NIT Becomes Demon Deacons' Forest

Wake Forest, which made an impressive run to the ACC Tournament semifinals last week, will participate in postseason play for the 16th consecutive year when the Demon Deacons begin play in the National Invitation Tournament of the NCAA this week.

The Deacons, 17-16, will play at Minnesota Wednesday night. Game time has not been determined.

"I'm very excited to have the opportunity to continue playing," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said. "Minnesota is an outstanding team in one of the great conferences. It will certainly be a challenge for us, especially playing at Williams Arena, but it beats getting ready for the opening day of baseball."

The 40-team tournament begins with eight opening-round games on Tuesday. Wake Forest, which is seeded fifth in its section of the bracket, would need to win three games to advance to the semifinals in New York's Madison Square Garden.

The winner of the Wake Forest-Minnesota game will play either Cincinnati, Charlotte or Georgia Southern on Tuesday, March 21. Charlotte and Georgia Southern meet in an opening round game Tuesday and the winner plays at Cincinnati on Friday.

Minnesota, 15-14, beat Michigan in the Big Ten Conference Tournament on Thursday, then fell to Iowa on Friday. The Golden Gophers posted wins this season at Arizona State, vs. UNLV, vs. UAB, Indiana, Michigan State, Iowa and Purdue.

Senior swingman Vincent Grier (15.5 ppg) leads the Gophers in scoring.

The Deacons are one of six ACC teams in the tournament, joining Maryland, Miami, Clemson, Virginia and Florida State. The four No. 1 seeds in the NIT are Maryland, Michigan, Louisville and Cincinnati.

Wake keeps its streak of consecutive postseason appearances alive. The Deacons have played in the NCAA Tournament or the NIT every year since 1990.

The last time the Deacons played in the NIT came in 2000, when then-coach Dave Odom's team won the championship, beating Notre Dame in the title game at Madison Square Garden. This will be Wake's sixth NIT appearance and the Deacons are 10-4 all-time in the event.

NCAA College Basketball is ready to crown another champion. Who will claim the NCAA title? Bodog has the odds, bet on it now.