Those 5-11 ACC marks collected by N.C. State and North Carolina on the hardcourts this season are now collectively lying in the dustbins of our minds.

This is the week of the ACC tournament. In its glory days, the ACC Tournament was an all-important event, because only the winner advanced to play in the national championship tournament.

Now, nearly two handfuls of ACC teams could play in the conference tournament and still advance to additional post-season play.

Still, the tournament offers fans a one-and-done atmosphere or, as the late N.C. State coach Jim Valvano would have called it a survive-and-advance atmosphere.

And those ugly regular season records are wiped clean. Beginning Thursday, everyone will be 0-0.

Bones McKinney, the late Wake Forest College coach, in his book "Honk your horn if you love basketball" recalled that the first ACC tournament was held in Reynolds Coliseum on the N.C. State campus.

An entire book of tickets cost just $10, but not a single game was sold out.

The Wolfpack won that first ACC tournament, but Wake Forest made State earn it. The Demon Deacons won two straight games in overtime to reach the championship game before State won the title in overtime.

The tournament has also been the genesis of some significant rule changes that have made the NCAA tournament the spectacle it has become.

In 1974, arguably two of the best teams in the nation - N.C. State and Maryland - squared off in a classic tournament championship. N.C. State's Tommy Burleson-led squad went to overtime to defeat a Maryland team that had six future NBA players on its roster. The game has long been called the greatest basketball game ever played.

Because only the tournament winner advanced to the national tourney, the loss meant Maryland didn't get to participate in the NCAA tournament. Soon the NCAA was looking at ways to expand future tournaments and today's national tournament features 65 teams all vying for one title.

And, just as surely as parents in the Old North State put basketballs in their children's cribs at birth, the ACC tournament is sure to be an attention-grabber later this week.

Work productivity will fall. Absenteeism rates will go up and the number of televisions per capita in local workplaces will mushroom. Children will take a break from their studies on Friday for sure, and perhaps even Thursday, to check out the action. And teachers will let them. Heck, the teachers will join them.

If you're not a big basketball fan, this is an opportunity to start with your own clean slate. Pick a team and root for them. Let your body language from the couch influence their shots. Learn what it's like to bask in the glory of victory or to die just a little bit when your team misses by just this much.

Tournament time is the most exhilarating part of the basketball season. And no matter how bad the record looked heading into the event, every team now has a new lease on life.

Just ask N.C. State and North Carolina.