Comments

Dan,

I think what you see as a lack of size is what I see as a gross misuse of size.

there are 3 basic rules of sport:
you can’t teach a 95 mph fastball,
you can’t teach 4.4 speed, and
you can’t teach 7ft.

the shape of 7ft doesn’t matter. how you apply the 7ft does. if you put 7’ 220 on the back of 6’10 270, 270 is going to do as it pleases. however, if you put 7’ with a 9-6 wingspan in the chest of 6’10 with an 8-8 wingspan, it’s dang near impossible to get the ball to 6’10. almost never do we front the post. i dont understand why.

if you put two 7’ on the court at the same time, one of them is always going to have a size mismatch. we have 2 7ftrs, yet as best as i can recall, they have not been on the court for a single minute all season. why not, especially since Carson is a true 4 anyway?

and while im asking questions of the man who gets to ask questions. each time you play a player out of position you put yourself at a disadvantage. the more players out of position, the bigger the disadvantage. a basketball team only has 5 positions, we start 4 players out of position every single night. why?

ty is a 5, carson is a 4, mckie is a 3, JT is a 2 with only cj (our most experienced player) playing 1 out of position. that leaves nikita a 4, ari a 3, clark a 2 and tony a 1 on the bench. there should never be a point in the game where more than one player is forced to play out of position.

at 1-12 why not try something?

sorry for stealing your blog but im certain im not the only one that wants to know.

Joey D on 02/24/2011 (10:04 pm)

Joey D, then we just have an honest difference of opinion, which is great. I hate conformity of thought. But I will say that I remember Duncan as more physically developed as a freshman that Desrosiers or Walker. And even if I’m wrong on that—which I indeed may be—he had the luxury of playing alongside a senior named Trelonnie Owens. If Owens, or a player of his physical maturity and power, were on this team we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

Dan on 02/24/2011 (8:11 pm)

Yes, I would. I went to Wake Forest with a young man named Tim Duncan who was listed at 7’0 235lbs and definitely wasn’t any bigger. Remember he came to Wake as a lean swimmer and never got pushed around by the likes of Montross or Wallace. It’s more about positioning and footwork than size and power.

Our guys can’t hold the low post against the Johnsons, Smiths and Zellers of the league, but Ty can definitely front and deny the entry. He did a good job against Johnson doing exactly that. But he wanted to play behind Zeller and Smith.

Joey D on 02/24/2011 (6:43 pm)

Joey D, if the words muscle and bulk were substituted for size, would you still feel the same way?

Dan on 02/24/2011 (3:17 pm)

Size is not our problem. We have 2 capable 7fters and a 6’8 reserve forward. Our wings are both 6’7 and all our Gs are 6’3. The vast majority of the 140ish teams rated between us and the top 100 in the latest RPI would kill for our size problem.

Ty Walker is a legit 7ft post player and can cover any C in the league. Carson is a true 4 and capable against any 4 in the league. He can also handle reserve minutes at 5 against other bckups (Knox is 6’8 at UNC, VT doesn’t have a 6’10 on their roster).

Nikita is an adequate reserve at either post spot.

Our coach simply does not understand his personnel. I can’t understand why, as he’s been in basketball almost as long as I’ve been alive, but he doesn’t.

Those 3 need 25 min a piece and two of them need to be on the court almost all the time. Travis can handle the remaining minutes at 4 if needed. But he can be a dominant inside/outside 3 against anyone in this league save Kyle Singler. His talent is being wasted as he gets overpowered by bigger stronger PFs.

It would be nice to have Melvin Tabb and Tony Woods but it’s not really a necessity. With those two we shouldn’t be merely competitive, we should have been absolutely dominant.

Joey D on 02/24/2011 (2:14 pm)

See y’all in 2014.  By my estimation that is the absolute earliest that Wake could be respectable again.  And even that may not be enough time to fix all that is wrong here.

I think I’ll go watch the highlight of Ish hitting that last-second jumper at the end of the Texas game last year.  That will have to be the Demon Deacon basketball moment that I hang onto for a long time to come.  Alas.

Matt on 02/23/2011 (2:51 pm)

I agree with Bobby. There is plenty of blame to go around for both the players and the coaching staff. The lack of execution is not solely the coach’s fault. At some point the players need to be accountable as well. And the seeming lack of effort from some players is not the coach’s fault. Players either have the desire to excel (Mckie) or they don’t (Ty).
The coach obviously shoulders a lot of blame too. But for everyone calling for him to be fired now - be realistic. Wellman is not going to pay two coaches not to coach. Like it or not, he’s here thru next year at least.

