ESPN Men's Basketball

The ACC men's basketball tournament will include all 14 teams once Syracuse and Pittsburgh join the league in 2013 or 2014. In addition, the tournament will expand to one more day, the league decided at its annual spring meetings -- with the lowest four seeds playing on the opening Wednesday.

"There were a number of models that we looked at," ACC associate commissioner Karl Hicks said during a phone interview after the meetings concluded Wednesday. "We shared them with the coaches. ... We looked at different models -- one where we had four games on the Wednesday, and two games on Thursday. It was important to do our due diligence, but we wound up with the 11, 12, 13 and 14 seeds playing on the first day."

Hicks said there are still plenty of details to be resolved as far as the expanded tournament, such a tickets and start times for the games. But he was pleased that the league "moved the needle forward" as far as planning.

Other topics discussed among the basketball coaches included strength of nonconference scheduling, transfer rules and pending NCAA legislation, Hicks said.

He also said the coaches would like to look, sooner rather than later, at the three-year rotation of conference schedules, which will go into effect once Syracuse and Pitt join the league.

"The coaches asked that that be developed over the course of the summer, and that it be approved at the AD's meeting in October so that they know, on a year-to-year basis, what their conference schedule will look like," he said.

As ESPN.com's Andy Katz wrote last week, next year's 18-game conference schedule is not part of that rotation.

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter at @bylinerp.

Yes, it's that time of year again -- the time we all join together around the fireplace (or MacBook Air, or whatever) and learn what the upcoming year's edition of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge will see fit to bring us.

It's like Christmas in May! OK, it's not really like Christmas. It's considerably less awesome than Christmas. Honestly, it's considerably less awesome than the ACC/Big Ten Challenge itself, because at least that features actual basketball, rather than the mere promise of it. But it is May. Right now, this is the best we can do. (Besides, it beats talking about conference realignment.)

Anyway, as usual, the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge will bring us quite a lot. Below you can find the matchups, as released by the conferences at 2 p.m. ET Monday:

Tuesday, Nov. 27

Minnesota @ Florida State
North Carolina @ Indiana
NC State @ Michigan
Maryland @ Northwestern
Iowa @ Virginia Tech
Nebraska @ Wake Forest

Wednesday, Nov. 28

Purdue @ Clemson
Ohio State @ Duke
Georgia Tech @ Illinois
Michigan State @ Miami, FL
Boston College @ Penn State
Virginia @ Wisconsin

The first day of competition, Nov. 27, is practically guaranteed to be the best. Why? Because it offers North Carolina at Indiana and NC State at Michigan, the former of which is the first time the two bluebloods have met since Sean May, Rashad McCants and Raymond Felton rolled into Bloomington in 2005, just one stop on the way to an eventual national championship. The 2012 edition will offer a decidedly different flavor. Indiana is the program expected to compete for a national title, while UNC -- though still very talented, with a deep coterie of guards and a marquee big man in sophomore James Michael McAdoo -- will be in some ways rebuilding from the losses of Tyler Zeller, John Henson, Harrison Barnes and Kendall Marshall, all of whom left bound for the NBA.

The latter matchup, NC State at Michigan, will give us a great early glimpse of two teams with designs on conference titles -- and a great look at how the relatively young Wolfpack, featuring veterans C.J. Leslie and Lorenzo Brown but also top-ranked recruits Rodney Purvis, T.J. Warren and Tyler Lewis, will adapt to the challenges of winning big games on the road.

There are other attractions too, of course, including Ohio State's trip to Duke on Nov. 28. Iowa at Virginia Tech probably intrigues me more than it should. Minnesota at Florida State will be fascinating; sixth-year senior Trevor Mbakwe vs. that interior defense? Yes please.

You get the idea. The real question here: Can the Big Ten continue its streak of Challenge victories? After starting 0-10 -- an entire decade of failure -- the Big Ten has now won the past three matchups against the ACC. The first two were 6-5 squeakers, but, in a sign of how much better the Big Ten was than the ACC in 2012 (which even the staunchest, most provincial ACC fan would not deny), the Big Ten handled the competition with ease, winning by a final score of 8-4.

In a vacuum, you'd expect the Big Ten -- which most project to be the best league in the country next season -- to prevail with similar comfort in 2012. (A win would put the overall tally at 4-10. The Big Ten has a lot of ground to make up.) But strange things happen in two days in November. We'll just have to wait -- and wait and wait and wait -- and see.

Which brings us to the most depressing part of this little annual May tradition: realizing that these games are something like 220 days away. As is tradition, I ask that anyone with proprietary time-travel technology please contact the blog with any ideas you may have for erasing the huge gap between now and the start of the new basketball season. Failing that, I might have to freeze myself like Eric Cartman waiting for a Nintendo Wii. What could possibly go wrong?

ST. LOUIS -- Quick thoughts from Kansas' 80-67 victory over North Carolina in the Elite Eight on Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome.

Overview: Tyshawn Taylor scored 22 points and Thomas Robinson added 18 to lead Kansas to a 13-point victory over North Carolina and a berth in the Final Four. The Jayhawks, the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region, will take on Ohio State on Saturday night in New Orleans.

This marks the second time in four years that KU has advanced to college basketball's final weekend. The Jayhawks won the NCAA title in 2008. This will also be the second Final Four appearance in Bill Self's career. The Kansas coach was 1-5 in the Elite Eight before Sunday.

