Yeah. National pundits get it. A reasonable goal for this team was 20 wins plus two ACCT games with a shot at the bubble.
If you looked at the Wake roster from outside, it wasn't impressive.
Wake recruits:
Fr PG who had moments but was over matched
SF who wasn't good playing out of position at PF.
C who was coming off major surgery and long haul Covid. Nobody knew how well or whether he would recover.
2G who had the body of a PG. How would that work?
Recruits: two three star guys. Not likely to be big contributors immediately. Two Brits who were giant question marks. The best HS player in Britain is how good compared to US HS talent? Nobody knew.
C from Colorado who had had major surgeries and hadn't played a lot of minutes per game.
C/PF from Mississippi who was well traveled and wasn't a star.
2/3 SoCon Freshman of the year. Torn Achilles, not expected to play.
3/4 from Indiana State. Stepping up a few levels. Would his game work against better competition?
2/3 role player/7th or 8th guy on a good Oklahoma team.
Forbes and staff have these guys playing at the high end of expected performance level. And has the group playing as a team. The preseason ceiling was wxpected to be middle ACC, not fighting for a top spot. The chemistry and player improvement has exceeded expectations.