What the ACC Preseason Poll has Wrong About Wake Forest
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The ACC men's basketball preseason poll was released, featuring Wake as the #11 team out of the 18 teams in the conference. The full poll can be seen below:
1. Duke (34 first-place votes)
2. Louisville (15 first-place votes)
3. North Carolina
4. North Carolina State
5. Virginia
6. SMU
7. Clemson
8. Miami
9. Syracuse
10. Notre Dame
11. Wake Forest
12. Virginia Tech
13. Georgia Tech
14. Pitt
15. Florida State
16. Cal
17. Stanford
18. Boston College
Wake Forest being picked to finish in the bottom half of the conference may come as a surprise to some fans. Their ranking in several preseason polls has been consistently around the 10-13 range, but I cannot say that I agree with their placement.
Since the COVID season, Wake Forest has been in the top half of the conference consistently. They have not had a losing season in the ACC during this time period under Coach Forbes. They have also been trending upwards as Wake had a fifth-place finish in 2023-24 followed by a fourth-place finish in 2024-25, which was the highest the program has gotten in several years. Forbes has had his team on the NCAA Tournament bubble in three of the past four seasons.
So now we have to ask ourselves why such a low ranking? Well, the Deacs have a lot of production to replace from last season, including their All-ACC player Hunter Sallis and a guy who has been in the program for four years in Cameron Hildreth. Replacing these guys will certainly be difficult, but Forbes has shown he can replace talent through the transfer portal with guys like Alondes Williams, Tyree Appleby, and Hunter Salis himself.
He has had to rebuild teams on the fly in the past and has done it successfully in terms of conference record and standing. These guys were All-ACC guys in their short time with the Deacs. Forbes has another talented transfer class coming into Winston-Salem, along with talented returners, so it is very likely his eye for talent will prevail again.
Even though voters may still be worried about this new group coming together, they have still given other teams with much to replace the benefit of the doubt. North Carolina has to replace almost a full roster, along with Clemson, North Carolina State, Virginia, and Miami. Yet these teams are all given the benefit of the doubt and are rated much higher than a Wake Forest team that has consistently won in the conference.
Now I understand big-name schools like North Carolina will always be ranked highly because of their brand, but as of right now, they have done nothing to back up their third-place ranking for a team that is mainly comprised of transfers and incoming freshmen. Miami and North Carolina State finished at the bottom of the ACC a season ago and bring in completely new rosters and coaching staffs.
No doubt they are more talented, but why are they given the benefit of the doubt so much more than a Wake team that has shown the ability to win consistently?
Additionally, teams like Syracuse and Notre Dame, who Wake has consistently finished higher than in the past few years, are ranked ahead of the Demon Deacons. I understand these programs have very good transfer and freshman classes coming in, but they have not had any results in the recent past that inspire confidence. Sure, this could be the year they can tie it together, but why not give the benefit of the doubt to a team that has already proven their ability to finish high in the ACC?
My final argument is that the voters may not be taking into account the fact that Wake Forest holds one of the best home-court advantages in the entire country. Since the 2021-22 season, Wake Forest has tied for the fourth-most home-court wins in the entire country. They are also tied with Clemson for the third-best ACC home win percentage since 2021-2022, only behind Blue Bloods UNC and Duke.
I do not anticipate this home court advantage dramatically falling off this season for the Deacs. This means that they should be able to win and rack up a lot of home ACC wins to finish with a solid conference record. Most teams in the conference do not hold this significant home-court advantage that Wake Forest does.
This is a new Demon Deacon basketball team, and as much as we like to predict, we really can't tell what we're going to get until they step on the court. I could be completely off on my thinking, or I could be on point; we really don't know. All I am saying is that I think a team and a coach that have shown the ability to win consistently in the ACC over the past few years should be given the benefit of the doubt. Will they prove me right come season time? Only time will tell.
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Justin is a student at Wake Forest University. He is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and aspiring finance major interested everything sports. In his freshman year, Justin completed an internship with the Wake Forest Ticketing Department where he gained some valuable insight into the sales and operations aspects of collegiate athletics. Before working with Wake Forest On SI, Justin was a contributing writer for Wake Forest’s student publication The Old Gold and Black. Currently, Justin serves as a student manager on the Wake Forest Men’s Tennis team. In his free time Justin enjoys spending time with his family and friends on the golf course and traveling.