Sunday's win came against a North Carolina squad that was playing without All-America point guard Kendall Marshall, who ranks second in the nation in assists with 9.8 per game. Marshall injured his wrist in the round-of-32 victory over Creighton on March 18 and didn't play at all this weekend in St. Louis.

Still, top-seeded North Carolina gave KU all it could handle until the game's final few minutes, when a 3-pointer by Elijah Johnson stretched the Jayhawks' lead to 71-67 and ignited a 12-0, game-ending run.

The score was tied 47-47 after a first half that saw UNC make 63 percent of its shots from the field, with KU hitting 56 percent.

James Michael McAdoo had a team-high 15 points for North Carolina, which ends its season 32-6.

Turning point: Johnson's 3-pointer was the spark in KU's finishing kick, but the shot was hardly the only heroic moment of the march. A few possessions later, Taylor came up with a steal and raced down the court on a fast-break. He was fouled hard while attempting a layup but somehow hung in the air, double-clutched and scored. He converted the 3-point play to make it 74-67 with 1:59 remaining. North Carolina never threatened again.

Key player: Taylor's 22 points came on 10-of-19 shooting. He also had 5 assists and 5 steals. Robinson made just 6 of his 16 shots, but he grabbed 9 boards and helped KU out-rebound a UNC squad that features three future lottery picks down low in McAdoo, Tyler Zeller and John Henson. Jeff Withey's three blocks and overall presence was also a big factor for Kansas.

Key stat: North Carolina was just 2-of-17 from 3-point range. The Tar Heels shot just 22.6 percent overall in the second half.

Up next: Kansas' game against Ohio State on Saturday will mark the second time the Jayhawks and Buckeyes have played this season. KU won the first meeting 78-67 in Lawrence, but standout Ohio State forward Jared Sullinger didn't play because of back spasms.

ST. LOUIS -- One day before they were to meet North Carolina in the Elite Eight, members of the Kansas basketball team got into a heated argument while eating breakfast Saturday at the Hyatt Regency hotel.

In this case, it was a good thing.

The bickering started when point guard Tyshawn Taylor mentioned the words “Final Four.” Before Taylor could finish his thought, teammate Thomas Robinson cut him off in mid-sentence and reminded him not to look too far ahead.

“I just want to get there,” Robinson said. “I just want to take it one step at a time.”

Wise move.

As well as their season has gone, the Jayhawks (30-6) hardly looked like a Final Four-caliber team while squeaking past double-digit seeds Purdue and NC State in the past two rounds of the NCAA tournament.

Satisfying as getting to the Elite Eight may be, Kansas knows its performance will have to dramatically improve if it has any hopes of defeating North Carolina on Sunday in St. Louis. The Tar Heels and Jayhawks are seeded No. 1 and 2, respectively, in the Midwest Region.

“We know we haven’t been playing great lately,” Robinson said. “A lot of people see that as a bad thing, but I see it as a good thing. We’ve been finding a way to win and we still haven’t played close to our abilities.

“The lid will come off [the rim] tomorrow and we’ll play a great game.”

While there certainly aren’t lids hovering over the Edward Jones Dome baskets, something seems to be affecting the Jayhawks' shooting. Kansas went just 37.5 percent from the field in Friday’s 60-57 win over NC State and made just two of its 22 shots from outside the paint.

Bill Self’s squad connected on just 33.9 percent of its attempts in last week’s 63-60 victory against Purdue. Taylor, who has missed 15 of his past 16 shots from 3-point range, was asked if he thought the Jayhawks would be a different team on offense Sunday.

“Honestly, I don’t know how confident I am that it will change,” Taylor said. “But what I am confident in is [our defense]. We’ve been getting stops when we need to. If we continue to do that, whether the ball goes in or not, we can win.”

Forcing midtier teams such as Purdue and NC State into bad shooting nights is one thing, but limiting elite teams such as North Carolina is a whole different beast. The Tar Heels tout as many as seven future first-round draft picks with players such as Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller and John Henson.

North Carolina’s most irreplaceable part, however, is point guard Kendall Marshall, who is questionable for Sunday’s game with a wrist injury. Marshall didn’t play against No. 13 seed Ohio University on Friday, and the Tar Heels needed overtime to defeat the Bobcats.

Marshall, who had surgery Monday morning, went through a light workout for the first time this week on Saturday. UNC coach Roy Williams said he likely won’t know until just before the game if Marshall can play.

“I’ve got mad respect for his game,” Taylor said. “He’s a great guard. He’s been killing it this year. As a competitor, I want him to play. I want that challenge. If he plays, I think the game would be that much better.”

Marshall ranks second in the nation in assists with 9.7 per game. If he isn’t able to go, North Carolina will likely start seldom-used freshman Stilman White for the second straight game. White averaged just 4 minutes a contest before he was thrust into duty Friday. He played 32 minutes against Ohio and finished with six assists and zero turnovers.

This will be the first time Kansas and North Carolina have played since the 2008 Final Four, when KU jumped out to a 40-12 lead and eventually won 84-66. Two nights later, the Jayhawks defeated Memphis in overtime to claim their first NCAA title since 1988.

“This is going to be one of the funnest games of our careers,” KU center Jeff Withey said. “We’re excited to play against them. We wouldn’t want it any other way than to play North Carolina to get to the Final Four.

