We're # 69!!: Demon Deacons Edition

NCAA Tournament selection is six weeks away, but bracketology never sleeps. There are several ways to rank teams and their chances of making the 68-team field. Sometimes they coincide, sometimes they don’t. For instance, Kansas State is No. 69 in Ken Pomeroy’s ranking system as of Feb. 1, while Wake Forest is No. 69 in the NCAA’s Net rankings. However, that doesn’t mean either is on the cusp of making the tournament or the first team omitted. 

The tournament structure, by which lower-rated teams and leagues earn automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments, means that higher-rated teams with statistically better profiles are bypassed. Thus, unless Kansas St. goes on a heater or wins the Big 12 Tournament, there’s no chance the Wildcats are even considered for the NCAAs. Wake Forest, on the other hand, can make the field but has work to do. 

Patrick Stevens, Sexy MF

Which brings us to the humans weighing the data, or at least the ones attempting to divine what the NCAA Selection Committee will or should do. Patrick Stevens, a Washington Post contributor, is one of the best at parsing and predicting tournament fields. He’s done it for years. He routinely misses no more than one of the 36 at-large bids, and many of his seeding predictions are on the screws or within a line of where the committee actually seeds them in its bracket. Where there are discrepancies, his reasoning is often superior to whatever the NCAA committee says. Stevens’ latest projection has the Deacons as one of the first four teams out, so they’re obviously able to play their way in. 

So, let’s become acquainted with the Deacs. 

Recent history: Lean, at least in terms of national recognition. Once an NCAA Tournament staple under former coaches Dave Odom and the late Skip Prosser, Wake hasn’t made the NCAAs since 2017, its only trip since 2010. The Deacons played in the NIT in 2022 and ’24. Coach Steve Forbes (not the magazine publisher and former Republican presidential candidate) is in his fifth year and has gained traction while mining the transfer portal after the meh tenure of Danny Manning. They finished sub-.500 in the ACC in 10 of 11 seasons, from 2011-21, but are on pace for a fourth consecutive season of .500 or better. 

Mascot/Nickname Profile: The Deacons, or Demon Deacons if you prefer your piety laced with menace, goes back to 1923, according to Wikipedia. The school newspaper’s editor referred to the football team as “Demon Deacons” in a story, in recognition of their "devilish play and fighting spirit." The football coach and school officials liked the description and it stuck. The mascot first appeared in 1941, when a student dressed up in a tuxedo and top hat and roamed the sidelines, like an old-school deacon, and the image endured. The athletic department has had a student in an oversized costume Deacon for years. 

Home arena: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (cap. 14,665), Winston-Salem NC. Opened in 1989. Named for Lawrence Joel, a Winston-Salem native who in 1969 was the first African-American Medal of Honor recipient since the Spanish-American War, for his efforts during a firefight in Vietnam. Quality venue. The joint jumps when it’s near capacity and the Deacons are good. 

Muggsy Bogues, Sexy MF

Notable Hoops Alumni: Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, Randolph Childress, Muggsy Bogues (who remains one of the damnedest ballers I’ve ever seen), Rodney Rogers, Josh Howard, Billy Packer (yes, *that* Billy Packer), Len Chappell, Dickie Hemric. 

Current Season: Wake is 16-6 overall, 8-3 and tied for fourth in the ACC behind Duke, Clemson and Louisville. The Deacs were picked to finish third in preseason behind Duke and North Carolina. They’re led by All-ACC guard Hunter Sallis (18.3 ppg) and generally go eight-deep, with five of them coming in via transfer. 

Reason To Believe: Veteran team, heavy on wings and versatility, with six in the rotation between 6-4 and 6-7. Sallis is the standout but six others average between five and 13 ppg, including 6-4 English import Cameron Hildreth (13.6 ppg) and 6-7 App State transfer Tre'Von Spillers (10.1 ppg). They defend – second in the conference in FG percentage defense (.391) and first in 3-point percentage D (.306). 

Reason To Fade Them: They have no bad losses, but only one Quad 1 win (1-6). Can’t shoot from the perimeter. Last in the conference in 3-point percentage (.287) and 3-pointers made per game (6.0). None of their regulars shoot better than 33 percent from deep. Third from the bottom in rebound margin, at minus-1.62 per game. Also, fact that ACC is down this season – fifth in the latest conference rankings – means they’ll have fewer opportunities to burnish the résumé. All that said, if Wake continues to hold its place – win the games it should, avoid losses to the league’s bottom tier, win a game or two in the conference tournament – the fourth-place ACC team with 23 or 24 wins should be in pretty fair shape for an NCAA berth. The SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 can't hog all the at-large invites.