What we learned (Greensboro edition)

• UNC needed that test
• The ACC could use Rick Barnes
• Nothing wrong with healthy dislike

Since the Final Four loss to Kansas last year, you had to wonder how UNC would handle its next tournament challenge. The Tar Heels provided an emphatic answer on Saturday with their 84-70 win over eighth-seeded LSU.

Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson, two of the biggest reasons for UNC's loss to Kansas, simply would not let the Heels lose on Saturday. Down 54-49 with 12:24 left in the game, Ellington scored five of UNC's next seven points.

Lawson's reverse layup at 10:30 gave the Heels a 58-57 lead. They wouldn't trail again. Ellington's 3 on the next possession made it 61-57.

LSU, which deserved better than No. 8 seed, fought back to tie the game at 63. After a Tyler Hansbrough free throw, Lawson's driving three-point play made it 67-63.

Ellington's hustle and tip after a Danny Green missed 3-pointer, set up Green for another 3, this one he made and the tickets were set for Memphis.

Lawson's return from injury and his ability to take control of the game in the second half will carry the headlines but it was Ellington's timely scoring and willingness to take big shots that can't be ignored.

Lawson and Ellington combined to shoot 2-of-11 from 3-point range in the Kansas loss. They were 5-of-9 on Saturday.

Unlike last year, the Heels were tested before the Final Four and that can only be construed as a positive going into the regional. Whether Gonzaga and/or Oklahoma-Syracuse-Arizona State can offer another challenge before Detroit is debatable but what's not is the Heels passed their first real test of 2009.

And, more importantly, it wasn't the rock-steady Hansbrough (who was stronger in the first half) that saved them but the duo of Lawson and Ellington. The same duo that will ultimately decide if UNC wins a second national title in five years.

• The ACC could use Rick Barnes

There's a reason N.C. State threw a bunch of zeroes at Rick Barnes in 2006. The guy can coach. Yes, the Horns have parts, namely guard A.J. Abrams and forward Damion James, but this was far from Barnes' most talented team in Austin since he left Clemson in 1998.

The Horns gave Duke everything they wanted on Saturday in part because reserve guard Varez Ward got hot, scoring 16 points and erasing Duke's second-half 10-point lead, but also because Barnes pushed the right buttons.

Texas played man defense for better part of the game's first 30 minutes. Coaches like Mike Krzyzewski prepare for everything but the 2-3 zone has become Barnes' bread-and-butter. Barnes went man, in part because Duke is not the most athletic team, but also because it wasn't what Duke expected.

Once the game got close, in the final minutes, Barnes went back to his fastball, the zone. Good coaches make adjustments and then adjust to what the opposition does. Barnes did that Saturday and really made the game closer than it should have been, certainly after Duke stretched it out to 64-54.

Virginia would be smart to gauge Barnes' interest in its opening. A North Carolina native, Barnes is in his element in the ACC. You couldn't help but watch Saturday's game at the Greensboro Coliseum and not think of the 1995 ACC Tournament when Barnes went nose-to-nose with UNC's Dean Smith at the scorers' table.

The prospect of coaching Kevin Durant kept Barnes in Austin when State came calling '06. When you have a lottery ticket like Durant, you have to scratch it. With just a regular roster, by his standards, Barnes might be willing to leave a football-first school for a program like Virginia's. Either way, it can't hurt to ask.

• Nothing wrong with healthy dislike

The atmosphere in the final 2 minutes of the Duke-Texas game at the Greensboro Coliseum was better than anything in four days of the ACC Tournament in Atlanta.

Never mind the size of the crowd, it was the passion, perhaps misplaced, but still electric. UNC fans, those still in the building, were rooting against Duke as much as they had rooted for their team about four hours earlier.

That's what happens when the ACC Tournament is in Greensboro and that's what was missing in Atlanta. After your team plays, you root against the team you hate. Simple really.

The small swatch of Duke fans in Section 108 pulled against Carolina in the first game, even joining the LSU section from across the arena in a "Go Tigers!" rendition.

Forget conference congeniality, that's the way it should be.

Duke will welcome a true neutral site in Boston next weekend against Villanova.