Firing this up now so that I'm not caught off guard when portal announcements start flying after Saturday's finale.

This is where we'll track everybody leaving Wake's football team -- aside from the ones running out of eligibility -- and then the newcomers WF will bring in. Given the timing of how the portal works, we'll obviously have a lot more departures to track in the first week or two, then it'll calm down, and then we'll have additions to talk about.

I'm not speculating on anybody here but I will pass along whatever info comes my way. I do think WF is likely going to have quite a bit of roster churn, given it'll be the second straight losing season and there are going to be some position groups -- D-line, for one -- that need a lot of help.

Huge, breaking news on a Monday afternoon!

Here's the story on Dave Clawson resigning.

There will be much more to come. I'll try to have a coaching candidates story up sometime tonight. A My Take is probably in order -- though, I'd point you in the direction of the My Take from a month ago in the meantime.

Preview for Wake's game against Stanford can be found here.

Programming: I'll be there with full coverage.

Predictions:

- Hunter Sallis scores under 20 points (would be first time since BC game).

- Maxime Raynaud scores at least 20, but Stanford doesn't have anybody else with more than 14.

- Wake Forest makes double-digit 3s.

Preview for tomorrow's game at Clemson can be found here.

Programming note: I'll have remote coverage of this one.

Predictions:

- Wake's offense isn't quite as good as it was Tuesday night, but still better than its average for the season.

- Clemson wins the rebounding battle by at least 8.

Kind of the same deal as the Detroit Mercy game ...

I was planning on writing, well, a lot more of a preview than this. But time got away from me last week and then time *really* got away from me yesterday.

So, I've got nuts and bolts preview content below for tonight's game. Programming note: I'll be there with full coverage. And, as noted on Twitter -- if you're there at the first media timeout, Dave Clawson and his family will be recognized on the court. Would imagine that'll be another emotional moment for today.

Preview nuts and bolts:

Time: 7 p.m.

Location: Joel Coliseum.

TV: ACC Network Extra.

Announcers: Evan Lepler (play-by-play), Stan Lewter (analyst) and Matison Little (sidelines).

Series; last meeting: Wake Forest leads 1-0; Wake Forest won 91-82 in Nov. 2006, when Kyle Visser scored 23 points on 10-for-10 shooting, which is still the program record for most made shots without a miss in program history.

Records: James Madison 6-4; Wake Forest 8-3.

Stat to watch: 47.2%.

That’s Wake Forest’s effective field goal percentage, which is 286th in the country (per KenPom and entering Monday’s games).

Now we’ll see how improved Wake’s offense can be after a 10-day break.

Matchup to watch: Wake Forest vs. its shooting woes.

It’s only kind of tongue-in-cheek here.

The 3-point line was introduced to college basketball in the 1986-87 season. Wake Forest has never finished a season shooting under 30% on 3-pointers.

The Deacons enter tonight’s game shooting 26.4% on 3s.

Duke to watch: Guard Xavier Brown (No. 0).

After a 32-win season and its coach (Mark Byington) departing for Vanderbilt, JMU was bound to lose just about everybody who played a significant role in last season’s success.

*Just about everybody*

Brown was in the starting lineup for the second half of last season and scored 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting, with 10 rebounds, in the Sun Belt tournament championship.

New coach Preston Spradlin was able to keep Brown aboard and has been rewarded with steady guard play from the 6-2, 183-pound junior, as Brown is averaging 13.9 points and 3.4 assists per game.

Deacon to watch: Guard Ty-Laur Johnson (No. 8).

How much of whatever Wake Forest has changed or adjusted within its offensive approach involves more of Johnson?

We’ll soon find out.

The Louisville transfer has had three DNPs and another game (Texas A&M) with 2 minutes. But in Wake’s last game, an ACC-opening win over Boston College, he was a sparkplug off the bench with four points and four assists, and only committed one turnover.

If he builds on that performance, then Wake’s offense can reap the rewards.

What’s on deck: It’s all in the ACC from this point to the end of the ACC tournament for Wake Forest.

The Deacons go to Clemson on Saturday with a chance to score an early Quad-1 win. There aren’t likely to be a whole lot of Quad-1 chances, given the league’s non-conference performance, so winning at Clemson — against a team that has a top-10 defense on KenPom and handed Kentucky a loss at Littlejohn Coliseum — would be huge win for Wake’s résumé.

It’s almost all going to be about the Sun Belt for the rest of JMU’s season. The Dukes head to South Alabama on Saturday for the conference opener and have a non-conference game against a non-D1 team (Midway) on the other side of Christmas.

KenPom prediction: Wake Forest wins 71-65.

What a Wake Forest loss looks like: JMU scores more points than Wake Forest.

What a Wake Forest win looks like: Wake Forest scores more points than JMU.

On a serious note, this winds up being a crucial game for the Deacons. And it really might be best boiled down to whether Wake Forest (finally) starts making 3-pointers at the clip we figured they’d be able to hit.

Preview for tomorrow's game can be found here.

Programming: I'll be there with full coverage.

Predictions:

- Neither team scores 70 points.

- Hunter Sallis scores under 15 points.

- Wake Forest makes at least eight 3s.

No preview for a few days, but do have at least one story before then ...

Update on Omaha Biliew and his recovery.

Going to pin this thread to (attempt to) keep track of all developments -- visits, offers, pending commits -- on the basketball recruiting front.

To start things off:

Wake Forest doesn't a commit in the 2023 class yet and that should be alarming to absolutely nobody. If you read the State of the Program breakdown of recruiting (linked here), you know the changing landscape of recruiting and Steve Forbes' thoughts on the situation.

Forbes isn't going to panic and take players just to take players. That is, bluntly, one of the reasons he's coaching at Wake Forest and Danny Manning isn't. Forbes looks for who fits in his system, at the school, and who can play in the ACC ... and he's not lowering the basket to squeeze players into that criteria. If he can't get recruits that fit, he's going to scour the portal -- which has proved quite fruitful (invest in Andrew Carr, Ty Appleby and Jao Ituka stock now).

You've also got to note that Wake Forest -- at least right now -- doesn't line up to be in need of a large recruiting class entering next season. Daivien Williamson and Appleby are the only players who are out of eligibility after this season, and there's an open scholarship. So that's 3 current vacancies to account for in the 2023-24 season. Will that number stay at 3? Unlikely. Can Forbes go out and oversign? Well, yes, but only if he plans on running off current members of the team.

Frankly, I don't see that last part happening, though.

Ideal world, this gets posted either of the last two days ... but it just wouldn't be my nature to be on time with something.

Happy holidays to you and yours.

And hopefully you've been able to get some down time and R&R from Wake Forest athletics. That's what I'm trying to do. The timing isn't ideal and it's not like I'm taking a week off, but I'm taking at least the last couple of days and another couple of them to recharge a little bit and spend time with my wife's family.

I appreciate each and every one of you who checks in here, no matter how frequently or infrequently.

Preview for tomorrow's game at Syracuse can be found here.

Programming: I'll have a remote story on this one.

Predictions:

- WF makes at least 7 3-pointers.

- Donnie Freeman gets a double-double for Syracuse.

- WF commits fewer than 10 turnovers.