Charlotte gets rare game against ACC team in NCAA tournament

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Coach Bobby Lutz and the Charlotte 49ers plan to make the most of their game against North Carolina State in the Syracuse regional.

Besides, who knows when they might get another chance against a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference?

Since Lutz took over nearly seven years ago, he has gotten exactly two of them, and both were on the road. The 49ers lost in overtime at North Carolina in 1998, then traveled to Raleigh to face the Wolfpack two seasons later and won handily.

That's it, despite Lutz's annual calls around the ACC virtually begging for games.

"I don't whine about it, I just state the facts, and the facts are we call and they don't want to play," Lutz said Tuesday. "But the fact is also that they have every right not to want to play us. It is totally up to them."

And it's not just the Big Four that are ignoring him. Charlotte hasn't played Clemson since 1994, hasn't faced Georgia Tech since 1986 and hasn't taken on Maryland since 1975.

Perhaps at this point Lutz should be happy for the two opportunities he's had.

"They don't want to play," he said. "I respect what everybody thinks is best for their program. If they feel that that is not in their best interest, then that is what they need to do."

N.C. State (19-13) can't avoid the 49ers now. The teams play the NCAA tournament opener Friday in Worcester, Mass., nearly 1,000 miles away from Tobacco Road.

"When you come to college, you hear about the Dukes, the Carolinas, and you want a chance to get at them," Charlotte forward Eddie Basden said. "We played N.C. State before, and I guess it didn't go their way, so they stopped that."

As might be expected, Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek had nothing but praise for Charlotte (21-7). He denied going out of his way not to schedule the 49ers, saying simply it hasn't come up since their previous meeting.

Former North Carolina coach Dean Smith had a policy of not playing other in-state schools - except those in the ACC, of course - but Sendek doesn't have a similar plan.

"We don't have a particular prescription that we're going to follow," Sendek said. "But we really haven't had any further discussion about playing them on a regular basis."