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Wake Forest Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for the Demon Deacons

By Jacob Shames

GREENSBORO, NC - MARCH 12: The Deacon, the mascot for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on the court in the ACC Quarterfinal game against the Maryland Terrapins on March 12, 2004 at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Terps won 87-86. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
GREENSBORO, NC - MARCH 12: The Deacon, the mascot for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on the court in the ACC Quarterfinal game against the Maryland Terrapins on March 12, 2004 at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Terps won 87-86. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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KNOXVILLE, TN – DECEMBER 22: Chaundee Brown #23 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons holds the ball during the first half of the game between the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and the Tennessee Volunteers at Thompson-Boling Arena on December 22, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN – DECEMBER 22: Chaundee Brown #23 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons holds the ball during the first half of the game between the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and the Tennessee Volunteers at Thompson-Boling Arena on December 22, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /

Season Outlook

You can probably guess where this is going to go.

Unless all these things happen at once — Childress does his best 2011 Kemba Walker impression, Brown turns his physical tools into consistent production, Massoud is one of the best newcomers in the conference, Wright and Mucius take big sophomore leaps, Sarr turns into a dominating low-post presence, Johnson becomes an All-ACC level defensive stopper, White proves to be the scorer and veteran this young team needs and another player or two steps up — Wake Forest will miss the NCAA Tournament, and probably the NIT, for the ninth time in 10 years.

Any hope of the Demon Deacons coming close to .500 on the season will probably require multiple players improving by leaps and bounds, far more than the most optimistic projections in this preview. The talent simply isn’t there. This was not a good team last season, and while it was young, how much improvement is it fair to expect in a single season?

Of course, Wake Forest’s youth provides a foundation, and the best chance for Manning to stick around another year probably hinges on the play of Brown, Wright, Mucius, Sarr and Massoud. If they take the necessary strides forward, it would build something for the post-Childress future.

The question, though, is if that’s enough. The bar for contention in the ACC is just so high, and without some incredibly fortunate breaks on the recruiting trail or major, major changes in the program’s stature — like maybe a few upset wins in conference play to boost hope — it probably caps the Demon Deacons’ ceiling under Manning.

Next. Preseason ACC rankings for 2019-20. dark

It may happen in January, it may happen in April, or it may even happen in 2021, but it seems inevitable that Currie will come to this conclusion at some point. In the meantime, though, Wake Forest will play bottom-tier basketball, try to wring out every last bit of potential on its youthful roster and hope to get lucky.

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