ACC Basketball: Can Georgia Tech, Wake Forest rediscover their glory days?

In its sixth season under coach Danny Manning, Wake Forest is on pace to finish with a losing record for the fifth time. Georgia Tech is in its fourth season under Josh Pastner and has yet to post a winning record in ACC play.

It feels ancient history when Wake and Tech were last competing for ACC titles and making deep NCAA Tournament runs, employing elite coaches and cranking out future NBA superstars.

The Yellow Jackets were in the national title game in 2004, their best run since making the Final Four in 1990. They made it to the NIT title game in Pastner’s first season in 2017 — he was named ACC Coach of the Year — but haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2010.

The Demon Deacons were a Sweet 16 team in 2004, their best run since making the Elite 8 in 1996. They earned a “First Four” NCAA bid in 2017 under Manning, their first Tournament appearance since 2010.

Can Wake and Tech make it back to where they used to be? Back to the days of Duncan and Chris Paul and Stephon Marbury and Kenny Anderson? Back to the days of Skip Prosser and Bobby Cremins? Which school will get there first?

The quickest path to success in this sport is simply bringing in and developing more talented players.

Great talent has been lacking at these schools lately.

During the 2010s decade, only two Wake Forest players were chosen in the NBA Draft. Georgia Tech had five players picked during that period, but only one draftee in the last five years.

By comparison, ACC leader Louisville had eight players drafted in the last decade, third-place Florida State had nine, and fourth-place Virginia had eight. (We won’t even get into Duke and North Carolina, who are operating on a different level in recruiting.)

None of Georgia Tech or Wake Forest’s current players are projected NBA picks, according to NBADraft.net‘s 2020 and 2021 mock drafts.