ATLANTA— One by one, the BlueDevils climbed up the ladder, snipped off a piece of the net and turned to their cheering section in the Georgia Dome.

They waved. They smiled. They lingered, savoring the moment as though they hadn’t won the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title for the third straight year.

This year was different. Duke, despite its No. 2 seed, wasn’t supposed to win in Atlanta. Not after losing its starting center.

“When the tournament started, I don’t know how many people gave us a fighting chance to win this,”said senior forward Shane Battier after his squad’s 79-53 victory over NorthCarolina. “People were talking about how hot Maryland was, how big Carolina has been playing, even upstarts like Wake and Virginia.

“To come here with Carlos (Boozer) out, with sometimes a 6-4 center in there, no one really gave us a chance.”

Sunday’s decisive victory closed out a week full of success stories that shouldn’t have been.

Boozer broke a bone in his right foot against Maryland on Feb. 27. His 14 points and 6.5 rebounds per game should’ve been missed immensely. Without the 6-foot-9, 270-pound center patrolling the paint, Duke’s interior defense should’ve collapsed.

But the points and rebounds weren’t and the defense didn’t. Not against North Carolina in the regular-season finale. Not against N.C. State on Friday. Or Maryland Saturday. And against the Tar Heels again on Sunday.

“This last week has been probably as gratifying a week as I’ve had as a coach because of Boozer going out and what our kids have done from Sunday to Sunday,”Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I know they were tired, but they played with great heart and we beat an outstanding team.”

The list of stars in the four-game winning streak without Boozer stretched on and on. The usual suspects, Battier and Jason Williams, kept bombing home 3-pointers. Mike Dunleavy and Nate James, erratic late in the year, stepped up and hit key shots.

Replacement centers Casey Sanders, a skinny sophomore with no experience; Matt Christensen, an injured junior with no experience; and Reggie Love, a 6-4 football player, of all things, filled in admirably.

The trio scored 25 points and pulled down 27 rebounds in Boozer’s place. They limited 7-foot Tar Heel center Brendan Haywood in both contests and silenced Maryland big man Lonny Baxter.

“Our guys never have to worry about them.They’re doing their job,”Krzyzewski said. “Those three kids that played center for us have been unbelievable. I don’t understand how they’re not nervous and they actually look like they know what they’re doing. They haven’t had many minutes, and all of a sudden they’re playing in front of 40,000 people against some of the best competition in the country.”

Duke’s true secret weapon without Boozer is its defense, though.

The BlueDevils forced an average of 19.7 turnovers per game during the regular season. They forced 22 against N.C. State, 20 more against Maryland’s talented guards and 20 against the Tar Heels.

Without Boozer, Duke started small guard Chris Duhon, letting him run pell-mell all over the court. Duhon’s halfcourt traps with Battier netted steals and easy hoops, overwhelming the opposition.

“They may be a better team without him,”Carolina guard Joseph Forte said of the new-look Devils.

“That’s the great thing about it,”Duhon said.“You guys looked at our size, our depth, and you didn’t give us a chance. You forget to look at our heart.”

With hearts pumping from the thrill of victory, the BlueDevils took down first one net, then the other. Boozer even climbed up to take down his piece, but so did 4 other BlueDevils.

“When people don’t think you can do something and then you do it, it makes it feel that much better,”James said. “When we cut the nets down, we showed how we’ve still got a great team. We proved it.”