ATLANTA -- Twenty years ago, as chief adminstrator of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association, News & Observer sports columnist Caulton Tudor brokered a deal between ACSMA and the Associated Press to name a single all-ACC team.

For that, and in recognition of his four-plus decades covering the ACC, Tudor was honored with ACSMA’s Skeeter Francis Award on Saturday, which recognizes an individual with the media, conference office or member institution whose work has benefited coverage of ACC sports.

A full handful of stone-cold locks as ACC football games — not to even mention Hurricane Irene — quickly approach:
 
1.The Atlantic and Coastal divisions will be popularly referred to as the Atlantic Division and the Graveyard of the Atlantic Division.
Or maybe it’ll the Football Bowl Subdivision or the Football Court of Appeals Subdivision.

Caulton Tudor's tires were slashed and he almost crashed, but the Lord had mercy and he's joining us live from New Jersey to take your NCAA tournament questions.

And if you didn't get the obvious "Rosalita" reference in that last line, then I just don't know you anymore.

Click here to join the discussion. (We promise to keep the Springsteen references to a minimum.)
 

The Cavaliers, quickly running out of roster and entering the tournament with an ugly nine-game losing streak, finally got back to .500 (15-15) with a 68-62 win that buys them a ticket to nowhere Friday.

Tony Bennett's ninth-seeded team will have to face top-seeded Duke, thoroughly rested since ruining North Carolina's life last Saturday night in Durham.

The Pirates are C-USA champs but still looking for respect. Caulton Tudor and J.P. Giglio disagree about how good the Pirates will be in '09. ... more

The esteemed basketball state of North Carolina, as usual, is about as close to hosting an NCAA Final Four as Nolan Richardson is to again coaching the Arkansas Razorbacks.

The NCAA on Wednesday announced its list of possible Final Four cities for the near future, and North Carolina is no where near the mix.

According to a news release by the NCAA, recent Final Four host cities Atlanta, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, New Orleans, St. Louis and San Antonio are joined by 2009 host Detroit and 2011 host Houston in the bidding for the Final Fours through the 2015-16 academic year. In addition to those cities, Dallas and Phoenix also made bids to host.