Scott on 02/23/2011 (1:47 pm)

Dan,

After watching last night’s performance, and even taking into consideration your great insight about patience and two year committment, here’s my notion, and I’m sticking with it:  players aren’t coachable or coaches aren’t
coaching or a strong combination of both.

bobby h griffin on 02/23/2011 (11:49 am)

The Garden of Wide Bodies has been pretty much picked over. So, unless some big man changes his mind, we are shut out for 2011—-except for Green who may be OK but lacks bulk.

At this point 2012 is not promising. According to one popular and respected source we have not made an offer to anyone taller than 6’8”.

Dan, I know you don’t engage in much recruiting speculation, but thanks for some current news on recruiting from time to time.

Changing topics, I saw Dino on ESPNU again. Yesterday we was on an “experts” panel of analysts discussing teams on the NCAA tourney “bubble”. He appeared knowledgeable about teams and players all over the country. He is articulate, intense but pretty poised.

Question: Is Dino being paid as long as he does not take another head coach job? If so he can do well if he makes the big time and draws 2 salaries. Also, Wellman probably doesn’t see a way to let Bzdelik go and pay 2 coaches to not coach plus a new hire.

Jerry on 02/23/2011 (11:25 am)

From what I saw last night, VT was bigger, stronger, faster, more athletic, and better coached. And they are only an average ACC team. Except for Travis McKie, we looked like boys playing men. I fear we are in for a tough time for several years.

Paul on 02/23/2011 (11:17 am)

Ty W.and Carson D. had 2 total rebounds in 26 minutes against Va Tech..I would bet that the center for the Wake women’s team could have gotten more rebounds in 26 minutes. They are soft, don’t know how to get inside position, and don’t seem interested in going after rebounds..I would rather see 5 guards on the court, instead of our bigs not doing anything to help the team. Maybe we could out run the opposition we a smaller line up. I amall in favor of trying something/anything different than what we have been trying.

beachdeac on 02/22/2011 (10:48 pm)

I just sat thru the entire Va Tech game. Another poorly played game, with absolutely the worst coaching yet. Porous defense, fundamental weakness in all facets of the game..Substitution pattern was rediculous..Wake has become the joke of the NCAA..A very small crowd which is evidence that the student body and W/S faithfull have all but given up. this coach must be replaced asap..Wake is not a mid major trying to make a name for itself..Wake has a long history of being an NCAA tourney program year in, and year out. I am tired of hearing the same excuses—we are a young team, etc..after 30 games, these young players should be playing more competitively. The coach has not done anything to help them be successful..as I stated seevral weeks ago, they look like an average AAu team, with an assistant coach subbing for the head coach.I have been a faithful and loyal Wake fan for over 45 years, but this is hard to take..Wellman either knows very little about analyzing coaching talent, or just plain made a terrible choice..It’s hard to watch..Our #25 played about 15 minutes more than he should have played. He made numerous turnovers, and could not guard my grand daughter. There must be some talent in the Wake intramural league that we could bring in for the last few games—maybe even a coach.

beachdeac on 02/22/2011 (10:26 pm)

Interesting article in the local paper today focused on Virginia Tech and just how catastrophic losing to Wake tonight would be to their already shakey NCAA hopes. The quote went something like…“How bad is Wake? They are currently ranked at 245 in the national ratings…..if they finish as expected or even if they win a couple they will be the first team in ACC history to finish below 175.”

There is no one whose tournament chances I would like to wreck more than Tech’s…....since there is no remote chance of doing any damage to Duke or Carolina. You can always dream…...unfornately at this point they all seem to be nightmares.

Deacon23 on 02/22/2011 (5:14 pm)

Ty Walker is a modern day version of Larry Harrison(1976-1979)of the Carl Tacy era. Larry was better than Walker however. Sorry, Walker is a stiff.

Class of 1977 on 02/22/2011 (3:38 pm)

Dan,

I am not sure that it would matter if we got an excellent big man. If we continue to play with 3 guards and 1 small forward, how good would he have to be to offset the size diffrential elsewhere. Todays big men are too skilled at scoring in the post to isolate them with no help. You cannot double the post with out some other big men. Bzdelick refuses to play the big guys he has. I cannot see the solution being in recruiting. Bzdelick has so far under achieved his personnel that there can be no reason to give him a second year. Getting better players would help some. Getting a new coach is a must.

