ACC Countdown Preview

#4. Wake Forest

Games against 2009 NCAA Tournament teams: 10

Best non-conference game: Dec. 1 at Purdue

Projected Starting Five:

C - Chas McFarland (Senior)

F - Al-Farouq Aminu (Sophomore)

F - Ari Stewart (Freshman)

G - L.D. Williams (Senior)

G - Ishmael Smith (Senior)

Was there a bigger mystery in the ACC last year than Wake Forest? They shocked a lot of people by jumping out to a great start, even getting as high as #1 in the country with a 16-0 record. Then, starting with a home loss to Virginia Tech, they went 8-7 the rest of the way, including a first round ACC Tournament loss and a first round NCAA Tournament loss to #13 seed Cleveland State.

Wake had an explosion of talent last year, led by Jeff Teague. So how did they fall so hard at the end of the season? The two easiest explanations are the fact that they played against tougher competition, and a lack of outside shooting caught up with them. This year, Teague is gone.

While Teague left, Al-Farouq Aminu is still around, and that's huge for the Deacs. Aminu is a game-changer who is one of the most exciting players in the ACC. This year Ish Smith will go back to a larger role, which he excelled at in previous years. And Chas McFarland has developed nicely. So I see Wake having a solid year. The key will be to avoid that late season swoon. While I don't think they will get to #1 as they did last year, I think they will have a good start to the season and win enough ACC games to get back to the NCAAs for a second straight year.