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While there are many platitudes when a team loses a close road game in conference that they probably weren’t supposed to compete in, you can probably save all that when it comes to first-year Wake Forest head coach Danny Manning and his Demon Deacons. Tuesday, the Deacons went to Syracuse in an ACC matchup and lost, 86-83 in overtime.
And yes, that dumps Wake Forest to 1-4 in the conference and 9-9 overall. But even a 7-11 finish in the league would be an improvement for Wake, which hasn’t finished above .500 in the ACC since 2009-10. Manning was brought in not just as a quick fix, but to build a program into a consistent contender in the conference. That may seem laughable in a league dominated right now by Duke, Virginia, Louisville and North Carolina, but the goal remains the same.
Despite the league record, Manning and his Demon Deacons are making excellent progress. Manning’s work in this first season at the helm of the Demon Deacons shouldn’t go unappreciated. Most notably, Wake Forest has become one of the country’s best rebounding teams (22nd nationally), a stat that will keep them in games by providing the ability to score on putbacks and limit opponents to one shot defensively.
Junior forward Devin Thomas has led that effort, as he has led pretty much everything for Wake Forest so far this season, posting team-highs in scoring (13.1) and rebounding (9.7).
The other big thing for Manning is that for the most part, he has time to mold this team into his preferred style. The Demon Deacons have just two seniors on their roster, and no juniors that figure to leave early for the NBA Draft. Combine that with five freshmen and two sophomores, and Manning has a group that would be expected to give just about anyone a tough night next season, but Wake Forest appears to be doing that ahead of schedule based on recent results.
Watch out for Wake Forest in their next game as well — the Demon Deacons welcome North Carolina to Winston-Salem on on Jan. 21. The Demon Deacons will have a full week to prepare for that matchup, and as the rest of Wake’s Tobacco Road rivals found out last year, the Lawrence Joel Coliseum can be a house of horrors for visitors, regardless of their ranking. Duke, North Carolina and NC State all left Winston-Salem with losses last season, a year in which the Deacons finished 17-16.
Wake Forest is no longer a pushover for anyone in the ACC, and the time is near when Manning has the Demon Deacons relevant again in the top half of the conference.
Ed Morgans is an ACC Basketball Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @writered21 and add him to your network on Google.
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