ACC football standings (2000-07):

2008 ACC Football

Thursday, Aug. 28
Jacksonville State @ Ga. Tech, 7:30
Charleston Southern @ Miami, 7:30
N.C. State @ South Carolina, 8
Wake Forest @ Baylor, 8

Saturday, Aug. 30
Va. Tech vs. East Carolina (@ Charlotte), noon
USC @ UVa, 3:30
Delaware @ Maryland, 3:45
McNeese State @ UNC, 6
James Madison @ Duke, 7
Boston College vs. Kent State (@ Cleveland), 7:30
Alabama vs. Clemson (@ Atlanta), 8

CHAPEL HILL — This week, former Tar Heel sharpshooter Shammond Williams reported a $10,000 diamond-encrusted watch stolen from his home on Gardner Circle.

Williams plays professional basketball for Pamesa Valencia in Spain but maintains a home in Chapel Hill.

Over at Lord Stanley's Blog, debate has been raging since Monday about problems Carolina Hurricanes fans have had getting in and out of the RBC Center.

A reader pointed out that those troubles might not just happen on hockey nights.

So Wolfpack fans, we invite you to join the debate. The Hurricanes are having a parking summit for their fans in August, but jump in and have your say if those issues spill over to basketball games and other events.

Not even Roy Williams expected the trio of Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green to return to UNC for the 2008-09 season.

"I didn't think [there was] any way in Hades that we'd have all three back," Williams said in an article with ESPN.

And despite the Great Sticker Incident of '08, Ol' Roy's still trying to come to grips with UNC's 84-66 loss to Kansas in the Final Four.

"It's the most dumbfounded I've ever been as a coach," Williams said. "In the locker room, we prepared like we did every game in the ACC and in the NCAA. They'd all been the same and the kids appeared to have a good focus. I'm just dumbfounded, still dumbfounded. Kansas just came in and hit us in the mouth." 

File this under the category "Anything's Possible" — a Florida State football player, Myron Rolle, could be nominated for a Rhodes Scholarship.

Rolle, according to SI, has a 3.75 GPA and will finish his undergraduate degree in less than three years. Impressive.

Cheap shot alert (please don't read if you can't handle a joke): The article doesn't mention if Rolle took any of his classes online.

In comparison to Tom O'Brien and Butch Davis, anyone would look like the class clown but David Cutcliffe played the role of jester Thursday at the Pigskin Preview.

The new Duke coach's best line was:

"I called the NCAA during spring practice and asked for five extra days — because the first five days looked nothing like football."

The real surprise Thursday was O'Brien admitting his love for Swedish supergroup ABBA.

Fascinating comments from Miami football coach Randy Shannon in the Miami Herald. The Hurricanes went 5-7 overall and 2-6 in the ACC in Shannon's first season. Who's fault was that? Larry Coker, of course.

"Last year I thought we could have won more games than we did. But the thing I didn't look at was depth. We didn't have any depth," Shannon said.

Depth, in coachspeak, translates to recruiting. The Canes used 11 true freshmen last season and had eight freshmen enroll in January who'll likely do the same.

''It's the same thing Coach [Howard] Schnellenberger did when he changed the process at Miami,'' Shannon said.

Miami's 30-19 since joining the ACC and 12-13 the past two seasons.

Former UNC forward Alex Stepheson will finish his college career at Southern California, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

Stepheson left the UNC program after averaging 4.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game as a sophomore in 2007-08. UNC said he left the program to be closer to his ailing father in California.

According to the Daily News, the Trojans may not have a scholarship for Stepheson, who could apply to the NCAA for a waiver to be eligible for the 2008-09 season.

For $3,500, (current bid, four days still left), a genuine championship ring from UNC's 2005 national championship season, can be yours via eBay.

Joe Ovies at 850 the Buzz has discovered that the ring was issued by the NCAA, not UNC, and at some point belonged to David Noel or someone in his family.

As far as championship rings, this one looks pretty tame but the NCAA has to balance the books. They can't waste their nonprofit status on bling.