Deacons

Wake Forest might be missing the premier player in the Atlantic Coast Conference from a year ago, but the Demon Deacons are not to be pitied in the least. Are they as strong this time around without ACC Player of the Year Josh Howard at small forward? Maybe not. But is Wake Forest equipped to make a serious run at its second straight, regular-season league title? Absolutely. This year's model is a smaller, lighter, quicker version of the team that won its first ACC regular-season title in 41 years.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Chris Paul and Luis Flores took different roads to yesterday's second-round NCAA tournament game at RBC Center, but Wake Forest's freshman point guard and his senior counterpart from Manhattan each wanted to wind up in the same destination. Paul will go to Continental Airlines Arena for the Sweet 16 at the East Rutherford, N.J., Regional as a result of his performance against the Jaspers (25-6). Paul scored 29 points, including seven of his team's last 11, to help the fourth-seeded Demon Deacons (21-9)

On the surface, things could not be going much better for the sixth-ranked Wake Forest Demon Deacons. They are 8-0, with a triple-overtime, road win over No. 9 North Carolina under their belts and a winning margin averaging 20.6 points. Their three-guard rotation of freshman point guard Chris Paul, sophomore Justin Gray and junior Taron Downey could be the best in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Sophomore center Eric Williams looks like the league's most improved player. But injury concerns are creeping up on the Demon Deacons, starting with their top post player from last year's 25-6 team that won the regular-season ACC crown outright for the first time in 41 years.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- North Carolina State has made history at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, becoming the first No. 8 seed to reach the final in the 44 years since this legendary league began. Today, a team whose collective heart is as big as its lineup is small, has an opportunity to make something else.The NCAA tournament.However daunting the odds will be playing against third-seeded, fifth-ranked North Carolina, the Wolfpack will have the crowd at the Greensboro Coliseum and a national television audience in its corner.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- He's the kind of guy you expect to see trimming the hedges or taking out the trash next door. When he goes for his daily four-mile run around the Wake Forest campus, there may be a few waves or honks, but not the kind of attention you would expect for the coach of one of the country's best college basketball teams.In fact, Dave Odom's name or face doesn't jump out when the average fan thinks of the Demon Deacons. It has been that way for all of Odom's eight years here, and it probably will be that way as long as he remains their coach.

COLLEGE PARK -- More than midway through the college basketball season, Maryland coach Gary Williams is still searching for the right rotation. Suffice it to say, it will include a larger role for freshman forward Tahj Holden after last night's 73-51 pounding of Wake Forest at Cole Field House. The Terps (12-5, 1-3) ended their first three-game losing streak in three years, as they played nasty defense for nearly all of the 40 minutes and got a career-high 17 points and six rebounds from Holden.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- It was one thing for Maryland's blitzing defense to bewilder a freshman quarterback in a win over Clemson a week ago. It turned out to be quite another to shut down a poised, senior Wake Forest quarterback who entered Saturday night's game as the Atlantic Coast Conference's hottest passer. If they had any doubt before, the Terrapins now know exactly why Wake Forest's Riley Skinner is on such a roll. Beating blitzes with quick, accurate tosses, Skinner led touchdown drives on Wake Forest's first five possessions in a 42-32 victory over the Terps.

Dino Gaudio listed all the little things his Wake Forest team did right during its rapid rise to No. 1. Then, he watched his Demon Deacons finally do them again. They ran, they rebounded, they defended - and, not coincidentally, they got two of their most dependable scorers back on track. Jeff Teague scored 27 points, freshman Al-Farouq Aminu added a season-high 26, and No. 7 Wake Forest bounced back yesterday after a surprisingly lopsided loss by routing visiting Boston College, 93-76.

Riley Skinner scored on a 1-yard keeper with 2 seconds remaining and host Wake Forest rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat Stanford, 24-17, on Saturday. Skinner finished 18 of 26 for 187 yards with a touchdown pass for the Demon Deacons (1-1). His 44-yard pass to third-stringer Lovell Jackson with less than a minute left set up his winning score. Redshirt freshman Andrew Luck was 23 of 34 for 276 yards with two touchdowns to Ryan Whalen for the Cardinal (1-1). They were denied their first 2-0 start since 2004.

Everybody figured Wake Forest would ask star scorer Jeff Teague to take the shot that would knock off No. 1 Duke. That was why coach Dino Gaudio drew up a play instead for the player whose defensive lapse let the Blue Devils tie it. James Johnson made up for a horrible final minute on defense by hitting the layup with 0.8 of a second left that helped the sixth-ranked Demon Deacons upend visiting Duke, 70-68, last night. "We knew everybody was going to key on Jeff Teague - he's the one who scores for us, puts buckets up for us," Johnson said.