Comments

We do not have a coach. We have a coach who coaches like an assistant coach. Please do not make Wake Fans suffer through another year of “Dino” ball. Dino is a very nice person and cares about his players. He just can’t coach. Let’s face it another year of “Dino” ball will have a disastrous effect on out ability to recruit quality players.

Craig Carter on 03/10/2010 (5:23 pm)

DC, Thanks for the clarification, however my main point is that we have under performed for the time Dino has been the Coach and I think it is a direct reflection upon him. He looks unsure of himself and so does his team. I ask Dino once what was his Coaching philosophy and he had no answer. Granted we are much better defensively, even with the losses to Carolina and NC State we held them to under 40 % shooting, the offensive rebounding and basic boxing out has killed us. If Dino was such a good Coach why was he not noticed. Granted he is a good recruiter but that is about it. I also agree that teams go thru spells where they don’t play well, but we just appear at times that we aren’t ready to play or we are unsure of what we are running. I have yet to see a Duke team that is not ready to play. The Duke team reflects the Coach.
Its a pattern, and one that no one wants to own up to.
As bad as I want them in the NCAA field, if they go into the ACC tournament losing five in a row, I wouldn’t put them in.

Tony C on 03/04/2010 (3:14 pm)

Tony C,

I didn’t make the comparison between Wake and Duke, but I agree that it is a false dichotomy.  Even if you grant Dave O’s premise that Duke underachieved based on its seeding the last five years, none of Duke’s postseason losses were as bad the one to Cleveland State. 

But to Dave O’s overall point, I think he’s merely saying that teams sometimes go through stretches where they underpeform and it might make sense to patient.  I think it’s a reasonable point, but I still need to see progress (or at least a plan to create progress next year!) in order to justify that patience.  I haven’t seen that yet, but the year isn’t over. 

- DC

DC on 03/03/2010 (6:50 pm)

In my opinion Dino needs to be more realistic about Wake’s post season performances, especially over the past 10 years.  These are teams that have had talent but have vastly underachieved.  In 2003 Wake was a 2 seed and lost in the second round to Auburn, and in 2005 the Chris Paul led team that probably had enough talent to win a national title, or atleast make a Final Four, lost to West Virginia.  Last year is obviously a similar story, losing to Cleveland State in a horrible game.  I understand that the pressure is turned up a notch during the ACC tournament and the NCAAs, but downplaying these failures is ridiculous.  Wake has had the teams and talent to make runs in the tournament, and while teams such as Xavier, Gonzaga, and Butler in smaller conferences have made consistent Sweet 16 runs, Wake has found themselves playing into the second weekend once this decade.  The team this year certainly is not as talented as the ones mentioned beforehand, but the result of a terrible March is looking all too familiar…

gcgwake on 03/03/2010 (5:59 pm)

Dan,

Your article speaks volumes in so few words!!

Bobby

bobby h griffin on 03/03/2010 (5:39 pm)

Get a grip! Everybody getting their shorts in a wad over whether Wake folded last year or not is a pretty good indication that Wake fans (and maybe the coach) have become as unfocused as the team. The weaknesses of this years team are the same now as they were in Nov and earlier in Feb when we were 18-5 and 11 in the RPI. Nobody has come up with some magic strategy to beat Wake….they’ve been trying to do the same things all year (it’s never been a mystery) yet we won 18 out of the first 23 games. The difference is that we don’t have the same defensive intensity and control of the boards (particularly on the offensvie end)that produce points in the open court and offensive stick backs. That is who this team is…or was. If the strategy is for this group to start draining 3’s from Kernersville then you better warm up the bus cause the party is over. Everybody needs to stop panicing and the Deacs need to go back to being who they are (or where).....and that (defense and rebounding) has to do with heart and desire.

RB on 03/03/2010 (11:35 am)

Seems to me the worst part of this end of the season run is that Aminu now knows that he will get no benefit from coming back for another season. Had Ish left last year and Teague stayed we’d be playing for something bigger than “can we stay out of the Thursday games in the ACC Tourney”

BLAHBLAHBLAH on 03/03/2010 (10:39 am)

Dan,

Good post.  Wake fans hyperventilate too easily.  There are problems here, but we need to keep some perspective.

Dino can only do so much if the team can’t shoot its way out of a zone.  However, the team does lack some discipline on offense.  They need to stick to a game plan to beat a zone and not panic.

99 alum on 03/02/2010 (9:37 pm)

Hey DC, Your perspective with regard to Duke Basketball comparrison in the tournament is a joke. I would gladly trade places with the results Coach K gets with his team no matter who wears the jersey. Look at Smith, not near the talent of Aminu, look at Zoubeck, not nearly the talent of Aminu. If Aminu were a Blue Devil he would be first team all america.

