Duke and Maryland not only are the two best teams in the ACC, but also play in the two best and most hallowed venues in the league. Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium and Maryland's Cole Field House are two cathedrals of college basketball, and both are difficult places to play.

Cameron has a reputation as being the toughest place to play in college basketball, and while there are no absolutes in such a subjective selection, it would be safe to say that there are few venues in the game that could be considered better. And when announcers far and wide claim that Cameron is the best, they are not just saying that because of some fancy treatment they receive when doing a game.

	“	Cameron is a warm place to play. Not in the 'sitting cozily by the fire' sense, but in the 'just south of Hell in August' sense. ”

The announcing crew is unceremoniously placed at the top of stands on a shaky metal platform on which pigeons wouldn't consider suitable to perch. It is the hottest place in the building, and its inhabitants are pressed against the roof and the sidewall. You leave your broadcast position sweating through your clothes, dehydrated and with a stiff neck from not being able to stand up straight.

The Cameron experience begins as soon as you walk in the door, whether you are a player, fan or part of the media. It is aged but in good shape, and there is an air about the place. While Duke's tradition is always in the back of your mind when you hit the floor, a look to the rafters reminds you of the greats that have played on that floor before you.

On one end, you see the retired jersey numbers of Hill, Dawkins, Laettner and the rest, and on the other end, three national championship banners hang. While the history and tradition of the place may garner respect from fans, it doesn't intimidate opposing players. Rather, it helps to prepare them to play, and usually serves as an incentive to competitive players to perform at a high level.

What tends to intimidate opposing players is the crowd and the atmosphere, combined with the level of play of the home team. When Duke has a really good team on the floor, Cameron can be an absolute bear.

First, Cameron is smaller than it appears on television, if that is possible. The students sit in the lower section of Cameron, along with some special guests and media, and they are right on top of the floor. Cameron can give players a claustrophobic feel, and the floor tends to feel smaller than it really is. As a result, Cameron can be tough to get used to for a visiting player, and you don't get long to adjust.

Second, Cameron is a warm place to play. Not in the "sitting cozily by the fire" sense, but in the "just south of Hell in August" sense. Cameron, which is not yet air conditioned, can become so hot that you can wear yourself out by halftime if you're not careful. It is an unpleasant experience to sweat through your uniform before the end of warm ups.

Third, Cameron is loud, and the crowd takes pride in its earsplitting shrill, its deafening noise and its creativity. While the crowd may arguably have been more creative and spontaneous in the old days, in Internet has allowed the student section to orchestrate some pretty clever cheers in advance of the opening tip.

Combine that with the prospect of facing a really good team on the floor, and you have a tough place to play.

But, in Thursday night's Duke-Maryland game, the Blue Devils are facing a team that is not afraid of the venue, and the Terps actually use playing in Cameron Indoor Stadium as a challenge to fire them up. Maryland has an outstanding team, and it embraces the test of Cameron -- seeing if they can hear silence instead of noise. For the last two years, Cameron has been pretty quiet as the buzzer sounded, and for a visitor, that is a beautiful noise.

Maryland isn't "supposed to win" in Cameron, but they're good enough to do it again. That will make this game even more fun.

ESPN's Jay Bilas has spent many games inside Cameron Indoor Stadium, first as a Duke player (1983-86) and then as a Duke assistant coach before joining ESPN as an analyst.