“We match up really well with them. It’s going to be a fun game, a physical game, one for the history books.”

Who to watch:

Jeff Withey, Kansas -- The 7-foot center had 10 blocks in Friday’s Sweet 16 victory over NC State. His defense against players such as Tyler Zeller and John Henson will be vital for a KU squad that doesn’t back down in the paint.

Elijah Johnson, Kansas -- The junior guard has been one of KU’s steadiest players the past three weeks. He was the only Jayhawk to make a basket outside of the paint Friday, and his layup off an inbounds pass with less than a minute remaining helped seal KU’s win.

Harrison Barnes, North Carolina -- The Tar Heels’ leading scorer was brutal in North Carolina’s victory over Ohio on Friday. Barnes scored 12 points but made just three of his 16 shots.

Stilman White, North Carolina -- The freshman opened the season as the Tar Heels’ third-string point guard. But injuries to Dexter Strickland and Kendall Marshall forced him to play 32 minutes against Ohio. He had two points and zero turnovers.

ST. LOUIS -- North Carolina sophomore Reggie Bullock was playing defense near Ohio’s bench, with somewhere around 12 minutes left in regulation, when he overheard a Bobcats assistant coach say it: “They can’t win without Kendall Marshall.”

And boy, that made him mad.

“That just got to me, for someone to say that my team can’t fight, can’t win without our starting point guard,’’ said Bullock, usually one of the most mild-mannered members of the team. “That lit a fire under me.”

And he took it out on the Bobcats, right when the Tar Heels needed it the most.

With Marshall (UNC’s Cousy Award finalist) on the bench in a suit because of a fractured wrist, and top scorer Harrison Barnes struggling to make just about anything, it was Bullock’s blaze -- from beyond the 3-point line and on the boards -- that helped push top-seeded UNC to a 73-65 overtime victory.

Bullock scored 12 of his 17 points after his accidental eavesdrop. As a result, the guard who missed the entire NCAA tournament last season because of knee surgery will be playing Sunday in the Midwest Regional Finals. The Tar Heels will play Kansas at the Edward Jones Dome.

“I think Reggie really grew up as a player tonight,’’ said Marshall, who declined to discuss the state of his fractured right wrist after the game. “People take it for granted, but he didn’t play in the NCAA tournament last year. This is his first time going through this. And … to have the [guts] to take those big shots and knock them down, that’s big-time. One of his downfalls is how unselfish he is. But he was huge for us tonight.”

Indeed, with little-used freshman point guard Stilman White (2 points, 6 assists, 0 turnovers) making his first start and senior wing-turned-backup-ballhandler Justin Watts (4 rebounds, 3 turnovers, 1 assist) backing him up, UNC built, then lost, a 15-point lead. Even against a smaller Ohio team -- its tallest starter was 6-foot-8, compared to UNC’s starting frontcourt of 7-foot Tyler Zeller, 6-11 John Henson and 6-8 Barnes -- the Tar Heels seemed out of sync without Marshall, who set the ACC record for assists in a season before breaking his wrist last Sunday.

And they were sloppy, turning the ball over a season-high 24 times.

UNC also got a scare with 16:29 left, when Bullock limped out of a game after his surgically repaired left knee buckled while he was trying to grab a rebound.

“All I could think was, ‘Not another one. Not another bad knee,’’’ said Barnes, who had already seen two other UNC guards, Leslie McDonald and Dexter Strickland, sidelined by knee injuries this season.

But Bullock checked back in with 15:21 left, overheard the Ohio assistant’s comment, and told his team about it during the 12-minute TV timeout.

Then he got busy taking out his angst on the court.

With 11:26 left, he buried a much-needed 3 to give his team a 42-38 cushion.

With 7:36 left, he did it again, this time giving his team a 51-47 advantage.

And with 40 seconds left -- and with the 13^th-seeded Bobcats leading by one -- he hit another big 3-pointer that gave his team a 63-61 lead.

“Right when I caught the ball, I heard my whole bench, from managers to everybody, say ‘Shoot!’” Bullock said. “And right then, I just pulled the trigger and I saw it go in. And I just was like, I was just thinking to myself, ‘It's like my time to perform.’ And it was a big shot for our team and all my teammates just believing in me to make those shots.”

A jumper by Ohio’s Walter Offutt (26 points), and then a miss by Barnes, sent the game to the five-minute extra period. But it was Bullock -- who else? -- who opened overtime with -- what else? -- a 3-pointer.

"He was,'' Zeller said, "incredible."

The 6-7 athlete from Kinston, N.C., wasn’t the only standout in the survival. Zeller, who finished with 20 points and a career-high 22 rebounds, became only the fourth player in the last 30 seasons to record 20-20 in a Men’s Basketball Championship, and the first since Tim Duncan in 1997, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Henson added 14 points and 10 rebounds.

But Bullock (6-for-13 overall, 5-for-10 on 3-pointers) was especially key on a night when Barnes made only 3 of 16 shots. And when Ohio got hot in the second half, making 50 percent of its shots after going 8-for-35 in the first half.

“I think we feel like we got away with one,’’ Zeller said. “Ohio played the better game, they hit a lot of shots, I think we just were able to make a lot of plays at the end that made us capable of pulling it out.”

Including a few from Bullock, who also grabbed 10 rebounds to record his second career double-double.

