ACC Nation was in Greensboro, NC, recently for the ACC’s Operation Basketball. Patrick and Chris got to talk with all 12 men’s basketball coaches, plus select players from each school, and over the next few days we’ll let you know what they found out. ACC Nation will preview each of the 12 men’s basketball programs, going in reverse order of last year’s final regular-season standings, with one preview a day as we approach the start of the season.

Wake Forest
(2005-06 season: 3-13 ACC, 17-17 overall; lost in first round of the NIT to Minnesota, 73-58)

Not many thought they would see the day that Wake Forest’s basketball program would have to find a way to keep up with the football team, but that may be the case this season. With the Deacons playing sensational football, at least by the school’s standards, it will be tough for the basketball team to answer.

But Wake’s Skip Prosser thinks the success in football may carry over to the winter.

“There are times when the football team does well in the fall, it’s got a real ripple effect throughout the school,” said Prosser, who watched his team fall to 3-13 in the conference last year. “There’s no bigger Wake Forest football fan than me.”

It will take more of a tidal wave rather than a mere ripple effect for the basketball team to have the same kind of season as Jim Grobe’s football team is having this season. Not only did Wake finish in the cellar of the ACC last season, but its top three scorers – Justin Gray (18.2 ppg), Eric Williams (16.3 ppg) and Trent Strickland (11.6 ppg) – are all gone

While the freshmen – six true ones are on the roster to start the season – are talented, Prosser isn’t sure what to expect just yet from his young team, which also includes a redshirt freshman and seven sophomores. He said the freshmen are used to playing lots of minutes in high school, and that may or may not be the case in college, one of the many things to which they’ll need to adjust.

“Guys who think it’s their birthright to start – that hasn’t been determined yet, or how many minutes they’re going to play,” said Prosser. “We haven’t lost two in a row yet. It’s those adversity things that will eventually occur, as they will of all teams, that’s really when you test the character and the fiber of your team. I’m curious to see how we’ll react when that does happen.”

Still, the Wake coach did note that some of the freshmen will have to have an impact if this team is to improve on last year’s record.

One of those freshmen, Ishmael Smith, will be important as Prosser hopes his team can increase the offensive tempo this season. The coach said the 5-11 guard out of Concord, NC, gets the ball up the court as quickly as any player in Prosser’s tenure at Wake, but the questions come once he gets the ball in the frontcourt.

“Most of the time he has no idea what to do when he gets down there, but I’m hoping that by the time the other guys catch up he’ll figure it out,” said Prosser, who added that sophomores Shamaine Dukes and Harvey Hale will also see time at the point.

Up front, one of the team’s two seniors, 6-11 Kyle Visser, will see a change in his role with Williams gone. Visser will likely move from forward to center, a role he likes.

“I feel more comfortable back to the basket, in the paint, than I do outside,” said Visser.

Prosser is rooting for his big man, who has been inconsistent throughout his three years in Winston Salem. Last season, Visser averaged just over 17 minutes a game, scoring 5 points and pulling down 4.3 rebounds a contest.

“It will be a real benefit to our team if he can be a low-post presence because to have a good team you need to have both an inside and outside presence,” Prosser said. “He is certainly the most experienced guy who can perhaps give that to us.”

- Patrick Hite