DATE: Saturday, March 8, 1997               TAG: 9703080611

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C4   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   73 lines

ACC REPORT

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Damon Thornton has a great seat for his first ACC tournament - courtside, just a few chairs from N.C. State coach Herb Sendek.

Which is just the problem, of course. After leading his team in rebounding, after battling larger centers all season, after enduring an 0-8 ACC start, Thornton has been forced to sit and watch while his teammates make an improbable run into the tournament semifinals.

It was a disappointing turn of events for Thornton, ``Especially after going through pre-season conditioning, and the season, then getting to the NCAA tournament and not being able to play.''

Thornton has missed the last five games with a contusion of the hip. He won't return this season, no matter how far N.C. State advances in post-season play.

``That's the only way it's going to heal effectively,'' Sendek said.

The freshman from Atlantic Shores Christian averaged 7.8 points and 7 rebounds, and was runner-up in rookie-of-the-year voting to North Carolina's Ed Cota.

``It feels good making the all-rookie team,'' he said. ``Especially with not a lot of people knowing how I was.''

Thornton played just a year of high school ball, but was thrown into the breech at center for an under-sized Wolfpack team. The 6-8, 228-pound Thornton will move to power forward next year, where he's expected to have a bright future.

Thornton missed the final three regular season games, and had hoped to return for the tournament. But he tried to practice earlier in the week and was limping too badly.

Still, Thornton says his hip is improving. It certainly looked O.K. after N.C. State's 66-60 win over Duke, after which Thornton ran off the bench and hugged several of his teammates.

``It's been a great experience being here,'' he said. Duke looking for answers following late-season slide

After winning seven in a row and 11 of 12 to lock up the ACC regular-season title, Duke has lost three of its last four.

The Blue Devils (23-8) can probably forget about being a number one seed in the NCAA tournament. But they have a bigger worry: figuring out what has gone wrong.

``We're not the same team that we were when we made that run,'' guard Steve Wojciehowski said. ``I can't put my finger on it. Something's not the same. It's really not time for that. It's March, time to lay it on the line.''

Duke lost at UCLA, no disgrace, then to red-hot North Carolina. Harder to explain away was Friday's 66-60 loss to N.C. State.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski said Duke needs to remain aggressive.

``When we didn't hit (against N.C. State), we became timid,'' he said. ``That's crept into our game in the last couple of weeks. It has a negative impact on things we've done well. We've shot well, so our identity has been that we're a shooting team, rather than a hard-working team.''

Said Wojciehowski: ``We don't have the same look in our eyes. I don't know what that's attributed to. We'd better find it. Fast.'' Odds and ends

Sendek's wife, Melanie, came running out of the stands after Thursday's win, tears in her eyes.

``Wait a minute,'' said Sendek, who is not outwardly the emotional type. ``You're going to get me crying, too, and we've got more games to play.''....N.C. State guard Justin Gainey said there is no need to make a run back to Raleigh for extra clothes. ``We all packed for four days.''....The coaching rumor mill has Wake Forest assistant Ricky Stokes, a former player at Virginia, a strong candidate for the opening at Jacksonville.

- ED MILLER ILLUSTRATION: [Graphic]

ACC MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

[For copy of graphic, see microfilm]

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu