ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAY

October 12, 2022

Steve Forbes

Tyree Appleby

Davien Williamson

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Press Conference

Q. Coach, you had a team last year that surprised a lot of people, 25-10, 13-7 in the ACC, very close to a March Madness bid. What's the next step to getting over that hump and getting back to March Madness?

STEVE FORBES: Well, that's a good question. I think the reason why we didn't make it last year, according to the experts, was we didn't win the right games. It's not always about the quantity of wins, it's about the quality of wins.

So we did upgrade our non-conference schedule, and strategically last year we didn't have a tough non-conference schedule because we had nine new players coming out of COVID. Now, we did go 10-1 in those games.

But visiting in the spring with the experts, there's a lot of emphasis on November. You can agree with that or not. For me personally, I think it's more important to win on the road in the ACC than win in a casino or a ballroom in November.

But we didn't get a quadrant win for winning at Virginia, we didn't get a quadrant win for beating the national runner-ups. And so there's something wrong with that in my opinion.

We have to win the right games to take the next step, because obviously the next step is to go to the tournament, but that's something that we expect to do every year.

These guys know that, and so that's the plan.

Q. Steve, you named four team captains a couple weeks ago and three of them are new to the program. What did Ty up there and Andrew and Jao show you that made them the leaders of your team?

STEVE FORBES: Yeah, you know, going to Europe is always interesting. I've done it a few times, and the great thing about it is the bonding and the chemistry and the educational piece of it.

And we can talk about that, but to answer your question, I'm always interested on who gravitates to who. You're there with just your players and the coaches. So who do the players go to? Who do they hang out with? Who kind of leads them?

I thought that a lot of them -- I thought Ty stood up in that area a lot, so that's always interesting to me. He's been through it. He's got a lot of experience. He's played in the SEC, and so he understands what's about to happen, and he brings -- he comes to practice every day and plays really hard.

Now, he doesn't always play really smart and he doesn't always -- but nobody does. That's that hard and smart together thing, and he falls down more than any player I've ever coached in my life. I've never seen a guy fall down more than this guy.

But there's guys that lead by example, and then there's guys that can lead with their voice. He does both. So that's kind of rare. That's the reason why he became a team captain along with obviously Daivien, who gets cruel and unusual punishment because he's played for me for five years.

Q. Daivien, yesterday when we talked to the women's team, a couple of the players said they want to move past the Little Old Wake Forest phrase and mindset. Being from the area, is that something that you agree with in terms of you kind of have to shed that a little bit in the conference, or just your general thoughts on it?

DAIVIEN WILLIAMSON: Yeah, I think we all can agree that we're working towards building a winning tradition back to Wake Forest, bringing good habits back to the Wake Forest program. Growing up, we can be brutally honest right here, Wake Forest weren't that good when I was growing up watching them.

We're trying to bring that winning tradition back to Wake Forest. I think we did last year winning 25 games, and we're just trying to grow and carry that momentum into the coming season.

STEVE FORBES: I didn't know what that went, LOWF. I had to ask Dave Clawson what that meant. And I don't subscribe to that.

Q. Last year you hit on every transfer you brought into Wake Forest, one being the ACC Player of the Year, one being a first-round draft pick. What do you look for in the transfer portal, and why were Ty, Andrew, Daivien, and Jao options that you pursued this year?

STEVE FORBES: Well, he's the only one that wanted to come. No.

You know, there's obviously experience. The beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I know what I like when we go in there and look. There's a little element of a little bit of luck involved in it.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I'm the portal whisperer. I've had a lot of success in it over the years, but if I would have sat here last year in front of you guys and said that, you know, Alondes is going to be the ACC Player of the Year, and Jason is going to be the 19th pick in the NBA Draft, you guys would probably not think I was being very credible. Even you would not even think that, and you've ran suicides for me before.

You know, chemistry is important. I like size and skill, even though I have the two shortest players at media day.

I just think that over the years we do our homework, we study it. You've got to find the right fit, but you don't really know until you get them. We have great chemistry. Everyone always asks me about chemistry. I'm like, that's the easy part to me. You've been there in the summer and seen how we go, and these guys have been through it, and he's been on three teams.

He can probably attest to it more than anybody about what it's like.

I saw in Ty just a tremendous scorer but also a really good, willing passer. Sometimes he passes it to the other team, and we'll fix that. And so these two guys are -- Daivien is a transfer, too, really. Even though I coached him at East Tennessee state. We've just done well with that.

Q. I've asked a couple of coaches this as well as players. How do you all think that NIL has affected the player mindset, and advantages, disadvantages? Just how you guys see it going forward.

