Wake Forest Basketball: 2023-24 season preview for the Demon Deacons
By Caleb Hall
Wake Forest Basketball will enter their 4th season with Steve Forbes at the helm and he looks to lead them to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. The Demon Deacons came close to making the tournament in the last two seasons but have fallen short because of some key losses late into the season.
The Deacons finished last year with a 19-13 record and missed the tourney. Wake had some shining moments last year though, they defeated ranked teams like Duke and Clemson, while also beating bigger ACC teams like UNC. Ultimately though, Wake fell short because of them losing 4 of their last 5 and 8 of their last 12 overall.
Steve Forbes has put Wake Forest back on the map like no other team in the ACC. Forbes took a 6-16 team and the very next year he went 25-10. Forbes just needs to start making the tournament if he wants to consistently improve. Wake Forest doesn’t necessarily need him to improve so drastically every season however. If Wake can be competitive nearly every year and have some tournament success on occasion, it will make fans happy.
Forbes seems to have Wake rolling in the 2023-24 season and they should look to have some success next season with the talent the have returning and new players coming in. Even if they did lose their best player last season. Wake will be returning 3 of their top 4 scorers this season, and even though they lost Tyree Appleby (their leading scorer: 18.8 ppg) the next 3 players should step up in a significant way. Along with the fact that Wake brings in talented transfers and some new recruits too.
Forbes should have a lot of faith this coming season with the talent he has. Here’s a look at the Wake Forest Demon Deacons for the 2023-24 college basketball season.