Wake Forest Demon Deacons: Win Over Louisville Keeps Options Open

A win over Louisville means the Wake Forest Demon Deacons control their own fate for seeding in the ACC Tournament.

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons still had a stunner in their back pocket. Out of the race for the ACC Regular Season championship, the Deacons still inserted themselves into that discussion by knocking out the Louisville Cardinals. That gave the number one seed in the ACC Tournament to the North Carolina Tar Heels and a Louisville win over Notre Dame would hand the Heels sole possession of the regular season title.

The Deacons are still playing for things themselves at this point. They are in the bubble conversation of the NCAA Tournament. A tournament bid would be a good marker for year three of the Danny Manning era. Tenth place in the league means that the road through the tournament will be tough, but winning a couple of games would likely give them a tournament resume increasing win or two.

Ideally, the Deacs would win the whole tournament and put any concern about the bubble to bed right there. Because that is not likely, the Deacs probably need to defeat the Hokies this weekend to finish 9-9 in the conference. Historically, conference losing records do not get a team into the NCAA field.

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But how bout that win over the Cardinals? It was an up and down game, a contrast to the game with Pitt a few nights ago. On Senior Night, it was the underclassmen who ruled the day. None was bigger than sophomore forward John Collins. Collins continued a great season with twenty-five points and eleven rebounds while contending with Louisville’s size on the inside.

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Starting the seniors also made the bench contributions look pretty good. Charlotte transfer Keyshawn Woods added twenty points of his own. Mitchell Wilbekin and Dinos Mitoglou also had double figures off the bench. Hopefully that balanced contribution will continue in Blacksburg.

For the ACC Tournament, the Demon Deacons need a win to avoid playing on Tuesday. Holding on to the tenth seed would grant them a Wednesday slot and the opportunity to miss that first day’s action.