UNC favored to win ACC women's title

By: JournalNow Staff | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 27, 2009

GREENSBORO --

Although the status of its best player remains in question, North Carolina is the favorite to win the ACC title in women's basketball for the second straight season.

Jessica Breland, a senior forward, has been out since May because of Hodgkin's lymphoma. Coach Sylvia Hatchell said during the ACC's Operation Basketball media day yesterday that "if I had to make a decision right this minute," Breland probably would be redshirted.

Breland has had five months of chemotherapy, and Hatchell now believes that the disease was responsible for Breland's chronic breathing problems. Before the diagnosis, Hatchell thought that Breland was simply out of shape and plagued by a list of comparatively minor conditions: asthma, allergies, flu, pneumonia, bronchitis.

"From a coach's aspect, for the last two years, the kid has not been well," Hatchell said. "I told her, ‘You've got the potential to be an All-American this year, but you've got to be in shape, you've got to be in condition.'

"And then when she was diagnosed, I felt so bad.... I didn't know she was sick."

Breland was still No. 2 on the team in scoring (14.1 ppg) and No. 1 in rebounding (8.5 rpg) last season in helping the Tar Heels to a 28-7 record and the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The panel of 45 media members and school representatives who voted on preseason awards were convinced that Breland would be back at full strength -- she was one of five players picked to the all-league team, along with forward Jacinta Monroe of Florida State, center Carolyn Swords of Boston College and guards Jasmine Thomas of Duke and Monica Wright of Virginia.

"I told her ... ‘If you can make All-ACC, as sick as you were and play like you did, imagine how good you're going to be when you're well,'" Hatchell said.

In the poll, UNC was first with 30 first-place votes and followed by Duke and Florida State, which shared last year's regular-season title with Maryland.

One key story this season will involve N.C. State and Coach Kellie Harper, who replaces Kay Yow, who died in January after a long fight with breast cancer.

"I really try to be focused on the task at hand," Harper said. "If I sit in my office and dwell on who I'm following and what she has meant to not only the university but the community, the state, women's basketball in general, it can be overwhelming. So I try to focus each day on what I need to get done and try to be me."