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2021-22 Wake Forest Basketball Season - 25-9 (13-7), KP#33

https://www.dukebasketballreport.com/2021/10/13/22723887/acc-basketball-recruiting-things-are-picking-up-at-wake-forest-steve-forbes-zach-keller

Above link is from Duke Basketball Report: ACC Recruiting - Things Are Picking Up At Wake Forest

In his column about ACC Tipoff yesterday, David Thompson of the Fayetteville Observer mentioned how bad last season was for the ACC and wondered if this year would be better.

We in turn mentioned the difficulties everyone faced last year due to Covid and how that affected, well, everyone.

Things will be different this year and one thing to keep an eye on is the rise of Wake Forest.

Steve Forbes, as we said when he took the job, would be able to rebuild in a hurry with grad transfers and then the whole revolution of what is essentially free-agent transfers hit and he’s worked that too.

Not much is left from last year but Carter Whitt is a talented guard and Forbes essentially overhauled the roster. He says now he has ACC-level talent and he’s been recruiting at a higher level.

Tuesday won't hurt in that regard: Forbes picked up a commitment from 4-star forward Zach Keller. Here’s what analyst Brandon Jennings said about Keller: “Keller is a hard-playing power forward prospect who gets off the floor well and shows a solid foundation of skill within his game. Offensively, he diversifies his game with his physical activity on the offensive glass to score off of clean-up buckets while also having the touch to step out and knock down the long ball. He adds value as a vertical athlete who will explode off the floor to protect the rim in an intriguing fashion or to corral a rebound on both ends. The question mark within his game is his durability, however, when healthy, Keller plays with a high motor and does not require a certain amount of touches to have an effect on a game.”

Here’s the thing about the ACC that a lot of people miss when they look at one year to the next: the desire to compete at a high level is endless. Virginia Tech sucked for a long time and then got Buzz Williams and Mike Young. Miami persuaded Jim Larranaga to give their program a pulse after essentially flatlining. Clemson came very close to rolling the dice on Will Wade a few years ago.

And while Wake struggled with Jeff [Redacted] (who went on to become a superb NBA assistant coach) and Danny Manning (now a Maryland assistant), Forbes seems to know what he’s doing. Moreover, he is as well-suited to the current environment as anyone.

So keep an eye on the Deacs. Forbes is bringing that program back in a hurry and is very likely to make some noise this year and by next year, a good bit more.
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DeacsATS said:
https://theathletic.com/2887811/2021/10/14/roy-williams-is-gone-coach-k-is-next-whats-the-future-of-the-acc-without-them/

Above article is from Eamonn Brennan at The Athletic - Roy Williams is gone. Coach K is next. What's the future of the ACC without them?

I was going to cut and paste any mention of Wake Forest in the article... But there isn't a single mention of the school, aside from this sentence: "Since then, the ACC has been reliably ranked among the top two or three leagues in the country — as regularly pound-for-pound good as the Big 12 and the Big Ten, despite having a few programs (Boston College, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh) that have at times struggled desperately to remain even remotely competitive."

Brennan gets into UNC, Duke, UVA, FSU, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Clemson, NCSU, Miami, & Pittsburgh. That's 13 teams. Doesn't mention BC or WFU at all.

Main point was that the ACC has historically been the best conference, but it was pretty bad last year (and has been "down" for a while)... He's wondering if K & Roy leaving means that the ACC will no longer the best conference in hoops.
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Yeah, that article sucked.
 
For the first time in 11 years (I dont think I need to explain), I have my bball tickets again this year. I will be a few rows behind Coach Forbes bald head. I'm back finally and I hope the Deacons have at least began the path back.
 
We need to be much better than the experts think we will be. And then we need to be better than that next year. I don’t want to consider the alternative.
 
guitardeac said:
For the first time in 11 years (I dont think I need to explain), I have my bball tickets again this year. I will be a few rows behind Coach Forbes bald head. I'm back finally and I hope the Deacons have at least began the path back.
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I watched some games last year, but I am coming back to full Wake basketball fandom this year too. Looking forward to a good overview of the team and season coming out over the next couple weeks.
 
For me, its about 2 things: I missed it. I havent even been in the Joel at all during that 11 years. Not once. That, and we finally have a leader of the program that I respect as a leader. And I want to support him and the kids.
 
91deac said:
I watched some games last year, but I am coming back to full Wake basketball fandom this year too. Looking forward to a good overview of the team and season coming out over the next couple weeks.
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same. I didn't watch any games the season before last and maybe 1 or 2 the season before. it felt weird to actually know when our games against Duke, UNC, etc were.
 
guitardeac said:
For me, its about 2 things: I missed it. I havent even been in the Joel at all during that 11 years. Not once. That, and we finally have a leader of the program that I respect as a leader. And I want to support him and the kids.
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graduated in 07 and haven't been to a game at the Joel since. first few years just because I couldn't make it, obvious reasons thereafter. last games I saw in person were at Ga Tech and at Georgia in 2008 when I lived in Atlanta.
 
I bought tix today for the first time since near the start of Mannings tenure
 
i so wanted to do the 5 or 9 game packages but alas i'm five hours away. weekday games were moot. and even some of the weekend games conflicted with prior arrangements.
damnit.
 
BarcaDeac said:
graduated in 07 and haven't been to a game at the Joel since. first few years just because I couldn't make it, obvious reasons thereafter. last games I saw in person were at Ga Tech and at Georgia in 2008 when I lived in Atlanta.
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last home game i attended was against william & mary. :tear:
 
Go give Forbes some love on Twitter. His 16- year old dog just died.
 
I mean I don't look at the acc and think that the top half of the conference is impenetrable.
 
Pilchard said:
The Deacs will secretly scrimmage South Carolina next Friday in Rock Hill. Here is a link to Jeff Goodman's list of all D1 secret scrimmages: https://watchstadium.com/not-so-secret-list-of-2021-college-basketball-scrimmages-10-15-2021/

Among ACC scrimmages of note: GT scrimmages Alabama tomorrow. Duke scrimmages Villanova next weekend in DC. UNC scrimmages at Florida next weekend. Season is getting close.
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I love how Duke won't even play a true road game in secret scrimmages.

Always a neutral site.
 
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