Steve Forbes says he’s his own biggest critic.
“I put more pressure on myself than anybody in this room, anybody in this community,” Forbes said in his first appearance before the media ahead of this Wake Forest Men’s Basketball season.
That may be true. But with his team slated to finish third in the ACC standings, bringing back an NBA prospect and earning votes in the preseason AP Men’s College Basketball Poll, Forbes and Wake Forest men’s basketball face new expectations.
Now, with a restocked roster and returning stars, Wake Forest is ready to build on last season’s success and compete for their first NCAA Tournament appearance of the Steve Forbes era.
Forbes crowns his Big Three
For Wake Forest, picking up from last season starts with Hunter Sallis, Efton Reid III and Cameron Hildreth.
“That’s the heartbeat of the team,” Forbes said, entering his fifth year as Wake Forest Men’s Basketball’s head coach. “It’s their team.”
Sallis heads up the trio as a preseason All-ACC selectee who Forbes calls one of the “best returning players in college basketball.” Before declaring for the NBA Draft last April, Sallis earned First Team All-ACC honors, was named AP ACC Newcomer of the Year and led his team in scoring.
Reid, meanwhile, is an anchor in the paint. After emerging early on last season as a defensive difference-maker, the 7-foot center fell just two rebounds shy of averaging a double-double. And with 1,000 career points as a Demon Deacon, Hildreth completes the triumvirate as this squad’s most dynamic scorer.
Forbes’ feat gives Wake Forest an undeniable advantage in this current landscape of college basketball where players pass through programs via the transfer portal. But bringing back elite talent isn’t just better than any portal pickup – it also speaks volumes about players’ commitment to the program.
“To have that core group – especially in this day and age – is a powerful thing.”
Forbes: “The portal giveth, the portal taketh away”
Yes, Sallis, Reid and Hildreth are massive pieces of the puzzle. But after losing starters Andrew Carr and Kevin “Boopie” Miller to the transfer portal, Steve “The Portal Whisperer” Forbes went to work recruiting some of the best talent college basketball had to offer. The two left big holes for Forbes to fill, but ones that would ultimately be improved.
“I wanted to get longer and more athletic and faster,” Forbes said. “This is the fastest team I’ve coached — maybe ever — as a head coach.”
It’s hard to name any one crown jewel of this year’s round of recruiting, but start with Omaha Biliew. The former 5-star forward from Iowa State stands at 6-foot-8 and 225 pounds, was a McDonald’s All-American and can lock down any position while fighting hard to reach the rim. He is the unquestionable epitome of what Forbes says he set out to find.
Forward Tre’Von Spillers also adds another dynamic weapon to the offense. Behind his 12-point, 9-rebound average with Appalachian State last season, Spillers led the school to a program-record 27 wins and a National Invitation Tournament game appearance at the Joel.
Former Alabama guard Davin Cosby Jr., meanwhile, brings experience from a NCAA Final Four squad to a team tired of teetering on the bubble. While Cosby suffered a season-ending injury ahead of last year’s SEC Tournament, he joins returning guard Parker Friedrichsen as another pure three-point talent that extends Wake Forest’s range.
Louisville transfer Ty-Laur Johnson and four-star freshman recruit Juke Harris add another dimension of speed and disruption to an already elite guard group.
Winning at The Joel
Wake Forest’s record at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum has been impeccable under Forbes. The Demon Deacons have racked up the second-most wins in college basketball at home (47) since 2021, only one game behind Houston (48).
But one thing has consistently bothered Forbes’ squad throughout his tenure at Wake Forest: the discrepancy of performances at home and away.
“We’re a really good home team, but you have to win both on the road and at home,” Forbes said at this year’s ACC Tipoff. “For us to get to where we want to be, we have to win more on the road.”
Fortunately for Wake Forest, the Demon Deacons will host two of their biggest rivals — No. 9 North Carolina and No. 7 Duke — at the Joel in back-to-back games. After the Demon Deacons didn’t see North Carolina on their own court last season, the Demon Deacons can consider it a major scheduling advantage.
“Winston-Salem shows love, and we show love back,” Reid said at ACC Tipoff earlier this month. “They get us hyped up, and we show more emotion.”
Expectations
Recent winning records, the rarity of retaining stars and excellent recruiting may have all put Wake Forest back on the map of college basketball. It’s hard to ignore that more national outlets are covering Wake Forest, but the attention comes before any games have actually been played.
Forbes says he’s well aware of the increased media attention, but maintains that aspirations of a postseason run aren’t anything new.
Forbes has found himself on the wrong side of NCAA Tournament selection multiple times during his tenure at Wake Forest, something he hopes to fix this upcoming season.
“We’ve been on the [tournament] bubble at least two times,” Forbes told members of the media. “It stinks. We gotta get off the bubble.”
Hildreth says the only thing left to do now is actually win games. Speaking as a cemented leader of this team, he says there’s a responsibility to live up to the acclaim ahead of the season.
“It’s nice to be talked about,” Hildreth said. “I think we finally deserve some respect. It counts on us and what we do with it — whether we really take the opportunity that we have — and I think we’re going to be able to.”
