Unlike Virginia (but not Old Dominon) in the College Basketball Inviational, you won't have to open your wallet to play in this blog.

According to colleagues Doug Doughty and Rich Radford, the Cavs' will lose $150,000 on their post-season run, if you can calling beating two in-state mid-majors at home - by a total of six points - a run. ODU got a better deal.

At least Virginia played well into March, even if it was in a third-rate tournament. That's more than can be said for most of the rest of the ACC.

Clemson? One and done. Miami and Duke? Two and out.

The hopes of the league rest on North Carolina, which is exactly what many suspected would happen at the beginning of the season.

But even if the Tar Heels win it all, can coaches say with a staight face next season - as they did at every opportunity this year - that the ACC is the best league?

You had to begin to believe it was Clemson's day when the Tigers began stepping to the free throw line and making shots this afternoon, late in their ACC Tournament semifinal win over Duke. The win set up an ACC title matchup with North Carolina Sunday.

The Tigers, seemingly always last in the ACC in free throw percentage, made six of seven in the final 1:41 to seal a 78-72 win.

"We've been talking about it all year," senior Cliff Hammonds said. "Free throws are going to be big for us in a big-time situation."

Clemson has not been in a situation this big-time since 1962, the last time the Tigers played for the ACC title. How long ago is that? Well this guy scored 21 points for Wake Forest in the championship game. Len Chappell, honored Saturday as an ACC legend , scored 31 points.

No, I didn't cover that game. I was on another assignment.

Greetings from Charlotte, where the debate has been over whether Thursday was the dullest day in ACC tournament history.

Four games, zero drama. The games were decided by an average of 11 points. The nightcap, a 71-68 Boston College win over Maryland, wasn't as close as the score would indicate.

I don't have an opinion on this, but I will say the tensest moment I witnessed Thursday came when it appeared they might have run out of pasta in the media dining area.  The crisis passed when a worker came out with a new tray.

Virginia kept things interesting for a while behind the shooting of guard Mamadi Diane, who buried his first 7 shots on his way to 18 quick points. It is believed to be a tournament record for most consecutive shots made by a player named Mamadi.

Diane and the Cavs couldn't sustain it however, and now they await word on their post-season destination, or lack of one. For a more detailed look, check out colleague Doug Doughty.

Virginia's options boil down to the NIT (not likely) and the new College Basketball Invitational, or CBI (not on TV). You don't need CSI to figure out that unless the Cavaliers play better defense than they did Thursday, they'll be one-and-done in any tournament that will have them.

Meanwhile, Maryland played its way out of NCAA consideration and N.C. State's performance stirred criticism of coach Sidney Lowe.

No real surprises among the post-season awards handed out this week.  Tyler Hansbrough for POY? Check. Seth Greenberg for COY? Fans of Miami's Frank Haith, who took a team picked to finish 12th and steered it to a 5th-place finish, might have some objections, but Virginia Tech's 9-7 ACC finish seemed to clinch it for Greenberg, who won by two votes.

Sort of makes up for those five Tech losses by 3 points or less.

I find it a litlle puzzling that Virginia's Sean Singletary wasn't a unanimous first-team pick.  To me,  Hansbrough, Singletary and  Tyrese Rice were the first-team no-brainers.

Turning to the tournament, which is being held in Charlotte for the first time since 2002, at the arena Jermareo Davidson is making famous.

Can anyone other than Duke and North Carolina win this thing? You'd have a hard time making a case. No.3 seed Clemson never seems to stay long at this event; the No.4 seed Hokies are the youngest team in the conference.

No.5 Miami looks like a tough out, capable of getting hot from 3-point range. But an ACC title?

As for the rest of the field, Boston College and N.C. State have lost 14 straight between them. Maryland's in a tailspin. Virginia has been playing well lately, but would run into Duke in the second round.

 The most interesting game of the first round could be Georgia Tech-Virginia. Neither team is going anywhere in the post-season, but they played two taut, competitive games. Georgia Tech won in overtime at Virginia; the Cavaliers won by two at the Thriller Dome in a make-up of a game that was postponed because of a leaky roof.

