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Wake Forest Basketball Recruiting: Juke Harris Commits!!

Buttermaker said:
Good point. And there certainly are not enough political/social pissing matches on the Tunnels. Let’s clutter up the sports threads with that shit too!
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Endeavoring to confront racism where ever it rears its ugly head seems like a worthwhile distraction from basketball recruiting.
 
Wake Forest Basketball Recruiting

And a big fuck you to racist piece of shit Dutch deacon 65. Thanks to all those who called him out and didn’t just scroll on by.
 
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Last time I checked there we were on page 19 re. recruiting news. So, when I logged in today, I figured we had signed someone based on a flurry of new posts. Crap. No such news. Is there anyone out there who can let us know who are the most likely candidates do join McCray from the Class of 2021?
 
Not an espn+ subscriber. I assume there is more info for subscribers. Cliff notes?
 
Wake Forest is a program still seeking to recapture a golden age that spanned the 1990s and early 2000s. That was when the Demon Deacons put players such as Tim Duncan and Chris Paul on the floor while reaching 12 NCAA tournaments in 15 years.

When coach Skip Prosser passed away suddenly in the summer of 2007, the program managed to make what at first appeared to be a remarkably smooth transition to its next chapter. New coach Dino Gaudio led the Deacons to a one-week stint as the No. 1 team in the nation in his second season, and Wake Forest appeared in two consecutive NCAA tournaments for the first time since Paul's playing days. Nevertheless, Gaudio was let go after three seasons, and in the 10 years since that decision, Wake has compiled an NCAA tournament résumé consisting of one loss in the First Four.

This dry spell was front and center when John Currie assumed his duties as Wake's new athletic director in May 2019. In effect, Currie elected to make a change with the men's basketball program at the first practicable moment, letting Danny Manning go this past April and hiring East Tennessee State coach Steve Forbes. The Deacons' decision stands out as the only major-conference coaching change that has taken place since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Currie and Forbes were colleagues over a decade ago at Tennessee, when the former served as associate athletic director and the latter was an assistant to Bruce Pearl. Evidently, Currie liked what he saw of Forbes in Knoxville, and the coach then proceeded to win 79% of his conference games and two Southern Conference titles in five seasons at ETSU. The existing relationship and the track record enabled 55-year-old Forbes to prevail in a search in which potential candidates were thought to include Wes Miller (UNC Greensboro), Pat Kelsey (Winthrop), Ryan Odom (UMBC) and possibly even John Beilein.

So, can Forbes replicate the success he had at ETSU? These will be the keys (and potential pitfalls) at Wake Forest.

Preventing the opponent's shots and selecting yours wisely

The teams Forbes coached in Johnson City were distinguished by their accuracy from the field. Per Hoop-Math.com, the Buccaneers did a good job staying away from long 2-point attempts in the Forbes era, particularly over the course of the coach's final four seasons at the helm. ETSU also excelled at forcing turnovers.

If Forbes can move the needle toward more takeaways in his first season at Wake, the effect will be dramatic if not seismic. This inability is what killed the Deacons last season. ACC opponents ended their possessions with a shot attempt from the field or at the line a whopping 85% of the time. Wake Forest need not morph into another version of "Press Virginia" overnight, but any move in the direction of the 50th percentile in terms of opponent turnover rate should yield significant performance benefits on defense.

Bringing talent to Winston-Salem, N.C.

When the Deacons were at the top of their game 15 or 20 years ago, the offense tended to combine skilled guards with athletes in the paint who could give Wake plenty of second-chance opportunities. Naturally, having that combination is a function of recruiting, and, despite their struggles on the court, the Deacons have been known to break through with a top prospect here and there. Gaudio signed national top-10 recruit Al-Farouq Aminu, and, more recently, Manning landed top-20 freshman Jaylen Hoard.

Indeed, Forbes might profit from the example furnished by Manning's big recruiting win. Hoard posted a promising if uneven and little-noticed freshman campaign in 2018-19. On paper, he would have been an excellent candidate to record a much improved sophomore season, but Hoard opted to leave and take a shot at playing professionally. When players (note the plural) stick around for the seasons when they've significantly improved, coaches at last reap the rewards of their work on the recruiting trail.


Incoming transfer Ian DuBose averaged 19 PPG at Houston Baptist last season. Michael Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports
Forbes will start his first season with an influx of first-year players. Graduate transfers Ian DuBose (Houston Baptist), Jalen Johnson (Tennessee) and Jonah Antonio (UNLV) are all immediately eligible. In addition, Forbes announced in August that Virginia Tech transfer Isaiah Wilkins has also been cleared to play in 2020-21. The Deacons are still awaiting word on whether Daivien Williamson will be eligible this season after he followed his coach from ETSU to Wake Forest.

The promise and peril of the ACC

Holdovers from the Manning era include Isaiah Mucius, Jahcobi Neath, Ody Oguama and Ismael Massoud. Conversely, Olivier Sarr elected to transfer to Kentucky in the wake of Manning's exit. Looking ahead toward 2021-22, Forbes will plainly need to bring in a good deal of new talent, whether it's in the form of freshmen, transfers or both.

The lure of available playing time in the ACC should allow Forbes to compete for high-level recruits and transfers. Then again, membership in the ACC is not without its challenges for Wake Forest in 2020. Consider the top of the conference's standings most years


In a conference (and region) led by Coach K at Duke and Roy Williams at UNC, breaking through will prove tough. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
North Carolina certainly had an "off" season in 2019-20, but, by and large, any given ACC campaign will find the Tar Heels near the top of the league along with, of course, Duke and Virginia. Nor should Florida State and Louisville be left out of this picture.

At the other extreme, it's been a daunting three years for the likes of Boston College, Pittsburgh, and, yes, Wake Forest. Wins are precious commodities in the ACC, and lately the bottom part of the league's standings has been notably stable.

Forbes has been brought to Winston-Salem by his former Tennessee colleague, Currie, to change this state of affairs. No program gets a Duncan or a Paul every year, but Forbes can lift the program in the near term simply through building a stable roster and importing lessons learned in Johnson City.
 
Not a whole lot of substance but good coverage nonetheless.
 
If you get Disney+, that login should work for ESPN+ articles as well -- at least it did for me.
 
w84it said:
If you get Disney+, that login should work for ESPN+ articles as well -- at least it did for me.
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Do you have the Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu bundle?
 
Yeah, I have Disney+ by itself and I can't read ESPN+ articles. I used to pay for ESPN Insider, but that was years ago. Just tried to log in w/ Disney+ info and it recognized me, but didn't give me access.
 
w84it said:
Maybe? I honestly don't know - my wife pays for it because she wanted to watch Hamilton for the 100th time
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Particularly funny coming from this handle.
 
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