Live from press row, and heading into the third segment of a four-day event, here are some hidden gems from the 2007 ACC Tournament in Tampa:

Through eight exciting games involving all 12 teams, Virginia coach Dave Leitao stood out in extreme fashion for the manner in which he interacted with his own players during the Cavaliers' 79-71 quarterfinal loss to N.C. State.

Every coach has his own style, but in Tampa most were reserved when they addressed their teams. Sidney Lowe of N.C. State and Al Skinner of Boston College, for example, almost always remain calm, cool and collected with their players, something they call a byproduct of their playing and/or coaching days in the professional ranks. Gary Williams of Maryland screams a lot, but he generally does so in the direction of his assistant coaches, or sometimes toward nobody in particular. Skip Prosser of Wake Forest sometimes has an outburst toward an individual player, but his tone is typically one of frustration, not anger.

Leitao, an angry, brewing volcano of emotions on the sidelines, is an entirely different story. Consider these comments Friday night, to his own players. They all were uttered as the coach flailed his arms or twisted his body dramatically on the sidelines, in full view (and often within listening distance) of the hundreds of fans in the lower level of the UVa cheering section, and directly into the faces of the players involved, at a distance of just a few feet.

To J.R. Reynolds, after the senior wing guard showed a frustrated look on his face following some initial criticism from Leitao: "You're going to be sensitive with me? Today? We're at the ACC Tournament, and you're going to play sensitive with me? Get outta here!"

To Tunji Soroye, after the junior center failed to make a defensive stop and grab a rebound: "What are you doing? What are you DOING?! I need tough from you today, and you give me soft. I need tough, you give soft. I'm looking for toughness out there, and you give me nothing. NOTHING!"

To Will Harris, after the freshman forward missed a defensive assignment: "Where are you today? Where ARE you today?! Are you with us? This isn't about your heart. This is about your brain. You're not thinking out there! Where are you?!"

To a group of players on the bench, with freshman forward Jamil Tucker in the middle, after a player on the court failed to get out on a 3-point shooter: "How many times did we practice against that? What do we do against double screens? (Nobody answers.) Nobody knows the answer? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?! You don't listen. That's our problem. You don't listen, AND you don't talk (on defense)! (Looks at Tucker.) You wouldn't talk if your life depended on it! That's our problem. Nobody talks, and nobody listens."

To the entire bench, after Tucker made a bad play on the court: "And he's been begging me to put him in the game — begging me!! Just like you! (Points to players.) Just like you! And he plays like that!"

Another observation: Among the 12 ACC teams, no group of players makes less eye contact with their coach while he's speaking than the Cavaliers. Hmmm....

Many have portrayed this inaugural trip to the Sunshine State as a reaction to ACC expansion, but that’s true only if the reference is to the addition of Florida State in the early 1990s. Tampa’s bid for the ACC Tournament gained approval from the league’s athletic directors in 2000, long before the arrivals of Boston College and Miami in the conference’s most recent round of expansion.

FSU athletic director Dave Hart was the driving force behind the move to Florida, a major change for a conference that has held 45 of its first 53 tournaments in North Carolina. Upon Hart’s first suggestion of the idea, he was voted down 8-1. Gradually, he gained the support of ACC commissioner John Swofford, former Georgia Tech athletic director Dave Braine, Maryland AD Debbie Yow and others.

Whether you’re looking to hand out credit or blame, here’s the list of the ACC’s nine athletic directors at the time of the Tampa decision: Braine, Hart, Yow, Joe Alleva (Duke), Dick Baddour (North Carolina), Terry Holland (Virginia), Les Robinson (N.C. State), Bobby Robinson (Clemson) and Ron Wellman (Wake Forest). Braine, Holland, Robinson and Robinson since have moved on from their ACC posts. …

The basketball world can seem like one big community sometimes. The coaches, officials, players and other personnel know each other so well, and have seen each other so many times over such a prolonged period, that they’re typically on a first-name — or even a nickname — basis with one another.

Just before a long, clock-related delay in the Georgia Tech-Wake Forest game on Thursday, alternate official Mike Eades (seated at the scorer’s table) saw something on his TV monitor that made him suspect a clock malfunction. At the next stoppage, Eades repeatedly yelled at the three officials on the floor, but nobody saw him. He started waving his arms. Still, no response. Finally, when the noise of the crowd died down, he stood and screamed.

"Hey, G-Max," Eades yelled, calling to official Gary Maxwell. “G-Max!”

Maxwell raced to the scorer’s table, and the officials began the lengthy process of figuring out the clock problem.

During the delay, Tech forward Thaddeus Young wanted to check into the game. The freshman stood at the scorer’s table, trying to get the attention of the officials, when Maxwell saw him.

“Hey, T-Young,” Maxwell said. “You’re good, T-Young. You’re in. We got you.” ...

This tournament is a scalper’s nightmare. According to buyers and sellers outside St. Pete Times Forum, tickets for Thursday’s games went for one-third to two-thirds of their face value. As often happens, because so many fans of Thursday’s losing teams sell the rest of their booklets when their teams’ lose, tickets for Friday’s games went for similar rates. Several scalpers said only the very best seats were getting their face value in return. …

The ACC issued 715 media credentials to this year’s tournament, down from 813 last year. The credentials went to only 93 media outlets, and some of those received just one or two each. …