Duke wins 8th ACC regular-season title in past 14 years
Duke’s 82-50 win over UNC gave the Blue Devils a share of the 2009-10 ACC regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the 2010 ACC Tournament. Both Duke and Maryland concluded regular-season conference play with 13-3 ACC records.
“It means a lot not only to me but to our season class and our whole team,” stated Jon Scheyer about winning the ACC regular-season crown. “It was something we were close to doing the last couple years so winning it this year means a lot. We worked really hard for four years to get in this position.”
Added Jon’s fellow senior captain Lance Thomas, “The ACC title is important because it’s not easy to attain. We have a lot of competitive teams in this conference, especially this year. Earlier in the year everyone’s record was pretty much the same so if you won you might have one game separation but if you lost you were back in a pile with four or five teams. It wasn’t easy for us to create that separation. We struggled a little bit early on the road but we regrouped, got back in the gym. We found a way to make it work and we fought to get where we are. It means a lot because we worked for it and it sets the tone for the younger guys for next year so they understand what it takes to get there in this league. But, we are not done yet.”
This Duke team earned wins against each of the ACC’s top six teams with first place in the conference on the line at some during the year. Brian Zoubek credits experience as the reason for the squad’s toughness in big conference games. Said Zoubs, “The difference this year is we have been through it. We know what we need to do and we’ve tried to impart that on the younger guys and bring them along. We’ve had a sense of urgency as a senior group. We don’t want this to end but since it has to we want it to end on a happy note.”
ACC Regular-Season Titles by Active Coaches
Coach K: 12
Roy Williams: 4
Gary Williams: 3
All other ACC coaches: 0
ACC Regular-Season Titles Since 1985
Duke: 12
UNC: 10
Maryland: 3
GA Tech/NCSU/UVA/Wake Forest: 2
Clemson: 1
ACC Regular-Season Wins Since 1997
Duke: 178
UNC: 143
Maryland: 139
Wake Forest: 119
NC State: 92
FSU: 88
UVA: 87
GA Tech: 87
Clemson: 86
VA Tech: 48
Boston College: 40
Miami: 37
*VA Tech, BC and Miami joined the league after 1997 when the league expanded from nine to 12 teams.
