Basketball season is upon us once again, and I can truthfully say that I have no idea what to expect from the team this year. With the Deacs missing the First Round of the NCAA Tournament yet again last season (the 15th season in a row) and returning just 18.8 points per game off of last year’s squad, it seems like expectations from the experts and fans are much lower this season than they have been in the past several years. While it may seem like Wake will take a step back this season without the likes of Hunter Sallis, Cameron Hildreth, and Efton Reid, the transfer portal era can be unpredictable, and outside of a handful teams, it is pretty difficult to determine who is going to be good from year to year. With so many new players, I figured it would be nice to do a quick roster rundown before the exhibition game against ETSU on Wednesday.
First Game: 8PM Monday, November 3rd vs American University
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Preseason ACC Media Rank: 11th
KenPom Prediction: 19-11 (10-8)
Torvik Prediction: 16-14 (8-10)
Returning Players
1. Tre’Von Spillers (Gr. Forward): Spillers led the Deacs in both blocked shots (1.3) and rebounds (7.6) last season, and he averaged more points than any of the other returning players (9.9). While he is a solid finisher around the basket, I wouldn’t say that Spillers is a natural scorer, so I doubt that Wake will be running much of the offense through him this season. What Spillers brings on the defensive side of things is probably going to have a huge impact on how good the Deacs are this year. Wake is pretty undersized this season with just a single player over 6-9 and 220 pounds, so Spillers’ ability to defend the rim and clean up the glass is going to be paramount this season. He also has to stay out of foul trouble or Wake is in danger of getting manhandled in the paint while he is sitting on the bench.
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2. Juke Harris (Soph. Guard): Harris averaged 6.1 points per game last season on 42% shooting from the floor, but he definitely showed flashes of the massive amount of potential he has. With incredible athleticism and a 6-7 frame, Harris has all the tools to be an elite 3 level scorer in the ACC if he can improve his shooting from beyond the arc (30%). Without a returning go-to scorer on the roster this season, the effectiveness of the Wake Forest offense may depend on whether Harris has a sophomore jump or a sophomore slump—let’s hope for the former.
3. Omaha Biliew (Jr. Forward): Biliew, a former McDonald’s All-American, spent most of the 2024-25 season on the bench due to injuries. We definitely saw glimpses of his abilities, but he only played 13 total games and only scored in double figures in the season opener against Coppin State. Through his 2 seasons, Biliew is averaging under 10 minutes per game, so it’s really difficult to know what to expect from him this season when he should get starter minutes. Now in his 3rd season, Wake is going to need Biliew to start turning his high potential into production on the court if they are going to outperform their predicted finish this season. At 6-8, he is the third tallest player on the team, so having him healthy for a majority of the season would definitely help mitigate some of the size issues in the frontcourt.
4. Marqus Marion (RS Soph. Forward): Marion redshirted last season, so we haven’t seen him play in an actual game since he was a freshman. I have no idea if he has improved at all over that time, but it will probably be pretty obvious over the first few games if he has. Marion is the second tallest player on the team at 6-9, so, at the very least, he will get some minutes when some of the other front court players are in foul trouble.
Transfer Additions
1. Nate Calmese (Sr. Point Guard): After watching Wake try to play without a point guard last season, I feel confident in saying that Nate Calmese is probably going to be the most important player on the offense for the Deacs this season. Last season at Washington State, Calmese averaged 15.2 points, 4.4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game. He is a player that can beat his man off the dribble and finish at the basket or find an open teammate, something the Deacs were definitely missing last season. If he can cut down on his turnovers (3.0 per game) from last season, he should make a big difference in the amount of ball movement on the Wake Forest offense this season. If Forbes can get him to buy in on defense, he has a chance at being an All-ACC caliber player this season.
2. Mehki Mason (Sr. Guard): Mason is hopefully the answer to Wake Forest’s shooting woes from last season. The Deacs were one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the nation last year (359th out of 364 teams), while Mason was 53-132 (40%) from beyond the arc at Washington. Just having a guy that can actually make a 3-pointer consistently should have a big impact on improving the offense this season. He also appears to be a very good perimeter defender.
