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A semi-regular update on teams and players around the Triad and North Carolina that have been showing up on the sports world radar at the N&R.

Typical ACC

UNC goes down, Duke goes down, N.C. State heats up, then drops one last night. And nationally-ranked teams are in the bottom half of the ACC rankings?

Oh, and every time Raycom shows the conference standings in game breaks, you see a list of teams that carry convincing winning records. Even Miami, last in the conference, has a 15-5 record. Compare that to the other big conferences such as the Big East, Big Ten, or SEC. There are dogs in each of those leagues.

Looks like ACC teams will be cannibalizing one-another, dropping from national polls, and coming from seemingly nowhere through the rest of the season.

More Guilford

Clay Henson was named ODAC player of the week on Monday. Guilford College men's basketball is having their best start ever and hanging out at the No. 2 spot according to the latest D3hoops.com poll. They play tonight at Roanoke College, where they haven't won since 2006.

NFL

We've still got a local guy heading to the Super Bowl, New Orleans Saints backup defensive tackle and Dudley High School graduate DeMario Pressley. He logged a tackle during the fourth quarter of the divisional round blowout against the Arizona Cardinals, but didn't show up on the stat sheet in last week's shoot out against the Minnesota Vikings.

Skating

Junior ladies skater Haley Dunne had a tough run at the US Figure skating championships last week. She's the one we profiled who has a Greensboro connection.

While we're on the topic of Olympic figure skating, here's something from The Denver Post on Rachel Flatt, who returned home to Colorado Springs this week after her win at the championships in Spokane.

Next year Greensboro hosts the figure skating championships, and this morning Hill Carrow - chairman of the 2011 championships - sent us an email:

I had asked US Figure Skating to do a photo of the announcement shown on the ribbon board in Spokane of Greensboro as host for the 2011 US Figure Skating Championships. The PA announcer said, "See you next year in Greensboro." The display and announcement took place at the conclusion of the Skating Spectacular, which was the last event of the 2010 US Championships in Spokane.

Snip

This was the first time US Figure Skating had ever done something like this. They have not previously acknowledged the next host during the preceding event. It took a few days of discussions and meetings, but obviously we got it done.

For more about U.S. Figure Skating, go here.

Readers write - UPDATE

We hear from readers every so often, and when we do, we'll try to give them a mouthpiece here. This is from an email sent after the South Carolina men's basketball team took down No. 1 Kentucky on Tuesday but before the papers had hit doorsteps. Brooke Harwood said she belived that we didn't give South Carolina much ink in today's paper (we ran four paragraphs on the game). Here's her letter, excerpted:

Over the years, my family and I have considered writing to you many times on behalf of the University of South Carolina. Your lack of coverage of the successes and failures of the Gamecocks has truly been insulting. The city of Greensboro and the surrounding community boasts a tremendous number of supporters of the University of South Carolina, and your lack of coverage has consistently been frustrating and disturbing.

My father served on the Board of Directors of the Gamecock Club for many years, and consistently brought South Carolina's coaches to the Piedmont for annual Gamecock Club meetings. I attended the University of South Carolina and, while I actually graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1992, I have remained a loyal fan of the "other Carolina's" athletic programs.

While South Carolina's football program has certainly seen it's share of dissappointments, we do occassionally win a game that deserves recognition from a large newspaper such as the News and Record in it's neighboring state. Case in point: South Carolina decisively defeated Clemson in the final regular season game for each of the teams this past season. Clemson commonly garners coverage by your reporters (understandably, since it is a member of the ACC); however you failed to even allow a paragraph on page 6 regarding the Gamecocks' recent win. Now on to basketball...

Tonight, I was elated that my Alma Mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, came through with a much needed win over N.C. State. But you can only imagine my joy when the University of South Carolina, minutes later, defeated Kentucky, the #1 ranked team in the country. This win was historic and unprecedented for the Gamecocks. I understand that it was a late game, but it was certainly a game of national significance. It may have missed your print deadline, but the victory should be acknowledged by your newspaper. I hope that the victory will, too, lead your newspaper to further consider publishing information about university and it's athletic programs in the future. South Carolina is our state's next door neighbor, and it's newspapers have consistently given North Carolina's teams the coverage we all deserve. You need to make an effort, once and for all, to do the same.

Go Heels and Go Gamecocks!