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Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes met with the media in person last week, marking the first time he’s met face-to-face with local media for a press conference since he took the job in April 2020.

Such is life when you take a job in the early stages of a pandemic.

Now Forbes is entering his second season at the helm for the Deacons with a remade roster that features nine new players and – he hopes – will have a schedule that doesn’t feature a 33-day break between games, as he dealt with last season.

Here are 10 notes from Forbes’ end-of-summer press conference (all quotes are from Forbes):

1. Player rankings

The quote: “Jake LaRavia was No. 1, Daivien Williamson was No. 2, Dallas Walton was No. 3, Cameron Hildreth was No. 4, and Khadim Sy was right there close with Alondes Williams at No. 5.”

Analysis: Forbes said he and his staff rank players on a weekly basis in the summer, and then dole out an overall ranking at the end, taking into account drills and live scrimmages – of which he said there were a lot.

LaRavia, the transfer from Indiana State, took the top spot – even though Forbes also said Williamson “had about as good a summer as anybody can have.” LaRavia was the Deacons’ leading rebounder, second-leading scorer (behind Williamson) and was third in assists, all while shooting 42% on 3s.

What jumps off the page here is that five of the six players named by Forbes here are newcomers – Williamson led the Deacons with 12.9 points per game last year, his first after transferring from East Tennessee State.

With a roster that features nine newcomers, you’re bound to have some fresh faces emerge as contributors – though five of the top six being newcomers is interesting.

The glass-half-empty look to this is that neither Isaiah Mucius nor Carter Whitt was one of the top six performers – though not including them here might be Forbes’ way of motivating them before the season.

2. An ACC roster

The quote: “I love our roster. We have 13 ACC players on our team. I did not have that last year.”

Analysis: This one is pretty direct, which is what you’re typically going to get with Forbes.

As many built-in excuses there were for last year’s 6-16 (3-15 ACC) record – and most of them were pandemic-related and valid – Forbes didn’t mince words about his team’s struggles, especially in the eight-game losing streak that ended the season.

Now that Wake Forest has moved on and seen most of the roster turned over, Forbes is free to work with a team with “legitimate size” that’s better-suited to play his up-tempo style.

3. Big-man versatility

The quote: “Can we play big? Yeah, we can play big. You know, we went down there and played Carolina this year, they were playing volleyball up there on the rim. You know, I’d like to play that way, too.”

Analysis: Forbes wants multi-positional players – another thing lacking last season – and has a few of them, mainly with his taller players.

Forbes said he knew LaRavia, whose position will mainly be a stretch-4, will be able to defend perimeter players – “the three,” as he put it – as soon as he went through one drill in summer workouts. Mucius’ height (6-8) and length has always made him a versatile defender.

And Forbes said Walton could play stretch-4 if needed, but that he also prefers to have the 7-footer close to the basket for his rim-protection skills.

4. The Lucas Taylor factor

The quote: “Lucas has a tremendous motor and a tremendous work ethic. … He’s in there working on his craft. And he’s made himself into being a high-percentage shooter. … And I think that he can be an All-ACC-level defender pretty quick.

“He’s got great feet, he’s long, he’s tough, he’s athletic, he’s a great team player. He’s got some leadership skills in him. I think he’s got a chance to be somebody you’re like, ‘Hoo. Where’d he come from?’ I really like him a lot. A lot.”

Analysis: Hello, Lucas Taylor.

The 6-5, 195-pound guard from Wake Forest (where Wake Forest used to be, if you need a history lesson) elicited some high praise from Forbes, despite not ranking in the top six that Forbes gave in the opening segment.

In addition to the defensive abilities, Taylor shot 52% on 3-pointers during the summer and was the fourth-leading scorer.

5. Vaccination level

The quote: “We have one person who has an exemption based on what the rules are here to come to school, and then that’s where we’re at. And I feel good about that. Hopefully, the rest of the world can get to there.”

Analysis: Wake Forest is requiring students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they can provide religious or health-related exemptions, which is the category that one player falls into.

