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Countdown to Tipoff: Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Jeff Bzdelik, Wake Forest Head Coach

Named the 21st head coach in Wake Forest history on April 14, 2010, Jeff Bzdelik enters his 35th season of coaching and his third at Wake Forest … Bzdelik has been involved in coaching college and professional basketball since 1978, including eight seasons as a college head coach and three seasons as the head coach of the NBA's Denver Nuggets … the Illinois native came to Wake Forest after spending three seasons as the head coach at the University of Colorado where he inherited a 7-20 (3-13 Big 12) team and improved to a game under .500 at 15-16 (6-10) by his third season with the Buffaloes … prior to his arrival in Colorado, Bzdelik served two seasons (2005-07) as the head coach at the Air Force Academy where he guided the Falcons to a 50-16 record (.758) … the 50 wins marked the most successful two-year period in Academy history and Bzdelik is the only coach in Academy history to have won 24 or more games in consecutive seasons … in his two seasons at Air Force, Bzdelik guided the Falcons to a 31-1 home record, including a 15-0 mark in 2005-06 and 16-1 in 2006-07 … during his 15-year career in the NBA, Bzdelik made nine NBA Playoff appearances … in 2003-04, he engineered one of the biggest turnarounds in NBA history during his second season with Denver coaching the Nuggets to the playoffs for the first time since 1994-95 while posting a 43-39 record .. the 26-game improvement over the previous year was the sixth-best turnaround in NBA history …Bzdelik is a 1976 graduate of the University of Illinois-Chicago, where he earned a bachelor's degree in physical education … earning four varsity letters in basketball at UIC, he was named team MVP as a senior in 1975-76.

Returning players

C.J. Harris, Sr., Guard
Earned third team All-ACC honors in 2012 after ranking fourth in the league in scoring with a 16.7 points per game average ... enters his senior season ranked ninth among school career leaders in free throw percentage (.830), 11th in free throws made (395), 13th in 3-point attempts (280) and 14th in 3-point field goals (103) ... ranks 36th all-time at Wake Forest with 1,136 points ... scored in double figures in 29 of his 30 games a year ago, including 10 games with 20 or more points, the sixth-best total in the ACC ... led the team in scoring 18 times in 2012 ... has played in all but one game in his Wake Forest career ... improved his field goal percentage from .384 in 2011 to .477 a year ago ... was third in the ACC a year ago in free throw attempts per game (5.8); averaging 5.1 free throw attempts per game in his career.

Travis McKie, Jr., Forward
Honorable mention All-ACC as a sophomore in 2012 ... ranked sixth in the ACC in scoring (16.1), 12th in rebounding (7.0), fifth in field goal percentage (.478) and fourth in minutes played (34.5) ... has started every game for Wake Forest over the past two seasons ... a Freshman All-American in 2011 who became the 10th freshman in ACC history to lead his team in both scoring (13.0) and rebounding (7.7) ... has scored 915 points (14.5 ppg) and pulled down 463 rebounds (7.3 rpg) in his career ... bidding to become the first Deacon since Eric Williams (2002-06) to have both 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds ... scored in double figures in 27 games, including nine straight games to end the season ... had 11 games of 20 points or more, scoring a career-high 25 points four times on the year.

Chase Fischer, So., Guard
One of five Deacon to play in all 31 games a year ago ... started three games and averaged 6.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 26.1 minutes per game ... was 39-for-122 (.320) from 3-point range ... made 32-of-39 (.821) from the free throw line ... started three games ... averaged 6.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 25.4 minutes per game in league play ... named the ACC Rookie of the Week on Nov. 21 after averaging 11.5 points, 4.0 assists and 2.5 steals in two games.

Daniel Green, So., Center
Played in 27 games off the bench as a freshman in 2012 ... averaged 1.4 points and 1.7 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per game ... missed two games with an illness in early December ... In 14 conference games, averaged 1.1 points and 1.7 rebounds in 6.9 minutes per contest.