ACC Preview #3 - Wake Forest

[gw67]

The bottom line from the DBR review is that Wake will be more athletic this year; therefore, they should be a better defensive team. I don't necessarily agree with that presumption but Smith, Williams, Skeen and Weaver will be sophs and their overall play should be improved. The real question is who is going to score. Losing Visser's 17 ppg and 7 rpg will be tough to replace on a team that was not a scoring machine last year. Further, the returnees were not particularly good shooters from the field or foul line. IMO, Wake needs to improve their ballhandling and shooting, and they need find players to replace the scoring and rebounding of Visser. I expect them to be in the bottom 1/4 of the ACC.

gw67

[riverside6]

One thing about having a guy like Ish Smith around is that you don't need to have traditional scorers. Smith can simply break down his man and create easy baskets for other players. This is what he did in Wake's 114-112 win (http://www.scacchoops.com/forms/tt_Game_Box_Score.asp?hGame=533) in the ACC tournament where Smith picked up 15 assists.

He dominated offensively in that game, although he did have 8 turnovers, he was the reason Wake won that game. He certainly has enough finishers around him, although it remains to be seen whether Weaver has the hands that Visser showed last year.

[ACCBBallFan]

Article alleges Wake returns four starters, but seems to me they lost both Visser and Drum.

Wake may be one of the few teams in ACC or NCAA for that matter with more post problems than Duke, and their wings are not nearly as good.

Seem to be odds on favorite for 12th place ACC finish, unless the other school with off-season tragedy, VA Tech is worse. VA Tech tandem of Deron Washington and AD Vassallo are probably better than Wake's best duo.

They have a few players, so won't be awful, but no clear scoring leader like UVA has with Singletary, BC has with Rice and Miami has with McClinton.