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Wake Forest adds Grad Transfer Austin Arians for 2016

Danny Manning lands a graduate transfer for Wake Forest basketball.

Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

Wake Forest hosted former Milwaukee small forward Austin Arians last weekend, and it paid off, as he committed to head coach and Danny Manning for his final year of college basketball.

Arians will be available immediately, and will be a strong competitor for the starting spot at the three, while freshmen Richard Washington and Donovan Mitchell adjust to college.

The news was first reported by Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports:

Arians picked Wake Forest over Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Utah. It is certainly interesting timing because the Badgers offered earlier today, but he seemingly stressed playing time over a variety of other factors, and that was likely a big reason for choosing the Deacs for his final college year.

Rob wrote a great article on Austin Arians last month when it was first reported that Wake Forest was interested. As noted below, he correctly postulated that Arians would be a good fit for the Deacs:

Arians would be an excellent addition to the Wake Forest roster, and I'm thrilled that Manning is taking a look at him. Arians is 6'6" 200 pounds, so has good size to play on the wing. He averaged 11.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per contest this past season. His overall field goal percentage was not that great this past season (40%), but that's because more than two-thirds of his shots came from beyond the arc. His effective field goal percentage was 51.8%.

This provides a good bit of experience and fills a desperately needed player at the small forward position for next season.

We welcome Austin to Wake Forest and are eager to see what he can bring to the table to help out for next season!