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For the first time in my well over 40 years as a Wake Forest fan, I am glad this basketball season will come to an end for the Deacs this week.  This Bzdelik-coached team has taken all of the joy out of following Wake Forest basketball.  I will be at the ACC TOurnament on Thursday as I have for many years and I will cheer hard for the Deacs, but I fully expect them to lose.  This is the first tournament I’ve ever attended where I felt no hope for a victory.  And I already dread next season…

Steve on 03/07/2011 (11:15 pm)

Today’s insanity:

It’s been an awful, awful season….and Bzdelik still hasn’t learned what to say.

Don’t say “It kind of reminds me of the NBA, when we were in the playoffs, you know?” when you’re talking about having to play the same team twice in five days.  You’re not in the playoffs…or the tournament…or the NIT.  You’re 1-15 in the ACC.

Don’t say “Listen, I expect to win…. If you think that of me, then you’re disrespecting me”.  You’d have to be a lunatic to expect to win.  That’s not disrespect, that’s reality.  Hope to win, yes; work to win, certainly.  But expect to win?  Madness.

Maybe learn something from your players.  Talk about the ACC tournament and say “it’s zero-zero”, or “it’s a new season, everybody’s even” like McKie and Clark did.

Stick to the cliches, Bzdelik—because everything else you say is making the pounding in my head worse….

Befuddled on 03/07/2011 (6:00 pm)

I wish I had words to describe how bad the season has gone for us, but I don’t. Ron: Please Please Please don’t give us another year of Bz ball. The fans and players deserve better.

Craig Carter on 03/07/2011 (1:19 pm)

As a fan and an alum I have lived with many ups and downs but never have I witnessed a season such as this one, a season which begged for Dr. Kevorkian.  They could have placed the inscription from Dante’s “Inferno” above the Joel entrances, “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate”, or “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” which, unfortunately, applied to the home team rather than the visitors.
 
During my undergraduate years, with Coach Tacy at the helm, even when overmatched the team competed and gave us hope for an upset victory.

Like so many others, I hoped to see improvement during this season but all improvement has proven to be a mirage.  This is in stark contrast to many other teams both within and out of the conference. 

From the moment of its announcement, the coach hiring has puzzled me more than the coach firing.  Perhaps the years will vindicate Mr. Wellman, just as they did Tom (edited by moderator) Butters (who hired 33 y.o. Mike Kryzewski) and William Aycock (who promoted 30 y.o assistant coach Dean Smith after firing the successful Frank McQuire for recruiting violations).  At the moment it doesn’t look so good.

larry on 03/07/2011 (1:12 pm)

What made things worse and made me even more sick about this season was sitting down on Saturday afternoon and watching the same Iowa team we beat back in December beat sixth-ranked Purdue, a legitimate contender to make the Final Four. Iowa looked like a completely different team than we played in December and it was obvious they had improved significantly over the course of the season That shows the difference competent coaching can make in young players.

On the other hand, with few exceptions we haven’t really improved at all over the course of this season.  We’re still totally disorganized on offense waiting and watching for one player to create his own shot, and on defense we’re totally lost.  We aren’t competitive with the team ranked directly above us in the ACC standings whose coach is certain to be fired at season’s end.  It’s just disgusting and it’s time for Wellman to admit he made a big mistake in hiring Bzdelik.  Unfortunately Ron is too stubborn for that and if Ron doesn’t retire he’ll allow this mistake to continue for at least one more season and probably two more.  How far will our basketball program be set back by then???

Maybe Bzdelik will do us all a favor and resign or take an assistant’s job in the NBA. I am afraid that is our only hope at this point…ugh…

Andy Y on 03/07/2011 (7:45 am)

I just wanna say im a HUGE WF fan, but I cant take watching this any longer. Buzz should have not got the job to begin with. He is killing the team, school pride as well as fan base. If Bzdelik returns next yr, I will no longer support WF, till Buzz is out. RW fire this guy now!!!!! Save the school and fans.

joe on 03/07/2011 (3:58 am)

Dan upon further reflection, if you don’t want to cut up your pass,& play the guitar,  try playing the piano & singing the blues as the classic bluesman & pianist, Memphisslim, did.Sincerely, Memphisslim

memphisslim on 03/07/2011 (3:14 am)

