What we learned this weekend

• UNC is not perfect
• Duke can win without the 3-pointer
• N.C. State is getting better

UNC is not perfect

The Tar Heels are still the best team in the ACC and the country, they're just not perfect.

Free throws, of all things, doomed UNC in the ACC opener. That and a very, un-Dean/Roy-like comeback strategy that relied on 3-pointers instead of 2s.

UNC was flinging 3s from 5 minutes in as if the ball was on fire — way too rushed and way too soon in the game.

BC gave the Heels every opportunity in the final minutes of the game to escape with a win but 15 of 27 from the free-throw line just doesn't get it done. Those are free points, hence the name.

That's not to discredit BC's effort. The Eagles won the game and it wasn't a "Tyrese Rice is unconscious" Game. The Eagles made just 9-of-24 from 3 but made the most of their 14 offensive rebounds and forced Ty Lawson into a "bad" Ty Lawson game from the second half of last season.

With quick guards, to keep up with Lawson, and bigger bodies to bother him in the lane, BC kept Lawson even in the assist-to-turnover department (four each) and forced him to go 3-of-13 from the field.

Look back at UNC's losses the last three years and it's a sure bet you'll find a subpar shooting effort from Lawson — who is/was either trying to do too much or missing too many shots.

You'll note Tyler Hansbrough scored 21 points. He's the given. It's the others — five points from Deon Thompson, a 3-of-10 shooting night from Danny Green — that will decide UNC's championship fate.

Duke can win without the 3-pointer

Kyle Singler and Gerald Henderson are giving Duke's offense a diversity it lacked by the end of last season — when DeMarcus Nelson decided to stop taking the ball to the basket — and earlier this season when Henderson was struggling to find his points.

With the "forwards" — and using quotations there because Henderson guards the 3 or 4 but is essentially a shooting guard on offense — moving the ball from the high post and taking the ball to the basket, Duke isn't completely reliant on the 3-point shoot. That's a good thing.

The Devils made six 3s against Virginia Tech, but five came in the first half. After VT made it a four-point game in the second half, Duke actually went inside on the next two possessions and pulled away with the benefit of only one 3.

Duke's defense wasn't bad on Sunday either, which is particularly encouraging because VT generates its points from the perimeter — Duke's Waterloo the past two NCAA Tournaments — but Malcolm Delaney (12 points) and A.D. Vassallo (seven) were held in check by Duke's defense.

N.C. State is getting better

The Wolfpack didn't start ACC play but stepped up a level from Loyola and Towson with a road trip to Florida. Like the Davidson and Marquette games before, State actually controlled the play but couldn't win the game in the final minutes.

Being competitive is the first step back for this program, which lost nine straight games to close last season.

They're in position to win, now they have to win the games. A little better bench coaching wouldn't hurt.

Sidney Lowe spent his professional life in the NBA, where a timeout after a made basket gives you the ball just past halfcourt on the inbounds.

In college, it gives you the ball under the basket, 94 feet from your basket. Lowe's decision to call a timeout with 11.3 seconds left after Nick Calathes put the Gators up 68-66, allowed Florida to set up their press.

It wasn't the reason State lost — help-defense anyone? — but it's a coaching adjustment, three years into his college transition, Lowe should have already made.

In the big picture, Farnold Degand's season-high in minutes (31) and Brandon Costner's ability to carry the offense (again) are signs that there are ACC games to be won for the Wolfpack.

The nonconference resume (0-3 in their notable games) is not there for an NCAA bid, but with enough ACC wins (seven to avoid Wake Forest's fate from last March) the Wolfpack can get valuable postseason experience (and extra practices) in the NIT.