Men’s Basketball Summer Update

7/22/2022 11:26:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: Les Johns

A frenetic spring for Wake Forest men's basketball head coach Steve Forbes and his staff wrapped up with the Demon Deacons roster restocked and loaded for the 2022-23 season.

After showing the biggest single-season turnaround in program history — which was also good for one of the best in NCAA history — the Demon Deacons have started gathering in the Shah Basketball Complex with the mission ahead of bettering the 25-win, third-round NIT performance in year two of the Forbes Era last season.

"We have six returning players who understand our core values, identity and standards," Forbes said in an early-summer press conference. "Daivien Williamson tops the list having scored more than 1,000 career points, then Damari Monsanto, who today is down 16 pounds from his Achilles tear. Then Cameron Hildreth, Matthew Marsh, Robert McCray, who looked really good early but has missed a couple of weeks with a sprained ankle. Lucas Taylor is in tremendous shape."

Four of the top five scorers from last season are gone, along with the leading two rebounders. The most notable departures, of course, are ACC Player of the Year Alondes Williams, who has signed an NBA contract with the Brooklyn Nets; and Jake LaRavia, who was selected with the 19th overall pick of the NBA Draft. He'll play this coming season with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Also gone from last season are bigs Dallas Walton and Khadim Sy, wing Isaiah Mucius and guard Carter Whitt, who entered the NCAA transfer portal. With a pair of 2023 signees joining the team, Zach Keller and Bobbi Klintman, the Wake Forest coaching staff once again had to get quality players via the portal.

"Recruiting in the transfer portal, we signed one grad transfer in Tyree Appleby, who has scored 1,500 career points," Forbes said. "Then we signed some younger players with some experience. Jao Ituka is from Marist and was the Freshman of the Year in that league. He's going to be a sophomore, eligibility-wise. Andrew Carr from Delaware was part of an NCAA Tournament team and is just a sophomore eligibility-wise. He's 6-foot-10 and a half, in his shoes. We play in our shoes, so I don't measure them in their bare feet. Davion Bradford is a sophomore who measures 6-foot-11.

"Then we have a couple of high school players. Zach Keller, who came in here at 6-foot-10, 235 (pounds). He's really played well and is shooting the three well. Then there's Bobbi Klintman, who is in Sweden playing with the U20 National team, which is essentially their Olympic team."

With the lack of quad one-potential wins in the ACC last season, the Wake Forest coaching staff made a point to reach out of conference and play more power conference teams. What is emerging is an exciting slate of games including foes such as Georgia, Wisconsin, LSU and potentially Georgetown.

"Our schedule is about done," Forbes said. "We do have a home-and-home with Georgia, that starts here. We'll go there and play LaSalle, then either the winner or loser of Georgetown and (Loyola) Marymount. We're at Wisconsin in the Big Ten Challenge. We have a neutral game in Atlanta against LSU, then start a home-and-home with Rutgers.

"On top of that, we should have, within the ACC, eight quad one opportunities in league play. So we'll have plenty of opportunities to play for an at-large bid."

Before the regular season tips off, the Deacs are getting started with a trio of overseas exhibition games as part of a trip to Europe.

"We're taking an overseas trip Aug 1-11," Forbes said. "We get 10 extra practices to do that trip. The majority of those will be in July. We'll have three games to play. I'll have each of the three assistant coaches coach one of the games. It'll be Woodley, Savage and McKie. I'll obviously be there, but it gives them an opportunity to be head coach and lets the players not have to hear me in August.

"We're going to London, Paris, Omaha Beach and then Amsterdam. It's an unbelievable educational experience, which is why we do it. It's a great team chemistry, bonding, team-building experience. We're excited. It gives Matthew Marsh and Cameron Hildreth a chance to play in front of friends and family."

Though the early workouts have been focused on individual skills and conditioning, Forbes likes what he's seeing out of the team.

"I do think our bigs can stretch the court," he said. "I've been excited about the way Andrew Carr and Zach Keller are shooting the ball. I like that Keller came here as a high-school recruit at 235 pounds. That's impressive. He's a hard-playing dude.

"We will figure it out. We really haven't done enough team-wise, but we will adjust, I can promise you that."