Last season, an experienced Wake Forest team predicted to finish third in the ACC ended up at the very bottom of the conference.
This year, the Demon Deacons, who feature seven freshmen, would like to exceed expectations for a change.
Picked to finish 10th in the ACC, Wake Forest looks to rebound from a difficult campaign that featured a conference record of 3-13 and an overall record of 17-17. Head coach Skip Prosser will have plenty of work to do with his young team.
"You try to teach [the freshmen] from the ground up every year," Prosser said. "It is always a teaching situation."
Prosser stresses education as the foremost element to coaching, and this year he may have to do even more than that. Prosser said this year's squad had the fewest number of experienced players since he was head coach at Xavier. With only two seniors on the roster-forward Michael Drum and center Kyle Visser-the freshmen on the team will not have too many veterans to look up to as role models.
"You don't have very many older players to mentor the younger ones," said Prosser. "The coaches have to do a lot of that mentoring."
Visser and Drum will have to establish themselves as leaders of the team, even though neither was a dominant presence last season-each scored fewer than six points per game. Both have said, however, they are ready for the task.
"I'll get in somebody's face, and I'll let them know what they will have to do," Drum said.
As part of their new roles, Visser and Drum have tried to motivate the young team by noting the low expectations outsiders have for the squad. On a bulletin board at the entrance of the locker room, the captains have posted newspaper clippings of predictions for Wake Forest to do poorly this season.
"We put it up there for motivation," added Visser. "Everyday we are walking past that board, and we are like, 'This is what we need to get done.'"
The biggest key to the Demon Deacons' success this year may be the emergence of a true point guard. Last season, Wake struggled as senior Justin Gray and then-freshman Harvey Hale played out of position in an attempt to replace former All-American Chris Paul, now on the NBA's New Orleans Hornets.
Hale and fellow sophomore Shamaine Dukes will have more experience this year, and the two will be helped by the arrival of freshman point guard Ishmael Smith.
Despite some optimism because of the Demon Deacon's talented freshman class, the fact that this young team remains untested makes predicting Wake Forest's season difficult.
"With a team with this many young players, there are almost no absolutes," Prosser said.
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