3. Myles Colvin (Jr. Guard): Colvin might be my X-Factor for the season. He really never got a chance to shine in his 2 seasons at Purdue, simply because those teams were stacked. Colvin averaged just 6 points in 17 minutes per game last season and shot just 37% from the floor and 31% from beyond the arc. He was very streaky as a shooter last season, going 26-45 (58%) from beyond the arc in 11 games and just 17-96 (18%) in the other 25 games. He is said to be an elite athlete and a very good perimeter defender, so if he can develop into a more consistent 3-point shooter, he has a chance to be a very big piece for the Deacs this season.
4. Cooper Schwieger (Jr. Forward/Center): At 6-10, Schwieger is the only real center the Deacs have on the team this season. Last season at Valparaiso, Schwieger averaged 15.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game. He is a career 33% shooter from the 3-point line, so he has the ability to step outside and act as a stretch 5 if Wake needs it. The real question for Schwieger is going to be how his play in the MVC translates to the ACC, where players are typically bigger, faster, stronger, and more athletic than they are at the mid-majors.
5. Sebastian Akins (Soph. Guard): Akins averaged 12.7 points and 2.7 assists per game at Denver last season. He was sort of inefficient as a scorer, making just 42% of his shots and finishing the season with one of the lowest eFG% on the team at 46%, but he was a freshman on a team without a ton of talent, so I’m not really worried about that at. I assume he will be used mostly as the backup point guard, but Forbes has been known to play his main guard upwards of 35 minutes per game, so I don’t know how much action he will get this season.
The Freshmen
1. Isaac Carr (Fr. Guard): Rated as a 4-star and the 147th best player in the 2025 class by 247Sports, Carr will probably back up Mason at the shooting guard position. It is incredibly difficult to determine how well a true freshman will perform in their first season under the bright lights, so anything Wake gets from Carr this season would be a solid bonus in my eyes.
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2. Jayden Cross (Fr. Guard): Cross is rated as a 3-star and the 207th best player in the 2025 class by 247Sports. He is more of a combo guard than a true shooting guard, and I would guess he will be used as more of a point guard this season. With Calmese and Akins ahead of him, playing time might be hard to come by.
3. Dimitrije Kovacevic (Fr. Forward): Kovacevic, a 6-8 forward from Serbia, was a late addition to the class. Finding information about him has been pretty difficult, and I am not expecting him to play very much outside of garbage time this season.
There is one other addition to the team that may have a bigger impact than any of the players the Deacs picked up in the portal, and that’s assistant coach Nick Friedman. Friedman was an assistant in the G-league for several years and spent time with James Borrego and Steve Clifford at the Charlotte Hornets before coming to Wake Forest. It sounds like he was tasked with improving the offense, and he brought some of the modern “pace and space” and ball movement concepts from the NBA with him. Without a star player like Hunter Sallis to rely on, the Deacs are going to have to share the ball much better than they did last season to score, so hopefully Friedman can make a big impact there.
He looks like a high-energy guy who is great at teaching players, and so far, it seems like everyone really likes him. Hopefully his addition to the staff pays dividends for the Deacs this season.
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With so many new pieces, it’s hard to guess where Wake will finish this season. Having a true point guard in Nate Calmese should certainly help improve the offense, as the Deacs have been pretty good under Forbes when they have a point guard who can attack the basket and create shots for his teammates. In the front court, Wake is going to be significantly lacking in size, so defending the paint and controlling the boards could be a bit of a struggle. Based on that, I would expect the offense to improve and the defense to take a slight step back this season. That being said, fit and team chemistry is so important for a basketball team, so how well and how quickly the guys can mesh together will probably be more have a bigger impact on the season than their individual abilities.
After last year, I have learned my lesson on buying preseason hype, so I am basically putting no stock into anything that I haven’t seen with my own eyes. That includes head coach Steve Forbes saying that this year’s team is 10-11 deep and has improved drastically shooting from beyond the arc–both nearly identical to claims he made last season before Wake finished 351st in bench minutes and 359th in the 3-point percentage. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait very long to see what this team is made of–the Deacs have games against Michigan (preseason 11th in KenPom), Texas Tech (12th), Oklahoma (58th), West Virginia (67th), Vanderbilt (19th) and a potential matchup against Purdue (3rd) all before Christmas. Those games should be a great barometer for where we should expect Wake to finish in the ACC this year.
I know it’s probably played out at this point, but I have to ask it anyways: Is this the year Wake finally makes it back to the NCAA Tournament? We will find out very soon.
Go Deacs!
