Wake Forest Receives At-Large Bid to 2010 NCAA Tournament
Deacons seeded ninth in the East Region, will open vs. Texas on Thursday

March 14, 2010

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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest has received an at-large bid to the 2010 NCAA Tournament and will be seeded ninth in the East Region, as announced by the NCAA on Sunday evening.

The Demon Deacons will open Tournament play on Thursday, March 18, vs. eighth-seeded Texas at New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, La. Tipoff is scheduled for approximately 9:35 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised by CBS with announcers Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas.

Wake Forest enters the NCAA Tournament with a 19-10 overall record. The Deacons, who boast six wins against RPI Top 50 teams, finished 9-7 in ACC play and received the No. 5 seed in last week's conference tournament.

The Deacons will be making their 22nd all-time NCAA Tournament appearance and their second straight under third-year head coach Dino Gaudio. Last season, Wake received the No. 4 seed in the Midwest Region but was upset in the first round by No. 13 seed Cleveland State in Miami.

Wake Forest is 27-21 all-time in NCAA Tournament play. The Deacons have advanced to the Sweet 16 round 10 times, to the Elite Eight seven times and to the Final Four once (1962).

Texas enters the NCAA Tournament with a record of 24-9 overall. The Longhorns went 9-7 in the Big 12 to finish sixth in the conference standings. Texas was ranked in the top 10 in the country for the majority of the season, including two weeks at No. 1 in mid-January. The Longhorns, who fell out of the top 25 on March 1, advanced to the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals before losing to third-seeded Baylor.

Texas is making its 12th-straigth and 28th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Longhorns were a No. 7 seed in last year's tournament and advanced to the second round before falling to Duke. Texas last played in NCAA Tournament action in the city of New Orleans at the 2003 Final Four.

Wake Forest and Texas have met once previously in the NCAA Tournament. The teams squared off in the second round of the 1996 Tournament in Milwaukee. The second-seeded Deacons upended the 10th-seeded Longhorns, 65-62, behind junior center Tim Duncan.

Wake Forest leads the all-time series with Texas, 3-1. The Deacons and Longhorns played a home-and-home series in 2004 and 2005. Texas won in Austin in 2004, while Wake picked up a win in Winston-Salem in 2005. The Deacons won their first-ever meeting with the Longhorns during the 1954-55 season at the Birmingham (Ala.) Classic.

The winner of Wake Forest-Texas contest will face the winner of the matchup between No. 1 seed Kentucky and No. 16 seed East Tennessee State on Sunday, March 20.

The semifinals and finals of the East Region will be held at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., on March 25 and 27. The Final Four is set for April 3 and 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.