Rolled into lovely Klockner Stadium in the last hour, and looking forward to the ACC tournament semifinals here tonight.

There will be plenty of time to write about Duke the rest of the way, and there Maryland and Virginia are typically a focus.

That leaves North Carolina, the black sheep of the league for the last decade or so.

The Tar Heels are well removed from the misery of the Dave Klarmann era. But it's been replaced by a different sort of mediocrity under John Haus.

True, Carolina is 58-50 in eight seasons, with NCAA quarterfinal appearances in 2004 and 2007. It's not a total wash.

But the Tar Heels enter tonight with 17 straight losses to ACC teams. Haus is 6-26 against Duke, Maryland and Virginia during his tenure in Chapel Hill. Carolina hasn't won an ACC tournament game since 1996.

The Tar Heels certainly haven't embarrassed themselves the last two years. But they still haven't collected an ACC tournament title since 1996 or a national title since 1991.

It isn't fair to expect Carolina to beat the Duke buzzsaw tonight. But a victory here --- or a trip to the final four for the first time in 15 years next month --- would be a sign of extensive progress, and maybe a step toward regaining the program's long-lost status as a feared national power.

--- Patrick Stevens