Originally Posted by
CDu
Copied and edited from the first game thread.
This is not a very good Wake team. Attrition has caught up to them, and it is now a really young team. There is some talent, but it's far from a quality product being put on the floor so far. Overall, they are 11-17, with home losses to Gardner-Webb and Houston Baptist along with a neutral-site loss to St Joe's and road losses to Tennessee, Ga Tech, and Richmond. They are 4-14 in conference, heading towards the end of a disastrous season for Danny Manning.
Wake doesn't play notably fast or slow, but towards in the middle of the pack nationally in tempo. They are pretty bad offensively and defensively regardless of conference (outside the top-150 nationally on both O and D). The only thing they do well offensively is draw fouls and offensive rebound, though they do both pretty well. Defensively, don't do anything particularly well. But they are terrible (as in among the very worst in all of D-1) at forcing turnovers and terrible at preventing two-point baskets.
Centers: The Deacs sport a two-headed "monster" at center. Olivier Sarr (7'0", 215lb soph from France) had overtaken Ikenna Smart (6'10", 245lb grad transfer from Nigeria via Buffalo) before hurting his ankle recently. It is unclear whether Sarr will be available tomorrow. If not, yikes. Sarr is a terrific shotblocker and a solid rebounder. He has a little bit of a jumper, but that's very much in development. He does draw fouls and shoots okay from the line. But he, too, has foul problems (3.4 per 20.5 minutes). Ikenna Smart plays very limited minutes because he fouls religiously (2.4 per 14.2 minutes played). Smart is a little like a very poor man's Marques Bolden: big, underwhelming rebounder but a bit of a shotblocker, not much of a threat away from the rim. He's really raw and foul-prone, and I'd expect him to continue that Tuesday. Behind Smart and (if available) Sarr is Sunday Okeke (6'8", 240lb soph from Nigeria) is the break in case of emergency big. He's athletic and rebounds and blocks shots, but brings little else to the table.
Forwards: Jaylen Hoard (6'8", 205lb freshman from France) is the headliner at forward. Hoard is, if you squint REALLY hard, a little like a combo-forward version of RJ Barrett (don't get me wrong: he's not NEARLY as good as Barrett, just has some physical and stylistic similarities). He's a lanky but deceptively strong forward with good driving skills, long arms, and strong rebounding skills. On offense, he's a volume scorer, capable of making shots but not a high-percentage shooter. But he does most of his work going to the rim, and doesn't force many up from outside at all. Hoard is a pretty talented kid and one of Wake's better recruits in recent years. Hoard leads the team in rebounding and is second in scoring. Backing up (and sometimes alongside) Hoard is Isaiah Mucius (6'8", 190lb freshman). Mucius is a bouncy, lanky forward who has some potential. But he's super skinny and raw. Mucius can shoot it a little, but again that's not a strength by any means. He's very much a work in progress.
Wings: Chaudee Brown (6'5", 215lb soph) is the headliner on the wing. Brown can play. He's strong and athletic, and has a pretty decent shooting touch. However, he's pretty limited off the dribble, which is a problem since the Deacs don't pass well/much. But off-ball he can be a dangerous player if ignored, so keeping track of him would be wise. Sharone Wright Jr (6'5", 180lb frosh) is the other wing of note. Wright is the son of former Clemson and NBA player Sharone Wright. In short, he's nothing like his dad on the court. Wright is a solid ballhandler and decent athlete, though he lacks a bit in terms of shooting touch. He's a pretty decent finisher inside the arc, but struggles from 3 and from the FT line. A promising young player, but a year or two away. Still, good lineage. Last among the regular wings is Torry Johnson (6'3", 165lb grad transfer from Northern Arizona). Johnson is athletic with long arms, and excels and drawing fouls. He's a good free throw shooter too, but he's pretty mediocre shooting from the field.
Guards: The PG is a name familiar to Duke fans, Brandon Childress (6'0", 190lb junior). Coming into this year, Childress was probably best known for being Randolph's son and for picking a fight on the Duke bench at Wake. Other than that, he wasn't a terribly productive player his first two years. But this year, he's really found his game. He is a score-first lead guard who is fearless attacking the rim. Childress leads the team in scoring (14.6 ppg), assists (4.1 apg), steals (1.6 spg), 3pt % (.374). Nominally, Torry Johnson backs Childress up. But they don't really have a backup PG as Johnson is more wing than PG.
As was the case in the first go-round between these two teams, this is a friendly last home game of the season. Wake is really bad, and will be even worse if their less-bad option at center (Sarr) is still out. It's a game we should win with or without Zion. We just have such a dramatic talent advantage across the board. That's not to say that Wake can't make this frustrating. But losing this game would be pretty tough to swallow, and would dash any hopes of an ACC regular season title. So, let's go ahead and win this one and set up hopefully a meaningful matchup this weekend with that other team in the neighborhood.
