Deacons Frontcourt No Muscle Beach
It bears noting that when Tony Woods had one of the worst days of his young life and did what he knows he should have never done, Wake Forest didn’t immediately send him packing. And the university, in allowing the process to proceed at its own pace, wasn’t looking after the interests of another Tim Duncan or Al-Farouq Aminu or even an Eric Williams.
Woods, in his two seasons at Wake Forest, was never close to that good.
The main reason he’ll be missed is that the Deacons, at least at the time being, don’t really have any other experienced post players. His absence will put much more on the untested backs of Ty Walker, Carson Desrosiers and Melvin Tabb, and Nikita Mescheriakov, once he becomes eligible against UNC Wilmington on Dec. 12, will be asked to pitch in as well.
Where it will most affect the Deacons will be at the defensive end. Woods remained decidedly limited offensively over his two seasons at Wake, but he did provide a big, physical body, the kind most college teams build their post defense around. So one of the questions I had for Coach Jeff Bzdelik at yesterday’s media gathering was what he had in mind to overcome Wake’s lack of muscle and bulk.
“Well we’re going to have to do some things defensively to offset, perhaps, our lack of depth,’’ Bzdelik said. “We’re going to have to probably double in the post well, and make that a staple of ours defensively—and do some things defensively to keep people out of foul trouble and to offset some of that physicality and depth inside that we lack right now because of the absence of Tony Woods.’‘
Michael Jennings of DeaconSports wondered if that would make Bzdelik more apt to play zone.
“I’m not really a zone guy,’’ Bzdelik said. “I don’t even know how to teach a 2-3 to be honest with you. In the past, out of a timeout I’ve done some 2-3 and I’ve had to have my assistants do it because I don’t know how to do it.’‘
But for every yin there’s a yang and Bzdelik said he can see Desrosiers, a 6-11, 235-pound freshman said to possess good ball skills and an accurate shooting touch, causing problems for teams at the other end of the court. Although he was recruited to play power forward, Bzdelik recognizes that the lack of bodies will result in Desrosiers logging minutes at center as well.
“No question,’’ Bzdelik said. “But Carson is a pick-and-pop guy because he can really shoot the ball. And what does that do? It opens up the court. Spacing is so critical. It really is. And Carson can do that. (Centers) have to come out and play him. They do. And what does that do? It opens up the court maybe to go post up somebody who might have a mismatch in there. We can invert post-ups.’‘