ESPN.com - NCB - Pride drives Duke, UNC into Act III

After every other potential candidate for a No. 1 seed lost this week, Duke and North Carolina held serve Saturday, and likely locked up two of the top spots in next week's NCAA Tournament. All that remains to be seen is who will be headed to the South and who's staying close to home in the East.

Duke-UNC III will settle that issue Sunday.

The winner of Sunday's ACC tournament title game will probably go to Greensboro, N.C., as the top seed in the East. The loser will be shipped to either Memphis or New Orleans as the top seed in the South.


	Brenden Haywood hugs Julius Peppers after beating Georgia Tech on Saturday.

Stanford is a lock for the West's top spot, which leaves the Midwest to probably Michigan State, even after the Spartans were bounced a round earlier than Illinois in the Big Ten tournament. The Spartans have an 8-3 mark against the top 25 in the RPI. Illinois is 6-5 against similar competition.

Yes, the Illini beat Michigan State in the teams' only meeting last month in Champaign, Ill. The NCAA selection committee, however, made it clear that head-to-head meetings aren't a final determining factor for gaining bids or earning seeds.

But winning games on neutral courts in conference tournaments do carry weight. North Carolina's win over Georgia Tech on Saturday and Duke's over Maryland a few hours later probably ensured the pair would be top seeds.

"At this point in the season you're looking for motivation and if Maryland had won it would have been for the ACC tournament title, but with Duke it's probably avenging the loss last week," North Carolina coach Matt Doherty said. "Getting the No. 1 seed is important, but the 1s and 2s are going to be so close."

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said Friday in Chicago that he was concerned about his team's lack of passion for playing for the top spot. He said he hasn't seen the kind of drive that the Spartans had a year ago with Mateen Cleaves, who simply came back to win a championship. But he said he thought the Spartans had earned a No. 1 over the course of the season.

Illinois coach Bill Self said the carrot of winning the Big Ten title to get a No. 1 seed should have been enough of an incentive. But Indiana was on a mission and beat the Illini Saturday in Chicago. Self said Friday he was sure the Illini had to win the tournament to lock up a No. 1.

Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy gave his team an out when he said he put more stock in the NCAA Tournament than the Big 12 tournament. Iowa State lost in the quarterfinals to Baylor.

Florida was asking probably too much to run the table in the SEC tournament without Brent Wright and lost to Ole Miss in the SEC semifinals. Stanford took care of its business by beating Arizona State Saturday after losing to Arizona Thursday.

"Our goal has been to be a No. 1 and that's what we set out to do here," North Carolina's Jason Capel said. "I don't care who we play in the tournament because we're capable of beating anyone we play."

The same is certainly true of Duke, and maybe Maryland too, after Saturday's semifinal. The two teams staged another Instant Classic after Jason Williams outdid Steve Blake in an 84-82 victory at the Georgia Dome.

Check out the last 30 seconds:

Danny Miller made 1 of 2 free throws to cut the lead to 80-79 with 23 seconds left.

Duke's Mike Dunleavy drove and was fouled and made both free throws with 16 seconds.

Maryland's Blake sprinted down and buried a fast-break 3-pointer to tie the game with 8.1 seconds left.

Williams then went end-to-end, drove for a layup, missed and to set up a tip-in by Nate James with 1 second left.

Juan Dixon missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that had a legit chance of dropping.

	“	We have six or seven McDonald's All-Americans and our game is stepping up to a higher level. If we're all clicking and playing our best game, then I don't see anyone beating us. ”
		— Chris Duhon, Duke freshman guard

"It's under our contract with ESPN that we're allowed to provide a certain number of Instant Classics every year," Duke's Shane Battier said after his 20 complimented Williams' 19 points, which included five 3-pointers and a few deep ones.

"Those are like daggers in someone's back," Battier said. "It's not a high percentage shot ... but it hurts."

Dixon said Battier told him that he would see them later in the month, possibly in Minneapolis. But to do that Maryland has to make one or two more plays like Duke did Saturday.

Think about it, if every team is on their "A" game, can Duke be stopped? The Blue Devils don't think so.

"We have six or seven McDonald's All-Americans and our game is stepping up to a higher level. If we're all clicking and playing our best game, then I don't see anyone beating us," Duke freshman Chris Duhon said.

Duke is even playing the role of victim and it's actually working.

"We credit that to the media because every time you open a newspaper they say Duke isn't the same team without (Carlos) Boozer," Duhon said.

Williams anticipates a Final Four championship atmosphere Sunday in Atlanta. And why not? Both are playing at a late-March level. And they're aware of their surroundings enough to know they're two of three teams (Stanford only has two losses) that took care of business to earn a No. 1 seed.

"We had a team meeting about everyone loses and said that the door was open," Williams said. "We had one foot in and the other one was halfway in and halfway out. We had the opportunity."

Being a No. 1 has logistical advantages depending on where the sites are in a given year. Matching up with an 8 or 9 seed in the second round won't be easy, making a No. 1 seed not as significant as the tournament goes along.

"But what matters most is that it's a pride thing for us," Williams said. "The word on our chest (Duke) is about pride. It's so special. We wanted to establish ourselves again. If we're at the top of our game we can win it. We're getting more confident right now without Carlos and once he comes back (from the stress fracture) will give us a crazy boost for us."

Sunday, Duke doesn't have the pressure. Carolina probably does because they don't want to lose twice in a week to the Blue Devils. And if the Blue Devils approach the game in the same way they did last Sunday, let alone the NCAA Tournament in the same fashion, then the rest of the field better beware.

"Main thing for us is to be loose," Battier said. "That's what worked last week."

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.

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