Wake Forest vs. Louisville: Staff Predictions

Adam: Louisville wins 81-75

Louisville is a top 10 for a reason; they are a top 5 defensive team and have one of the best overall players in the conference. I'm not sure the Deacs have anyone that will be able to stop Donovan Mitchell one on one, and that will make it tough to pick up a win in this game. Fortunately, based on the Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics, the universe will split numerous times throughout the game, giving rise to an extremely large number of possible outcomes. All we have to do is make sure our wave functions exist in one of the worlds in which Wake Forest comes away with a much needed win. #SlidingDeacs

Chris: Louisville wins 90-76

This is a bad matchup for the Deacs in most ways. Louisville outmatches Wake on both ends with a top 25 offense and defense, and Wake has struggled against the press and against physical defenses. Short of an excellent shooting night from the guards and a physical game leading to a free throw contest, I don't like this game for Wake at all, even though the stakes are far higher for our Deacs than for Louisville.

Grumpy: Louisville wins 86-74

Louisville doesn't really have a weakness. They're top 25 in offense and defense, and the better unit is the defense (5th in the country). Their offense is good enough that they can make Wake's lackluster defense pay in a big way, and their defense is elite enough that they'll have a good shot at slowing down's Wake's own powerful offense. They have a lot of athletic and quick guys who can make you pay if your lateral footspeed isn't up to par. Of their 6 losses, all were to top 25 teams at the time (and currently KenPom #3, 8(x2), 11, 18, and 26). The closest to a glimmer of hope is that in the past 2 weeks they've won games against peer-ish schools by 5 (Miami), 4 in OT (Cuse), and 4 (VT). But seeing that they can pull out close wins does not give me a lot of comfort as a Wake fan. They've also given some major beatdowns (Clemson by 32, Pitt by 55, NC State by 25, BC by 23, and Cuse by 20). Anyways, it would take one of Wake's better games of the season (namely, 2 full halves of quality basketball) and perhaps catching the Cards looking to the season closer at ND to get this win. I hope it happens, but I'm not optimistic.

Rob: Louisville wins 80-73

I want to believe, but it’s tough to pick Wake in this one. Louisville has absurd length at essentially every position, and that allows them to get into so many passing lanes and contest so many shots. Wake is going to need to be very precise with its passes. They cannot afford to have live ball turnovers and allow Louisville to get easy points in transition. A win would be massive, but this seems like a bad matchup.

Samurai: Wake Forest wins 87-83

Probably late but yeah I'm going there. Collins goes off, our guards do their jobs, Chill and McClinton are defensive anchors, and we shock the world. I'm coming out of prediction retirement to try to put good vibes out into the universe.

What do you all think will happen in tonight’s game?