Final Score: Duke 78, Boston College 76

My Most Outstanding Player: J.J. Redick, Duke

Boston College's defense has improved dramatically over the past month. The Eagles thoroughly enjoy physical play, and they've become very good at using a sagging zone that opposing coaches and players don't see very often. Against Duke, they rotated at least four fresh defenders on J.J. Redick: 6-7 forward Jared Dudley, 6-5 guard Sean Marshall, 6-4 guard Louis Hinnant and 6-3 guard Marquez Haynes.

Redick responded by hitting 8 of 17 shots, including an incredible 7 of 11 three-pointers (several in clutch situations), for 26 points. He also had four assists and two steals in 38 minutes against the Eagles. Previously, Redick had a game-high 25 points (9-17 FG, 5-11 threes) in 40 minutes against Miami and 20 points (6-17 FG, 3-12 threes) in 36 minutes against Wake Forest.

NOTE: As expected, Redick also won the official award.

My All-Tournament Ballot:

First Team: Duke guard J.J. Redick, BC forward Craig Smith, Duke center Shelden Williams, BC forward Jared Dudley, Duke forward Josh McRoberts.

Second Team: Duke guard Greg Paulus, Wake Forest center Eric Williams, Wake Forest guard Justin Gray, UNC center Tyler Hansbrough, BC guard Louis Hinnant.

NOTE: The official first team was Redick, Smith, S.Williams, Dudley and Hansbrough. The official second team was Paulus, E.Williams, McRoberts, Hinnant and UNC forward Reyshawn Terry.

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One of the great traditions of every ACC Tournament weekend occurs late Saturday night at the hospitality suite (think free food and beer) of the media hotel. Veteran journalist Bill Brill, a former Roanoke (Va.) Times and Durham (N.C.) Herald-Sun columnist who now does freelance work for the ACC Sports Journal and other periodicals, unveils his projected NCAA Tournament bracket near midnight.

This year, loquacious Virginia play-by-play man Mac McDonald served as an entertaining emcee for the event, complete with microphone and something resembling a podium near the front of the large ballroom. The assembled media, which at this point resembled a raucous late-innings crowd on "Free Beer Night" at Yankee Stadium, at various times cheered, hissed or ridiculed Brill's selections and matchups. In previous years, to add drama, Brill has been paraded into the hospitality room on a luggage cart, sometimes while dressed in creative garb or wearing a king's crown. The main goal: lots of laughs for everyone.

All the while, McDonald cracked lots of jokes and moderated a Q&A session between Brill and the assembled media. Brill, who is considered a program historian by Duke fans but a Darth Vader-like pariah by Virginia Tech supporters (he once wrote, among other things, that "lowly" Tech never would be given serious consideration for ACC membership), was a staunch opponent of ACC expansion, and that's an understatement. Throughout his remarks, which always include snide (and enjoyable) remarks about academically challenged teams, Brill averaged about one anti-expansion wisecrack per minute. Among his many targets was ACC commissioner John Swofford, who doesn't attend this event, although many other league officials do....

Moving on to today's title matchup between Duke and BC and other items:

The Blue Devils have a chance today to jump above North Carolina in the category of ACC championships for the first time since the 1960s. Here's the current breakdown: Duke 15, UNC 15, N.C. State 10, Wake Forest 4, Georgia Tech 3, Maryland 3, South Carolina 1, Virginia 1.

The first thing I think about when I look at those numbers is the incredible dominance of Duke and UNC, which have simply wonderful histories and now rank as the top two programs in America. The second thing is that the Wolfpack's very strong third-place showing (10 ACC titles) goes a long way toward explaining the mindset of many disenchanted State fans, who understandably doubt that coach Herb Sendek can bring the Pack back to that level. The third thing is the amazing dominance of the Big Four schools, with 44 of the 52 conference championships entering today's game. That deserves a "wow."...

In case you're wondering, the next four ACC Tournaments will be held at the St. Pete Times Forum (capacity 20,500) in Tampa (2007), the new arena (20,200) in Charlotte (2008), the Georgia Dome (40,083) in Atlanta (2009), and then back here in Greensboro (23,745) in 2010. Next year's event will be the first held in the state of Florida....

Final 2006 cheerleader/dance team rankings: 1. Miami (whoever said expansion was a bad idea needs to reconsider on this stunning, all-female, 12-dancers, no-cheerleaders variable alone); 2. Florida State (I've always said that, generally speaking, there's a direct relationship between football excellence and cheerleader quality); 3. Virginia Tech (same theory, more empirical evidence); 4. North Carolina (they go for classy over sexy, and they pull it off very well); 5-8. Clemson, Maryland, N.C. State, Virginia (very solid groups that easily could convince me to pull them in from the postseason bubble bath); 9. Duke (even Matt Doherty would like this bunch, but it's NIT-bound); 10. Wake Forest (as in football, small, private schools always are fighting an uphill battle here); 11. Boston College (see Wake Forest); 12. Georgia Tech (as a matter of principle, we simply can't reward teams with more men than women). Gotta have standards, right?...

