Wake Forest has seen better seeds than Oregon - all four, in fact.

Byline: BOB CLARK The Register-Guard

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - It didn't do a lot of good for Wake Forest's record, but the Demon Deacons have already played the best teams in the NCAA Tournament.

In fact, Wake Forest is the only team in the tournament that met each of the No. 1 seeds during the regular season.

`The benefit is ... it gets us ready for this tournament in March,' Wake Forest's Darius Songaila said. `You play the best and that makes you better. Once it comes to March, you've already played those teams so you know what it's like to play the best teams in this kind of situation.'

`It was tough, but it made us a better basketball team,' Ervin Murray said. `We played the best, and if we can withstand that we can withstand anything. It let us know we're not that far from the best teams in the country.'

Wake Forest went 0-7 against the NCAA's top seeds, losing three times to Duke, twice to Maryland and once each to Cincinnati and Kansas.

`There were stretches in all those games ... where we competed successfully,' Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said. `Our guys believe that we can play with just about anybody. If we could ever play that way for 40 minutes, we could perhaps beat anybody in the country.'

BOOKING IT: It hasn't been all basketball for the Ducks. Reserves Ben Lindquist and Anthony Lever each took final examinations Friday morning under the supervision of a proctor, and starter Robert Johnson has been splitting time between scouting reports and a term paper that is due Monday.

If Oregon wins today, there are likely to be more accommodations made on academics as the university begins final exam week for winter term on Monday, and the Ducks would be leaving Wednesday for Madison, Wis.

IFFY DEACON: Josh Howard was listed as day-to-day by Wake Forest because of the ankle injury he suffered a month ago which continues to hinder his play. The 6-foot-6 junior scored eight points in 18 minutes against Pepperdine on Thursday but at times was obviously limping.

`He's really a good player,' Prosser said. `It's really up to him and the trainer whether he plays. It's sad because people aren't getting to see a shell of how good he is.'

Howard's place in the starting lineup is likely to be taken by Murray, a 6-5 senior who averaged 1.2 points in a lessened role this season.

`I always kept my head up and worked hard and looked for the opportunity to show everybody I can play. It's a big opportunity for me,' Murray said.

MEETING AGAIN: Oregon has run across Prosser and Wake Forest in recent years, though this is his first season as head coach of the Demon Deacons.

Prosser was previously coach at Xavier, which routed the Ducks 106-75 in the third-place game of the 1999 NIT. Oregon then played Wake Forest at the Rainbow Classic the following December, with Oregon winning 67-66.

`They ran a lot,' Murray recalled of the Ducks. `Freddie Jones, I remember him getting out in the open court and doing some spectacular stuff ... but that's history.'

Jones said that more than that game in Honolulu, his recollections of Wake Forest come from telecasts of games this season.

`The ACC is on TV quite a bit so we see their games ... we can take a little bit from that,' the Oregon senior said. `But from (the past meeting) ... that was a while ago.'

FIRST TIMERS: Oregon and Wake Forest were also two of the eight teams in the first NCAA Tournament. They didn't play each other in the 1939 tournament, but did have a common opponent as the Demon Deacons lost in the first round to Ohio State, the team Oregon defeated in the title game.

STATE OF TOURNAMENT: Wake Forest is one of six teams from the state of North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. Only California, with seven entrants, has more than the Tar Heel State.

`There is some good basketball played in North Carolina, and North Carolina has some real good tradition,' Murray said. `We just love to play down there and we have some really good players.'