With Sean Williams' dismissal at Boston College, the balance of power in the ACC has unquestionably swung back to Tobacco Road, though Carolina and Duke might have caught BC even with Williams patrolling the paint.

The big guy's absence was quite evident Saturday at Clemson. The Tigers shot the ball inside and out. The Eagles blocked just one Clemson shot, while giving up 12 second shots to the Tigers. Clemson forced 21 BC turnovers. Fans at Littlejohn Coliseum haven't seen a team with this many dimensions since 1990.

North Carolina, though, defeated Clemson easily at Littlejohn despite 22 turnovers. The Tar Heels completely shut down the Tigers' halfcourt offense. For an encore, the Heels put the shackles on Georgia Tech Saturday night. The Yellow Jackets generally play games in the 80's. Saturday at the Dean Smith Center, Tech barely hit 60.

Carolina has yet to play like some think it can in all phases of the game simultaneously. But counting the Tar Heels' defense, rebounding, inside scoring, transition game and streak perimeter shooting, the Heels seem always to have enough weapons to win. Against Virginia Tech, they didn't. But let's see if Tech can challenge Carolina in the Dean Smith Center before we put the Hokies in the thick of the championship chase.

VT has a great backcourt and gets rebounding and shot blocking from Coleman Collins. Tech was impressive in these areas against Maryland. However, the Hokies' poor free throw shooting and questionable front court depth could hurt them in February.

Definitely count Duke among the top four, and probably the top two. Although Mike Krzyzewski has said this is not the usual Duke team (deep and experienced), the Blue Devils still boast six high school All-Americans, and have rebounded nicely from an 0-2 start in the ACC. Duke defends as well as anyone in the league. The Devils are tops in scoring defense. Junior DeMarcus Nelson and his younger teammates are getting better at using this defense to jump start their drought-prone offense. The emergence of freshman Gerald Henderson as a force off the bench makes a Duke a more explosive offensive team.

We still haven't reached the halfway point in the season. But that February 7 meeting between Carolina and Duke may play a pivotal part in the ACC regular season race.