March 30, 2006
From The Associated Press
For the Atlantic Coast Conference, the road to the women's Final Four was as easy as counting to three.
OK, maybe not so easy, but the journey still ended with three.
In an unprecedented achievement for a conference, ACC powers North Carolina, Duke and Maryland all are headed to Boston for the national semifinals Sunday. Never before has one league advanced so many teams so deep into the NCAA tournament, now in its 25th year.
The outsider is LSU, which hardly needs an introduction to Final Four audiences. The Lady Tigers of the Southeastern Conference are going for the third straight year, the only team standing in the way of an all-ACC final.
"LSU's got to feel like the Lone Ranger," ESPN analyst Nancy Lieberman said.
Notice anyone missing? Yep, neither Tennessee nor Connecticut, who have won a combined 11 national championships, is in the field. It's just the second time in the last 12 years that at least one of them failed to make the Final Four. Six times in that stretch, they both made it.
Tennessee was eliminated by North Carolina in the Cleveland Regional final. Connecticut lost to Duke in front of a pro-UConn crowd in the Bridgeport Regional final.
Even without the sport's two marquee programs, this is an impressive group.
Each has won at least 30 games. Duke (86.2), Maryland (83.5) and North Carolina (82.6) are the three highest-scoring teams in the country. LSU is one of the nation's top defensive teams and has Seimone Augustus, the only unanimous All-American and last season's national player of the year.
It's also a Final Four of favorites. North Carolina, Duke and LSU all are No. 1 seeds, while Maryland is a No. 2. What's more, they held four of the top five spots in the final AP poll, with North Carolina finishing No. 1.
An underdog? Not in this bunch.
North Carolina (33-1) meets Maryland (32-4) in the first semifinal at TD Banknorth Garden, putting the Tar Heels against the only team that beat them this season. Duke (30-3), a 30-game winner for the sixth straight season, will carry the ACC banner against LSU (31-3).
"We've felt like we've had a great conference for the last two years," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. "It may be the best conference in the country from top to bottom. But until you can back it up and get teams to the Final Four and win the national championship, it's all talk."
North Carolina is the only ACC team that has won the NCAA championship, taking the title in 1994. This is the Tar Heels' first trip to the Final Four since then.
They've done it with a fast team that pushes the tempo at a breath-sapping pace on offense and rattles opponents with a swarming, trapping defense. The fastest of the fast is All-American Ivory Latta, the team's pocket-sized point guard who made one key play after another down the stretch against Tennessee.
"She's the engine that makes our offense go," North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said.
North Carolina's '94 championship team also relied on a speedy point guard. You might know her better from another sport: Marion Jones.
Maryland earned the program's first Final Four trip since 1989 with an incredibly young team. The Terrapins start two sophomores, including second-team All-American Crystal Langhorne, two freshmen and a junior.
The thing is, they don't act their age.
"What makes this team so special is the fact that they don't take any of it for granted," Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. "They understand the big picture. There is no guarantee for us next year. They understand that."
Maryland beat North Carolina 98-95 in overtime at Chapel Hill on Feb. 9. Their third meeting this season will come a month after the Tar Heels beat Maryland 91-80 in the finals of the ACC tournament.
That familiarity does simplify one task.
"We both have our scouting reports already done," Hatchell said.
Duke is making its third Final Four trip in five years and fourth overall. Under Goestenkors, the Blue Devils have won ACC regular-season and tournament championships, they've been ranked No. 1 several times and they've won a game at the Final Four.
Now they've got another chance to add the one thing they're missing: a national championship. This is why the team's star, Monique Currie, passed up a chance last spring to go the WNBA.
"We took a huge step making it to Boston," Currie said. "We've tried to keep that in the back our minds all season. It's finally here. We can get closer to what we want to do."
That same goal has driven LSU, which has a chance to double up because the men's team also made the Final Four. The Lady Tigers are 0-2 at the Final Four, losing to eventual national champion Baylor last year after blowing a 15-point lead.
"You want to go out on a high note," said Augustus, a senior and the nation's leading scorer. "It's a great opportunity to play the best ever."
