My Take on Wake - And So It Ends

And So It Ends

It’s spring and the redbuds are blooming. I’ll be home soon.

All that is left to do down here in a city known for its Blues is to put the finishing touches on the 90-60 shellacking the Blg Blue of Kentucky put on Wake Forest, closing the Deacons season at 20-11. The Wildcats also closed the curtain on four seniors who have meant much to the Wake program, Ish Smith, L.D. Williams, Chas McFarland and David Weaver.

It’ll be a new day without them, and the Deacons can only hope it ends better than this season when they found their proud Pack-Line defense defenseless against the Kentucky onslaught. It’s hard to shoot 60 percent against anybody, especially a team that has ranked among the ACC’s best in field-goal percentage defense, but the Wildcats made it look easy.

It really got easy after Al-Farouq Aminu picked up his third foul with 11:39 left in the first half. The Wildcats made 21 of their next 25 shots from the floor, extended the lead to 31 and cruised into Thursday’s Final 16 game against the winner of today’s matchup between Wisconsin and upstart Cornell.

“I would not be surprised to see them in the Final Four—and probably win it all—if they continue to play the way they played tonight,’’ Smith said of UK. “They shot the ball and played some great defense.’‘

The Deacons bolted from the gates on the way to an 8-2 lead, and managed to play the Wildcats even through the first eight minutes.

“That’s the way you want to come out,’’ Smith said.

But from the time Aminu sat down, not to return until the second half, the Wildcats were off and running to their third NCAA Tournament rout of Wake Forest since 1993. We’ll never know if the Deacons could have hung around had Aminu not been saddled by fouls, but the point is moot.

The fouls were called, and the rest is history.

Aminu did take exception to the way the game was called officials Mike Reed, Kelly Self and David Hull, and was quite vocal about it afterward.

He didn’t dispute his second foul, when he charged while driving into the lane. But he was shaking his head over No. 1 and No. 3, both called while he was battling for defensive rebounds.

“The charging foul, I guess I’ve got a reputation for charging,’’ Aminu said. “It’s so hard of a call to call. Everybody always says it’s the hardest call to call. I’m not always frustrated over those.

“But the over-the-back calls on the defensive end, that’s hard to settle with. I can’t see a ref calling that in an NCAA Tournament. That baffles me.

“I’m not trying to criticize or anything like that, but I just don’t get it. The refs, they make mistakes like we make mistakes out there on the court. I didn’t make every shot tonight. I’m not saying they’re trying to make mistakes. But something happened, and I just don’t get it.

“But we should have never been down by 30, though.’‘

I asked Aminu if he was prepared to comment on his immediate plans, and whether he would be back for his junior year. He said he was not.

Back to the main page.

By Dan Collins on 03/21/2010 (12:05 am)

Comments

The lift of Ish’s 1st round, last second heroics quickly gave way to the thud of us being beaten by the largest point total of the tourney and Chas being hailed as a ‘dirty player’ on the front page of several major online sports and news portals. Successful tourney?

Mike on 03/21/2010 (11:32 pm)

Dan, how many coaches that you know of have had back to back 20 win seasons coupled with making the tournament two years in a row get fired. I know and understand your “what have you done for me lately” statement, but I don’t buy it. We did beat Texas, a more talented team than Wake by the way and survived to be 1 of 32 teams left playing for a national championship out of the 3hundred & something (don’t know the exact number)that started the year.

I have every confidence in Wellman and believe that not only will Dino be back next year but will in fact receive a contract extension.

It’s tough being a coach in today’s times with the blogs and boards that will question every move that is made. In addition it is typically those that want to vent displeasure that make the most noise. Tough on the kids also as they will suffer personal attacks in the new media by people who know nothing about them other than they did not play a “game” the way they felt it should be played. It’s getting a little crazy!

jcg on 03/21/2010 (10:21 pm)

Country,
Know you enjoyed N.O. with all its attributes.

Appreciate your honest assessments of the present program and look forward to more updates into April and beyond. At least we have Dan Collins who we can depend on!!!

The ‘10 season is now in the record books and it is time to look to the future. Based on what I saw this year, I feel a change is necessary in the program’s direction. The A.D. will undoubtedly have that important decision to make and will receive some level of criticism whichever path he takes.

