Who ever suspected Florida would provide such a fruitful home court advantage?

Capitalizing on superior hustle and determination, a seemingly outmanned Miami squad, 12^th-seeded in the tournament, stunned Maryland, the hottest team in the ACC. The 67-62 win marked the second straight year the bottom seed upended No. 5 in the first round.

This is only the second year there has been a No. 12 seed. Wake Forest won a pair of games last year as the bottom seed.

No fifth seed has ever won the ACC Tournament.

The 12-19 Hurricanes won with no player taller than 6-8 and with Denis Clemente, one of their best guards, suspended for violating team rules. Despite the locale and the fact that it quickly became apparent an upset was in the offing, even the crowd was solidly behind the 24-8 Terrapins. But the Canes were strongest in those areas coaches often stress when measuring effort – rebounds, loose balls, defense, screens. “They beat us on all the intangibles,” coach Gary Williams said.

Miami held a 42-34 edge on the boards, with 19 rebounds coming on offense. “That was the key,” coach Frank Haith said. “I thought we got a lot of extra shots.” In the teams’ previous meeting in January at Maryland, the Hurricanes won while holding a 55-41 rebounding advantage, though less of an edge at the offensive end.

Haith’s team, which lost in overtime in its two outings entering the ACC Tournament, has been plagued by injuries and suspensions. Today, though, it was the mentally tougher group. The Canes led 37-24 at halftime, and maintained their poise when the Terps inevitably rallied. They ran a weave that wore out Maryland and brought its big men away from the basket, negating its height advantage. And they lured the Terps into quick outside shots against their zone, particularly in the first half. Maryland finished 3-of-18 on 3-pointers.

“We stayed hungry the whole game,” said guard Jack McClinton, whose 17 points led all scorers. Miami now advances to play Boston College, which swept their season series.

Two games in, the 54^th ACC Tournament is just as closely fought and unpredictable as expected, if unpredictability can be predicted.

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Note to proof readers: Someone noticed, and the electronic message board at Tampa’s arena changed its salute to welcome “The ACC Tournament And Its Fans To The St. Pete Times Forum.”