34. Florida Gators
35. Ole Miss
36. USC Trojans
39. Mississippi State Bulldogs
41. Memphis Tigers
42. McNeese Cowboys
45. VCU Rams
46. Dayton Flyers
47. St Mary’s Gaels
49. UCF Knights
52. Clemson Tigers
53. New Mexico Lobos
58. SMU Mustangs
60. Nevada Wolfpack
61. TCU Horned Frogs
63. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
65. Syracuse Orange
68. Iowa Hawkeyes
70. Butler Bulldogs
71. Princeton Tigers
74. Oklahoma Sooners
75. West Virginia Mountaineers
76. Georgia Bulldogs
77. UAB Blazers
80. Missouri Tigers
Here’s where each of our analysts have the Demon Deacons ranked:
| Steven | Maxwell | Kam | Cody |
| 25 | 24 | 46 | 31 |
Wake Forest is in a tier of their own in the ACC. Duke and North Carolina are the undisputed two best teams in the conference. After that? It’s probably Wake Forest. After going 11-9 in ACC play and 21-14 last season, the Demon Deacons misses the NCAA tournament last year. It’s actually incredible that Steve Forbes has yet to coach this team to an NCAA tournament despite the immense success the program has had since taking over. This is the year that changes. Wake Forest got the best news they received all offseason when Hunter Sallis withdrew his name from the NBA Draft and announced he was returning to school for his senior year. Sallis enjoyed a massive breakout season last season after transferring from Gonzaga, a season where he averaged 18/4.1/2.5 and shot 48.7% from the field and 40.5% from three. Also back is center Efton Reid, also a previous Gonzaga player. Wake Forest went 16-9 in games Reid played last season. The third returning starter is Cameron Hildreth, who was Wake’s third leading scorer last season.
The starting point guard will be Ty-Laur Johnson, a Louisville transfer. Finally, there’s Tre’Von Spillers from Appalachian State, who received Sun Belt First Team honors last season. Off the bench, there’s players like Parker Friedrichsen, Omaha Biliew, and Davin Cosby. Billow is a former five-star recruit who didn’t get much playing time at Iowa State as a freshman. Cosby was a four star recruit for Alabama himself. Both are going into their sophomore years and present some upside for this bench. Especially because Forbes does an excellent job at helping rehabilitate talented players who struggled for their previous teams. Churchill Abass is another former four star recruit entering their sophomore year. Abass was apart of last year’s disastrous DePaul team.
The biggest concern for this Wake Forest team is their floor spacing and three point shooting. Given last season they shot 36.4% from three as a team, this year looks a lot more bleak in that regard. Sallis shot 40.5% from three last season, but before last year, he was not considered an elite shooter. Last year could have been an improvement, but it also could’ve been an outlier. Only time will tell. Additionally, Spillers is a non-shooter, and Johnson shot 19.4% from three last season. Sure Reid shoots it a little for a big and Hildreth is 35.1%, but the bench does not have much shooting either outside of Friedrichsen. There’s also 4 star freshman, Juke Harris, who can shoot it as well.
Despite the potential shooting woes, this Wake Forest team is going to be very, very good. Sallis will be an All-American, and the complimentary pieces are ideal. They can defend, they can score, and they’re going to be tough to beat any given night. In fact, of their 14 losses last year, only two were by double digits, and one of those was to Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The fact that Wake Forest was 28th in KenPom last season and 43rd in the NET demonstrates how ridiculously consistently good this program is, even when they don’t make the tournament. Before RJ Davis won ACC Player of the Year last year, this Wake Forest program had back-to-back ACC Players of the Year with Tyree Appleby and Alondes Williams. Sallis could be the third one in four years.
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