The players who play for Wake Forest and Texas will be remembered the rest of their lives for how they finish what has been, for both teams, most perplexing seasons.
For one side, that could be good.
For the other, that will definitely be bad.
"We keep saying and we're going to keep saying until after the game on Thursday, it's a one-game season," senior L.D. Williams said. "Anything can happen. It's the NCAA Tournament.
"Names are made here. Legends are born here."
The Deacons, after rising to No. 23 in the nation with an 18-5 record, have lost five of six, including a sobering setback to Miami in the ACC Tournament. They're seeded No. 9.
The Longhorns, after climbing all the way to No. 1 with a 17-0 record, have lost nine of 16, including a similarly sobering setback to Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament. They're seeded No. 8.
The tipoff is scheduled for around 9:35 tonight.
"This might sound corny, but any time I play basketball I want to win," senior Ish Smith said. "And it starts (tonight) against Texas in New Orleans. I get no sleep when we lose. I'm churning inside. I'm trying to think what I should have done differently.
"But right now I just want to win. You just want to win the next game you play, and hopefully extend your season."
The Longhorns average 81.7 points a game and, according to Coach Rick Barnes, have every intention of playing a fast-paced game tonight. The Deacons' only victory since Feb. 13 was at the expense of a Clemson team that also forced tempo, and by doing so allowed Smith to jump-start the fast break and get easy baskets for himself and his teammates -- most notably leading scorer Al-Farouq Aminu.
Barnes said he doesn't plan to downshift for today's game.
"I think it will be a pretty quick game," Barnes said. "I hope we're quicker.
"But (Smith) is a one-man fast break. He is as fast as any player we've played against in a long time.
"Like any team, they get out in transition and they're a very, very dangerous team. But that's how we want to play. That's when we play our best basketball. People have asked me over the last couple of weeks why have we stopped running. I can assure you we never wanted to stop running. But I think that goes with maybe getting tentative at times mentally.
"But we do want to get up and down the floor."
The chance to get out and run against Clemson contributed to Aminu's 18-point performance, the most he scored since he had 25 points at Virginia Tech on Feb. 16. But the Longhorns are bigger and more physical than the Hokies, with 6-10, 290-pound Dexter Pittman at center and 6-6, 238-pound Gary Johnson and 6-7, 225-pound Damion James at forwards.
Pittman at least suggested that Johnson will open the game guarding Aminu.
"The only person that I think he reminds me of is the guy on our team, Gary Johnson," Pittman said. "(Johnson) can play just like him. He's explosive inside and out. He's just as physical.
"That's (what) I'm thinking about the game vs. Wake. They've got Aminu. We've got Gary. Gary can do the same things he can do. Hopefully we can get him in foul trouble early and it will be a whole different team without him.
"Then we can have Gary on the court still."
The questions that Smith and Williams were asked at yesterday's media conference at New Orleans Arena were remarkably similar to those asked of Pittman, James and guard Justin Mason. And Smith said he understood why.
"Al-Farouq Aminu is my teammate, and me and him woke up to ESPN talking about how Texas and us are so much similar talent-wise," Smith said. "Then at the same time, how we're kind of sliding and everybody's trying to figure out what's the problem.
"So I guess for both teams -- and for everybody in the tournament -- it's a new start."
And the way that start ends will be remembered by many for many years.
dcollins@wsjournal.com
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