The Wake Forest Demon Deacons are looking to go back to the NCAA Tournament, and they've put together a fairly strong resume albeit with a few missteps.
Steve Forbes has become a popular coach in basketball circles, and the work he's done to lift Wake Forest from the basement of the ACC and the absolute pits of national relevancy has been very admirable.
According to Ken Pomeroy, Wake Forest is a top 50 team in the nation both in terms of offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency. That shows up watching this team play, as they're among the best bubble teams when it comes to the eye test.
Unfortunately for Wake Forest, some untimely losses are keeping this talented group from being a lock to make the field of 68.
So as every ACC team heads to Washington D.C. for this week's conference tournament, what can the Deacs do to make Selection Sunday a less stressful process?
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NCAA Tournament Resume: Wake Forest Demon Deacons
KenPom Ranking: 26
NET Ranking: 38
Record vs. Quads: 2-5 vs. Q1, 6-6 vs. Q2, 5-1 vs. Q3, 6-0 vs. Q4
Wake Forest is a squad with metrics suggestive of a team comfortably in the field. Making it all the way up to 26 in KenPom, college basketball's most predictive ranking, suggests they should be priced as a 7 seed.
But as of the latest update from ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, the Deacs are among the first four teams out of the field.
Wake Forest got its signature win a couple of weeks back with a win at home over Duke, but a big win either on a neutral floor or on the road has eluded the Demon Deacons to this point.
The team suffered a massive setback when it lost in Winston-Salem at the hands of the lowly Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, a loss the Deacs are still trying to recover from as they try to qualify for the tournament.
The schedule sets up nicely for them to do just that at the ACC tournament, though, as they get a beatable Notre Dame team before setting up what could be a win-and-in game for both teams against fourth-seeded Pittsburgh.
It's hard to imagine a world where both Wake Forest and Pitt make it into the field, and the winner of that game will certainly play themselves in if it can beat North Carolina in the semifinal.
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