CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? The buildings are totally different. The Smith Center on the campus of North Carolina is a monstrous 21,500-seat domed arena. Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium in nearby Durham is a more intimate 8,800-seat gymnasium.

But tickets were almost impossible to get at these arenas Saturday as Tobacco Road became the center of the college basketball universe. Second-ranked Duke defeated third-ranked Wake Forest, 84-72, in a matchup of the two best teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Ninth-ranked UNC stunned top-ranked Connecticut, 86-83, just eight miles away.

Duke (14-1) is poised to replace UConn as No. 1 — earning the top spot for a seventh straight year in the AP poll. North Carolina (11-3) seems ready to reestablish itself as a national power.

There is little question this is the best conference in the country. There are three teams — Duke, Wake Forest and North Carolina — in the Top 10, two more — Georgia Tech and Maryland — that belong in the Top 20, and two more — N.C. State and Florida State — that could reach the NCAA Tournament.

The ACC’s three elite teams are filled with baby-faced standouts like freshman Chris Paul, sophomores Eric Williams and Justin Gray of Wake, sophomores Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants and Sean May of North Carolina and sophomores Shelden Williams and J.J. Redick, freshman Luol Deng and junior Daniel Ewing of Duke. They get excellent coaching from Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, Roy Williams at Carolina and Skip Prosser at Wake. Duke point guard Chris Duhon was the only senior starter in Saturday’s two network showcases.

The fans here want to be part of this religious experience. The Eagles-Panthers NFC title game? It’s below the fold in the local sports pages. This is ACC country.

Scalpers lined Rt. 751 leading to Duke’s wooded campus. The Cameron Crazies lined up three hours in advance, waiting for the doors to their shrine to open. North Carolina fans who couldn’t get tickets to their big game at the Dean Dome were milling about on the sidewalks, listening to it on portable radios.

Inside the Smith Center, the noise level was deafening as the Tar Heels surged to a 50-36 halftime lead, then held on behind long-range heroics by McCants, who shot a dagger into UConn’s heart with an open three-pointer with 6.2 seconds to play. “When Sam Cassel played for Florida State, he once said we had a wine-and-cheese crowd,” Roy Williams said. “But that crowd today was an ‘Uptown Saturday Night’ crowd.”

Carolina is paper-thin and has a limited margin for error if either May or Felton get hurt. But its starting five may be as good as anyone’s with the exception of Duke, which may be the best team in the country now that 6-foot-9, 245-pound Shelden Williams, who had 16 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocked shots Saturday, has established himself as a low-post presence.

No one has an answer for Duke’s perimeter defense, which may be the best since 1986 when Johnny Dawkins and Tommy Amaker were in the backcourt. They have the luxury of two athletic shot-blockers with Williams and Deng.

The Blue Devils have a machine-like quality when sophomore guard J.J. Redick and junior guard Daniel Ewing, who made eight threes between them, are draining shots.

Take a good look. You’ll be seeing more than one of these teams playing deep into March Madness.