STEVE FORBES: Well, it's a complicated question. First of all, I think NIL is really good for the game. I think you've seen college players stay in college that typically would probably leave, so it's made our league better and older.

But I think there's two different kinds of NIL. The NIL that I thought we were going to have was actually monetizing your name, image, and likeness, which I think is really good for people that have accomplished things in college. But then we have what we call collectives, and that's just pay for play.

Until that gets straightened out, I think there's two different definitions of what we're talking about here.

I personally -- none of my players were recruited for that. They don't have that, and so it's a different mindset where we're at.

Do I think it could affect a team? I don't know. We'll see going forward. It'll be interesting to see what happens in the locker room when the player that's getting a lot of money versus the player that's not, this one is playing better than this one and he's not getting anything, because I think in the NBA you've got a salary cap, you're paid based on your experience and what you've accomplished, proven, and I don't think we have that right -- I think ours is kind of a mess.

It'll be interesting to see my colleagues, as I talk to them this year, what they experience with it. I'm for it, I'm just for it probably in a different way.

Q. Meaning (indiscernible) will come out?

STEVE FORBES: No. Who? I mean, the NCAA is not going to do it. I think Congress has probably got a few more things to worry about than probably that.

Q. Ty, transferring from Florida to Wake Forest, what made Winston-Salem such an attractive destination? And Daivien, what make Coach Forbes such an attractive coach to follow to Wake?

TYREE APPLEBY: I would say for me, Coach called me every day, checked up on me and everything like that, so I thought that was good for our relationship and everything like that. When I came out here, everybody treated me like I was their own, like I'd been here.

Just him being the ACC Coach of the Year and everything like that, knowing what I can learn from him and then seeing the two players get drafted, seeing how their ceiling went from just mid to just like high and everything like that, I just felt like this was the best place for me.

DAIVIEN WILLIAMSON: Well, yeah, for me I'd just say you want somebody who's going to push you to be the best version of yourself every day, and that's something that Forbes does, pushes us. He demands the best all of all his players every day. It may be tough at times, but at the end of the day it's only going to make you a better ball player at the end of the day.

I think that's one of the main things I like, and also just the level of comfort he gives all his players. I can talk to Forbes about anything. We've been joking around with each all day, not really even talking about basketball, and I know it's not like that at a handful of other programs.

I feel like just the level of comfort and just the demand for perfection -- well, for progression every day is just one of the main things that wanted me to follow him back to Wake.

STEVE FORBES: They really want to start bad, I can tell.

Q. Daivien, you guys had so much chemistry on the roster last year and you're dealing with a lot of turnover this year. What can you learn from the way you guys developed that chemistry from a year ago and make sure you have that same type of chemistry this year and try to exceed the success you had?

DAIVIEN WILLIAMSON: Yeah, definitely the main thing I'd say is like it starts off the court. I feel like learning about each other off the court, like not even about basketball, just learning about each other as individuals and as human beings, because before basketball players we're humans at the end of the day.

Learning each other, like our likes and dislikes and just growing that chemistry off the court is going to help us on the court, as well, and building that momentum can help us build really successful teams because we're close with each other.

We're going to want to play hard not just for ourselves but for other brothers at the end of the day. So I think building that chemistry is going to allow us to want to play hard for each other on the court and just know that, yeah, I'm not going to take this charge for myself, but I'm going to take this charge to help this team and help my brother be successful at the end of the day.

Q. Daivien and Ty, this is a team with a lot of depth at guard, a lot of guys who can play fast paced and shoot the three. What's it like to be part of a group that can play that exciting brand of basketball?

TYREE APPLEBY: I would say for me, it's great, because that's what you really want to go to a school that does that for. Pushing the pace -- I think that just gives us a lot of freedom to do what we need to do, and it just creates more space and translates that to the NBA game.

DAIVIEN WILLIAMSON: Yeah, I think it's good. Like Ty said, I think we all complement each other's games really well and we can build off each other's strengths.

It's fun, man. Basketball is always fun when you're around a lot of good guys. So I think playing with this great group of guards is just going to make this season exciting and fun.

STEVE FORBES: Does everybody remember back in the '80s, south Alabama had peanut butter and jelly? These are the Crustables. I'm looking forward to the season. I think we've got a really nice team. We're going to get better as the year goes along, and there's going to be ups and downs, but they're working really hard.

We're 7-3 already right now in practice. I count every practice as a win or a loss. First time in my life I lost my home opener this year for practice. I was not happy. I had a two-game losing streak in there, but now we're on a roll. We're 7-3; we're not going to lose.

Thank you.