Men's College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: Wake Forest Demon Deacons

The college basketball season is just over two weeks away — time is just flying by. To get you ready for the season, I’m previewing the season in men’s college basketball, team by team. In these previews I will highlight key departures, additions, returners and overall DFS viability for each team. These previews will be heavily focused on DFS and fantasy in general, so keep that in mind when I’m talking about the relevancy of a player or team rotations.

We kick things off with the ACC, a conference that severely underperformed in the pandemic-impacted season last year. While the conference will inevitably have a handful of DFS staples for us to use each slate, it still seems like the ACC lost more talent than it was able to gain. With the transfer rules changing after March Madness ended it ultimately led to what was essentially free agency in CBB. There were coaching changes as well which I will talk about throughout this breakdown because new philosophies will mean new strategies for our DFS builds.

In this one, Wake Forest.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

Wake Forest 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 6-16 (3-15 ACC), 14th in ACC
Postseason: None

Key Departures | Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Ian DuBose (playing professionally)
Jonah Antonio (playing professionally)
Ismael Massoud (transferred to Kansas State)
Ody Oguama (transferred to Cincy)
Jahcobi Neath (transferred to Wisconsin)
Jalen Johnson (transferred to Mercer)
Isaiah Wilkins (transferred to Longwood)
Emmanuel Okpomo (transferred to Temple)

Key Additions | Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Alondes Williams (transferred from Oklahoma)
Jake LaRavia (transferred from Indiana State)
Damari Monsanto (transferred from ETSU)
Khadim Sy (transferred from Ole Miss)
Dallas Walton (transferred from Colorado)
Cameron Hildreth (4 star recruit)
Matthew Marsh (European recruit)

Returners | Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Carter Whitt (4.6 PPG/2.2 RPG/2.7 APG)
Daivien Williamson (12.9 PPG/2.1 RPG/2.5 APG)
Isaiah Mucius (10.3 PPG/5.2 RPG)
Tariq Ingraham (11 PPG/2.5 RPG)

Wake Forest Demon Deacons Outlook for 2021-2022

Steve Forbes’ first season at Wake Forest was abysmal, but that really had less to do with him and more to do with the fact that Danny Manning left the cupboard bare when he was canned. Forbes was a winner at ETSU, and I have no doubt he will become a winner at Wake Forest. It’s going to take time though. A signature of Forbes-coached teams is toughness and physicality. Last year’s iteration of the Demon Deacons certainly didn’t have toughness so having a mass exodus of those players was necessary so that Forbes could start to get his type of guys in the fold.

Damari Monsanto is the reigning Southern Conference Freshman of the Year and was originally recruited by Forbes while he was still at ETSU. He is going to miss all of 2021-2022 due to season-ending surgery, which is a big blow to the Demon Deacons, because he was expected to be a key contributor right away. Khadim Sy is a bruising 6-foot-10 banger who will immediately upgrade Wake’s interior defense and post scoring. They have a pair of seven-footers coming in with Dallas Walton and Matthew Marsh. Walton was a 47% three-point shooter for Colorado and has the size to affect shots but he wasn’t much of a rebounder while with the Buffaloes. Look for one of the few holdovers left from the Danny Manning era in Isaiah Mucius to improve upon his solid numbers from last year and be in the mix as a legit fantasy option depending on his early season price point.

Jake LaRavia will provide much-needed scoring for the Demon Deacons, but his projected minutes may take a hit with some of the late additions to the team. Alondes Williams held his own in a physical Big 12 and can provide the type of leadership Forbes so desperately needed last year. Daivien Williamson provided better than expected stats last year, but it should come as no surprise as he followed Forbes from ETSU and was really the only player on the team who was able to execute his system. Williamson was a 37% three-point shooter last year and should thrive next to the seemingly upgraded talent the team has brought in. Former top-70 recruit Carter Whitt went through growing pains, which tends to happen when a young kid reclassifies to play sooner. I’ll be keeping a close eye on Whitt after he ended the season on a high note, knocking down almost 40% of his triples over his last 8 games. Tariq Ingraham has dealt with injuries and COVID-19 over the last two seasons, which has robbed him of valuable playing time, but he did flash his upside last year in a blowout win over Delaware State in which he scored 19 points and grabbed 5 boards.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams and top 100 players for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

Steve Forbes is a solid coach and I think he will turn this Wake Forest program around sooner than people probably think. He has brought in the type of physical players he covets for his system and there should be immediate improvement. It wouldn’t surprise if the top 6-7 players in the Wake rotation ended up being fantasy viable at one point or another. Williamson, Whitt, Mucius and Alondes should play quality minutes right away. Don’t sleep on Carter Whitt. He has the ability to be a household name in DFS circles this year.