CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Laron Profit was pragmatic, while Terrell Stokes turned sentimental.

No. 5 Maryland opened the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament with a 93-69 obliteration of Florida State at the Charlotte Coliseum yesterday. The most lopsided victory the Terps have ever enjoyed in the tournament landed them in a semifinal today against North Carolina.

It will be a fifth straight visit to the semifinals for Maryland, one more chance to end a title-game drought that is going on 15 years. The seniors are 0-3 in this round, but for Profit, the stakes go beyond the ACC, as the Terps will try to continue an uphill climb for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

"We want a No. 1 seed," Profit said, when asked the significance of semifinal success. "That's all there is to it. That's the bottom line. We've got to keep winning, to keep the pressure on everyone else. We've got to keep winning to keep the pressure on Michigan State, Connecticut and Auburn."

Those teams figure to be three of the NCAA's four No. 1 seeds. The other is a foregone conclusion, as top-ranked Duke casts a large shadow over the entire nation, not just the ACC.

Stokes, meanwhile, took a different approach.

"Laron came to my room last night [Thursday], and we talked about our last run here," Stokes said. "We said, 'Let's go out and win it.' I've never played in the championship game. Laron's never played in it. Maryland's never been there since 1984. That would be a storybook ending."

Duke and N.C. State meet in today's first semifinal, as Maryland is the only team left from outside the state of North Carolina.

Duke opened its tournament run with a 37-point pounding of Virginia late Thursday night. Second-seeded Maryland (26-4) answered with an impressive salvo of its own, as the Terps blew it open with a 12-0 run midway through the first half, and led by 34 in the closing minutes.

With 21 points and a season-high 10 rebounds, Profit had his first double double of the campaign. Stokes had six assists to no turnovers. Steve Francis excelled in his ACC tournament debut, as he had 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting to help Maryland post its seventh straight victory.

The Terps, who can tie the school record for wins today, concluded the regular season with a haphazard win at Florida State. It was their worst rebounding game of the season, but yesterday they crashed the offensive board in the first half for 12 second chances.

"That [rebounding] was one of the points of emphasis in practice this week," said Francis, who had spent a sleepless night dealing with an upset stomach. "We wanted to let Florida State know that last week was a fluke."

A mild upset of Clemson in a preliminary Thursday was the Seminoles' first tournament win in seven years. Playing on 15 hours' rest, weary Florida State (13-17) didn't expect to get another, and Maryland had enough of an edge to go with both Norman Fields and Brian Watkins for a couple of possessions late in the first half.

The jockeying was necessitated by foul trouble for Francis, who played only seven minutes in the first half. The second turned into a transition show, as the Terps stepped into passing lanes, forced 13 turnovers and took enough breakaway layups to shoot 19-for-28 (67.9 percent) from the field.

Leading 42-30 at the break, Maryland scored the first seven points of the second half. It was lifted by freshman forward Danny Miller and classmate Lonny Baxter, who continues to nicely fill the hole left by the Achilles' tendon injury that ended Obinna Ekezie's college career. The only sour note was another poor shooting performance by All-ACC forward Terence Morris.

"I really liked the contribution of our bench today," coach Gary Williams said. "Mike Mardesich and Juan Dixon really stepped up, and Danny Miller probably played his best game of the year."

The only rise out of Williams came when Francis passed up an open jumper early in the second half and got what he called "the look of death" from his coach and an order to "shoot it." The Terps were ahead by 20 points at the time, and Williams was relaxed enough later to smile on the bench.

"After 10 years I screwed up," Williams said sarcastically. "The smile was with the players on the bench. I was just very happy with the way things were going."

Thousands left the romp and hit the barbecue joints, and the missing body heat turned the floor chilly and had Profit and Francis blowing on their hands and Stokes rubbing his arms.

"The first half, it was warm, but the second half it got cold," Stokes said. "They must have opened the doors, because everyone was leaving. It's like we were playing hockey."

It was Maryland's 10th 3-0 season sweep of an opponent. It has never had a hat trick against North Carolina, but that's the goal today, as the Terps beat the third-seeded Tar Heels 89-76 at the Smith Center in January, and 81-64 at Cole Field House three weeks ago.

Pub Date: 3/06/99