Sylvia Hatchell has proudly proclaimed for years that her UNC women's basketball program does things differently than others. This season certainly proved that.

The Tar Heels entered the season trying to replace graduated stars Ivory Latta and Camille Little, who led the team to consecutive Final Fours. While many believed UNC would take a step back, it instead had the school's first unbeaten regular season in league play while again ranking among the nation's elite.

On Wednesday, Hatchell was named the ACC coach of the year for the third time.

"It probably actually exceeds [my expectations]," Hatchell said of the 27-2 season. "People expected us to go down, but we haven't. We're actually better in some areas."

ACC COACH OF THE YEAR VOTING

* Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina (40 votes)

* Debbie Ryan, Virginia (7)

* Brenda Frese, Maryland (1)

* Cathy Inglese, Boston College (1)

CRYSTAL LANGHORNE, MARYLAND

GREENSBORO -- Maryland's Crystal Langhorne is finishing the season the same way she started it -- as the top player in the ACC. The league's preseason player of the year was named Wednesday as the winner of the end-of-the-year honor as well.

Langhorne, a senior, is Maryland's career scoring leader and the school's leading rebounder regardless of gender. She ranked sixth in the ACC in scoring and second in rebounding this season. She averaged 16.5 points and 9.2 rebounds while leading the Terrapins to a No. 5 national ranking and the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.

In doing so, she became just the second Terps women's basketball player to win the individual award (Vicky Bullett won it in 1989).

ACC PLAYER OF THE YEAR VOTING

* Crystal Langhorne, Maryland (23 votes)

* Erlana Larkins, North Carolina (12)

* Kristi Toliver, Maryland (8)

* Khadijah Whittington, N.C. State (5)

* Rashanda McCants, North Carolina (1)