Comments

with the GT win tonight the polls should recognize Wake as deserving a place at about #23. the Sagarin rating of #21 is more scientific & a good tool. if WFU can get a 6 seed in the NCAA, they have a good chance to make the sweet 16. coach Gaudio for coach of the year(ACC).

celseaux on 02/13/2010 (11:44 pm)

DT, take it easy on Woods.  Yes, what he did was wrong.  No, he doesn’t have a history of this type of thing.  Any player can get caught up in the moment.  If he had gone after the player, swinging fists,etc., than yes, sit out.  His elbow was more of a “don’t mess with my man” type thing then trying to inflict damage.

Jim on 02/11/2010 (9:36 am)

Tony Woods let his team, coaches and fans down last night with an inexcuseable elbow to Raji’s head. It was probably a heat-of-the-moment reaction and yes he had to sit out the rest of the game but did he really learn from his mistake. Time will tell.

Regardless whether the ACC says Woods can play Saturday Coach Gaudio needs to make him realize he can’t react so immaturely and embarrass Wake Forest University.  Woods needs to pay the price and sit Saturday.

DT on 02/10/2010 (10:57 pm)

Hey Dan - one other note.  If you go to www.kenpom.com, they have statistics of what they have deemed offensive and defensive efficiency.  Interesting how Wake’s national standings in the defensive effeciency have improved every year under Dino: 2007 (year before Dino took over) rank was 88 (ouch), 2008 rank was 63, 2009 was 23, and this year (so far) the rank is 15.  Now his offensive efficiency numbers are much worse, which is why Wake still finds itself outside of the top 25 looking in. But Wake never did much of anything in the NCAA Tournament with a revved up offense and little or no defense.  (During Chris Paul’s Freshman year, Wake had the #1 ranked efficient offense but only the 82nd ranked defense - Sweet 16 then out.  The next year they were 2 and 72 - and didn’t make it to the sweet 16.)  Wake is the kind of team that can frustrate other teams with their defense, and that means it could make some noise come March.

Matt on 02/10/2010 (1:26 pm)

It is SO nice to see Wake play good defense after so many years of only having a super-charged offense.  I remember watching other college programs play, and it would seem like they had seven guys playing defense because of their defensive schemes and their hustle. Well now our beloved Demon Deacons are plyaing with that same intensity, and it’s great! I give all of the credit to Coach Gaudio for going out and finding this very successful scheme (which he learned from the Bennett family, the younger of which now coaches UVa). If only the Chris Paul led team had played this kind of defense - there might have been a final-four banner (or better) hanging from the rafters in Lawrence-Joel from that year.  It sure seemed to me that Teague and Johnson (especially Jonhson) seemed to take some plays off defensively last year, and that drove me crazy.  It’s nice to see everyone working hard on defense this year. Great job, guys!

Matt on 02/10/2010 (9:28 am)

My concern is their mental lapses in some of these games.  The home game against Virginia and last night’s game should have been blow-outs.  They simply let those games become contested down the stretch when there should have been no question.  They seem to lack focus during stretches.  I will give them credit for regrouping and closing the deal in these contests.  However, one day, I worry that they are going to wake up too late and find an L in their loss column.

On a more positive note, it was good to see Gary rack up some points last night.  We need him to get hot in March.

Thanks for the great insights, Dan!

Colleen on 02/10/2010 (8:52 am)