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By ANTONYA ENGLISH
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 13, 2001
For the past several years, coaches in the so-called "lower tier" of the ACC have been saying it was only a matter of time before they would have the talent to compete with the upper-echelon teams like North Carolina, Duke and N.C. State.
It appears that time has arrived.
Count Maryland, Florida State and Georgia Tech among the conference's better teams.
FSU is 11-3, 3-1. Georgia Tech, fresh off a three-point loss to No. 5 Duke Thursday night, is 10-5, 2-3 and Maryland is 10-5, 1-3.
"What a conference," North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "I really think congratulations goes to FSU, Georgia Tech, Maryland and Wake (Forest) because I think all those programs are on another level this year. Last year, I felt they were all better than they had been before and they were just to the point of one more player, one more step, and experience and they would be at another level. I don't think you can use the word upset in this league this year."
If you don't think conference records reflect good teams, the ACC coaches disagree.
"I think it's without a doubt the best conference in the country right now," Georgia Tech coach Agnus Berenato said. "If you look at our non-confernece winning percentage it's phenomenal. It's just that everybody in this conference is so good we beat up on each other a lot. I just don't remember a year when we've had (parity) like this."
Six of Wake Forest's losses have been to Top 25 teams, including top-ranked Connecticut.
"This is a different place for us to be above .500 at this time of the season and it's a good feeling," Wake Forest coach Charlene Curtis said.
"It's parity," FSU coach Sue Semrau said. "That's something in our conference we haven't always had. "FSU nor Wake has seen a lot of success in this conference, but we're maybe now doing our part."
KEEPING THE FAITH: South Florida is in the midst of a 3-11 season and has not win a Conference USA game. But you can't tell it by talking to first-year coach Jose Fernandez.
The man who envisions bringing the first C-USA title and national championship to USF is going about business as usual in this tumultuous season.
"I walk into practice every day like I'm 15-0," Fernandez said. "I'm here to win a national title. That's what I want to do here. If my expectations are too high, I'm in the wrong place. I'm going to work 24 hours a day to get this program where we want it to be."
The Bulls have had just six winning seasons in 25 years, including two 14-13 campaigns. So Fernandez knows he has his work cut out -- not just in turning the program around, but changing the mind-set of everyone from the players to the community.
"I think Tampa is a better sell than Storrs, Conn., and I'm sure they were asking Geno (Auriemma) about that when he took over and UConn hadn't had a winning season," Fernandez said. "Seven years later, they won a national title. That's what I want to do here."
THE LEGENDS CLUB: With N.C. State's victory Thursday night over Temple, long-time coach Kay Yow earned her 600th career victory. Yow is 600-243 in 30 seasons and 543-225 in her 26th season at N. C. State. Yow joins Texas coach Jody Conradt, Tennessee's Pat Summitt, Vivian Stringer of Rutgers and Sue Gunter of LSU.
-- Antonya English covers women's college basketball. She can reached at (813) 226-3389 or by e-mail at english@sptimes.com.
68 -- Consecutive home games won by Grambling before losing to rival Southern last Saturday. The streak was one shy of Tennessee's Division I record.
38 -- Consecutive home-court wins by Texas Tech, the longest Division I streak.
23 -- Years it had been since Baylor was ranked. The Bears were No. 23 this week but suffered their first loss this season Wednesday to No. 11 Texas Tech.
8 -- Wins Washington University needs to tie UCLA's NCAA record of 88 straight from 1971 to 1974. Washington is the three-time defending NCAA Division III champion.
5 -- Number of Big 12 teams ranked in the AP poll this week. The last time the conference had five ranked teams was November 1997.
DON'T FORGET THE CELL: South Florida coach Jose Fernandez has two steadfast rules to follow these days: no travel outside of Tampa except for Bulls road games and never leave home without his cell phone. That's because his wife, Elizabeth, is pregnant with their first child (a daughter) and is due "any day now."
"The only time I'm going on the road is for the games," Fernandez said. "And I'm on full alert. Fred (Huff, USF sports information assistant) has my cell phone (during games)."
OLD FRIENDS, OLD FOES: Former college teammates Rene Portland and Theresa Grentz met for the 41st time in their coaching careers when Penn State traveled to Illinois on Sunday. Although Portland holds the edge in the win column, it was Grentz and the Illini that prevailed this time. The 75-71 win snapped Penn State's eight-game winning streak and was its first Big Ten loss of the season. The series between the coaches is 21-20, including games against each other at St. Joseph's, Colorado, Rutgers, Penn State and Illinois. They first faced each other in 1977-78. As teammates they helped Immaculata to three consecutive national titles from 1972-74.
SUNDAY: Georgia at LSU, 3 p.m.
No. 5 Duke at Maryland, 5 p.m.
No. 18 North Carolina State at North Carolina, 1 p.m.
MONDAY: No. 21 Miss. State at No. 2 Tennessee, Monday, noon, ESPN2.
No. 1 Connecticut at No. 3 Notre Dame, 2 p.m., ESPN
QUOTABLE: "We gotta figure out a couple of ways to put the ball in the hole." -- UCLA coach Kathy Olivier, whose team is 0-2 in Pac-10 play and 1-12 overall. -- Compiled by Antonya English.