2008 Wake Forest Basketball Predictions, Picks & Season Preview
Written October 6, 2008 by Jack Jones
Wake Forest has struggled over the past few seasons, and of course it didn’t help when they lost their head coach Skip Prosser a couple of months before the start of last year’s campaign. But after struggling to a 17-13 record and 7-9 performance in the ACC this team should be poised for a breakout season. They have all fie starters coming back and their nine top scorers. The three incoming freshman that the Demon Deacons landed rank among the best classes in the country. There is new hope for the team, and Wake Forest should definitely finish in the top half of the conference this year and land themselves a spot in the NCAA tournament for the first time since Chris Paul left in 2005. You can bet on Wake Forest to win it all at BetUS and get a $10,000 return on each $100 bet.
Head coach Dino Gaudio will have plenty of options to use up front, where he has eight players waiting to fill three spots. The talent from the incoming freshman class in undeniable. Al-Farouq Aminu is a 6′8″ and 205 pound McDonald’s All-American and centers Ty Walker and Tony Woods were both ranked in the top 50 of the class. That doesn’t mean that they are guaranteed to see any floor time right away though, as Wake Forest is deep here with the talented James Johnson coming off a season in which he averaged 14.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. There is also four juniors in the seven foot tall Chas McFarland, who averaged 8.4 points and 5.8 rebounds last year, LD Williams, who has started 56 games the past two years, David Weaver and Jamie Skeen.
Depth is more of a problem in the backcourt, but at least there are two quality players to rely on in Jeff Teague and Ishmael Smith. Teague is a scorer who put up 13.9 points per game last year, including a staggering 16.4 points in conference games. He should only get better during his sophomore season. Smith is more of a pass-first point guard who can hit big shots. This is his third year in the starting role which should only help him run the offense more efficiently.
Final Analysis
This team is going to be good, but just how good depends on how well the players keep developing. In our ACC basketball predictions we put them right in the hunt with North Carolina, Miami, and Duke this year, but we think they are just a step below those three teams. Still, this team should make the NCAA tournament and has the talent to win a few games if they can come together as a team. If you are looking to bet on college basketball this season then one of the sportsbooks we recommend is BetUS with 145% in signup bonuses you can’t go wrong.
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