My Take on Wake - A Different ACC

A Different ACC

Point 1—I saw no evidence that Jeff Bzdelik is an ACC coach. There was no noticeable development of any of the players that I would attribute to anything other than the normal and expected improvement that comes from practicing hundreds of times and playing 30 games under constant and diligent coaching.

Point 2—But before I conclude Jeff Bzdelik is not an ACC coach, I’d prefer to see him coach an ACC team. The 2010-11 Deacons had two players—C.J. Harris and Travis McKie—who would have played any meaningful role for any ACC team other than maybe Virginia. And given the way Harris faded down the stretch, even he would have had trouble getting off the bench for anybody. Carson Desrosiers, J.T. Terrell, Tony Chennault could have probably made most rosters, but their inclusion would be based on what they might someday become and not what they are. And there are always teams around who will take a 7-0 center with a condor’s wing span, regardless of how little Ty Walker has produced in his first three seasons of college basketball.

—From My Take on Wake, March 13, 2011.

Thinking back on the maelstrom of the spring of 2011, when beleaguered Wake fans had just experienced about as abysmal a sports year as any fans could endure, I was swamped by the incessant negativity. I understood the emotion, and where it was coming from, and I can’t say that if I were a Wake fan I would have reacted any differently. Like Nikita Whitlock, I’m a jolly guy, I like to say, but I was having more and more trouble keeping my head above the ever rising tide of rancor and vitriol I would experience every time I checked out the latest comments to MTOW. The one tune that kept bouncing around in my head was by the Band, Rag Mama Rag

There were those who kept at me to state my opinion on whether Ron Wellman had screwed up royally by hiring Jeff Bzdelik as basketball coach. My standard reply has always been that I’m one of those rare sportswriters who’s not into hiring and firing coaches, or, for that matter, athletics directors. I can and will observe whether I think a team, or a program, is in good shape or shambles, and I will give my reasons and analysis as to why I think that’s so. But as I’ve said so many times, the good fans of Wake Forest don’t want this old country boy to be calling the shots for your program. I’m not qualified, and I know it.

By May 13, however, I had promised I would give my take on Bzdelik’s first pass through an ACC season. You can read the gist of what I wrote above.

What struck me watching the ACC/Big Ten Challenge these past couple of nights, however, is that the definition of what constitutes an ACC team is not exactly what it once was. The bar’s not just been lowered, it has slipped off the rungs and is clanging around on the floor. Leonard Hamilton has built Florida State into a solid program, but I can’t believe the Seminoles are going to seriously threaten the hegemony of North Carolina and Duke. Virginia looks pretty good to me, but like a buddy mentioned earlier today the Cavs always seem to be just one injury away from disaster. I’ve got to think that N.C. State will continue to improve and should be pretty good by when it really counts in February and March. Jim Larranaga might get things going at Miami if our hometown guy Reggie Johnson returns from a knee injury in January as expected. And I was tremendously impressed by the job Brad Brownell did in his first season at Clemson, though losing his two best players, Demontez Stitt and Jerai Grant off last season’s 22-12 team is going to make an rousing encore tough to come by.

But otherwise, think about where this year’s teams at Virginia Tech, Maryland, Boston College, Georgia Tech and yes, Wake, would have fared in the ACC in say, 1997 when a Virginia team with Curtis Staples, Harold Deane, Courtney Alexander, Donald Hand, Norman Nolan and Jamal Robinson wound up sixth in a nine-team league and a Georgia Tech team with Matt Harpring finished last, even if the other main contributors happened to be Michael Maddox, Gary Saunders, Kevin Morris, Eddie Elisma and Jason Floyd.

So as Wake is catching up to what we consider an ACC team, the ACC is falling back at least as fast. Every team other than the Big Two look imminently beatable, especially on your own home floor, and there’s increasing evidence that at least a couple of teams have more ground to make up than the Deacons.

