After three years of women's college basketball, Maryland junior Kristi Toliver understands the confidence that freshmen guards must have entering the Atlantic Coast Conference and the culture shock they experience.

She can relate to North Carolina's Cetera DeGraffenreid and Duke's Jasmine Thomas, two freshmen who are playing critical roles as their teams enter the 2008 ACC Tournament today at the Greensboro Coliseum.

DeGraffenreid starts for the top-seeded Tar Heels, while Thomas is logging serious minutes for the third-seeded Blue Devils.

Both came into college as highly-touted McDonald's All-Americans, believing they could make serious contributions. And they have, although along the way they've encountered some of the perils of life as a freshman -- new responsibilities, loss of confidence and stiffer competition.

As a precocious high school recruit, Toliver believed that starting in college would be a formality, telling Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma as much when he recruited her:

"I told him, 'I thought I could start and play for you since the sixth grade,' " she said. "That's something that I completely believed that I could totally do. But it's one thing to say that and one thing to actually be thrown into it and have to perform under the fire."

As a freshman, Toliver proved herself under pressure, leading the Terrapins to the 2006 national championship. In the final, she nailed an often-replayed 3-pointer over the outstretched arm of Duke's 6-foot-7 center, Alison Bales, sending the game into overtime.

Two years later, the ACC has attracted a new group of effective freshmen guards, such as DeGraffenreid, Thomas, Maryland's Marah Strickland, Boston College's Jaclyn Thoman and Virginia Tech's Andrea Barbour.

Each is looking to take what she learned during the regular season and apply it in postseason play. By this point, they have endured every emotional high and low trying to make a smooth transition from high school to college.

Dena Evans, a former player and owner of the training program Point Guard College, said the road is always rocky for freshmen, even McDonald's All-Americans.

"It's a huge transition," she said. "I don't care how good they are. ... The game is faster. The competition is bigger. The attention is greater. ... The expectations are higher."

Learning the language

In addition to their new academic responsibilities, Evans said, freshmen must learn the foreign language spoken by new coaches. They must study scouting reports and attend many more meetings.

On the court, if they are good enough to see significant game time, they are asked to contribute, lead and take care of teammates.

"It can make your head spin," Evans said.

DeGraffenreid, the daughter of a football coach, has been trained to perform with the poise of a quarterback. That has kept her head from spinning off.

Though she made mistakes, DeGraffenreid charged through the regular season at a blazing speed that pleased coach Sylvia Hatchell and helped stake the second-ranked Tar Heels to a record of 27-2 overall and 14-0 in the ACC.

"I don't think Cetera gets enough credit for what she does for our team as far as pushing the ball up and down the floor and creating the tempo," Hatchell said after the guard guided the Heels to a season-low eight turnovers against N.C. State last week -- the fewest by a UNC women's team in five years.

At 5 feet 6, DeGraffenreid has demonstrated her ballhandling skills while leading the nation's top-scoring offense. Starting in 23 of 29 games, the Cullowhee native has averaged 11.8 points and 3.3 assists, while shooting 43.7 percent from the field and 22.4 percent from 3-point range.

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