The general consensus in Greensboro, and an opinion I certainly share, is that UNC coach Roy Williams was being outrageously unreasonable with his Coke-Pepsi spat. As with most ACC coaches, there are a lot more things to like about Williams than to dislike, but this situation clearly falls into the latter category in my eyes. Hey, coach, the main reason you're a rich man is that your sport is in bed with corporate America. If you and UNC can nurture your relationships with Nike and Coke and many others at every turn, why can't the ACC and the Greensboro Coliseum do the same with their partners? That's called hypocrisy, coach, and you're better than that....

Speaking of sponsors, the Smirnoff (vodka) advertisement that appeared (along with many other ads) on the coliseum's largest advertising ring on the first day of the tournament mysteriously vanished on days two and three. In all likelihood, Smirnoff's deal is with the Greensboro Coliseum, not with the ACC, and someone eventually figured out that the presence of the alcohol-related advertising violated the league's policy against such things. Credit to my old friend Jason Simon, the official scorer at courtside for many of this weekend's games, for his attention to detail. You can check out Jason's blog at SimonSaysHoops.com....

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but Greensboro News & Record columnist Ed Hardin wrote some of the harshest words I've seen yet during the 10-year era of Herb Sendek at N.C. State. Here's an excerpt from Hardin's "A Truly Sad State Of Affairs" column, which appeared in Saturday's edition. "The end is in sight for N.C. State. Might it be for Sendek, too? This was truly the low point. ... Sendek is in trouble again, and this time he knows it. ... A decade-long struggle appears to have reached its logical conclusion. It's not time for State to fire Sendek. It's time for Sendek to fire State."...

Another funny hand-held sign seen yesterday here in the coliseum, in the Duke band section: "You can't have awful without WFU."...

Duke's senior class, which consists of J.J. Redick, Shelden Williams, Lee Melchionni and Sean Dockery, is now an amazing 10-1 in ACC Tournament play. Redick and Williams, remember, went against the modern grain at the end of their junior years. They returned to school despite being projected as first-round NBA draft picks. That's not something you see very often anymore, and that's why anything short of a Final Four (some fans would say an NCAA title) would be an enormous disappointment for this year's Blue Devils....

One of the keys for Duke in today's game will be the play of freshman forward Josh McRoberts. The Blue Devils are not a strong rebounding team, and Boston College -- with big men Craig Smith, Jared Dudley, John Oates and Sean Williams -- can dominate the boards. McRoberts already has flashed his awesome scoring and passing skills in this tournament, but today the Blue Devils also will need his support in the post for star big man Shelden Williams. Williams is an outstanding rebounder, but he can't do it alone against the Eagles....

Soon after 5 a.m. today, the fire alarms went off throughout the official media hotel. Fortunately, both Duke and Boston College have accommodations elsewhere this weekend. (FSU and UNC stayed at the media hotel but were gone by last night.) Sleepy sportswriters are acceptable -- heck, given the Saturday night festivities, even expected -- on title Sunday; drowsy players are not. P.S. Many (if not all) of the officials stayed at the media hotel this weekend....

The quotes below actually are from late Friday, during the BC-Maryland nightcap, but they're simply too good to leave on the cutting-room floor. All fans can conjure up visions of Maryland coach Gary Williams, who often turns into a red-faced, veins-bulging madman on the sidelines. Normally, he directs his fury at his own players on the bench, as well as assistants Keith Booth, Michael Adams and Rob Moxley. Here's a sampling of Williams' sideline quotes during the late and often ugly stages of the Eagles' 80-66 beating of the Terps.

To his assistants, as Maryland got off to a slow start: "Which one of you (expletives) had bed check last night?" (No response.) "It looks like you should have gone back at 3 (a.m.) to check again."

During another BC run: "If any of you (expletives) have any (expletive) ideas, now would be a good time."

After the Eagles came up with several loose balls: "If any of you (expletives) know of anybody who has some heart, tell me, because I'd love to put him in right now."

After one of his key players made a few mental errors: "Is (player's name deleted) girlfriend here this weekend? I hope so. I hope she kept him up all night. At least that explains why he's playing like (expletive)."

Now THAT's entertainment....

It became obvious in the first half -- Duke 35, BC 31 -- that the crowd in Greensboro today is overwhelmingly pro-Blue Devils. A common estimate is 90 percent. In all likelihood, those in the "ABD" (Anybody But Duke) crowd sold their tickets to today's game rather than risk having to watch the Devils cut down the nets for the seventh time in eight years....

Signs seen around the coliseum in the first half: "We Skip Church For J.J. And The Devils." ... "Fly Back To Boston, Eagles." ... "Dear BC, Welcome To The ACC. Now Go Home. Love, Duke" ...

There's a shortage of celebrities in attendance, and certainly nothing along the lines of Ashley Judd and Kentucky. However, among those in the arena today are NBA television analyst Doug Collins (father of Duke assistant Chris Collins), N.C. State women's basketball coach Kay Yow and former UNC center Damion Grant. Collins -- sporting a bleach-blonde look I hadn't seen from him in the past -- is rooting hard for the Blue Devils, while Yow and Grant don't appear to be taking sides. Among those seen earlier in the tournament were former N.C. State great David Thompson, former UNC star Sam Perkins, Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer and new UNC-system president Erskine Bowles....

I'm done. Hope you enjoyed the show. :O)