I’m not ready to say how many ACC games Wake should win. First I want to see these next couple of weeks, when the Deacons play Richmond at home and High Point and Seton Hall on the road. But I am convinced that any team, even a middling one, that plays solid basketball, doesn’t go belly up in a sea of turnovers, doesn’t send the opponent to the free throw line all night and plays enough defense to keep the opponent from turning a game into a layup drill is going to end up right smack in the middle of the pack.

The wins are there to be had, and if Wake can consistently play like it played at Nebraska last night in the Deacons’ first victory on an opponent’s home court under Bzdelik, then it will win its share and maybe even more.

Back to the main page.

By Dan Collins on 12/01/2011 (1:15 pm)

Comments

The chemistry must have been ok because the players that left went to play together. Maybe the issue they had was an unwillingness to buy into a failed philosophy.

The thing about great players is when things are not happening they will at least try to make things happen. Sometimes they try to force it and rarely ever good. If you have a Sr. trying to force it, you have an issue. If you have a Fr. trying to force it, you probably have a budding superstar because he’s playing without fear and trying to lead.

Chase is a great shooter with a solid basketball IQ. JT Terrell is a great basketball player.

I want to know what the difference between Ish Smith dribbling the ball for 30 secs then trying something desperate in the past and this team passing the ball around the 3pt line for 30 secs then Tony Chennault trying to force something.

I must not be watching the same games you guys are. I’ve seen us play 3 medioce teams, play one good game(Dayton) and get beat 3 times, twice badly.

I’d love to be one of those to sit back and watch to see what happens. But it’s not me. I see things as not very good and getting worse.

JoeyD on 12/04/2011 (5:13 pm)

Not really thrilled about losing, but much more worried about what the coach says when it happens. Is it me, or does Bz put down and blame his players more than any other coach? I’m used to hearing coaches say “we”...Bz always seems to say “they”.....

Disgruntled on 12/03/2011 (6:53 pm)

Dan,
How am I supposed to reconcile a loss against Richmond at home? A team who lost 75% of its scoring from last year and worked us for 80% of that game? I’d love for you to ask Coach Bz this question. We got outplayed today and it didn’t look good.

Nick on 12/03/2011 (4:08 pm)

Nice column. Seldom does any writer have the guts to look at what he said last year vs. what happened, nor the humility to admit that he doesn’t know more than the people whose job it is to know more. Keep up the wisdom, the wit, and the honesty, Dan. This Deacon really respects it.

Dave on 12/02/2011 (12:29 pm)

Joey, with all due respect, I’m going to have to disagree with you. Not about the talent we had, but in regard to the team we had or rather did not have. We had the remnants last year of a group of selfish, self-serving individuals who had gotten out of control (see Guadio firing). There are hundreds of examples of very talented teams who, because of lack of chemistry, were dismal failures. We were one of them. I am not saying that Bzdelick is a great coach. However, to me, he is proving to be a good coach, who is bringing a system in and laying down the word that, if you want to play at WF, you will adhere to the team philosophy, rules, etc. I watched the game against Nebraska. Those were games Wake invariably lost, not just last year, but the last couple of years. I couldn’t help think that if the team on the floor had been the one coached by Gaudio, the last 30 seconds would have consisted of Ish dribbling the ball until there were 6 seconds on the clock, and then driving and trying to create a shot (again no disrepect to Ish personally). Against Nebraska, we had a strategy and a play with options coming out of a timeout. We may not be as individually talented this year as last year, but I believe we are more of a team.

Jim on 12/02/2011 (9:57 am)

This is directed @ Joey D - JT ??- Yea its early but Fisher has showed so much more then this troubled kid JT - Have we already forgot he as Ari was were turn over machines + from what I have seen Chase can shoot much better & seems like his decisions are so much better - he doesnt force like JT did - if the shots there he takes it - if not & unlike JT he doesnt take a bad shot -

Rich on 12/02/2011 (8:49 am)

We did have an ACC caliber team last year. We were poorly coached.

The failure to use Desrosiers and his faceup offensive skills (which we see now and were told he had when he was a top 100 recruit) at PF while forcing McKie to attempt to continuously cover 6’10 players on the defensive end led to the disaster we had.

