They made it look easy.

North Carolina continues to emerge in the ACC Tournament as the embodiment of the team predicted to dominate the conference this season, the team that had too much talent and too much depth to be stopped short of advancing at least to the Final Four.

The Tar Heels seized control in the opening seconds against Boston College in their semifinal contest, combining efficient offense and suffocating defense, and coasted to a 71-56 win. Coaches are judged in part by having their team peak as the season reaches tournament play; looks like UNC's Roy Williams knows what he's doing, in case you were wondering.

“My whole deal always is attack, attack,” Williams said. "Try to do it under control.”

The Heels made nearly half their shots, had two assists for every turnover, dominated the boards (41-27) and frequently created transition opportunities with cloying defense that held BC to 34.5 percent shooting.

“That team sends 12 men, ship them out and ship them in,” said Jared Dudley, the BC forward who finished with 20 points.

Actually, on average the Heels employ 11 players at least 11 minutes per game. Before clearing his bench late, Williams used all 11. Meanwhile the Eagles, who played 45 minutes yesterday in rallying to beat Miami, went with seven players. Only two BC players, Dudley and senior classmate Sean Marshall, made more than a single field goal. Eight Tar Heels had at least two each.

This was the second time in two outings that UNC overpowered its opponent. The Heels topped Florida State in the quarterfinals, 73-58. The defense has been especially impressive -- this is the first time since 1985 the Heels held consecutive ACC Tournament opponents under 60 points.

Only once in the second half did four seed BC, which fell to 20-11, cut the lead to single digits. A 3-pointer from senior guard Sean Marshall at the 12:58 mark drew the Eagles within 50-41; less than four minutes later the Heels had doubled their advantage and the issue was settled.

“Once we get out of the freaking ACC, we’ll be OK,” BC coach Al Skinner said.

Meanwhile top seed North Carolina is 27-6 and rounding into a powerhouse. This will be the school’s first appearance in the ACC Tournament finals since 2001. As Williams mentioned, not even his 2005 NCAA championship squad was able to win an ACC title and he has tantalized his current unit with the chance to accomplish something its predecessors did not.

Recently, however, the ACC Tournament finals have not been hospitable to top-seeded UNC squads. Since 1980, when Georgia Tech joined the league, North Carolina squads playing in the championship game as the No.1 seed have a 1-4 record, the sole victory coming in 1982 en route to the national championship.

Not that flareouts by the top seed are exclusive to Carolina. Over that same period, No. 1 is 8-9 in the ACC Tournament finals.     

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From the moment he strode onto the court and the first video images of his playing exploits flashed on the overhead scoreboard, the booing commenced flowing from this largely pro-North Carolina crowd.

During a halftime presentation of ACC “legends,” a player from each of the 12 ACC schools was presented, accompanied by video highlights and a glowing litany of achievements and awards. The third player presented, going in alphabetical order by school, came from Duke. The much-accomplished and much-reviled Christian Laettner, who played for the Blue Devils from 1989 through 1992, obviously had anticipated his reception, for he turned at one point and blew a gentle kiss to the crowd.