Ken Nowell

Ken Nowell on 02/22/2011 (3:36 pm)

Why did we even have this season? Our high light is beating UVA whose star player was hurt? I understand that recruiting is interesting, but there is a fundamental flaw in our basketball team. It is the coach. A nice man. A great family man, but not a good coach at the ACC level. We can all sit and talk about this prospect and that prospect, but if you were a parent of a high school star would you advise him to come to WFU based upon this season and the coaching of Jeff Bzdelick? We just have to start over and I’m afraid that will not happen until after next season. WFU’s basketball program is in a fragile state now. This is 2011 not 1975. Things are different now. Players for the most part only want to stay in order to highlight their skills for the NBA (none of the players we are looking at are going to make the Armed Forces their career). If you can keep a good player three years now you are doing great. We need a dynamic coach who understands all aspects of the game. Remember that Jeff Bzdelick has no connections with this part of the country as it pertains to recruiting and I haven’t seen anything that shows me that he is a great coach. We are the smallest school in the ACC, our flagship radio station for the Deacons is in another state (Va.). We do not have the big money that it takes to run a big time ACC basketball program. We can’t afford to have a coach whose coaching skills are unremarkable. We need someone who is dynamic (remember Tie-Dye nation)can lead, can coach, and understands the 2011 type of recruit. I’m sorry but that is my take on Wake.

Craig Carter on 02/22/2011 (1:27 pm)

I made the trek to see the FSU game. It’s a 5 hour round trip but it was worth it. Not only did we play a great first half and give me hope that we aren’t doomed for the next 4 years, but also I had the pleasure of watching my daughter become a real Demon Deacon fan. We all suffered through the 2nd half but we are not hopeless… and I think coach Bzzz really is building a team from the very bottom up. By next year we will be playing 2 halves per game and maybe even sneaking up on a few teams. Let’s get him that wide body Dan mentioned. I think Bzzz should swing by football practice and see if he can’t find a Julius Peppers to play like the Heels did years ago when they needed another strong presence.

Lee Jackson on 02/22/2011 (1:24 pm)

I don’t think that Brian is completely off-base regarding Ty Walker.  I think that it is universally accepted that he has a lot of potential.  Even Coach Bzdelik compared his skillset to that of Marcus Camby when he first arrived, so it’s not like Brian is the only one who has been lured by the possibilities that Ty brings to the team. 

The only problem is that potential requires a lot of hard work and dedication to be turned into demonstrable results.  I think that Ty Walker deserves a lot of credit for the work that he has put in to this point in his career.  He has had the maturity to admit that he probably made a mistake in refusing to redshirt during his freshman year.  Then he worked on the practice squad to get his minutes against more physical big guys while embarking on what has been described as a pretty rigorous workout program in order to bulk up.  That’s a pretty serious commitment right there.  And I think he has made some progress (as Dan noted, it is to Ty’s credit that we have come to expect more of him). 

But the incremental progress does not seem to align with the potential that most of us see.  With one year of eligibility remaining, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for Dan to conclude that we likely will never see a major jump in Walker’s production.  It’s not because no one likes him.  It’s just because he hasn’t been able to put it together (yet?).

Brian seems to advocate playing Walker because of his potential and regardless of whether he shows up to practice late, hustles for rebounds, etc.  I understand a bit of where he is coming from.  I mean, nothing else has worked this year, so why not play the guys who have the most potential and hope that something good happens?  Well, that’s precisely the mentality that got us humiliated by Cleveland State (and others).  You can argue over Coach Bzdelik’s worthiness of being our coach.  But I think it’s difficult to question that he clearly is trying to build stronger foundations for this team than have existed in the recent past. 

That might mean sitting the most talented players at times.  Because if those talented players don’t play the right way, they won’t ever reach their potential, and thus won’t be any good to the team.

DC on 02/22/2011 (11:40 am)

Interesting that briant finds all the coaches, past and present and most fans “(the brilliant peanut gallery)” to be wrong about Ty and he is the only one who is right.  Brian, do you know something that no one else does about Ty?  Please enlighten us.

Jim on 02/22/2011 (8:42 am)

Jon on 02/21/2011 (9:15 pm)

What are you watching as this guy steps on the court Jon??.....he would be the 6th man on a street pickup game - Geezz

Rich on 02/22/2011 (8:05 am)