Thursday, March 04, 2010

Deacon Slide Taking Its Toll

Before Wake’s game against North Carolina Saturday, Barry Jacobs, a long-time cohort who probably knows as much about ACC basketball as anybody in the free world, asked me my opinion of which of the Deacons should be considered for first-team All-ACC.

I replied that if you’re trying to pick the five best players, it should be Al-Farouq Aminu. But if your criterion is the five most valuable players, then it should be Ish Smith.

After Smith missed 16 of 21 shots and Aminu managed just seven points in the Deacons’ 77-68 setback, I ran into Barry in the press room.

“How about neither?’’ he cracked.

The collateral damage in the Deacons late-season slide is piling up. Not only is Wake playing its way onto the NCAA Tournament bubble with four straight losses, the resumes for post-season accolades are getting thinner game by game. Aminu’s chances are hanging by the barest of threads after his scoreless performance against the Seminoles.

In my mind, at least three issues were settled Wednesday night. The Deacons will play in Thursday’s first round of the ACC Tournament, Gary Williams should be the ACC’s Coach of the Year and Greivis Vasquez should be the Player of the Year.

And along with that, Jordan Williams took a giant step toward ACC Rookie of the Year.