Maryland, Duke Lead ACC And The Nation
11/6/2001 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 6, 2001
By EDDIE PELLS
AP Sports Writer
Every team in the Atlantic Coast Conference is used to facing great competition. Even so, Duke and Maryland begin this season as an unusually solid 1-2 combination.
For good reasons, top-ranked Duke and Maryland are the first teams from the same conference to start the season 1-2 in the preseason poll in 16 years. Each has four starters returning from teams that reached the Final Four last season.
Behind All-American guard Jason Williams, Duke beat Maryland in the semifinals on the way to the national title.
Williams, Chris Duhon, Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy all return, and the Blue Devils come into the season as the favorite to become the first team to repeat as national champions since 1992. Duke was the repeat champion then, too.
Under normal circumstances, Maryland would be a favorite coming into this year. But instead of an inferiority complex, the Terrapins take the No. 2 ranking in stride - they've been in the ACC too long to be surprised.
"Duke deserves all the respect they get," Maryland guard Juan Dixon said. "They won the national championship, they have a lot of great players back, and their coach knows what it takes to win."
No. 19 North Carolina, Wake Forest and No. 11 Virginia will be factors in the ACC race.
But with Duke's load of talent, and with Dixon, Lonny Baxter, Steve Blake and Byron Mouton coming back for the Terps, it's clear who the favorites are.
"Maryland and Duke are a cut above the rest of us," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "We can beat them on a given night, but frankly, they are ahead of us. It's overall talent, experience, success in big games. They've done it under the brightest lights."
Gillen signed a new contract this summer after leading the Cavaliers to a 20-win season and their first NCAA tournament bid since 1997.
The Cavs need to be better on the road. They won just two ACC games away from home last season and lost to Wake Forest, Duke and Maryland by an average of 33 points.
Fourth-ranked Kentucky is a slight favorite to win an equally competitive Southeastern Conference. Sophomore Keith Bogans and senior Tayshaun Prince, last season's SEC Player of the Year, both bypassed the NBA draft to make a run at a national title.
"Everyone knows we've got a legitimate chance to get back to the Final Four and win a championship this year," senior guard J.P. Blevins said. "I think teams are going to have problems trying to stop all of our weapons."
The SEC has long sought to be compared with the ACC on the basketball court, and with No. 6 Florida pushing the Wildcats, maybe that goal has been accomplished.
Last year, the Wildcats tied Florida for the SEC regular-season title in what was supposed to be a rebuilding season. The race should be just as good this season.
The Gators also have two players who chose to return to contend for a title. Brett Nelson and Udonis Haslem will lead a team that lost guard Teddy Dupay because of gambling allegations. Kwame Brown, the ballyhooed recruit who committed to play for the Gators, instead bypassed college for the NBA.
"I like our team, no question about it," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "I think we have good depth. We've got two players, Haslem and Nelson, who at their position are as good as anyone in the country."
Junior forward Erwin Dudley makes No. 24 Alabama the favorite to win the SEC West. The Crimson Tide have not been to the tournament since 1995, but some experts think this might be the season fourth-year coach Mark Gottfried's rebuilding project finally takes effect.
Alabama won 25 games last season, but fell victim to a soft schedule, a late slump and an inability to win big road games.
"We can't stay mad about not getting into the NCAAs," Dudley said. "It's a new season, and we have to move on if we want to win games."
Western Kentucky is the best team in the Sun Belt Conference. Center Chris Marcus (7-foot-1, 285) makes the Hilltoppers the team nobody wants to face in the first round of the tournament.
Led by guard Jeff Bolton, College of Charleston is the favorite in the Southern Conference. Bolton averaged 17 points per game last season for the Cougars.
The Trans-America Athletic Conference changed its name to the Atlantic Sun this year, but a few things remain the same. These teams play well under the radar, and Georgia State, led by coach Lefty Driesell, is the power.
Another tidbit from the A-Sun: Jacksonville freshman O.J. Gilmore has enrolled and could play this season at the college his father, Artis, took to the Final Four 31 seasons ago.
