March 22, 2004

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Sweet 16 Begins Thursday vs. 29-1 Hawks

Wake Forest, making its 10th NCAA Sweet 16 appearance and its first appearance since 1996, faces once-beaten, fifth-ranked and No. 1 seed St. Joseph's Thursday night in the East Rutherford Regional semifinals (approximately 9:57 p.m./CBS). The 17th-ranked Demon Deacons, 21-9, beat Virginia Commonwealth (79-78) and Manhattan (84-80) by a combined five points last week in Raleigh to earn their first Sweet 16 berth since Tim Duncan's junior season. The Hawks, 29-1, won their first 27 games of the season before finally stumbling to Xavier in the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament. St. Joseph's beat Liberty (82-63) and Texas Tech (70-65) last week. St. Joseph's leads the all-time series, 11-6. The two teams met in the NCAA Tournament in 1961 and 1962.

A Quick Look At The Deacons

Wake Forest, facing one of the nation's most difficult schedules with one of college basketball's youngest rosters, has ridden a roller-coaster season to a 21-9 record.

The Deacons, who have no scholarship seniors on the roster, began the season with an 11-game winning streak, rising all the way to No. 4 in the Associated Press poll. Wake proceeded to lose six of its next eight games, with four of those losses coming to ranked opponents.

Wake then won six straight, including three straight over ranked teams, to end the month of February. The Deacons lost their final two regular season games, then lost in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals to Maryland, giving Wake a three-game losing streak.

The Deacs are back on a roll, beating Virginia Commonwealth and Manhattan in the first two rounds of NCAA Tournament play. More on the 2003-04 Deacons:

- The Wake Forest schedule is rated as the fourth-toughest nationally. The Deacons' final 17 regular season games included 15 ACC games and dates with nationally-ranked non-conference foes Texas and Cincinnati.

- The Deacons are one of the nation's most proficient offensive teams. They lead the ACC and rank second nationally in scoring (83.7 ppg.) and the Deacons lead the ACC in field goal percentage (47.4 percent).

- On the flipside, Wake ranks last in the ACC in field goal percentage defense (44.7 percent). Over the last 10 games, Deacon opponents have shot 48.7 percent.

- Wake has out-rebounded 10 of its last 11 opponents.

- For the most part, Wake Forest uses an eight-man rotation that includes three juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen.

- The Deacons often use a three-guard lineup of freshman Chris Paul, sophomore Justin Gray and junior Taron Downey.

- Paul is the 2004 ACC Rookie of the Year and he has been named National Freshman of the Year by two sources, including Dick Vitale.

- Gray is the first Wake Forest sophomore to earn first team All-ACC honors since Tim Duncan in 1995.