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Wake Forest will play a dangerous foe in the first round of the NCAA tournament, drawing Texas for an East Regional game Thursday in New Orleans. The teams will play out of the uncomfortable 8-9 game, which feeds directly toward the worst fate of all — playing the No. 1 seed.

The winner will face Kentucky, the region's top seed.

If the Deacs were to get that far, and that's hardly a good bet considering their recent history, it will be their third NCAA game against Kentucky. They lost the first two by a combined 54 points.

Wake Forest has played Texas four times since their first meeting in 1954, winning three of the games, including a classic 89-88 early-season matchup in 2005.

The team the Deacs will face was No. 1 in the country for two weeks back in January, when it appeared the Longhorns might indeed be the best team in the country. They were 17-0 at the time. Since then, Texas has gone 7-9 and has fallen completely out of the polls.

"If I could flip it, I would've flipped it two months ago," Rick Barnes, the Texas coach, said this week.

His team made it to the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament before losing to No. 21 Baylor then anxiously awaiting Sunday's pairings show. The matchup could be a good one for Wake if point guard Ish Smith plays well. Texas has struggled all season at the point, with Jai Lucas and Justin Mason both trying to hold the position through the season.

The strength of the Texas team was thought to be center Dexter Pittman, but the big man has disappeared in many, of not most, of the key Longhorns games in the second half of the season.

As a result, Texas became the first team in the history of the AP poll to drop out of the rankings after rising to the top spot during the season. The last week Texas was No. 1 (Jan. 18-24) began with a loss to Kansas State and precipitated a slow and steady fall in the rankings. Texas was 21st in the last poll in February, but fell completely out of the rankings in the first March poll.

Wake has had a similar fall, though not as dramatic. The Deacs (19-10) were ranked as high as 23rd in the AP poll in the middle of February before losing five of their last six games.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com