“I want Kendall out there, but he wasn’t able to be out there -- he was helping us fight from the bench,’’ Bullock said. “And I wanted to show that our team could still compete.”

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter at @bylinerp.

ST. LOUIS -- Quick thoughts from North Carolina's 73-65 overtime victory over Ohio in the Sweet 16 on Friday.

Overview: On a night when it didn't have star point guard Kendall Marshall, No. 1 seed North Carolina couldn't have been more thankful for Reggie Bullock after its overtime win against No. 13 seed Ohio. A sophomore, Bullock helped bail out a sloppy Tar Heels team that clearly wasn't at its best with its floor leader out and leading scorer Harrison Barnes struggling to find his groove.

Bullock's clutch 3-pointer with 39 seconds remaining turned a 61-60 deficit into a 63-61 lead. Ohio forced a tie on its next possession when Walter Offutt was fouled while making a layup. Offut squandered the opportunity for a 3-point play when he missed the ensuing free throw. Offut blocked Barnes' game-winning shot attempt on the other end to force overtime.

Bullock came up huge again moments later when he opened the extra period with a 3-pointer to put his team ahead 66-63. The shot set the tone for the game's final five minutes, when North Carolina cruised to a victory by outscoring the scrappy Bobcats, 10-2.

Bullock finished with 17 points and made five of his 10 attempts from beyond the arc. The victory had to be special for the Kinston, N.C., native, who missed last season's NCAA tournament with a knee injury.

Fearless as Bullock was Friday, the best player on the floor was North Carolina's Tyler Zeller, who 20 points and a career-high 23 rebounds. Eight of Zeller's boards came on the offensive end, which helped North Carolina outscore Ohio 14-4 on second-chance points.

Barnes, who averages a team-high 17.4 points, was just 3-of-16 from the field Friday and finished with 12 points. Offut had a game-high 26 points for Ohio on 10-of-18 shooting.

Gutsy as the victory may have been, North Carolina's chances of advancing to the Final Four appear to be in jeopardy without Marshall, who is generally regarded as one of the top two or three point guards in all of college basketball. Marshall, who injured his wrist in last Sunday's victory over Creighton, averages 9.7 assists and is the key reason the Tar Heels have been able to play at a fast, frenetic pace all season.

With combo guard Dexter Strickland out with a knee injury, North Carolina's only option Friday was to turn to freshman Stilman White, who entered the game averaging 4.3 minutes and 0.7 points on the season. Considering the circumstances, White did a more than admirable job Friday. His only points came on a pair of free throws, but he had 6 assists in 32 minutes and didn't commit a single turnover.

Still, the Tar Heels will have a tough time beating either Kansas or North Carolina State on Sunday without Marshall, whose status is uncertain.

Turning point: Bullock's 3-pointer at the beginning of overtime set the tone for the extra period and appeared to deflate Ohio. Bobcats guard D.J. Cooper missed a 3-pointer on the other end on Ohio's next possession, and UNC responded with a 17-footer by Barnes. At that point, the Tar Heels had a 68-63 lead and momentum they would never relinquish.

Key player: Bullock's 3-pointers were huge and Zeller, as he's been all season, was steady from start to finish. But in this situation it's hard not to praise White for his performance on such a big stage. As coach Roy Williams likes to say, White helped the Tar Heels by not hurting them.

Key stat: North Carolina has now won 11 consecutive Sweet 16 games.

Miscellaneous: North Carolina opened the game on a 26-11 run before allowing an 11-3 march by Ohio to end the half. It was 29-22 at intermission. ... Ohio shot just 23 percent in the first half. ... Barnes missed 11 of his first 12 shots.

Up next: The Tar Heels will take on No. 2 seed Kansas. The teams haven't met since the 2008 Final Four. Kansas won that game and went on to win the NCAA title with an overtime victory over Memphis two nights later.

Hubert Davis and Jay Bilas discuss who needs to step up for North Carolina and if Kansas is now the favorite to win the region.

Even with Kendall Marshall reportedly having surgery on his fractured wrist Monday, he could still play in the NCAA tournament but time is of the essence for the North Carolina point guard, an expert in hand and wrist injuries said.

Dr. Christopher Sforzo, a Florida-based orthopedic surgeon who works extensively with professional tennis players, told ESPN.com there were basically two options -- immediate surgery, which would stabilize the wrist and give Marshall a chance to play, or to play with a cast.

“It’s a roll of the dice either way,’’ Sforzo said. “If he’s going to have surgery, it would have to be first thing in the morning.’’

Scaphoid fractures are common, especially involving a fall and treatment depends on where the break is, Sforzo said.

If the fracture is at the end of the bone, where the blood supply is best, the bone can heal quickly and usually a cast or splint is all that’s required.

If the break is in the middle or at the beginning of the bone, surgery is typically required, with a screw inserted to stabilize the bone.

Neither scenario is ideal.

“If he wanted to play, it would be difficult with a cast and he’d risk that the bone could move and then he’d need surgery,’’ Sforzo said. “And it would be painful. I wouldn’t say it would be heroic for him to play under those circumstances, but it would be very difficult.

“[With] surgery, in some regards it’s better because the bone is stabilized and there’s no risk. But could he play in four days?’’

But North Carolina, obviously, is up against the clock. The No. 1 seed Tar Heels play Ohio in the Sweet 16 on Friday.