Hope Ish gets his jersey retired as he was a stellar example of leadership over the last four years that were extremely challenging by all accounts.

Been a supporter since my childhood days of Chappell, Packer, Wiedaman, Hassell etc…Would @ least like to see another final four before I check out!!!

Tom on 03/21/2010 (4:11 pm)

We looked horrible, both on offence and defense, A lot of “soul searching” needs to appear. At around six minutes left in the first half ,we missed one layup after another. We looked like a fair High school team most of the game.Kentucky is certainly a great team, but not that much better than Wake.Excuses, such as a key player having fouls and having to sit on the bench, do not “jell. We should be prepared for such problems. Someone at Wake should take a very close look at this program. Wake overall was a good team this year, however faltered at the end. Keep up your good writing. I really enjoy your work.

Carl on 03/21/2010 (4:09 pm)

I think Dino had it right when he said Aminu should go pro if he’s a top 15 pick. I never begrudge athletes who go pro early. You never know if you might get hurt if you stay another year in college; may as well take the money while it’s guaranteed. He’ll always be able to finish his degree later if he wants to. And it’ll be good for him to challenge himself at the next level. He’s clearly got the work ethic and drive to succeed. While I still have my doubts about how far Dino can take this team coaching-wise, he’s definitely a man of character and represents us extremely well.

JM on 03/21/2010 (2:32 pm)

Now that the season is officially over, I guess we will all have our chance to critique the season, the coach, players, program, etc. I will be the first to do so apparently. If we as fans and Wake supporters are satisfied with being a 5-6th place ACC team, and ocassionaly getting into the 64 team tournament, then I guess we should feel good about the season,and the overall direction of the basketball program. On the other hand if we want more,then I personally think we need some changes. I think we all are happy and pleased with the way the team fought in the win over texas. That was a very inspired team victory. But, one game does not make a season. I think there are just too many problems with the leadership of the program. We have heard it all here before. Little offensive movement, poor last second clock management, the inability to adapt to game situations. Basic, fundamental things like not blocking out on foul shots, not getting the ball in bounds consistently, etc. poor foul shooting..And, the lack of inspired, intense play, and coaching. Someone several weeks ago made a very good point—how have players improved during their tenure under Dino and his staff? Ish has become more exciting, but his stats don’t show any improvement. L.D. has actually regressed-one of the strangest things is how badly he has become offensively in the last several seasons? Aminu is a classic case of having so much potential, but no real improvement in his ball handling or outside shooting. And Chas, he has been the biggest whiner, complainer, and overall problem child since he has been at Wake. Despite an ocassional very good game, his on court antics have been an embarrassmenbt to the team—in my opinion. The situation last night against Ky was just icing on the cake for a young man with some real emotional issues. then to watch Dino leave him in the game after that blatant foul last night just reinforced to me that Dino is not the right coach for the deacon program. Chas should have been benched right then, and Dino should have jumped right in his face—but again, that has been allowed all year without any discipline.Again, if we are satisfied with mediogrity, then keep Dino and his staff. If, we want more, then I don’t think that anyone can see more positive than negatives in the overall direction of the program. Lastly, if Wake has a strength and fitness coach for the basketball team, then he needs to go too.It was so apparent that the Ky players were so much bigger and stronger then the Wake players, which can only be changed in the weight room during the offseason. It did appear that it was a game of men and little men (didn’t want to say boys). I am a very loyal Wake fan (more than 45 yrs) but would like to see us get back to where we were years ago. Best wishes to the seniors as they move on to other, more important aspects of their lives. GO DEACS!

beachdeac on 03/21/2010 (2:21 pm)

Dan,

Tough way to end the season, but we lost to one heck of a team. UK looked like they were throwing golf balls into hula hoops.

I’d like to thank you once again for all your hard work on this blog. It has become yet another necessary source to feed my obsession with Wake sports.

Looking forward to hearing about our incoming freshmen.

John on 03/21/2010 (2:14 pm)

Chas McFarland. On balance he may have been productive for WF but throughout his time at he was also a cheap shot artist, committed silly, untimely, immature fouls, at critical times. His antics during player introductions against UK were like fanning the flames against a very talented teams is an example of his boorish behavior.

