The only scheduled meeting of the regular season between ninth-ranked Florida State and No. 11 North Carolina went down on Saturday. Really good game. The final margin, a 96-83 win for the 16-3 Tar Heels, is misleading. FSU threatened, kept it up-tempo, and it was an interesting and a good watch for most of the 40 minutes.

We had ourselves a good little Saturday in college basketball, stumped by games like this.

Ironically, I was wondering if this one might be a letdown after UNC got out to a 14-5 lead. Nope. Florida State (16-2) showed a lot of reasons why it's top-10 quality. The Seminoles beat Duke earlier in the week, so will FSU drop in the polls come Monday?

That's too tough to call.

Takeaways

1. A school record stopped

Florida State's 12-game winning streak is done. It's the most consecutive wins for FSU ever, and it's come in a season that's brought on the biggest expectations of Leonard Hamilton's 14-year career in Tallahassee. FSU fans won't be too bummed by the loss. The Noles were underdogs, after all, and it is UNC. Plus, FSU is in the midst of a six-game stretch vs. ranked teams, and their record so far: 3-1.

Heck yeah.

To me, FSU should not fall out of the top 10 in Monday's polls. FSU sophomore Dwayne Bacon led the team with 18 points. Also, Jonathan Isaac picking up his fourth foul with more than eight minutes remaining was the touch of death for FSU.

2. Pivotal Theo Pinson

Fearless Theo brings an all-around element to North Carolina that puts UNC in the echelon of top-five teams in America. Pinson played in his first game of the season against North Carolina State on Sunday, then again at Wake Forest on Wednesday. But he didn't score a field goal in either game.

So here's how Pinson got his first bucket of the season.

That woke up the Dean Dome. Pinson's defense and play-making and energy so obviously changes things for UNC. He had 12 points and 10 boards. It's a joy to watch him play. To me, it's looking like UNC's season this year is BT and AT: Before Theo and After Theo.

With him, UNC is looking on track to be the best overall team in the ACC and probably top five overall.

UNC looked damn good on the whole. Tony Bradley, UNC's secret freshman weapon off the bench, wasn't available on Saturday. Yet the Heels didn't slow a bit. Heck, Luke Maye (heard of him? Won't fault you if not), comes off the bench to snag a career-high 15 boards. UNC, which entered the day averaging 89 points per game, is now up above 90 after getting to 96 here.

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What UNC fans should be most excited about from Saturday: Theo Pinson's back, baby. USATSI

3. The ACC now belongs to Notre Dame

Yeah, so this is wild. Notre Dame managed to win at Virginia Tech on Saturday. And because FSU is no longer unbeaten in the ACC, that means the Fighting Irish -- now 5-0 in league play -- are alone atop the conference standings. Will it end that way? I mean ... it just might. And I thought Notre Dame would be hovering around a 10 seed this season. Instead, Mike Brey's team is tracking to a 2 seed right about now, and it's amazing to see what he's been able to do after losing veteran (at the college level) NBA talent like Jerian Grant, Demetrius Jackson and Pat Connaughton.

So in the aftermath of FSU-UNC, and with Notre Dame getting the win, this is what the top of the ACC looks like heading into Sunday:

Notre Dame 5-0
North Carolina 4-1
Florida State 4-1
Virginia 3-2
Syracuse 3-2
Louisville 3-2

And Duke is 2-3. Welcome to the wild ACC.