ACC TEAM PREVIEW #18 WAKE FOREST DEMON DEACONS

Wake Forest goes into this season looking to snap a five-year NCAA tournament drought. They still had a decent season last year, finishing with an overall record of 21-11 and a 13-7 record in ACC play, which was tied for fourth-best in the conference. Steve Forbes enters his fifth season as the head coach. He's a coach who could potentially be on the hot seat as Wake Forest has zero tournament appearances in his tenure. Although he does still have a solid overall record of 92-65 in his tenure.

Projected Lineup:

G Nate Calmese (Washington State transfer)

G Mekhi Mason (Washington transfer)

G Myles Colvin (Purdue transfer)

F Tre'Von Spillers

F Cooper Schwieger (Valparaiso transfer)

Wake Forest loses three of their top four scorers from last season in Hunter Sallis, Cam Hildreth, and Efton Reid. Sallis's production will be the most difficult to replace. He earned all-ACC honors each of the last two seasons, averaging 18.2 points per game in his Wake Forest career. Cam Hildreth was also a tough loss; he averaged 14.7 points per game last year, which was second on the team. Wake Forest went to the transfer portal to create their new backcourt. It will be headlined by Washington State transfer Nate Calmese. Calmese is on his fourth school in four seasons. He found success last year at Washington State as one of the best guards in the West Coast Conference. He averaged 15.2 points and 4.4 assists. Mekhi Mason comes over from Washington University. He started in 20 of 31 games and averaged 9.9 points. Purdue transfer Myles Colvin might be the most intriguing transfer they brought in. Colvin is a former four-star recruit, but he struggled to find consistent minutes on a talented Purdue team. He's insanely athletic, but his shooting ability hasn't fully developed yet. Colvin is one of the top breakout candidates in the conference, in my opinion.

In the frontcourt, they were able to retain Tre'Von Spillers, who was a very valuable player for them last season. He led the team in rebounding with 7.6 boards per game while also averaging 9.9 points, which was third on the team. Cooper Schwieger will be the other starter in the frontcourt. He was a highly coveted name in the portal, transferring in from Valparaiso. He led them in scoring with 15.8 points per game and also led the team in rebounding with 7.8 rebounds per game. Schweiger also earned first-team all-Missouri Valley Conference honors.

It's not a terrible roster for Steve Forbes this season at Wake Forest, but I don't see how they have as prolific an offense as they did last season. They should be one of the more athletic teams in the conference. Expect a more balanced scoring offense this season with the losses of Sallis and Hildreth. All things considered, it feels like Wake Forest is relying a lot on a transfer portal class that is good but not great.

Prediction: 13th in ACC