And Marshall is not just any player; he’s a point guard, with the ball in his hand for the bulk of the game.

“His jump shot wouldn’t be a problem,’’ Sforzo said. “But it’s still tough for him to handle the ball with that off hand, to push off and dribble. It’s an interesting conundrum and a real tough break for him, especially at this time of year. Maybe he could play this week, maybe by Saturday if you want to hope you get there. Or do you wait until the Final Four? There's no easy answer.''

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Red-eyed and trying to smile, North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall talked Sunday night about how proud he was of his team for advancing to the NCAA regional semifinals.

But surrounded by reporters, his fractured right wrist enveloped in ice, it was easy to see he was in pain.

“What hurts the most is that I want to be here for my team and help them out,’’ said Marshall, UNC’s creator, playmaker and one of the nation’s leading assist men. “It’s yet to be determined whether I’ll be able to or not, but we’ll find a way to get through it.”

But this time, could it be too much? Marshall, who finished with 18 points and 11 assists, was diagnosed with a fractured scaphoid bone in his right wrist after top-seeded UNC’s 87-73 victory over Creighton. A team spokesman said he would wear a soft cast Sunday night, but did not know whether the sophomore will be able to play when the Tar Heels face No. 13 seed Ohio in St. Louis on Friday.

The team is hoping there will be an update Monday.

“We’ll speak to the hand specialist tonight with Kendall and his family, and we’ll see what happens after that,’’ an obviously upset UNC coach Roy Williams said after the win.

Later, he added: “When you go to the Sweet 16, it’s supposed to be a lot more fun than this.”

The injury occurred with 10:56 left at Greensboro Coliseum when Marshall -- who naturally shoots left-handed -- was driving the lane for a right-handed layup. He was fouled hard by Bluejay Ethan Wragge, and crashed to the floor.

“I kind of got pushed to the ground,’’ Marshall said. “And I guess when I fell, I hurt my funny bone first, and that’s what I was most worried about. That’s fine. My wrist just got the worst of it.”

Asked if he thought it was a clean play, Marshall replied: “It was hard for me to tell. I was focused on making the basket. I watched the replay from one angle, and it was still hard to tell. Hopefully, he had his best intentions in mind of making a team play.”

Marshall didn’t know how bad the injury was at the time, though, making one of two free throws after a media timeout, leaving the game, and then eventually playing another seven-plus minutes.

“I felt the pain, but I didn’t want to make a big deal of it,’’ he said. “I just wanted us to get the win.”

But it may be a costly one.

Marshall is not just the team’s best creator and assist-man, he’s really the only one. Backup Dexter Strickland (who was also the team’s starting shooting guard) was lost for the season in January with a torn ACL. Freshman Stilman White has been spelling Marshall, but only to the tune of 4.2 minutes per game (before Sunday). Senior wing Justin Watts has also played point guard, but only for two stints this season.

“This is big,’’ senior forward Tyler Zeller said. “Kendall’s always been the leader of the team, he’s always been somebody who plays 35-plus minutes per game. … He’s the best point guard in the nation. He makes this team go.”

Indeed, it was Marshall who rallied the Tar Heels last year, when former starter Larry Drew II opted to transfer in the middle of the ACC season. His ability get teammates the ball in the right spots pushed the Tar Heels to a surprising run to the 2011 NCAA regional finals.

This season, his scoring blossomed, as did his ability to rack up assists. Sunday marked his sixth consecutive double-digit game. Meanwhile, he already has set the school and ACC records for assists in a season, and is a Cousy Award finalist.

So stunning was the postgame diagnosis, Williams asked the media to leave the locker room to address the team before heading to the podium for his postgame news conference. What had been a proud, celebratory atmosphere turned to shock and confusion.

“Kendall's an intricate part of the team, to say the least,’’ said junior forward John Henson, who had missed three straight games with a sprained left wrist before returning Sunday "And I know it's going to hurt, but we don't know what his status is, so we're just going to keep praying for him and hoping for the best."

Marshall was hoping Sunday, too -- somehow, for a quick recovery. Until now, he said, the worst injury of his career was a twisted ankle during his junior year of high school.

“And I thought I was ‘the man’ because I played the entire game with it, and I was like, ‘Oh, man, this is some Jordan-type stuff,’” he said, trying to smile.

If there is any positive, it’s that the injury is to his right wrist; had it been his left, Marshall said, he knows he would have no chance to play this week.

Whether he can, anyway, is a serious question.

And what happens if he can't? Even more so.

“Through being banged up, through missing players, we still find a way to go out there to compete,’’ Marshall said, still leading through the pain. “That’s a huge asset to a championship team, and that’s still what we want to be.”

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter at @bylinerp.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Previewing the round of 32 games at Greensboro Coliseum on Sunday:

No. 1 seed North Carolina (30-5) vs. No. 8 seed Creighton (29-5), 5:15 p.m. ET

Greg McDermott knows he made mistakes as Iowa State’s coach.

After leading Northern Iowa to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances from 2004 to 2006, McDermott seemed like the perfect fit to become the Cyclones’ coach. A native of Cascade, Iowa, McDermott was successful in his first three coaching stops at Division II Wayne State in Nebraska, North Dakota State and then Northern Iowa.

After spending a dozen seasons coaching at college basketball’s lower levels, McDermott seemed ready for the sport’s big time.

