UNC Eyes ACC Title, High NCAA Seed

This weekend, UNC hopes to gift- wrap for Hatchell an ACC title and home-court advantage for the early rounds of the NCAA tournament.

"We always rise when it comes championship time," said junior forward Jennifer Thomas. "We definitely have an ACC title on our minds."

The Tar Heels enter this weekend's conference tournament in Greensboro as the No. 2 seed, and on Saturday they will play the winner of today's Wake Forest-Maryland game.

But Hatchell said that while her team is excited to be in such a position, she feels her team is a bit disadvantaged.

Because the ACC women's tournament does not use a play-in game, the No. 2 seed waits for the winner of the No. 8-No. 9 contest.

"We're the only team that doesn't know who it's going to play," she said. "We have to prepare for two teams."

Possibly a greater disadvantage for UNC could be its health. Several of the Tar Heels have gotten the flu this week, and Coretta Brown, who received a hip pointer in Sunday's 90-75 loss to Duke, has been kept out of practice.

Brown was cleared Thursday to practice and is expected to be in the lineup Saturday. And Hatchell said those affected by the flu, including starters Thomas and Candace Sutton, will be ready to go.

"We've been loading them up with fluids, and we'll continue to do that," she said.

The prohibitive favorite in the tournament is Duke, which was 16-0 in conference play. Nikki Teasley said the UNC would like another shot at its Tobacco Road rival, but that the team needs to concentrate on its first opponent.

"We can't get too far ahead of ourselves," she said. "We can't overlook a Wake Forest or a Maryland."

Hatchell said a berth in Monday's championship game should give UNC home-court advantage when the NCAAs begin later this month.

"We won eight straight before the Duke game, and we've got to get back on the winning track," she said. "The ACC Tournament is a three-game season, and the NCAAs are another season."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.