ACC Basketball Preview: Wake Forest

October 17, 9:46 AMCollege Sports ExaminerJacob Osterhout

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Wake Forest's chances this season depend on Teague.

(This is a continuation of the Examiner ACC Preview. For more previews check out Philadelphia College Basketball Examiner Ari Bluestein.)

If there was a moment last season when the young Wake Forest team finally overcame the death of coach Skip Prosser and showed what it was truly capable of, it was when the Demon Deacons knocked off No. 9 Duke, 86-73.

I was at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum and Wake Forest pretty much dominated every aspect the game. The Demon Deacons out-shot, out-rebounded and played better defense than Duke.

Freshman guard Jeff Teague was unstoppable, scoring the first eight points of the game on his way to a 26 point performance. And freshman forward James Johnson was a man inside, grabbing 16 boards and scoring 24 points.

If Wake Forest is going to have a chance at competing for the ACC crown in the 2008-2009 season, Teague and Johnson will have to lead the team by example in every game like they did against Duke.

The Demon Deacons return almost their whole roster from last season, including all five starters and 97 percent of their scoring. Plus, the three new freshman are considered to be one of the best recruiting classes in the nation, not just the ACC.

The frontcourt, led by Johnson, who averaged 14.6 points and 8.1 rebounds, is stacked. Chas McFarland, a seven-footer, will compete for playing time with two highly-touted freshman, Ty Walker and Tony Woods, who were both rated in the top 50 of their class and should be immediate factors in the paint.

But all the talk in Winston-Salem is about McDonald's All-American Al-Farouq Aminu. The 6-foot-9 swingman will see immediate playing time. He's too big for guards to defend, but too quick for opposing team's big men to cover.

Ultimately, though, Wake's fate is in the hands of the backcourt. Teague and Ishmael Smith, a senior point guard who has a knack for hitting big shots, will have to manage tight games. Defensively, they are complimented nicely by L.D. Williams, who can lock down the top offensive threat on the opposing team. Senior guard Harvey Hale is not to be overlooked either. Hale averaged 8.1 points last season and is a natural three-point shooter.

All in all, Coach Dino Gaudio has made Wake Forest into an ACC contender in only one season at the helm. Assuming that the Demon Deacons consistently mature as the season goes along, they could be competing for an ACC Championship come March, which is pretty impressive considering that it was only one year ago that the legendary Skip Prosser died, leaving the future of the program in doubt.