GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Maryland Terrapins are defending NCAA and regular-season Atlantic Coast Conference champions who will start four seniors, three of whom have played in back-to-back Final Fours, one of whom is the most experienced point guard in the country.
But in the eyes of the media that cover ACC basketball, the Terps' loss of four starters from last year's 32-4 squad will cause Maryland to play second fiddle one more time to a fierce rival.
At yesterday's 41st annual ACC Operation Basketball at the Grandover Resort and Conference Center, the Duke Blue Devils, despite losing three starters of their own to the NBA after finishing second to the Terps during the 2001-02 regular season, were picked to rule the ACC again.
Seventy-nine of the 93 ballots submitted gave the first-place nod to Duke, which boasts the nation's most highly touted recruiting class and two returning starters in small forward Dahntay Jones and guard Chris Duhon, who was projected as the conference's Player of the Year. It marked the fifth time in the past six years that the Blue Devils have been anointed league champions in the preseason voting.
Maryland, which collected nine first-place votes, was picked to finish second with 686 total points, behind Duke's 852. The Terps, who count point guard Steve Blake - who has started 105 games - shooting guard Drew Nicholas and post players Tahj Holden and Ryan Randle among their five seniors, have been picked to win the conference crown only four times since the preseason media poll's inception in 1970.
"That's all numbers. That's all paper," Nicholas said. "We did lose a lot of players, but the big thing is we have a lot of guys returning and so many good young guys who are eager to learn. We have experience. Knowing how to win comes only with experience. We know how to win."
Said Maryland coach Gary Williams: "Players usually are remembered for what they do in their senior year, and our seniors already have had great careers. It wasn't just Juan Dixon and Lonny Baxter last year. It was a combination of eight players. They want to show people that they are very good players. They have a certain amount of pride. They know this is their year."
Coaches from across the conference described this year's ACC as one of the younger, more wide-open leagues in recent memory, and they have a point. Seventeen of the league's top 20 scorers from a year ago are gone, and the conference is rife with teams that will look to underclassmen for leadership.
North Carolina State, led by sophomore swingman Julius Hodge, placed third in the voting with 595 points. The Wolfpack, the last team to beat Maryland, also collected four first-place votes.
Georgia Tech, which has no seniors in its projected rotation and will lean heavily on freshmen Jarrett Jack and Chris Bosh at point guard and center, placed fourth (548) and grabbed one first-place vote. The Yellow Jackets erased an 0-7 league start last year by winning seven of their last nine regular-season ACC games under third-year coach Paul Hewitt.
Virginia, which has not won a postseason game since 1995, has faded badly in the past two seasons and has only one returning starter in senior center Travis Watson, was picked to finish fifth (488). Coach Pete Gillen promised the Cavaliers would improve their "Virginia Swiss cheese" defense.
The Cavaliers were followed by Wake Forest (380), North Carolina (348), Clemson (168) and Florida State (138), which is now led by coach Leonard Hamilton. He replaced Steve Robinson.
"I don't see the ACC as wide-open. There are a few good teams that should be around the top and we're one of them," said Duke's Jones, who thinks the Blue Devils will contend with heralded freshmen such as forwards Shavlik Randolph and Sheldon Williams.
"The players Maryland has are great competitors with a lot of talent. They were a collective unit that played off of each other. I see guys like Tahj Holden, Drew Nicholas and Ryan Randle doing the same thing this year."
The coaches under the most pressure to win now are Clemson's Larry Shyatt and North Carolina's Matt Doherty, whose second year coaching in Chapel Hill was an embarrassment at 8-20. The Tar Heels have never been picked lower than fourth until yesterday.
NOTES: Clemson will play its November and December home games at the Civic Center of Anderson, about 25 miles from its campus, while renovations to Littlejohn Coliseum are completed. ... In November and December, the NCAA will move the three-point line 9 inches back to create an experimental distance of 20 feet, 6 inches. ... Carolina freshman point guard Raymond Felton was voted preseason Rookie of the Year. The All-ACC first team has Duhon, Blake, Hodge, Watson and Wake Forest forward Josh Howard.
ACC men's poll
Preseason men's basketball poll (first-place votes in parentheses):
Team Points
1. Duke (79) 852
2. Maryland (9) 686
3. N.C. State (4) 595
4. Georgia Tech (1) 548
5. Virginia 488
6. Wake Forest 380
7. North Carolina 348
8. Clemson 168
9. Florida State 138