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When Wake Forest plays its first basketball game next season, the most experienced player on the Demon Deacons roster will be -- Are you ready for this? -- C.J. Harris.

Al-Farouq Aminu, coming off a sophomore season in which he averaged 15.8 points and 10.7 rebounds, announced Thursday he would hire and agent and enter the NBA draft.

Aminu, a 6-foot-9, 215-pound small forward who can handle the ball in transition, is projected as a lottery pick -- likely top 10 -- in the June 24 draft.

Wake also loses seniors Ish Smith, L.D. Williams, Chas McFarland and David Weaver.

Bottom line: 66 percent of Wake's offense will be gone. And the players who remain are young. Really young.

Harris averaged 9.9 points as a freshman, starting 21 of Wake's 31 games.

Harris' 864 career minutes played are the most among the returners: 6-11 sophomore Tony Woods (741), junior shooter Gary Clark (664), freshman wing Ari Stewart (530) and little-used sophomore center Ty Walker (90).

To put that in perspective, Aminu, Smith and Williams all played at least 940 minutes alone.

Wake will rely heavily on five recruits signed in November. The class, led by 6-7 small forward Travis McKie of Richmond, Va., was ranked among the top nine in the nation by scout.com, rivals.com and ESPN.

Look for one or two of those recruits to get immediate opportunities to start at Wake, likely alongside Harris, Woods and Stewart on the ACC's youngest team.

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com