CJ Harris, JT Terrell in the backcourt. Travis McKie at 3. Twin towers on the low block. An explosive, versatile 6th man (already proven) in Ari Stewart. A long range sniper ready to fire off the bench. A good hard nosed hustle guy like Mescherikov to provide some fight inside… We had all the pieces. They didn’t look like an ACC team because they weren’t coached to be an ACC team.

From what I’ve seen so far, we’re not as good as we were. But I understand Boston College doesn’t actually have basktball players this year, so we could win 3.

CJ Harris was just as capable last year as he is this year.

JT Terrell was better version of Chase Fischer. He could shoot AND make his own shot.

Carson is stronger this year, which is great defensively, but his offense is coming because he’s playing 4. Since we don’t actually use a 5, which is why we get killed every night by everybody on the glass.

Travis is simply a year better.

JoeyD on 12/01/2011 (10:51 pm)

We are not “there” yet as the loss to ASU showed but we are showing promise, as these last 2 games have shown. It won’t happen this year but I am more confident now that it is not too far down the road.

Ken Green on 12/01/2011 (10:12 pm)

Dan,

Just a comment to say really enjoyed your piece in the journal today about Nuzzolesse and the womens soccer team. So much flack gets thrown on the athletic apartment when the revenue sports have off years, its easy to overlook when the other sports are flying high. The Lady Deacs definitely have a chance to do something special in the College Cup this weekend.

GoDeacs422 on 12/01/2011 (7:37 pm)

Dan:

I couldn’t agree more…...the ACC is no where near what it once was as a basketball conference.

Part of that in my opinion is that kids no longer play sports (games) based on the time of year….they become totally immersed in a single sport (in this case basketball) and have more focused year around training and competition far earlier in life. Secondly as college athletics has become more about business than education, there are more kids playing who may not have attended college in the past…the attraction is not about playing for Duke, Wake or Uva and getting a top flight education as well…it’s all about the fast track to the NBA.

The bottom line is that there are a lot more well prepared and skilled (from a basketball perspective) kids available and it is difficult for any conference to corral the best of the best year in and year out. Good coaches also tend to be a lot more mobile these days given the amount on money being thrown at them.

At the end of the day the premier progams like Duke and Carolina are still able to “select” from amoung the best but maintaining consistent high quality programs across any conference has become increasingly diffcult. College Golf is another good example where it has become increasingly diffcult for individual programs to consistently dominate as Wake once did….too many good players with many of them coming from overseas.

I believe the third reason is the overpowering impact of football revenue on college athletics. The first ACC expansion had nothing to do with academics and all that other drivel that was thrown out….it was all about football revenue. The ACC was once THE premier basketball conference in the country with a host of good teams (granted Duke and UNC have been the lead dogs for a long time) and some unbelievable rivalries. It was a basketball conference and the place to play if you wanted to be in the “Big Time.”

Now the ACC has a huge ESPN deal (mission accomplished), mediocre football and a much watered down basketball image. The most recent expansion my improve the basketball performance of the conference to some degree with the addition of Pitt and Syracuse….but as far as rivals, Wake - Syracuse will never replace a home and home with Carolina ( but then again the only people that care about that are the ones who experienced it and those days are gone).

Deacon23 on 12/01/2011 (4:18 pm)

Country,
Only got to see the 1st half of last PM game against the “Cornhuskers”... Like most, I only hoped the losing margin Wake endured would remain in single digits. I was delighted to see the team overcome adversity & win! Progress is being made @ last!

I have been as hard on Bz as anyone. I felt Bz’s age was his biggest enemy and his lack of staying power at any particular institution whether it be NBA or College.

With the exception of the whipping at the hand of Herb Sendek’s team last week, so far there does seem to be more camaraderie in this group of young men. Hope does spring eternal.

I still feel having a good staff spearheaded by Jeff & Rusty is an ace in the hole. And wouldn’t it be nice that at some time in the not too distant future Mugsy Bogues might be enticed to relocate from the Queen City to the Triad and join the staff…

Tom Willis on 12/01/2011 (3:29 pm)