So it turns out Dick Vitale was wrong after all.

ESPN’s college hoops analyst/ambassador of good will has a habit of beating a point to death – that’s one of the reasons people find him so likeable.

For the last several weeks, Vitale and other college basketball experts have been trumpeting North Carolina as the best team in the country. For the moment, at least, those proponents of Roy Williams’s Tar Heels have been proven wrong.

Wake Forest offered a compelling counterpoint on Saturday, thumping the Tar Heels, 95-82 in the only game of the season between the Atlantic Coast Conference rivals. It took an extraordinary effort – the Demon Deacons set an ACC record by making all 32 of their free throws -but the final margin was enough to convince us the Heels weren’t as dominant as Dickie V. believed.

I must admit that the result surprised me too. I thought North Carolina was playing well enough to take out the Deacons on their home court. Before Saturday, the Tar Heels were on an impressive run, having overcome a season-opening upset to Santa Clara with a 14-game winning streak during which they averaged 95.6 points a game. Ranked second in the nation in field-goal (.529) and three-point percentage (.444) heading into the Wake Forest game, the Tar Heels had racked up at least 91 points in their six previous games, scoring 105 or more three times.

So what happened at Wake Forest? Don’t forget that the Deacons were many publications’ preseason choice as the no.1 team in the country. A convincing beating at the hands of Illinois diminished Wake’s preseason rep a bit, but since that early December loss, the Deacons had won nine straight, including road games at Tulsa, New Mexico, Virginia, and Clemson.

Clearly, the Deacons were well prepared for the Tar Heels’ visit. A team perhaps unfairly saddled with a reputation for weak defense shut down the Heels like no one has been able to since Santa Clara, which can fairly be categorized as a fluke since North Carolina was playing without starting point guard Raymond Felton.

Felton was around this time, but Wake Forest did a good job of bottling up the Heels’ scorers, limiting them to 40% shooting from the field and 28% from three-point range.

“I think everyone was surprised at our defense,” said Wake Forest center Eric Williams. “They always say that we win by outscoring our opponents, but you have to give us credit because our defense has been pretty good this far in ACC play.”

The fact that North Carolina’s scoring machine, Rashad McCants, was in foul trouble didn’t help, though he still managed to lead his team with 19 points despite only 20 minutes on the court.

The Deacons also got a huge lift from their bench; reserve guard Taron Downey and backup post man Chris Ellis combined for 19 points.

Last but not least, Wake Forest point guard Chris Paul showed once again why he’s the best in the country at his position. His impressive day’s work included 26 points, eight assists, six rebounds, five steals, and just one turnover in 34 minutes.

In retrospect, perhaps someone – Vitale, maybe? – could have seen this game coming. True, the Tar Heels had been ringing up points, but their opponents in the last month included Virginia Tech, Vermont, UNC Wilmington, Cleveland State, and William and Mary. They did rough up two good ACC teams, Georgia Tech and Maryland, but both those games were at home.

Two questions arise from Saturday’s confrontation of ACC powers. One, is Wake Forest the best team in the league? Because of the ACC’s unbalanced roster of 11 teams, there won’t be a rematch between the Deacons and Tar Heels. Some think that gives Wake Forest an edge in the league’s regular-season race, but Wake still has to go to Georgia Tech, Duke, and N.C. State.

Let’s just say that, compared to North Carolina – which often goes the way of the mercurial McCants – Wake Forest is a tad less volatile. The stability instilled by Paul and senior guards Downey and Justin Gray can’t be overstated. For now, that gives the Deacons an edge over the Tar Heels. May college basketball be treated to a rematch in the ACC Tournament?

The other question after Saturday’s game: How good is Illinois? The Illini pounded Wake Forest, 91-73, in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on December 1.True, the game was at Illinois, but the Illini were able to completely disrupt the Deacons’ game on both ends of the floor and hounded Paul into one of his worst games.

Illinois clearly deserves the no. 1 ranking it grabbed after that game and has held since. It wouldn’t be surprising if Illinois and Wake Forest found themselves in a rematch come March, perhaps in St. Louis, site of the Final Four. And despite what happened on Saturday, it’s likely the Tar Heels will find their way there, too.

Mr. Dortch is the editor of the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Forecast.