This weekend could be a high point for two of the Atlantic Coast Conference's finest basketball programs.

For North Carolina fans, the fun is that each is from Chapel Hill.

UNC's women's team enters the ACC Tournament seeded No. 1 after going undefeated (14-0) in the regular season for the first time. If the women were to win a fourth straight ACC Tournament title, they could enter the NCAA Tournament having cemented their place in Carolina history.

UNC's men already have performed some amazing feats this season, overcoming a slew of injuries and illnesses to climb back into the No. 1 spot in both national polls; their come-from-behind win Saturday at Boston College will add to their school's listing of the program's greatest comebacks.

Coach Roy Williams said that earning the No. 1 spot in the polls does mean something at this point of the season, particularly given what this team has had to do to stay together and improve.

"I like it better later in the year because it means you have accomplished something," Williams said. "It's not just what people think you're going to do. It's a great thing for your team right now. It means they have had a heck of a year so far."

Williams noted that the Tar Heels have gotten better defensively, and that's helped them weather some adversity. They've suffered through a multi-week injury to point guard Ty Lawson, and the improvement by Tar Heels in his absence will only make them stronger as he returns to 100 percent.

"The defensive part and the toughness is something I'm really proud of," he said. "Some of those games have been pretty bleak, but the kids have never stopped playing. I like the way we've handled the last four weeks.

"They've continued to try to do the best they could do during the course of a 40-minute game, and one of those was a 50-minute game. We've been able to come back and win."

To get back to No. 1, the Tar Heels had to survive one of the finest individual performances in conference history. Boston College point guard Tyrese Rice scored 46 points and did his best to single-handedly bury Carolina in the first half.

In the second half, UNC relied on its ability to play defense and that toughness developed throughout the last two seasons; they overcame an 18-point deficit and won 90-80.

Now, the men will travel to arch-rival Duke with first place in the regular season on the line. A victory there could lead to the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament's East Region.

More than that, pride will be on the line.

Duke won at the Smith Center earlier this season. The Blue Devils played a better game and deserved to win.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski, as much as Carolina fans are loath to admit it, has done one of the finest coaching jobs in the conference and the country this year. The funny thing is, so has Williams.

If anybody other than one of these two is named ACC coach of the year, it will be a crime.

Krzyzewski has gotten this far with a young team and without a true post presence.

All the talk about Krzyzewski emulating the Phoenix Suns seems kind of humorous, since these Blue Devils' style of play isn't much different than the vast majority of Duke teams this decade. In fact, what is happening this year looks like the natural evolution of the style that has become a trademark of the Blue Devils -- a perimeter-oriented team that relies on the three-point shot, driving the ball, getting to the free-throw line and playing pressure defense.

What's fun is that, for all the focus on Carolina's running game, which is probably tops in the nation when Lawson is at the point, the Tar Heels remain true to the tradition built under Dean Smith.

UNC's No. 1 goal is always to get the ball inside, rebound and play pressure defense. These traits have been only magnified during the past month, when Lawson sat on the bench with a sprained ankle and other Tar Heels accumulated a laundry list of injuries.

That this regular season comes down to the final Duke-Carolina game is fitting, because these two programs have once again established themselves as the clear class of the nation's most celebrated basketball conference.

Each has won the NCAA title in this decade, and each won it in the 1990s as well.

Krzyzewski and Williams are both members of the elite club known as the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Both have established credentials that will forever rank them as two of the finest ever to coach in college basketball.

Saturday's 9 p.m. game at Cameron Indoor Stadium will also do one more thing. It will once again tie the two together nationally as a single brand, each getting benefits in recruiting, undergraduate applications, fund-raising, awareness, prestige and all that goes with being a part of college athletics' most celebrated rivalry.

For this community, we get to see it at close range.

That is their gift to us.