ACC spring sports bonanza
The baseball selections are still a week away, but it's already apparent the ACC is cleaning up in NCAA championships this spring.
The league has been represented in NCAA tournaments by 49 of the 58 teams its members field in the following sports: men's and women's tennis; men's and women's lacrosse; men's and women's golf; and softball. That's an 84-percent acceptance rate. For the sake of context, about 27 percent of the Division I teams in those sports get bids nationally.
Duke is still represented in both lacrosse events and Virginia became the first ACC program to make the men's tennis semifinals. Miami and Georgia Tech make up half the women's tennis semifinalists.
The ACC won't catch the Big Ten in across-the-board achievement for the 2006-07 school year. That league had five of the top eight spots in the rankings through the end of winter sports. But in terms of the really big picture, this is looking like the best year in ACC history.
Now if the league could find a way to get back in the men's Final Four ...