Flipped on the TV this morning to see Jay Bilas touting the many talents of Tyler Hansbrough, including his prowess on the ping pong table.

Ouch. It'd be fun to see Roy Wililams and Mike Krzyzewski settle things with a little Texas Style ping pong, huh?

Instead, they'll do it on the court tonight, in a game to decide the ACC regular season champion. Also on the line: a probable No.1 seed in the NCAA tournament, home-state advantage through the NCAA tournament's first four rounds and bragging rights in the nation's best college basketball rivalry.

Not since 1991 have the teams met in the season finale tied for first place. Duke, of course, beat the Tar Heels Feb. 6 in Durham, but UNC was without its jet of a point guard, Ty Lawson.

The Heels went 5-1 without Lawson, and shored up the team's weakest point: its defense.  Duke has regrouped after consecutive losses to Wake Forest and Miami.

As big as the game is, it's not the only one with a lot riding on it this weekend.

Virginia Tech and Clemson  meet tomorrow for third place in the conference. A win would also likely guarantee the Hokies an NCAA bid. Clemson should already be in.

Maryland needs a win  Sunday night at Virginia to keep its NCAA hopes alive. The Cavaliers can stay out of last place with a win, depending on what  Boston College (vs. Georgia Tech) and N.C. State (at Wake Forest) do today.

Predictions? Thoughts?  Bring 'em on.

For the first time since this guy coached there, Clemson will not finish with a losing record in ACC play. The Tigers made sure of that with a 79-69 win over Miami Wednesday.

Big deal, you say? Well, not if you reside in Durham or Chapel Hill. But the Tigers haven't made the NCAA tournament since 1998, and after last year's 17-0 start and subsequent collapse, this was shaping up as a crucial year for former ODU coach Oliver Purnell.

With their No.22 RPI ranking, another league win or would seem to be enough to get Clemson to the NCAA tournament. The Tigers will to earn it, though. They finish with road games at Maryland and Georgia Tech, before hosting Virginia Tech March 9 in what could be a showdown for third place.

Speaking of Maryland, the fading Terps could bolster their NCAA hopes with a win at Wake Forest tonight. A loss would drop the Terps a full game behind Virginia Tech in the conference. And the surging Hokies swept Maryland during the regular season.

If the Hokies finish strong, Seth Greenberg could be ACC coach of the year. Or should it be Woody Hayes?

Another year, another super-sized haul of McDonald's All-Americans for North Carolina.

The 2008 team was released today, and three of its members - forward Ed Davis of Richmond, center Tyler Zeller and guard Larry Drew III - will be playing in Chapel Hill next season. That brings to 53 the number of hamburger All-Americans who have played for the Tar Heels since the game's inception in 1977.

For some, this raises the question of whether merely signing with Carolina gets a prospect retro-fitted into a McDonald's jersey. Do the names Matt Wenstrom (1989) , King Rice (1987), Pete Budko (1977) and Vassil Evitomov (1996) ring a bell?

Eight of this year's 24 players have signed with ACC teams. The Pac-10 was second with five players. Only North Carolina landed more than one. Duke, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Wake Forest and Virginia had one each.

The Cavaliers' representative is Sylven Landesberg, a shooting guard from Queens who is the jewel of their 3-man class. Fans have to be hoping he'll turn out better than their last two selections, who coincidentally were also guards from New York.

Majestic Mapp, '99, played well as a freshman but was never the same after suffering a knee injury that required several surgeries. Willie Dersch, '96, simply never panned out, averaging just 5.9 points over a four-year career.

"Psycho T" is on a tear. Over the last four games, North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough is averaging 28 points and 14.8 rebounds. The race for ACC player of the year looks to be as much of a forgone conclusion as this race.

Hansbrough won the Virginia primary Tuesday with a dominating performance against the woeful Cavaliers. Up next: Virginia Tech on Saturday.

"He's special. He just play so hard. He's fun to watch," Tech's Seth Greenberg said today.

