ACC Tournament 2012: North Carolina and Duke Primed for Score-Settling Rematch

The ACC's top two seeds, North Carolina (28-4) and Duke (27-5), are primed to meet in Sunday's ACC Championship Game in Atlanta, Georgia. 

The No. 4 Tar Heels are the tournament's top seed and will take on rival NC State on Saturday afternoon. North Carolina is 2-0 against the Wolfpack this season, having won by double digits home and away.

Right now the Tar Heels are in the midst of a eight-game winning streak that began three days after a heartbreaking loss to Duke in Chapel Hill. An Austin Rivers buzzer-beater gave the Blue Devils a one-point win and sparked a run by their rival that has continued through early March.

Meanwhile, No. 6 Duke will battle third-seeded Florida State on Saturday night in hopes of reaching the tournament final for the fourth consecutive time. The Blue Devils are three-time defending champs of the ACC tourney and have won five of the past seven overall.

Duke suffered a late January home loss to the Seminoles thanks to a last-second three-pointer, but has since evened the score with FSU, taking an eight-point contest on the road last month in Tallahassee. 

As talented as both NC State and Florida State are in 2012, they are no match for the two most storied programs in college basketball, who are both favorites to claim a No. 1 seed and ultimately cut down the nets this March. 

NC State has not made the ACC tournament final since 2007, when they lost to North Carolina, while Florida State has not made the tourney final since 2009 when they were defeated by, who else, Duke.

In 2011 it was Duke and North Carolina in the final for the first time in 2001. This year it's shaping up to be another championship classic. With each squad having beaten the other during the regular season, on the road no less, this rematch is all but required.

Both North Carolina and Duke are facing familiar and beatable foes on Saturday, and if all else fails the motivation of playing their bitter rival one last time for the conference's biggest prize should be enough motivation to set up a can't-miss thriller on Sunday afternoon in Atlanta.