Instead, McDermott endured four consecutive losing seasons at Iowa State, compiling a 59-68 record and never finishing better than 6-10 in the Big 12. McDermott resigned as the Cyclones’ coach after the 2009-10 season, when Creighton mercifully threw him a lifeboat to save his sinking career.

“I made some mistakes,” McDermott said. “I made some mistakes in recruiting. I made some mistakes with my dealings with some of our players that resulted in some guys transferring. And I think if you understand yourself and you take a look in the mirror, you better grow from that and learn from that.”

McDermott has resurrected his career with the Bluejays, who will play No. 1 seed North Carolina in a Midwest Regional third-round game at Greensboro Coliseum on Sunday.

“I think that the Missouri Valley is just a really good fit for him,” said Creighton forward Doug McDermott, the coach’s son. “[It’s] a mid-major conference, a really good league, and I just think the Big 12 might have been a little bit of a wake-up call. I think he’s more comfortable in the Missouri Valley Conference recruiting wise and he just feels in his comfort zone, so he’s really happy to be here.”

Ironically, McDermott’s move to Creighton prevented him from making perhaps the biggest recruiting mistake of his career -- not recruiting his son. Doug McDermott signed to play for Northern Iowa during his senior season at Ames (Iowa) High School in 2010. Greg McDermott didn’t think his son was good enough to play at Iowa State, and frankly, didn’t think his program was good enough for him, either.

“The culture that I had created with the program at Iowa State wasn’t where I wanted it to be,” Greg McDermott said. “I was constantly plugging holes because of guys transferring. And when you do that, it becomes a vicious cycle of things probably not going very well. And Doug was around it every day and I’m not sure that he was that excited to be part of it.”

Under McDermott’s watch, the Cyclones began to fall apart after leading scorer Mike Taylor, a junior college transfer, was dismissed from the team for off-court problems in 2007. The next year, forward Wesley Johnson transferred to Syracuse after two seasons at Iowa State. Johnson injured his foot in 2007-08 and didn’t learn it was actually broken until after the season. He was named Big East Player of the Year in his only season with the Orange and was the fourth pick in the 2010 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

With so much uncertainty at Iowa State, Doug McDermott thought playing for his father’s former school was a better option.

“To be honest, I didn’t really want to play for him there, either,” McDermott said. “I felt like I was a Missouri Valley Conference fit. I felt like it was a good fit for me at Northern Iowa and at the time we just decided to go separate ways.”

But when Greg McDermott signed a 10-year contract with Creighton, the Panthers agreed to release Doug to play for his father. Greg McDermott said he consulted several colleagues who coached their sons -- like former Indiana coach Bob Knight, Minnesota coach Tubby Smith, former Washington State coach Dick Bennett and Michigan coach John Beilein -- about having Doug on his team.

“Almost to a man they felt if your son was going to be one of your best players, it would work fine,” Greg McDermott said. “Or if your son was a walk-on that never played, it would work fine. But if he is in the middle, if he’s your fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth guy, it creates a lot of additional pressure for your son and for you as his coach.”

That hasn’t been a problem at Creighton, where Doug McDermott has easily been the Bluejays’ best player over the past two seasons. This season, he was the country’s third-leading scorer with 23.2 points per game and was the first sophomore in history to be named MVC Player of the Year. McDermott scored 16 points with 10 rebounds in the No. 8-seeded Bluejays’ 58-57 victory over No. 9 seed Alabama in Friday’s second round.

“I don’t think anybody saw this coming,” Greg McDermott said of his son’s rapid development.

But North Carolina coach Roy Williams, who recruited Harrison Barnes, McDermott’s highly coveted teammate at Ames High School, said he told Greg McDermott his son was good enough to play at a program like Iowa State or anywhere else.

“Greg and I were standing outside the locker room when Ames won the state championship their senior year,” Williams said. “I said, ‘You’re crazy.’ I said, ‘If he’s my son, he’s going to play for me. He’s good enough to play for you.’ And that’s when Greg was at Iowa State, and he had already signed that fall with Northern Iowa. And Greg said, ‘Well, you know, I wish he were a little taller and a little stronger, and I don’t really want to put that kind of pressure on him,’ which I can appreciate that. But I said, ‘I still think you’re crazy because he would have been able to be a very successful player at Iowa State or North Carolina or anywhere.’”

On Sunday, McDermott will try to prove he and the rest of the Bluejays are good enough to topple the mighty Tar Heels.

Entering the year, I thought North Carolina would be where Kentucky is right now. The No. 1 overall seed. The favorite entering the Big Dance.

When Harrison Barnes announced that he was coming back for another year, it was all set. Barnes, John Henson, Kendall Marshall and Tyler Zeller were going to lead North Carolina to a national title.

Few reasons to doubt that eventuality.

But the Tar Heels have been vulnerable throughout the year. Not “they can’t compete for the national title” vulnerable. But “they should be more dominant” vulnerable.

They’re stacked with NBA talent. They average 82.0 point per game (second nationally). But they’ve lost to squads without that pro pedigree.

So how will the Tar Heels lose?

With the exception of the January blowout at Florida State, North Carolina scored at least 72 points in its losses. So the Tar Heels won’t lose to a team that can’t compete at an elite level on offense.

A successful opponent will also need tough players who can secure second-chance opportunities and keep the Tar Heels (they average 15.7 offensive rebounds per game) off the offensive glass. Not an easy task. When they get second chances, they’re tough to beat.

