By Adam Lucas

Last week, we called for your favorite ACC Tournament memories. Somewhere, there's a server wishing we hadn't.

They came by the bucketload, and we've got the best in today's column. Just like last week, we're going to do a double dose of Mailbag this week. Today will be all about your ACC Tournament memories. Tomorrow we'll have the usual question-and-answer format, plus I'll print my All-ACC ballot. This year's ballot was quite a challenge because it was due at 9 p.m. Sunday night, which meant slowing the heart rate below 150 after the Duke game in order to rationally fill out the selections.

The All-ACC teams were announced yesterday and the individual awards (Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, and Freshman of the Year) will be announced this afternoon.

Also, the Tar Heel Sports Network will broadcast every game from this weekend's ACC Tournament. That means six different editions of the Mailbag on the THSN pregame show. So if you've ever even thought about submitting a Mailbag question to be read on the air, this is the time. Send in your questions before Wednesday at noon in order to make them eligible to be read by Jones, Eric, and the rest of the crew.

Now, the readers have the helm for the rest of this column:

Having grown up in a North Carolina school system that had its priorities straight with teachers wheeling televisions into classrooms so students could watch games on Tournament Friday, the ACC Tournament has long been a favorite event of mine.

As a career Coast Guard officer, I've had to go to great lenghts to follow the Tar Heels over the years, including watching the 2005 National Championship over an Arab satellite TV system in the Middle East. In the Spring of 1998, I was the commanding officer of a 110 foot Coast Guard patrol boat based out of Mobile, Alabama. My ship was deployed to the Caribbean and the Mona Pass (the body of water between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic) to conduct counter-narcotics law enforcement operations. In the space of 24 hours, we chased down a "go-fast" drug boat that was trying to ditch over 900 pounds of cocaine, transferred the smugglers to the Dominican Navy and then picked up 20 Dominicans who were trying to illegally enter Puerto Rico. Pretty busy day! But, as the Wilmington Morning Star noted in their article "Wilmington Native Nets Drug Bust", I had one more concern - trying to get the ship back to San Juan in time to watch the ACC Tournament final. To quote the paper, "some Tar Heel habits die hard." We made it back and I found a television on base where I was able to watch the Heels win the championship.
Laura Dickey, CDR, USCG
UNC Law '02

This is the first of our book winners, so Laura, you need to send us your mailing address. Anyone who speeds along a drug bust in order to watch Antawn Jamison dunk on Roshown McLeod is an obvious choice.

As the oldest daughter of a repeated state champion high-school basketball coach growing up in Upstate NY, I have always had a healthy respect for the glorious game of basketball. The power of the tournaments in March was instilled in me at a very young age, of which I am eternally appreciative. However, when my family relocated to Greenville, North Carolina when I was in sixth grade, I truly understood how important March Madness was to this region of our country!

My father and I were always fans of the Tar Heels, and have enormous admiration and respect for Dean Smith. When my older brother got accepted to UNC-CH, the rest of our family became fans as well. I can accredit my fondest memories of the ACC tournament to Mrs. Joy Riddick, my seventh grade Algebra teacher.

See, Mrs. Riddick was a gigantic ACC basketball fan, and one of the biggest, baddest, meanest N.C. State fan that I have met in my entire life. She was a towering woman at 6'2" who had played basketball in college and would engage in a healthy rivalry and constant ribbing with any Carolina fan that happened to be in her class. Being new to the school, I had heard rumors all year that she would have a television in her classroom come March Madness to watch the games. Sure enough, when the ACC tourney Friday rolled around, not only did she have the TV on during class while loudly cheering and critiquing the game, but we, the students were expected to solve quadratic equations relating to the ACC teams' standings and rankings!

It was an incredible realization for me as I thought I was in heaven--to be able to attend school, do class work AND watch ACC tournaments play at the same time!

I have never forgotten Mrs. Riddick, who is actually still teaching at the same school and upon becoming a teacher myself, I have tried to emulate her enthusiasm for sports onto my own students. Although they are only in first grade, they are never too young to choose a team and root their little hearts out!

