North Carolina at Virginia Tech

This was a lose-lose game for Duke haters. On one hand, you wanted Virginia Tech to get a high-profile win after it was robbed of a fair chance of beating Duke last week. On the other hand, you don't want Duke to win the ACC regular season, so UNC had to win to ensure a tie in the worse case scenario.

Ultimately, the game was decided by the players, not the zebras, and UNC's talent and numbers out-lasted the Hokies and got a tough road win. Tough because Virginia Tech was always a three-pointer away from making it a 50-50 game. But UNC managed to survive the pressure and not melt down this time and get a solid road win.

There are two things that we noticed during the ACC conference season that should encourage UNC fans:

1) Wayne Ellington grew some "onions". He's always been a gifted shooter and scorer, but beyond shooting, he has been a net-negative, especially when not having someone like Marcus Ginyard to save the day on defense. However, in the last few games, Ellington has been (relatively) tough both on the boards and on defense, playing like he wants to have a career in the NBA

2) Ty Lawson has developed a killer instinct. The most obvious display of this is how he dismantled the Dookies in the second half, and that alone, is enough for us to give him the ACC player of the year award :-) Thank you Ty!!!