NEW YORK -- One team practically sauntered through the season, six losses scattered through the schedule, only two raising an eyebrow and none causing any real drama.

The other played out more like a reality show, its drama endless and occasionally self-inflicted.

True to form, the first team breezed to the ACC tournament semifinal while the second clawed and fought its way there.

But in the end, none of that matters since one is North Carolina and the other is Duke.

Duke's comeback win over Louisville sets up a pivotal semifinal match against North Carolina. Brad Penner/USA TODAY

They will play on a new stage, but they could play in a driveway and it really wouldn't matter. This is not about location. This is about one of college basketball's biggest rivalries offering up a delicious March rubber match.

Duke won Game 1 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. North Carolina claimed the second in Chapel Hill, and now the ACC offers up the third in Brooklyn.

"Look they're a great program. We're a great program," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We're accustomed, they're accustomed to playing in buildings that have a lot of energy, for or against them. That's why the kids go to those schools: to be in those moments, to be in a moment like today. So to be in that moment tomorrow, the people who were in the stands, they have a chance to enjoy that because those moments don't happen all the time. Our two programs have created a lot of them."

Way back when, all the way back in October, these two teams figured to be destined for a big March head-to-head showdown, but most figured it would be in the ACC final, not semi … and most assumed Duke would be in the driver's seat. The Blue Devils, after all, started the season the prohibitive favorite to win not just their league but the national title. Coming off the devastating national championship loss, the Tar Heels figured to be good but a bit of a question mark without Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson.

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Instead the two teams all but swapped roles. Duke's hopes -- first undercut by injuries to Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum, Grayson Allen and Amile Jefferson -- all but bottomed out with the one-two punch of Allen's suspension and Krzyzewski's back surgery. Instead of coasting through the season, the Blue Devils have been in something of a dogfight for their very survival. They arrived here as the No. 5 seed, forced to play four games in four days. Their rally from 12 points down to beat Louisville 81-77 on Thursday was almost emblematic of the entire season.

North Carolina, meanwhile, found a leader in Joel Berry and solved the enigma that long has been Justin Jackson, the wildly talented player finally finding a motor to match his ability. As Selection Sunday nears, it is the Tar Heels, not the Devils, many think have an inside track on that national championship hardware.

But all of those things tend to not matter when these two teams play. Each regular-season game was a well-played dogfight, with nothing more than the everything that is bragging rights on the line.

In this game, it is not just the shot at an ACC tournament title that is in the air. With Kansas losing to TCU, the Tar Heels could make a case for the overall No. 1 seed with a tourney crown. For the Blue Devils, a very good March will all but erase the regular-season foibles, and a solid run here could fuel their fire. Duke still has all that talent that made people salivate in October. It's hardly too late to realize it.

So here we are and here they are, their regular-season fortunes flip-flopped but still with so much left to play for.

Duke.

North Carolina.

Round 3.

Winner-take-all in the series.

With perhaps even more spoils to come.