Thanks for allowing me to share my ACC tournament memories. I look forward to a very exciting next week! Hmmmm....Is it a little coincidental that I feel an illness coming on, let's say, Thursday afternoon? I only hope my class will forgive me!
Heather Smith

I've had numerous influential teachers in my life, some of whom will even take credit for teaching me. Mrs. Chapman in the fourth grade at Farmington Woods Elementary was the first teacher I had who would wheel in the television for ACC Tournament weekend. Mrs. Goolsby at Apex Middle School was another die-hard Tar Heel, and Mrs. Whitaker and Mrs. Umstead at Apex High School humored their student with the basketball addiction. At Carolina Law, Arnold Loewy showed me a unique way he had of keeping plus/minus stats that was the first time I'd seen that stat for basketball, and Tom Hazen even dropped a question centering around ACC Tournament tickets into his contracts exam, which gave me an opportunity to camouflage the fact that I knew nothing about contracts with some ACC Tournament history (he wasn't fooled).

All that is to say that teachers can have a huge influence even when they don't realize it. For that reason--and to encourage her to guide plenty of first-graders towards the Tar Heels--she's our second book winner. Send us your mailing address, Heather.

I was a walk-on with UNC from `85-`87 but those tournaments both ended badly. My favorite memories are from much earlier. My dad used to take me to any game we got tickets to. We went to Landover in '76 just for the first round and did not spend the night, driving up there that morning, watching 3 games, driving home. Three hours one way. We attended the first round in the late '70s and watched the final game, NCSU-MD., go triple overtime. I think I was about 13 years old and sat thru the entire day. The game ended about 1 am and we drove back to Henderson, 2 hours away. We attended the '78 finals when Duke won. When we left the Greensboro Coliseum (still the best location) and it was snowing. Someone made the comment at the time that it would snow in March before Duke won an ACC title. I loved each and every game played back then.

The overall theme is I remember every one of those games mainly because I spent them with my dad, just the 2 of us. It was cool to actually play in the tournament years later but it still didn't compare to hanging out with my dad those days. It is probably my favorite memory growing up. I can't wait to take my son to the tourney. Hopefully my dad will come with us.
Michael Norwood
New Bern, NC

As a student in 1982, I was lucky enough to "win" (i.e. have the opportunity to buy) ACC tournament tickets. Yea, it was spring break, but who cares - this was the ACC tournament! Those were the days of Ralph Sampson at Virginia and those Carolina-Virginia games were huge. I can't even remember who Carolina played in the first 2 rounds of the tournament, even though I was there for every second of every game. Oh, I waited all weekend for that Carolina-Virginia final on Sunday. Yes, this was the game that supposedly brought the 3 point shot to college basketball. I believe there were only 100 student tickets available at Carolina; Virginia seems to have had so many more. Surprisingly enough, whoever designed the seating for the tournament that year decided to put Carolina students and Virginia students right beside each other. We all sat behind one of the baskets, with just a very narrow aisle separating us. Every day of the tournament the entire Virginia student body wore matching T-shirts with a Thomas Jefferson quote "The truth shall prevail." Below that, they had added in parentheses "in Greensboro." I couldn't wait for the championship game, hoping beyond hope that we could fling that back at them. Those Virginia students, they were creative before the Cameron Crazies ever existed. They had their newspapers, along with their chants of "boring," as Carolina held the ball, trying to get Ralph to come out and play. Oh, how sweet it was! Through all the years and all the games, I don't think I have ever enjoyed a cheer as much as when we finally got to stand and shout "THE TRUTH SHALL PREVAIL!!"
Adrianna E. Sidelinger

Many remember the '98 team for that horrible loss to Utah in the NCAA semis, but I choose to remember their memorable ACC tourney run. The field set up nicely for the Heels as they had a chance to get revenge on the only three teams to defeat them in the regular season, NC State, Maryland, and Duke. I remember sitting a section over from some obnoxious State fans as Brian Bersticker continually dunked on the Pack late in the second half. As a UNC student, I was probably just as obnoxious, but it was State. Losing to them in Chapel Hill was unacceptable in my opinion, so during the beat down in Greensboro, I really unleashed my emotions. Then there was the Maryland game and Shammond's lean in 3 pointer in which he got fouled, sank the free throws, and helped lead us to a tight overtime win. After the game, I remember looking into the seating area from the concourse and noticing the haze that just hung in the arena. 24,000 fans had just witnessed two incredibly emotional games, Clemson/Duke and UNC/Maryland. I won't lie. The only time I've ever cheered for Duke was in that game vs. Clemson. I, and the rest of Tar Heel Nation, wanted Duke. We got our wish on Championship Sunday. Just a week earlier, we'd lost a heart breaker in Durham. With rumors that Antawn Jamison may not play due to an injury he'd sustained, I was nervous going into the game. Of course, Jamison played, and played well. It felt great beating Duke and completing our revenge tour through the ACC. As we watched Shammond lead the band during the post game celebration, I remember thinking that there's no way this team could lose another game. Funny, I don't remember anything after that about the '98 season, but I do know that it's been way too long since we've brought home another ACC Tourney Title. Can't wait for Tampa.
Drew Hardison
Apex, NC

