Former N.C. State basketball coach Sidney Lowe's court date for tax evasion was rescheduled for May 29 on Tuesday.

Lowe was arrested last month in Wake County and charged for failure to file and pay state income tax in the years 2009, 2010 and 2011.

I went into the selection show with a list of 11 potential Final Four teams. Four of them ended up in the Midwest Region. Despite that depth of competition, I'm still sticking with Louisville as my champion, No. 1 overall seed or not.

They tick all the boxes: excellent defensively (No. 1 in the Pomeroy ratings); very good offensively (No. 15 in KenPom); experienced (in the Final Four a year ago); backcourt strength and depth in Russ Smith and Peyton Siva; coaching (Rick Pitino); and a secret weapon off the bench, one-time Virginia Tech recruit Montrezl Harrell of Tarboro.

They'll probably have to beat Missouri, St. Louis and either Michigan State or Duke just to get to the Final Four -- a tougher three-game run than any pair Indiana or Gonzaga is likely to face, just for the record -- but the Cardinals are capable.

Duke's Mason Plumlee joins a long list of Blue Devil all-Americans. Credit: CHUCK LIDDY

Mason Plumlee is a first-team all-ACC selection by the coaches and the media. Now, he has another descriptor he can add to his bio: All-American.

Plumlee was named a second-team all-American by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, which released its two teams Monday. Plumlee is the second Blue Devil to receive all-American honors this year, joining Seth Curry, a second team all-American selection by the Sporting News.

Mason Plumlee and Seth Curry continued to add to their postseason awards collection when both were named to the inaugural coaches all-ACC team.

Plumlee was a unanimous selection along with Virginia's Joe Harris. Plumlee ranks second in the league in scoring (17.2 points per game), rebounding (10.2 boards per game) and field goal percentage (59.2 percent). He also ranks among the top five in blocked shots and minutes played. Earlier this month, the senior was named to the all-ACC team voted on by the media.

Plumlee was also a member of the coaches all-ACC defensive team.

Monte Towe will be in Dayton, Ohio on Tuesday with Middle Tennessee State in the NCAA tournament.

There's a part of the former N.C. State assistant coach, and star player, that wishes he could stay until Friday to watch the Wolfpack take on Temple.

Towe, an assistant to Sidney Lowe for five seasons at State, helped recruit and develop many of the current Wolfpack players.

Performances like the one at Virginia ultimately kept Duke from a No. 1 seed. And because the Cavaliers didn't win big games away from home, they are in the NIT. Credit: CHUCK LIDDY

So how did the team ranked No. 1 in the RPI and in strength of schedule get a No. 2 seed?

With slightly more polish, that's what I asked NCAA selection committee chairman Mike Bobinski on his conference call last night.

You can’t accuse North Carolina of going anything less than full speed. The Tar Heels gave it everything they had in the 87-77 loss.

That it wasn’t enough was testament less to another swing-and-miss in Greensboro -- North Carolina hasn’t won an ACC title here since 1998 -- than to how deep, talented and well coached Miami is.

Miami winning the ACC basketball title is a lot like Wake Forest winning the ACC football title: Two old, experienced teams from unheralded programs that put all the pieces together at the right time.

Shane Larkin is a stud. That regular-season championship was no fluke.

Then again, neither are the Tar Heels.

For a while on Sunday, North Carolina and Miami played a classic, and played one of the finest games in a long season. But after 10 ties and 16 lead changes, the Hurricanes made the last push and held off UNC for a 87-77 victory in the ACC tournament championship game.

The championship was Miami’s first and by winning it, the Hurricanes denied the Tar Heels their 18th tournament title. Back and forth for most of the first 35 minutes, Miami took a 69-67 lead with 6:27 to play. The Hurricanes held the lead from there.

Roy Williams only got one vote for ACC coach of the year. Jim Larranaga got 75 of the remaining 76. They’ll contest a one-game referendum Sunday when North Carolina faces Miami in the ACC title game.

The case for Larranaga is clear, and the Hurricanes have a chance to add the championship to the regular-season title. But Williams keeps pushing the right buttons, and has ever since the loss to these same Hurricanes that forced his hand on switching to the smaller lineup that was very much out of his coaching character.

He might even have gone against character a little bit once again, letting P.J. Hairston play in Saturday’s 79-76 win over Maryland with eight stitches between the ring and middle fingers of his left hand after Hairston decided during warm-ups he was OK.

The tension rising throughout the second half, North Carolina never lost its lead – or its poise – in the ACC tournament semifinals at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Tar Heels held on to beat the Terrapins 79-76 and will play Miami on Sunday in the tournament championship game.

UNC led by as many as 13 points midway through the second half, but Maryland, which mounted comeback attempt after comeback attempt, whittled the Heels’ lead to a point with 3:12 to play. From there, UNC built its lead back up to five, only to see the Terps make it a two-point game with 19 seconds left.