March 9, 2007

 * This is the third ACC Tournament in which three overtime games were played. No tournament has ever had four.

There was an overtime game played in each round of the inaugural ACC Tournament at Raleigh in 1954 - the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. Wake Forest participated in all three OT contests, losing to N.C. State in the championship game as coach Everett Case won the first of three consecutive ACC titles.

There were three consecutive overtime games played at Landover, Md., in 1987. N.C. State participated in two, defeating Duke in the quarterfinals, then besting Wake Forest in double overtime in the semifinals. In a prior semifinal, North Carolina topped Virginia in double overtime. N.C. State won the championship that year, too, the second title and last title for coach Jim Valvano.

* Boston College's Tyrese Rice is the third player to score at least 30 points in a 2007 ACC Tournament game. Rice had 32 in the Eagles' overtime victory over Miami, setting a new mark for a BC player in the tournament. (Craig Smith had 23 last season against UNC in the semifinals.) Georgia Tech's Thaddeus Young had 30 points in a losing effort against Wake Forest in this year's first round, and Brandon Costner had 30 in a winning effort in the opening round for N.C. State.

All three 30-point efforts this season came in overtime action.

The last time three players scored at least 30 in the same tournament was 2005, when Virginia's J.R. Reynolds had 32 versus Miami in the first round, Georgia Tech's Will Bynum had 35 in the semifinals against North Carolina, and Duke's J.J. Redick had 35 in the finals against N.C. State. None of those game went to overtime.

Last season's leading scorer in the ACC Tournament was Virginia's Sean Singletary, who had 29 in a quarterfinal loss to North Carolina.

N.C. State's Costner has a chance to become the first player in ACC Tournament history to score 30 or more points in four games. Only one player has scored at least 30 points in three tournament games - Wake Forest guard Randolph Childress in 1995. He had 40 against Duke, 30 against Virginia and 37 in overtime against North Carolina in the finals won by the Demon Deacons.

* Virginia and N.C. State have met in the ACC Tournament only twice since 1986. The Wolfpack won both games, in the 2000 quarterfinals and the 2002 quarterfinals. N.C. State was the lower seed in 2000.

* Virginia Tech and Wake Forest have never met in the ACC Tournament.

* So far, four of six teams that held the lower seed won their games. Last year, the first in which the ACC had 12 teams, there were only three such upsets.