Atlantic Coast Conference Preview

The following preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the most thorough preview available of the upcoming season, order the 2002-03 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518.   Blue Ribbon Forecast No.   Team  '01-02 Conf. Rec. (Overall) 1.  Duke Blue Devils  13-3 (29-3)  2.  Maryland Terrapins  15-1 (26-4)  3.  Virginia Cavaliers  7-9 (17-11)   4.  N.C. State Wolfpack  9-7 (22-10)  5.  Ga. Tech Yellow Jackets  7-9 (15-16)  6.  Wake Forest Demon Deacons  9-7 (20-12)  7.  N. Carolina Tar Heels  4-12 (8-20)  8.  Clemson Tigers  4-12 (13-17)  9.  Florida St. Seminoles  4-12 (12-17)  N.C. State G Julius Hodge Craig Jones/Getty Images

All-Conference Team Did You Know? G: Steve Blake Sr., Maryland G: Chris Duhon Sr., Duke G: Julius Hodge So., N.C. State F: Josh Howard Sr., Wake Forest F: Travis Watson Sr., Virginia Player of the Year Travis Watson Forward Virginia  Newcomer of the Year Raymond Felton Guard North Carolina  Top Backcourts 1. Maryland 2. Duke 3. N.C. State Top Frontcourts 1. Virginia 2. Georgia Tech 3. N.C. State 2002-03 Conference Tournament March 13-16, Greensboro Coliseum  2001-02 Champions Maryland (Regular season) Duke (Conference tournament)  2001-02 NCAA Tournament Conf. record: 10-4 (.714)  Maryland (NCAA champion)  Duke (South Regional runner-up)  Wake Forest (Second round)  N.C. State (Second round)  The Blue Devils are the favorite with an asterisk. Unlike the last two years, when Duke and Maryland captured respective national titles, the ACC won't have a pair of dominant teams. Instead, it will have a handful of decent ones. Every coach says this year's race is wide open, and we're not absolutely committed to any of our preseason predictions. Duke has the best recruiting class in the nation and Mike Krzyzewski. It also became the first team in ACC history to win four ACC Tournament Championships by beating N.C. State in last year's final. So give the Blue Devils a slight edge. Maryland has four returning seniors and Gary Williams, and that will keep the Terps in the running.   Maryland is the first ACC team outside of the state of North Carolina to win the national title. The league has now won five of the last 12 NCAA championships.   How much talent did the ACC lose last year? Well, four of the league's best players left early, and that's just from Duke and Maryland. In all, none of the top 10 and only three of the top 20 scorers from last year return -- No. 12 Travis Watson (14.1 ppg) of Virginia, No. 15 Josh Howard (13.9 ppg) of Wake Forest and No. 20 Edward Scott (11.9) of Clemson.   The league loses a lot of talent, but also gets richer from the high school ranks, as perhaps the best collection of prep players in ACC history arrives on campus this fall. The class includes 10 McDonald's All-Americans and six of the nation's top 11 recruits according to a consensus ranking of the top high school recruits. And that doesn't include junior college All-Americans such as Jamar Smith of Maryland and Devin Smith of Virginia (no relation).   The ACC celebrates its 50th anniversary next May, an event being commemorated in all sports through the 2002-03 school year. The basketball team, which was announced in mid-September, included a Hall of Fame lineup of players from Michael Jordan of North Carolina to his boyhood hero, David Thompson of N.C. State. The league, however, chose not to rate the players in order or list the top 10 vote getters, which might have made for better discussion.