Henson’s health (wrist injury) has to be a major concern. The ACC’s defensive player of the year is averaging 13.8 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.9 blocks. His absence had an obvious impact on the Tar Heels in Sunday's loss to Florida State.

Roy Williams says the junior and possible lottery pick might play in the NCAA tournament. But it’s impossible to know how the wrist injury will affect him. The Tar Heels have held opponents to a 39 percent shooting clip from the field, No. 2 in the ACC. With Henson unavailable, the Seminoles shot 59 percent against the Tar Heels in Sunday’s conference tournament final.

They’re already missing an injured Dexter Strickland, a loss that’s affected their limited depth. A subpar Henson will only increase the likelihood of an upset.

But even if he’s back, the Tar Heels could run into trouble in the NCAA tournament. They’ve struggled from the 3-point line in some of their tight games. A 68 percent mark from the charity stripe could hurt the Tar Heels, too, especially since three of their five losses were single-digit defeats.

They have all of the tools, however, to make a run to New Orleans.

A team with a potent offense and a talented frontcourt that can rebound could put the Tar Heels in a tough spot.

But if you’re looking for reasons to doubt them on paper, you won’t find many.

Their potential for falling short of expectations is simple. Sometimes they don’t rise to the occasion. All that talent. All that ability. Yet they’ve been beaten up by Florida State. They couldn’t finish against Duke. They couldn’t run with UNLV. They needed a clutch play against Kentucky and couldn’t get one.

Yes, an opponent will have to play a near-flawless game to beat the Tar Heels. But an early loss is not unfathomable.

The notion that the Tar Heels have too much talent to fall has been proved false multiple times already this season.

ATLANTA — Florida State forward Bernard James has a simple message for those who dare to doubt his basketball team.

“You should be a believer now,” he yelled as the last specs of championship confetti floated down around him from the Philips Arena ceiling.

Guard Ian Miller wasn’t so reserved with his response.

“I guess they believe now,” he said.

“If they don’t, tough luck because we’re getting a ring for this one.”

It’s hard not to believe in this FSU team after the Seminoles knocked off top-seeded North Carolina 85-82 in the ACC tournament final. The Seminoles captured their first ACC tournament championship and became the first team since Georgia Tech in 1995-96 to beat both Duke and North Carolina twice in the same season.

The same team that lost 6 of 10 games from the end of November to the beginning of January, suffering losses by 20 and 18 points along the way, went 4-1 against Duke and North Carolina, proving that FSU’s successes were no accident.

“This is not a fluke,” Miller said. “You can’t win a championship on a fluke. Today, by winning this championship, our coaches told us it ain’t a fluke no more. People know we’re real now.”

Added James: “We silenced a lot of the doubters who say we don’t belong in the same breath as Duke and Carolina.”

Sunday, FSU stood alone, again, but only because it was above Tobacco Road’s giants.

Now, the Seminoles, turn their attention to the NCAA tournament and are looking to take their high-flying act to the top of the college basketball mountain.

“We have five or six more wins until the national championship,” Miller said. “We’re trying to get there now.”

The notion of FSU making such a run in the craziest of months is no longer laughable. This team is legit. It went from trouble to tremendous in a few months and now has tons of momentum to thrive off of.

Plus, it’s going to be hard for teams to keep up with the Noles. FSU’s up-tempo offense frustrated its victims throughout the ACC tournament. UNC, which desperately wanted to slow things down, was left zonked after its uncomfortable foot race.

With such a deep bench, FSU was able to keep its motor going and the legs churning.

“We were all coming off a third day of playing so we wanted to impose our will and try to let them know that they couldn’t outrun us,” forward Xavier Gibson said.

That sort of thing will come in handy during the Dance.

This team can shoot, too, with guards like Michael Snaer (ACC tournament MVP), Luke Loucks and Deividas Dulkys lighting it up from the floor. The Noles shot just under 60 percent against the Heels and shot no worse than 42 percent during its current five-game winning streak.

FSU is also hot from beyond on the arc after hitting 25 of 49 3s in the ACC tournament.

With as fast, physical and athletic as the Noles are, this will be a formidable group for any team to face in the coming weeks. Physically, this team is ready, but players want to make sure that once the celebration of Sunday’s win has subsided that this team is in the right frame of mind for another championship run.

“We can’t get satisfied with this,” James said.

For as sweet as Sunday’s win was, this team is still hungry.

“The ACC was just to let people know that we’re not a game, there’s no jokes no more,” Miller said. “We wanted to make a statement and today we did that.”

ATLANTA -- Florida State survived a vicious rally and a last-second 3-point attempt from top-seeded North Carolina to capture its first ACC tournament championship with a 85-82 win Sunday.

With the win, the Seminoles became the first team since Georgia Tech in 1995-96 to beat both Duke and North Carolina twice in the same season.

The Seminoles' up-tempo offense was too much for the Tar Heels to handle for most of the afternoon, but it also helped that FSU shot 58.9 percent from the field (33-of-56).

UNC matched FSU well in the second half, but a nine-point halftime deficit was too much for the Heels to overcome. Florida State also connected on 11 of 22 3-point shots, including four from both Michael Snaer and Deividas Dulkys.

Four Seminoles players -- Snaer, Dulkys, Luke Loucks and Ian Miller -- were all double-digit scorers.