I, like Dan, have gone to every home game but two, & saw those 2 on TV, plus went to the two Greensboro games, plus watched all away games that were on TV. I feel qualified to talk about pain & suffering.Tell me again why we fired Dino? He lost 31 in 3 years; by Thursday, Bz will have lost 24 in one year, set the all time loss record for Wake, lost the first home opener at Joel, lost only the second home opener in Wake history, lost for the first time to a bevy of lightweight teams from the A-Sun, teams we usually beat as an afterthought, lost to teams to whom we have never lost before & now set the all time ACC loss record of 15 losses in a season. I have read herein some somewhat smug I know I am right comments that Dino couldn’t coach,he couldn’t win post-season(partially true in that he had only won once), that he was not a true ACC coach.I disagree. He won 61 games in 3 years. How about loyalty? 17 seasons with Skip Prosser, 13 on the college level. He is thrown in there after Skip dies in July 2007 & wins 17 games in a very tough year. People say, oh he had NBA guys. They are only marginally NBA—they got contracts, two have been sent down to the D-NBA(the minor league), none have made any impact of note—but did they come to Wake with NBA stamped on their foreheads or did they develop their skills at Wake under Skip & Dino so they could be drafted to the NBA? I see no such progress this year. These guys progressed, got better, worked in a system that made them sought after by the NBA—&they; were young & not that experienced, 3 of them going pro after his sophomore year. Look at the development of the young players at Chapel Hill, freshmen, sophomores, one jr—no excuse about being young & inexperienced—they just won the ACC reg. season while we set the record for the worest record in ACC history. We did not reward loyalty when Dino was fired, & we are reaping a most wrathful whirlwind. Instead we hired a guy who jumps from program to program as it benefits him best—a poster herein from Colorado further confirms this as do the newspaper reports from Colorado Springs & Boulder. We hired this for Dino? We gave up a tradition of loyalty for this? If it was logical to the A.D. to discharge a man who had lost 31 games in 3 years, what logic can he employ to retain a man who will lose 24 games in one year, with really no hope in sight? What logic? Now, Dan, I am mad as hell about this. I have been a Deacon Club member a long time, a season ticket holder for many years and they have got me howling at the moon. Justice must be done here. The ship must be righted. Loyalty must be rewarded. Dino is gone—gone forever. But two others remain—two other X men from Xavier—who can bring us hope, who the A.D must turn to & turn over the program—Battle & Corbean—& have Corbean,Director of Basketball Operations, begin a new tradition. Wellman should never again be given the power which he has employed in this sorry episode.We should do as other colleges do—use a search committee—if the A.D. blocks the only logical move, the discharge of Bz, he unfortunately must go with him & he has done much good for the college.No one believes in Bz; the A.D. appears to be a reasonable man; he should not either, & know to cut his losses.

memphisslim on 03/07/2011 (2:48 am)

Dan, first those that have attacked you for not “getting the Truth” out of Wellman should re-read your blog of last week.The role of the journalist is to report the news, based on reliable & verifiable sources—this is not a “Wakegate” & we have no “Deepthroat” spilling his guts out to you in the campus parking lot which means, I guess, you are not Bob Woodward & don’t get a Pulitzer. But as you say if nobody is talking, nobody is talking; you can’t go beat them with a rubber hose to make them talk—well, you could, but would probably be charged with assault & fired from your job. You have done all I would ask: shown loyalty, even pain, at this season, cut the pass into guitar picks & get something out of this season.

memphisslim on 03/07/2011 (2:13 am)

Good points Joey D.  Dino would have done much better with this team.  Did ANYBODY other than our AD really think somebody with Bz’s record would be an improvement?

gt on 03/07/2011 (12:50 am)

If we’re reading this blog, chances are we want Wake to win every game. It is good to have high expectations. But honestly, I don’t think it would matter who coached this year’s team- the result wouldn’t have amounted to more than 10 or 12 wins. You may say a more defensive-minded coach would have fielded a more competitive team and you may be right. But let’s not throw Coach Buzz under the bus.
Bobby Cremins’ record in his first ACC season was 10-16 (3-11), Coach K had a sub-.500 conference record, Dave Odom 12-16 (3-11), and the revered Dean Smith had an 8-9 overall record in his first year, just a few years after the same team won a national championship.
Perspective is everything, and when making sweeping judgments about the quality of a coach- you have to take two steps back. Coach Buzz is playing with Dino’s players- and they have been trying/playing hard- but it’s something to think about…

Justin Wiles on 03/06/2011 (11:55 pm)

Dan - I know this would be wild speculation at this point, but how many (if any) more wins do you think this team would have had if Tony Woods was still on the squad and if Tony Chennault had been healthy all year (without even the pre-season stress injury that preceded the fracture in the first game)?  I still believe they would have finished last, but I don’t think they would have been this attrocious.

Was it really only two seasons ago that Wake Forest was (briefly) ranked as the number one team in the country?  Unbelievable.

Matt on 03/06/2011 (7:32 pm)

Hey Wake. How’s the coach bzz working for you? He left CU like a rat jumping ships. Don’t look now but we are the 5 seed in the big xii tourney and then heading to the PAC 12. Maybe the big dance which is the step forward our program needs.

Enjoy languishing in an offense that worked for Air Force and Princeton, but no where else!