Greenberg might not have as much fun Saturday., when Hansbrough will undoubtedly unleash a few of his so-called "jump hooks" on the Hokies. You know the shot. Hansbrough lowers a shoulder, draws contact, and then flips the ball from his hip. If often results in a trip to the foul line. Hansbrough, after all, shoots three more free throws per game than anyone else in the conference.

"We like to think it's a jump hook, but it's not," coach Roy Williams said. "It's a shot put, jump hook, Hansbrough special. Whatever you want to call it."

Just call it effective.

Bring 'em on. I'd love to hear who you like in tonight's Tobacco Road tilt. Can UNC win without its jet of a point guard, Ty Lawson? Can the Dookies handle Tyler Hansbrough inside, without breaking his nose?

The Triangle is abuzz about these things this afternoon. Much of the local press is focused on Lawson's ailing ankle, and on re-hashing Gerald Henderson's flagrant foul on Hansbrough in last year's game in Chapel Hill.

Both players insist they've put it behind them. You can bet that Tar Heel fans haven't, however, and the boos for Henderson tonight figure to be deafening.

Meanwhile, here's a cool read on the manager's game between the Blue Devils and Heels. Looks like Duke has dominated the series, no surprise if you've ever been to a Duke game and seen the legions of dark suits on the bench.

That's a game I'd like to see.

Elsewhere tonight, Maryland's Gary Williams goes for his 600th win. Wonder if this group will give him a plaque, in recognition of all the business he's given them over the years. "Sweat, Gary Sweat!" was once a favorite chant of the Cameron Crazies.

The Terps are hot.  Still wondering how Bambale "Fear the Fro" Osby got so little attention coming out of Richmond's Benedictine HS. Osby's got 4 double-doubles in his last six outings.

Also still puzzling over N.C. State's dominance over Virginia Tech. The Hokies dropped their 6th straight to the Wolfpack Tuesday night, an outcome that had a certain air of inevitablity about it, considering Tech hasn't won in Raleigh since the Woodrow Wilson administration.

It's always fun sitting courtside at the RBC, where the fans are, uh, spirited. Been to many games over the years, but I heard something new last night, from a leather-lunged Pack fan who kept complaining to the officials that Jeff Allen's jersey was untucked.

"Get him dressed, ref!," the man kept shouting in a Carolina drawl. "That's terrible!"

Priceless.

Before you write off Virginia, which plunged to last place in the ACC with a loss to Georgia Tech Sunday, listen to the man whose team put them there, Yellow Jackets' coach Paul Hewitt.

With no small amount of sarcasm, Hewitt noted Sunday that his team was left for dead a couple weeks ago, before reeling off 3 straight wins to join the muddled middle (eight teams within a game of each other) of the conference standings. So it's far too soon to bury the Cavaliers, who are 1-4 and facing road trips to Maryland and Virginia Tech this week, Hewitt said.

"There's a lot of basketball left to play. There's a lot of time left," Hewitt said. "We've been written off already, so I don't know why we're even playing."

Well, refunding all those tickets would be a pain, and fans everywhere would be deprived of the opportunity to look at Tech's Matt Causey, and think, 'Man, I know I could take that guy off the dribble.'"

Seriously, though, it's early yet. Sure, if you're a Virginia fan, you've got to be concerned about Sean Singletary's ailing hip, the team's love affair with the 3-pointer, and its inability to hold leads. And did we mention that the interior defense (paging Tunji Soroye) hasn't scared anyone lately?

Coach Dave Leitao said Monday he has no idea when Soroye (back injury) and Laurynas Mikalauskas (shoulder) will return. It'll up to Chespeake's under-sized MIke Scott (look for a feature in Wednesday's Pilot) and hustling senior walk-on Ryan Pettinella to hold down the middle as best they can.

Still, the Cavs haven't been that far off. As of this writing, 17 of the league's 32 conference games have been decided by three points or less, and seven have gone to overtime. Virginia's been on the losing end of three of those. Win a couple close ones and the muddled middle will have another member.