March 11, 2001

ATLANTA - If North Carolina head coach Matt Doherty is looking for an omen that will predict his team will win Sunday's ACC Tournament Championship, he should look no further than his ride to the Georgia Dome. Doherty and the Tar Heels have been riding the ACC bus since the team arrived in Atlanta for the tournament.

The bus exterior has an ACC theme with artwork of ACC supported sports, the conference logo, school logos and corporate partner logos as well as the conference's official web address, TheACC.com.

How come the Tar Heels have the privilege of riding the conference bus? It's simple, North Carolina is the number one seed.

Teams riding the bus have a good track record of success. Last weekend, Duke was the number one seed in the ACC Women's Tournament in Greensboro and thus used the bus during their stay in the Triad area. The Blue Devils rode the bus all the way to the tournament championship.

In February, the Clemson men's indoor track & field team used the bus at the ACC Championships in Blacksburg, Va. The result, another ACC Indoor Track & Field Championship for the Tigers.

If the two championships noted above don't give Doherty some hope for Sunday, the name of the company that owns the bus should. The company is Champion Coach.

Champion Coach is based in Greenville, S.C. and specializes in bus line service for college and professional sports teams, and provides service to all nine of the ACC schools throughout the year.

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