Wake Forest Win Over Louisville Gives Deacons Boost In Bracketology Projections

The Wake Forest basketball team had a signature win over #8 Louisville on Wednesday evening and the bracketologists took notice. Wake had been a very solid team in terms of advanced metrics all season in Ken Pom. Over the past 6 weeks they’ve been between 30th and 40th, which indicates very consistent play. The problem, however, was that despite having no bad losses (worst being a loss AT #52 Syracuse), the biggest victory they had was over Miami. That narrative changed on Wednesday evening when Wake knocked off Louisville 88-81 in Winston-Salem. Where do the Deacs rank in the latest bracketology projections?

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi now officially has the Demon Deacons as the last team IN the dance. Lunardi’s bracket would have Wake facing Cal in Dayton, where Wake would be a 2-point favorite. If the Deacons advanced there, then Lunardi has Wake playing Wisconsin in Milwaukee, which would essentially be a road game. Wake would have about a 27% chance according to Ken Pom (assuming it’s a road game environment). Still, Wisconsin has struggled as of late, so I wouldn’t hate this matchup.

Bracketology Matrix, which aggregates every bracketology projection on the internet, currently still has Wake Forest OUT of the NCAA Tournament, but the majority of brackets updated after last night have Wake Forest IN. They were in the field in 29 out of 37 brackets updated today, and I expect many of the brackets that get updated in the coming days will include Wake Forest.

We will have a Bubble Forecast in the coming days to tell you which teams to watch/root for, but just know that Wake Forest did its part on Wednesday and greatly increased its chances of making the NCAA Tournament.