Drew brings up a very good point. There was a strong rumor going around Greensboro--and kids, in those days we had to spread rumors mostly without the help of the internet, but that's how dedicated we were--that Jamison wouldn't play in that game. There was legitimate concern in the Carolina section when the Tar Heels took the floor about whether the All-American would be with them. He played, of course, and scored 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. His dunk over Roshown McLeod prompted one of the great Woody Durham calls of the past decade: "Jamison is giving McLeod an absolute clinic!" You'll be able to relive that call and that game in the new Carolina Basketball Museum, which will open beside the Smith Center in the next 8-10 months.

My parents are both UNC alums, so I was 'Tarheel Born' despite being physically born in Charlottesville. When I was 8 we moved to Minnesota. 1990 was our second March in the Midwest. I was in the 3rd grade.

As soon as school got out on Friday I started running home to catch as much as the UNC-UVA quarterfinal as I could. It was cold, it was snowing, and yes the way home was uphill.

My friend ran behind me and asked why I was running. "The tourney is on!" is what I tried to respond with, though who knows what was audible through my ski mask with the little eye and mouth holes. He shouted "The tourney is next week." I yelled back, "Not that one, but the REAL one, the ACC tourney."

And with that I decided it would be best to cut through an open field. The snow was well above my thighs (after months of cumulative snow fall) and I fell over face first several times.

I finally made the mile or so home in time to see the ending. I was crushed (you have to keep in mind we use to live in Ch'ville so beating UVA meant the world to us). The missed chance, the look on Rice's face, the speculation we wouldn't make the NCAAs. I cried and cried. My dad got home from work with his game day UNC tie & he tried to console me but I insisted it was because I wasn't a good enough fan, that I didn't make it home in time for more of the game, that I shouldn't have cut through that field, that I wasn't there for Carolina.

Fourth grade would be different. We would win the ACC tourney and on my Friday run home to watch the afternoon quarterfinal I did not cut through that snowy field.
Jimmy Leachman
Sonoma County, CA

I have several great memories of past tournaments and was fortunate enough to attend a few ones in the late 70's and throughout the 80's. A few trips to Greensboro and a couple of more journeys to the old Capital Centre ( Landover, Md) have provided some long-lasting recollections. One of my fondest memories is mailing away for copies of the local Carolina newspapers in the days leading up to the tournament as well as the Monday afterwards. I would also cut out all of the clippings from my local Northern Virginia papers as well as the Washington Post, using these to compile scrapbooks that I still have today.

I, like you, needed to be free for ACC Friday, Unfortunately, during my high school years, baseball practice was going on and I could not miss school. However, my teachers knew how much the tournament meant to me and I would sit in the back of the room and listen to the games on the radio, trying hard not to draw attention to myself and also trying not to get too emotional when the game became tense. I still get a chuckle thinking back to 1977-79 when teachers and coaches would knock on the classroom door asking for permission to talk to me on some premise of importance. Once they got me out in the hall they would want to know what the score was. My high school baseball coach, Yates Hall ( who had played at Virginia), had a guidance office right next to my English class my senior year ( 1979). That was the year that Wake Forest with four freshman ( Rogers, Helms, Johnstone and Morgan) almsot upset Duke in the opening round. As the second half progressed, we both had incredulous looks on our faces as the 'Deacons stayed close. It was excruciating trying to keep him up-to-date through repeated whispers designed not to disturb my classmates, while also wanting to jump for joy at the thought that the Spanarkel / Gminski led Blue Devils may go down.
Mike Kenney
Front Royal , VA

I was a junior in high school, and I had one of those really small MP3 players with FM radio. So since I couldn't watch the Tar Heels I decided to hide the radio in my sweatshirt, run the earphones wire up my back, and conceal them with my hair while listening to Woody Durham. Despite my random comments about how we were going to win the game only a few people caught on to my genius plan. Sadly some people still think I carry on conversations with my imaginary friends named Sean, Raymond, Marvin, and Roy.

