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Twist of fate kept ex-Pittsburgh star from becoming a real ACC 'legend'

WASHINGTON — Charles Smith, who won Big East player of the year at Pittsburgh yet is now being honored as an Atlantic Coast Conference “legend” at the conference tournament this week, is a living embodiment of the league’s split personality.

Yet if not for one last-second shift in recruiting strategy, Smith would have actually played in the ACC, and not for the school that jumped leagues to join it decades later.

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The only school Smith wanted to play for coming out of high school in 1984 was Maryland, he said Friday at Verizon Center before the ACC semifinals.