Without forward John Henson, who was out with a sprained left wrist, UNC failed to have a consistent down-low presence on both ends of the floor.

Turning point: With UNC down one with 10 seconds left, point guard Kendall Marshall chucked a deep 3 that rimmed out and was rebounded by Dulkys. He was fouled and converted two free throws to put FSU up three with five seconds remaining.

Key player: Snaer scored a team-high 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting and hit 4 of 5 3-point attempts. He was also named the tournament MVP.

Key stat: Florida State shot 58.9 percent from the field Sunday and hit 11 of 22 3s.

Miscellaneous: This was North Carolina's ACC-leading 31st appearance in the ACC tournament championship game. ... Since Dulkys scored a career-high 32 points in the regular-season win over UNC, his best point total had been 14 points. He scored 16 Sunday. ... UNC's P.J. Hairston hit three 3s Sunday. Since hitting four against Monmouth on Jan. 1, Hairston had made only eight 3s heading into Sunday. ... FSU's Bernard James recorded five blocks. ... Both teams each scored 40 points in the paint. ... FSU's bench outscored UNC's 28-14.

What’s next: FSU's tournament chances were never in doubt, but with the win, it earned an automatic bid to the Big Dance. Now, the Noles will sit back and wait for their seeding fate. FSU could now be seriously considered for a No. 3 seed. UNC likely locked up a No. 1 seed with Duke's loss to the Noles on Saturday, but there could be some worry with Missouri capturing the Big 12 championship Saturday night.

ATLANTA -- North Carolina freshman James Michael McAdoo will start his second straight game, in place of forward John Henson, in Sunday's ACC tournament championship game.

Henson, who missed Saturday's ACC semifinal game after spraining his left wrist on Friday, will be in uniform but will only play in an emergency situation against Florida State, a school spokesman said.

Henson -- the ACC Defensive Player of the Year who sustained the injury when he tried to break a fall after he was fouled -- was on the Philips Arena court about an hour before tipoff on Sunday. For about 15 minutes, he tested his taped left wrist by dribbling, catching and shooting, before returning to the locker room. He returned for a second warm-up before the team its decision.

ATLANTA – Florida State hasn’t looked at any of the film from its 33-point victory over North Carolina on Jan. 14.

“When you get big blowout wins like that, it’s probably not the best idea to go back and watch; you might get a sense of comfort, or forget that we have to play hard – or what got us that 33-point lead,’’ forward Bernard James said. “So we just put that one behind us, and chalked it up to Carolina not being ready.”

He knows the Tar Heels will be this time.

The Seminoles downright embarrassed the UNC two months ago, beating the Tar Heels on the boards, holding them to 37 percent shooting. The 90-57 rout marked the most lopsided loss of the Roy Williams era, and it was so irritating/befuddling/maddening that Williams and most of the team left the court early – leaving three walk-ons and two reserves to finish the game.

Since then, the Tar Heels have lost only once, to Duke on a buzzer-beater.

Since then, the Seminoles have lost three times, but won three games with last-second heroics.

"We can't necessarily worry about the games that we've played prior to this game coming up,’’ FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. “Each game takes on a different personality and I'm sure the team that we played in Tallahassee will not be the team we play on Sunday."

UNC will be competing for its first ACC title since 2008; FSU will be vying for its first ACC title, period.

A few things to watch in the 1 p.m. EST showdown at Philips Arena:

WILL UNC’S JOHN HENSON PLAY?

The ACC Defensive Player of the Year sat out Saturday’s semifinal victory over NC State after spraining his left wrist during Friday’s quarterfinal win over Maryland.

His status will once again be a game-time decision – and his potential absence will hurt.

James, a former Air Force sergeant and all a member of the ACC’s All-Defense team, is a load for anyone to handle, and if Henson can’t go, James would probably match up with UNC’s James Michael McAdoo. The Tar Heels freshman has been more confident and aggressive lately, but got he into foul trouble during Saturday’s game against the Wolfpack.

3-POINTERS

One of the reasons FSU was so successful against UNC last time was Deividas Dulkys, who shot 8-for-10 from behind the 3-point arc and scored a career-high 32 points.

The Seminoles senior hasn’t approached anything close to that since (with 12 points being his high), but you get the point: UNC (which also lost to Duke at home when the Blue Devils shot 14-for-36 on 3s) can’t afford to let an opposing team get hot.

The Seminole to watch: Michael Snaer. He’s shooting better than 40 percent from 3-point land for the season, and buried two of those aforementioned game-winners this season.

THAT COMPETITIVE FLARE

One of the reasons UNC lost so badly – and looked so listless in doing so – in the last meeting, according to players, was that they bought into their own preseason No. 1 hype and didn’t compete as hard as necessary. That shouldn’t be a problem Sunday.

The last time UNC was looking for revenge was last weekend, when it went into Cameron Indoor Stadium and pasted the Blue Devils, building a 24-point lead by halftime en route to the ACC regular-season title.

FSU, though, has plenty of motivation, too. Lots of folks wrote the Seminoles off when they lost to two Ivy League schools, then opened the ACC season with a 20-point defeat at Clemson. Since then, they’ve beaten UNC and Duke, but winning the league tournament would prove that the conference is more than a two-team league.

“This has been our goal since the beginning of the season, and we want to accomplish it,’’ Dulkys said.

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter at @bylinerp.