Wake Forest Basketball: Grad transfer Terrence Thompson commits to Demon Deacons

Wake Forest Basketball added a new player in grad transfer, Terrence Thompson, to help with the departures from last year’s team.

For Wake Forest basketball in 2017, it was not supposed to end up like this. This was supposed to be the year of stability; the year where the team would take another step forward after the breakthrough year last season. It just hasn’t played out that way.

First, John Collins took his second place showing in the ACC Player of the Year race straight to the NBA. Then, Konstantinos Mitoglou looked at his options and decided to take his basketball to the professional ranks in his native Greece. What was left was a roster built for two scoring options who are no longer there.

Give Danny Manning some credit, he has responded to this development by recruiting his tail off and exploring the transfer market. To replace Mitoglou’s scholarship, he reached out and signed Marshall graduate transfer Terrence Thompson.

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Thompson was originally a signee of the Charlotte 49ers before leaving the program around the time of the coaching change there. He went JUCO for a year and then signed with Marshall. He spent two years at Marshall, eventually earning twenty minutes per game as a fourth-year junior and scoring an average of nine points per game during that time.

It is hard to view Thompson as a replacement for Mitoglou. The Greek forward was known for his shooting, while Thompson shot just under 30% from the arc last year. He did shoot 50% from the field on all baskets. The 6’7, 217-pound Thompson was more effective inside, which could be interesting against a presumably bigger ACC.

Perhaps more importantly, Thompson brought home seven rebounds per game. That kind of help will be valuable with Collins no longer manning the middle for the Deacs.

Next: Hoard Commits to Wake Forest

Thompson will also get to play closer to home. He is a Durham native and should have a lot of experience knowing how big it is to play ACC ball particularly against the other Big Four schools. Now he will join what is still a very experienced core for the Demon Deacons even if there are a surprising amount of unknowns as they head toward the beginning of the season.