Dino Gaudio. To date in his tenure he has not demonstrated any ability to take his program to another level other than backwards if you count that. Losing to UK is not shameful but the way he and the team lost to UK is.

Radio_Smuggles on 03/21/2010 (11:58 am)

The testament to the athleticism of this year’s team will be the record of next year’s team. This year’s team was just the sum of the individual parts.

pensive1 on 03/21/2010 (8:17 am)

Yes mistakes were made and fouls were issued, but i still think it would have been closer if we had a different style of coaching. If you have looked at some of the games this year, the big men spent the majority of the time on the perimeter. If you were a head coach, why would you want your 7 foot big man standing at the top of the 3 point line (Chas) or have your next biggest man on the wing of the 3 point line shooting 3 pointers he never makes (Aminu)? It all comes back to discipline. Even Ish’s dunk that he horribly missed. If you are going to dunk it, use two hands. Don’t try to be some show off, selfish punk who, just because you made the game winning shot the previous night and that the head coach lets you run the team instead of him (for some reason I have no clue why), want to things to help himself than help the team. If I was Aminu, I’d go to the NBA this year. Wake is terrible and will continue to be terrible until Dino leaves.

Price on 03/21/2010 (1:57 am)

Well I wasn’t expecting Wake to win tonight but I think I expected the snowball effect to happen later in the game than it did. I don’t know of too many teams that could of beat Kentucky tonight. Looking back all I wanted Wake to do was make the tourney and they did. Not the way I wanted it to end but maybe these guys overachieved a bit. Maybe they underachieved who knows but it’s the end of an era. Will never forget Ish’s game winners, LD’s dunks, Weaver’s crazy 3’s and Mcfarland’s antics and domination of Hansborough last year. One things for certain, this team will look completely different next year. Don’t expect Aminu back and it was good to see Ty Walker get in the game. Tony and Ty will have to be huge for Wake next year to have any success. Thanks for the memories seniors and Ish thank you for ALL of the great shots and buzzer beaters you provided for us Wake fans. Good luck to you in the future. I hope you make a living playing basketball somewhere because you deserve it! Time to move on to spring and football I suppose. Dan I hope you enjoyed New Orleans. Go Deacs!

Cliff Daniel on 03/21/2010 (1:20 am)

I’m proud of the way we did in the tournament this year. Yes, we got killed today, but KY is a lot more talented (especially when farouq is not out there). We had a finish against texas that you will never forget. I’m looking forward to football and then Dino and the crew in November.

Aaron on 03/21/2010 (1:19 am)

Well, it was at least nice to be in the round of 32 and to have the opportunity to play an NBA Development League team. Kentucky was just incredible. Wake Forest obviously has some talented guys, so to win by 30 after taking their pedal off of the gas well before the final horn…that was just a total decimation (not unlike the Elite 8 game during the Tim Duncan era). Even if Wake had played a perfect game I believe Kentucky still would have won based on talent alone. I think that I could even have coached Kentucky to a W tonight.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll repeat it now - Al-Farouq Aminu is not ready for prime time. He is not a smart player, and he still has so many areas of his game that he needs to develop. I don’t know what kind of advice he’ll get in the offseason, but I sure wouldn’t take him at this point if I were an NBA executive. Supposedly he returned to Wake for his Sophomore year to further develop his game, but I didn’t see much progress. He is correct - he IS known for his charging fouls, and that is because of poor decision making and not knowing his limitations. He’s also known for hoisting up untimely shots from behind the arc (that rarely go in) and for dribbling into traffic and losing control of the ball. If he has any chance to go in the first round of the NBA draft he SHOULD go now because he may not get much better and may miss his window to get an NBA guaranteed contract. But I sure wouldn’t draft him in spite of his “upside” that everyone always talks about. He’s a nice young man, and I wish him well. But he never really developed into the kind of player that he was touted to be coming out of high school. John Wall, on the other hand - yikes. He’s ready. He’ll not see the inside of a Kentucky classroom again.

Matt on 03/21/2010 (1:07 am)