It took 41 years for Wake Forest to finish all alone atop the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season standings.

Hoping to punctuate its impressive season properly, the ninth-ranked Demon Deacons begin their run toward an ACC conference tournament title when they take on Florida State in the quarterfinals Friday.

Coach Skip Prosser has made an immediate impact in his two seasons at Wake Forest, posting a 44-17 mark, including a 23-4 record this season.

However, Prosser admits that the impressive regular season run will be diminished if the Deacons aren't able to have success in the tourney.

"We have impressed on our guys that 'Listen, it's one and done'," Prosser said. "We're going to fuss at them for a whole lot of things - because we want to get better."

After losing five seniors from last year's 21-13 team, it appeared Wake might have to go though a rebuilding campaign - a scenario Prosser refused to accept.

"(Rebuilding) is a word I've never used, and I don't plan on using it this year," Prosser said. "Maybe I should be smart enough to paint that kind of bleak picture for Wake Forest, but I'm not the brightest guy in the world."

Senior Josh Howard, who averaged team highs of 20.1 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, played a major role in the team's success.

Howard's supporting cast consists of four freshmen and three sophomores in Prosser's eight-player rotation.

"When you're young the natural tendency is to think, `Well, you know what, this is really hard to win these games and if we don't do it this year I've got two or three more years left,"' Prosser said.

"We try to impress upon them that Josh Howard doesn't have two or three more years.

Tim Pickett and Nate Johnson propelled ninth-seeded Florida State into the quarterfinals as the duo helped the Seminoles (14-14) to a 72-61 win over Clemson on Thursday.

Pickett scored 22 points and Johnson added a season-best 18 as Florida State advanced to the quarterfinals for the second straight season.

Johnson, who averages just 4.3 points per game, was 3-of-25 from the field in Florida State's previous five games. But he went 5-of-6 on Thursday, making four 3-pointers.

"I really don't care too much about scoring," Johnson said. "It's my overall performance that I look at. If I have zero points and we get the win I'm happy. I lost a little bit of confidence during my slump, but coach has been driving me to shoot and be a threat on the offensive end."

Pickett was 10-of-18 from the field with a career-high 12 rebounds and three assists for Florida State, which had been 0-4 at the Greensboro Coliseum in ACC tournament games before beating the Tigers.