Forbes made a point when he first stepped to the lectern to mention that “I think we'll get through this one if we all get vaccinated.”

6. Non-conference schedule

The quote: “We’ll play in five or six guarantee games every year. We only get 11 non-league games because of the 20 league games, so that model is not going to change a lot.”

Analysis: The most-substantial bit of news about Wake Forest’s program in the last few weeks was the release of the non-conference schedule. And, since the Deacons’ participation in the Emerald Coast Classic, the ACC-Big Ten Challenge matchup with Northwestern and the game against Charlotte at Spectrum Center were already announced, the news was really about the five straight home games to open the season.

Wake Forest is set to open the season against William & Mary (302 in KenPom last year), Western Carolina (241), Charleston Southern (339), North Carolina A&T (283) and Kennesaw State (335). Another couple of December home games against USC Upstate (322) and VMI (153) are on the docket.

And by Forbes’ quote, that appears to be close to the formula he wants to use moving forward.

7. Playing at home

The quote: “I can't wait. … There’s nothing more important than a home-court advantage, and to have a home-court advantage you’ve gotta have full stands. I don’t think – I do think people understand how important that is. I went back and looked, I think the nine years before I got here, I lost 12 home games.”

Analysis: There was one crowd last season, for the regular-season finale against Georgia Tech, with a four-digit attendance number.

That was 1,229.

It’s no secret that under Wake Forest’s previous two coaches, attendance at Joel Coliseum dropped. In a non-pandemic season last year, Forbes would have – at the very least – had the chance to introduce his coaching style to a re-energized Wake Forest fan base.

Instead, other than that game against Georgia Tech, crowd size was limited to about 100 fans and media.

That means Forbes gets to make his first in-person impression on most fans with those five straight home games in the first two weeks.

8. Team-building activities

The quote: “We went and played airsoft, every player tried to murder me. They didn't quite get that done.”

Analysis: There was a lot more to this, but really, what better picture do you need than basketball players shooting their coach with airsoft guns?

Because of social-distancing requirements last year, Forbes and the Deacons never had much of a chance to bond – again, that was a risk of what would happen in taking a job during a pandemic.

So as the vaccination became available in the spring and mandates were lifted, the Deacons were together more.

In addition to the airsoft outing, Wake Forest’s basketball team had breakfasts and dinners together in the Shah Basketball Complex. It’s a key component to Forbes’ program that players check in with the basketball office at least once per day. Forbes had players come to his house to watch movies and play ping pong.

9. Legends leaving

The quote: “I called … Coach K, I said, ‘I’m feeling really bad today, really guilty about you retiring next year.’ He goes, ‘Well what’s wrong?’ I go, ‘I knew those three wins were going to scare you outta here.’

“I like those guys, I miss them. I really liked Coach (Roy) Williams. I’m going to miss (Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski) when that day comes. I don’t really know college basketball without them.”

Analysis: There’s Forbes’ dry humor at work, citing the Deacons’ three ACC wins from last season.

While it’ll be at least a couple of years before we truly know the affect of Hubert Davis taking over for Williams this year, and Jon Scheyer being announced as Krzyzewski’s replacement (effective next spring), Forbes made clear his feelings on the two Hall of Fame coaches in the state leaving the coaching ranks.

10. Weight loss

The quote: “I was looking at Twitter. And we all know Twitter doesn’t lie. Lane Train, Lane Kiffin, said that he’d lost 30 pounds or something like that, and I couldn’t be beat by him.

“I think I’m at 41 today, since my birthday, March 22. We got on the Get Right program and the players did great, but honest truth is I needed to do the same thing.”

Analysis: The Get Right program was Forbes’ coined term for Wake Forest’s spring workout regimen, and he made no secret about being a part of it. The 56-year-old coach said in April that he “hit a wall” in keeping up with a workout routine, in part because of the pandemic.

Forbes credited the Get Right program plus the simple act of taking a scale on the road with him this summer while recruiting – a time that can be a pitfall for a coach’s health, given long days in gyms and the limited dining options when they emerge at about 10 p.m.