLEGE PARK -- The No. 7 Maryland basketball team has gotten smaller.Its goals have not.Holding off No. 12 North Carolina and building momentum for the postseason are on the Terps' agenda when they meet the Tar Heels today at 4 p.m. at Cole Field House. Those objectives would be lofty enough under normal circumstances, and they become towering tasks minus a senior center who has started 105 games.The contest between the top Duke-chasers in the Atlantic Coast Conference will be Maryland's first at home without Obinna Ekezie, the popular pivot man who ruptured his right Achilles' tendon Tuesday and underwent surgery Thursday.

Chalk up another major milestone for the UMBC lacrosse team in its steady climb up the NCAA Division I ladder.The Retrievers finally put an end to a North Carolina hex last night, dealing the Tar Heels a 14-13 loss with a spectacular, fast-break goal by senior crease attackman Casey Hard with 48 seconds left in a crowd-pleasing duel at UMBC Stadium.Hard deposited the ball perfectly into the net off a pinpoint pass from senior attackman Chris Turner, who had sped downfield after taking a pass from senior defenseman Jason Quenzer.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Maryland sent a message yesterday to the men's basketball committee that seeds and selects the NCAA tournament.Make us a No. 2.The Terps were seeded second in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, and for 32 minutes against North Carolina yesterday, they put out a second-rate effort. Down by as many as 23 points, Maryland and Steve Francis mounted a furious charge, but ended up on the wrong side of an 86-79 semifinal upset by the Tar Heels.Coach Gary Williams and the nation's No. 5 team had beaten No. 15 North Carolina twice in the regular season.

COLLEGE PARK -- What a difference a year has made for Maryland's women's lacrosse team.This time last year, the Terrapins were reeling after an 0-2 start, the result of games with Duke and North Carolina.Over the weekend, the top-ranked Terps made sure it was a different story this year.Yesterday, they completed a sweep of those two Atlantic Coast Conference rivals, defeating No. 2 North Carolina, 13-7, at Maryland's Ludwig Field. That win came on the heels of Friday night's 8-5 victory over No. 7 Duke and Tuesday's 12-8 win at No. 9 Penn State.

No. 1 Northwestern (22-0) vs. No. 5 North Carolina (16-4) When: : 5:30 p.m. Where: : Johnny Unitas Stadium, Towson University Outlook: : The four-time defending champions face a title-game newcomer in this clash of high-powered offense vs. stingy defense. As Northwestern aims to run its title streak to five, the Wildcats average 17.45 goals per game and have scored 143 more goals than North Carolina. The third-seeded Tar Heels, in their first final in four tries, are holding the opposition to 8.85 goals.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -UMBC goalie Jeremy Blevins said he had never faced an opponent who scored eight goals on his first eight shots. He won't forget the experience anytime soon. North Carolina sophomore Billy Bitter tied a school record for goals in a game to help beat the Retrievers, 15-13, on Saturday at Fetzer Field and oust UMBC from the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament. Sixth seed North Carolina will play either Duke or Navy next Sunday in Annapolis. The Retrievers, meanwhile, are left with a Bitter memory.

Head games. That's what they'll play Saturday when UMBC invades North Carolina in an NCAA lacrosse tournament first-round contest. Peet Poillon, UMBC's top scorer, played last year for Ohio State. Joe Breschi (now at North Carolina) coached him there. Now they will square off in a battle of pupil and mentor in a game that promises all the intrigue of a chess match on legs. Can the North Carolina coach read Poillon's thoughts? Breschi smiled. "I'm going to try," he said. Does Poillon fear his game is at risk?

DETROIT - Common sense says North Carolina will win Monday night's national title game at Ford Field. Common man is pulling for Michigan State. Cold, hard facts say North Carolina hangs its fifth championship flag. Soft, warm and fuzzy wants the banner hung in East Lansing. Clear, independent analysis has declared this game won't be close. Rational thought computed the box score from Dec. 3, when North Carolina came to Detroit for a site-inspection dissection of Michigan State. The final score was 98-63, Tar Heels.

I did two brackets this year, a departure from my usual purist one-bracket rule. I filled out a "Ty Lawson" sheet and a "non-Ty Lawson" sheet. On the latter - in which the North Carolina point guard and Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year was unable to take the court because of his injured toe - the Tar Heels went out in the Sweet 16, to Gonzaga. The sheet in which Lawson played all the important games (excluding, of course, the first-round warm-up against Radford) had North Carolina on the last line.

Wayne Ellington had 25 points for North Carolina, which led the entire way and had no trouble beating 16th seed Radford, 101-58, in Greensboro, N.C., even without point guard Ty Lawson, who missed his third straight game with a toe injury. North Carolina improved to 26-1 in NCAA games played in its home state and advanced to face LSU tomorrow. It was a game in which senior Tyler Hansbrough set the Atlantic Coast Conference career scoring mark of 2,767 points in the opening minutes and finished with 22 points.

Tyler Hansbrough scored 27 points to help third-ranked North Carolina beat visiting North Carolina State, 89-80, last night. Danny Green added 19 points for the Tar Heels (24-2, 10-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who pulled away in the second half to win their 10th straight game. North Carolina shot 55 percent to improve to 12-1 against its nearby rival since Roy Williams took over at his alma mater before the 2003-04 season. Javi Gonzalez scored 18 points to lead the Wolfpack (14-10, 4-7)

COLLEGE PARK - As the senior stars of the 12th-ranked Maryland women, Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman get the honor of going last in pre-game introductions, running onto the court to the biggest cheers inside darkened Comcast Center. And once the lights go on, rarely do they disappoint. Both players struggled at times with their shot in last night's game against second-ranked North Carolina, but they were the driving forces in Maryland's 77-71 victory. Coleman carried the Terrapins early, scoring 18 of her 22 points in the first half, and then Toliver took over late, scoring 18 of her 23 points in the second half.

1 Terps vs. Heels: Hoping Maryland beats North Carolina this season? The best shot might come tonight when the No. 12 Terps women host the No. 2 Tar Heels (7 p.m., ESPN2). 2 50th Hope Classic: It's the final round of the 90-hole Bob Hope Chrysler Classic from La Quinta, Calif., with golfers vying for the winner's share of $918,000 (4-7 p.m., Golf Channel). 3 The other: stars on ice: No Sidney Crosby, but you'll still have Alex Ovechkin (left) in the 57th NHL All-Star Game from Montreal (6 p.m., VS.)

Her 800th career victory in hand, North Carolina's Sylvia Hatchell could finally relax. "I was about to think it wasn't going to happen there for a while," she said with a chuckle while addressing the home crowd afterward. It almost didn't. Rashanda McCants scored 16 points, and the No. 2 Tar Heels dominated overtime to beat visiting North Carolina State, 75-66, yesterday, making Hatchell just the fourth women's coach to reach the 800-win mark. Hatchell joined Pat Summitt, Jody Conradt and C. Vivian Stringer after improving to 800-274 in 34 seasons, with 528 of those wins coming in 23 seasons in Chapel Hill.