Conveniently the class change occurred during halftime, and I was now in my American Lit class where we were studying spirituals and watching a movie about Moses. The game resumed and the Tar Heels trailed throughout most of the second half. Finally with a minute and a half to play with the shot clock winding down, Raymond Felton hit a three to give the Heels the lead. Overwhelmed with the excitement and enthusiasm given by Woody on that three-pointer, I leaped up out of my desk with my hands in the three point position shouting "Everybody loves Raymond!"

Also at that exact moment Moses was parting the Red Sea so my English teacher just stared at me bewildered. Completely unaware he thought I was moved by the movie while the rest of the class, who had caught on to what I was doing, laughed. The Heels would win that game 88-81 before falling to Georgia Tech in the semifinals on Saturday. But they did win a National Championship a month later.
Lindsay Clark
UNC Class of 2010

I attended Catholic grade school in Goldsboro from kindergarten through 9th grade. A Catholic school classroom is probably about the last place you might expect to watch an ACC tournament game, but at St. Mary's, the nuns made a special effort to get a parent from each class to bring in a t.v. on Tournament Friday. (Looking back, I wonder if that's why we ended up with so many t.v.'s in our house - 4 kids, 4 different classrooms! The sisters would get about as much mileage out of the promise of those couple of hours of game-watching in class as many parents get out of Santa coming. For the weeks that preceded the tournament, they'd start telling us that if we worked extra hard and did all of our homework and behaved especially well and "got ahead" in our lessons in class that maybe, just maybe mind you, we could watch the ACC tournament in class. (Even Sister Mary Jane.) I think the thing that amazes me the most about that is the fact that none of the nuns were from around here - they were almost all from the Northeast. Sister Mary Jane was a huge Notre Dame fan, though. She taught us the ND fight song in music class. ("Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame..." I can almost still sing it.) Maybe that's why she "got it."
Michelle King
Fuquay-Varina, NC

Brownlow's Down Low
Lauren writes: You would think that one of my worst memories would be witnessing the "Randolph Childress" game in 1995 in person, but it's really not. That was a great game, and despite him making practically every shot he threw up there, Carolina was in it until the end, even after Rasheed Wallace went down (which brought tears to my eyes as an 11-year-old girl who adored Rasheed). Also, we had won the Tournament the year before (1994), so I figured, oh well. We'll get it next year (we didn't). Then, I got home and my next door and across the street neighbors were both huge Wake Forest fans. My next door neighbors were having a "victory party" and were setting off their house alarm system in celebration. My next door neighbor was a doctor who went to medical school at Wake Forest, and when Carolina began to struggle through the years he used to yell out to me, "Brownlow! How about them Deacs?" Even their huge golden retriever was named Deacon, and I was scared of big dogs so he always used to pretend to sic him on me: "Deacon! Go get that Tar Heel!" Naturally, everyone thought that was hilarious, except me. So, in 1997 when Carolina finally got back into the championship game and beat NC State to win it, we set off our house alarm in celebration. Our neighbors did not like that very much. That's probably my best memory.

My worst tournament memory was 2004. I was there, live and in person, to watch Jarrett Jack hit that leaner with less than two seconds left. I was about five rows up from the court, and he proceeded to run by the Carolina section and yell out a few choice words to the fans that I cannot repeat in this column or around children under 16. Some family friends and Wake Forest fans were also there, hugging and jumping up and down in jubilation. If you don't believe that "ABC" exists amongst opposing fanbases, you are dead wrong and you have no idea the vitriol behind it. Some Wake Forest fans next to us were cheering when our players got hurt! Anyway, they were laughing and pointing at us as we walked out of the Coliseum with our heads hanging. I couldn't help myself, so I turned around and just said, "Karma. The Deacs are losing to Maryland tonight." They just laughed. Well, guess what? Wake Forest lost its quarterfinal game at 9:00 that night, 87-86.

Adam Lucas's third book on Carolina basketball, The Best Game Ever, chronicles the 1957 national championship season and is available now. His previous books include Going Home Again, focusing on Roy Williams's return to Carolina, and Led By Their Dreams, a collaboration with Steve Kirschner and Matt Bowers on the 2005 championship team.To submit a Mailbag question, click here.