Aminu to take more shots -

Wake looks to replace NBAers

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons enter the 2009-10 basketball season looking to repeat the success that they experienced last season.

While the Demon Deacons will most likely not find themselves No. 1 in the nation, as they briefly did last year, they will look to make another appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

It will be somewhat of a rebuilding season for the Demon Deacons as they return without their two leading scorers from last season, Jeff Teague and James Johnson, who both left for the NBA.

Although they lost those two marquee players, Wake Forest has one of the deepest benches in the ACC, which it will depend on in order to continue contending with local basketball powerhouses.

The player to watch this season for Wake Forest is sophomore forward Al-Farouq Aminu. He enters the season selected as a preseason second-team All-America by FoxSports.com.

This year, he will look to improve on his very impressive freshman season, when he averaged 12.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.

Aminu was considered by many a lottery selection, but he ended any draft speculation by announcing a return to Winston-Salem.

And after an extremely successful high school career, it appears that Aminu will make good on all the expectations that accompanied him during his freshman campaign.

Another prominent player returning for the Demon Deacons is senior center Chas McFarland. Although McFarland isn’t as strong of an all-around player as Aminu, he is a consistent low-post scorer and rebounder who will help pull defenses off Aminu.

Rounding out the projected starting five is senior guard Ishmael Smith, returning starting guard L.D. Williams and freshman forward Ari Stewart.

The main weakness for the Demon Deacons this season will be outside shooting. The reserves and newcomers will have to step up in order to prevent Wake Forest from becoming a one-dimensional team.

This season, Wake Forest faces a difficult nonconference schedule, going up against Purdue, Gonzaga and Xavier.

But if Wake Forest can win a few nonconference games and post a winning record in the ACC, it can expect to reach the NCAA Tournament again.