– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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WASHINGTON — Randolph Childress’ magical conference tournament of 1995. The greatness of Tim Duncan. Chris Paul’s indomitable leadership and Josh Howard’s all-around brilliance from the wing.
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons have a long history of making indelible marks on the Atlantic Coast Conference, going back to those halcyon days when former head coach Dave Odom did not take a back seat to coaching legends such as Smith, Krzyzewski, and Williams. Surprisingly enough, however, the Demon Deacons have not earned an NCAA Tournament bid since 2017, when they lost in a First Four game to Kansas State. When it comes to the last time Wake was in the main field of 64, you have to go all the way back to 2010.
Current head coach Steve Forbes has the Deacs on the brink of an NCAA Tournament bid, but work has to be done before it can feel safe about their Big Dance prospects — and that work starts today, in the second game of the second round against No. 12 Notre Dame. A loss, and the barren run without NCAA Tournament appearances is almost sure to continue. Even with a victory, another triumph in the quarterfinals against No. 4 Pittsburgh, another bubble team that’s more on the outside looking in than the other way around, might not get them over the hump.
In short, for Wake Forest to feel safe about its NCAA Tournament chances, it might need a run to the ACC Tournament final, something it hasn’t done since this scribe was in the eighth grade (1996).
Does Tim Duncan still have any eligibility left?
Rest of the Second Round
In the first matchup of the day, No. 9 Florida State used a late 11-0 run to overtake eighth-seeded Virginia Tech 86-76. Though the Hokies did not commit many turnovers against the length of the Seminoles, Florida State was beyond efficient in scoring 23 points off 12 giveaways from the Hokies.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Wednesday’s event, with all photos taken by ALOST staff photographers Yusuf Abdullah, Clifford Ray Williams and Elliott Brown. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 50 pictures in total.
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