Glad you have Bzz, he wasn’t worthy of being at CU,

Allan goetz on 03/06/2011 (5:15 pm)

I continue to watch the games, desperately hoping that we will play a decent game for 40 minutes. we played weel today for about 5-6 minutes, then it quickly reverted back to turnover after turnover, no perimeter defense, and very little energy. It has become painful, even for the announcers of these televised scrimmages. If we are thinking that Tony C is going to be our point guard in the future, we are in for a long few years. CJ is just plain running on fumes—he is giving it is all, but has little help other than McKie and Clark. The coaching is pathetic, substitution rotations are comical, and the opponents even now seem aware of the dysfunctional team..If only we could go into the 4-corners after the opening tip, and rely on our foul shooting—might be a close game..Never seen Wake athletics in the much of a funk..

beachdeac on 03/06/2011 (3:29 pm)

Can we just go ahead and fire Coach Bzz after the ACC tourney game? Perhaps the AD as well since they live in an alternative universe and continue to see improvement. I hear that the University of Tenn. might have openings for both in the near future.

kurtm on 03/06/2011 (3:07 pm)

I am glad church ran over today so I only had to watch the last 10 minutes of the BC game. I am in disbelief that I am watching the same WFU team that started the season against Stetson. I see absolutely NO IMPROVEMENT. If Bzzz and Well want to start their post game talk about how they are seeing improvement then maybe they need to attend a church service that runs a little long to give them time to ask for forgiveness for lying to Deacon fans all season.
BZZZ please man up and resign, your services have never been wanted from day one.

Wakemeup on 03/06/2011 (2:44 pm)

I too have been a season ticket holder for over 20 years in both football and basketball and contribute to the Deacon Club.  I have renewed for FB and will probably renew for BB.  However, I think I am like a lot of other loyal members; I will renew based on hope and admiration for the university, but if that loyalty is not returned after next year in the form of personnel adjustments (good DC for the FB team and about everything for the BB team), I will consider myself and my money being taken advantage of and will quit the Deacon Club. I really believe WF has 1 year ahead to “right the ship” or it will incur heavy losses in fan support.

jim on 03/06/2011 (7:56 am)

It’s hard to believe that just 2 years ago the Deacons were ranked #1 in the nation . Sagarins latest rating has Wake at about 250. Never has a basketball program sunk so low so fast.Wellman and Coach Bz keep talking about how the team has improved during the season.
The best game they played was against Iowa in November . The worst game was Thursday’s game against Ga Tech. After witnessing the debacle against Ga Tech, I’ve got to ask what alternative universe Wellman and Bz . are living in.They have squandered all the momentum and excitement that was built during the Prosser years. Going to the Joel to watch Wake basketball is no longer an enjoyable experience . In fact it’s an excruciating experience.
Following a very dissapointing football season ,the Wake athletic department is in serious trouble .
I’ve been a season ticket holder for basketball and football for over 20 years ,but why should I pay the ever increasing ticket prices,seat rights and Deacon club membership to watch teams that are the laughing stock of the conference ?

steve p on 03/06/2011 (12:11 am)

TM,

Can’t blame the recruiting for this fiasco. Dino brought in excellent talent to match what he had left.

He brought in a scoring 2 guard in JT Terrell, something that had been missing really since Justin Gray graduated.

He brought in a versatile inside/out wing in Travis McKie to replace Al Faroq Aminu.

He already had a 7’-7’ offense/defense frontline with Woods and Walker similar to what we had success previously with McFarlane and Weaver. So he brought in a widebody in Tabb and a project in Desrosiers to spread the defense.

Then he brought in a PG to replace Ish Smith, though CJ, an experienced combo G was going to carry the load.

Some pieces got lost along the way, but it’s certainly not Dino’s fault because he didn’t recruit properly.

It would have been interesting to see how Dino would have managed this team with the missing pieces. My opinion is they have been horribly managed.

Another thought is does Dino even have the missing pieces? Does Tony Woods get stupid if he has a coach he knows and trusts to talk him down? (I say he probably does) Does Melvin Tabb behave better in a system he’s more comfortable with? (I think he does, because I believe his actions are a result of frustration).

Joey D on 03/05/2011 (8:42 pm)

Pretty much a wasted season as far as entertaining basketball was concerned. We certainly lowered expectations as the season progressed till I was just hoping we would beat the spread.  Still had a terrible season.  The highlight of the last game had to be Denmore McDermott and his presentation of the National Anthem.  His mom has to be proud of her son, I know as a Wake fan he is one we can be proud of.  Number 52 in the program, # 1 in our hearts.  Good job.
Have a good summer Dan, take a break, get charged up, we will look for you in the fall. 
Thanks for you efforts and being part of our WFU experience.
Like Bobby says, Peace.
EJ

ej on 03/05/2011 (6:46 pm)