Tony C on 03/02/2010 (5:57 pm)

CBS Sports listed 30 candidates for COY.
I hope someone is paying close attention to these on the list:
Brad Stevens-Butler
Steve Donahue-Cornell
Chris Mooney-Richmond
Ben Jacobson-Northern Iowa
Billy Kennedy-Murray State

Chris Mack is on the list, but that Xavier cord has to be cut.

I know this is premature and controversal, just throwing out there.

Jerry on 03/02/2010 (5:25 pm)

Bottom line, Dino is no coach which is why he was Prosser’s assistant for so long. There is a reason we seem to just go away at times, Cleveland State, NC State, Butler!!! At the end of the day Dino is the decision maker, play caller, motivator, teacher, leader. I left the game early Saturday because I was sick of seeing him get out coached by Roy Williams. He got out coached by Sidney Lowe which in my opinion is the least talented coach in the ACC. He has a All American in Aminu, but can’t design him a play to get him open. He plays Ari Stewart the only player to throw it into the ocean the last 2 games for 16 minutes per game.
At the end of the day, it’s about Coaching. And we don’t have one.

Tony Collins on 03/02/2010 (5:15 pm)

Good lord, only the most die-hard WFU homers could possibly fool themselves into believing the team didn’t “crash” last year - and seems we’re following an eerily similar trajectory this season… I can see Dino’s point but by the same token, he wasn’t hired just to coach in the regular season. First he’s got to MAKE it to the postseason (and no, if we finish with 5 losses we don’t deserve an NCAA bid, sorry) and then he’s got to deliver. No more Cleveland State debacles or else, nice guy or not, the man has simply got to go.

Wake Alum on 03/02/2010 (3:28 pm)

JT

Every single player on that roster was recruited by DINO GAUDIO as he has always recruited for Skip.

trey on 03/02/2010 (2:39 pm)

The main problem I see is that other teams have figured out how to play Wake. You cut off Smith once he gets inside the foul line and make him take jumpers. Get back quickly on defense and stop transition buckets.  Play a loose zone or man defense and surround the post players when they get it. This forces Wake to take medium/long range shots which only 1 player can seem to hit. 

Wake’s starting 5 shoots well under 30% from 3 and around 64% from the line.  Not good at all.  Coach Gaudio can’t put the ball in the basket for them.

JT on 03/02/2010 (1:35 pm)

Winning six of the final seven regular season games is evidence that the team did not “crash” at the end of last season.  But going 8-5 after starting the season 16-0 is hardly what I call a strong finish going into March.  I think that Coach Gaudio would at least agree that we didn’t finish the year playing to the standards befitting Wake Forest basketball. 

But I think that this discussion misses the point.  My concern with any coach is how his teams evolve through the season.  Whichever team cuts down the nets in March (or April?) 2010 will certainly be supremely talented (let’s not discount this factor entirely).  But it also will be the team that was best able to account for their deficiencies since December 2009.  It is not a matter of hoping to “peak at the right time”. 

So yeah, we choked against Cleveland State last year.  And I would argue that (albeit to a lesser degree) we just choked against Virginia Tech, NC State and UNC this year.  That happens.  I can accept slumps.  But when I look at the team we had in December, and the team we have now, the lack of improvement since December in just about every area of weakness really concerns me.  What concerns me more is that the evolution (or lack thereof) of last year’s team went along a pretty similar path. 

Of course, now is the time to support Coach Gaudio and the rest of the team as they try to build some momentum going into the tournament.  We still have a lot of talent on this team, and I know that the players have the desire to do something great this year.  Hopefully they succeed. 

If things don’t work out, then I will look forward to hearing a detailed diagnosis of what went wrong this year, and then an even more detailed plan on what to do to improve next year.  If Coach Gaudio can provide those two things, then I support him returning.

DC on 03/02/2010 (11:12 am)

A little perspective for those who consider the postseason everything. For the last 5 consecutive years Duke has underperformed its NCAA seeding.
2005- out in Sweet 16 as a #1.
2006- out in Sweet 16 as a #1.
2007- out in 1st round as a #6.
2008- out in the second round as a #2. 2009- out in the Sweet 16 as a #2.
In the last 3 years their NCAA record is 3-3, with 2 of the victories over Belmont, and Binghamton.
Everybody needs to take a deep breath.

Dave O on 03/02/2010 (1:38 am)

0-3 for Dino in postseason play and they all have been ugly losses.  I hope we can finish better this year.  And for the record, I never leave games early, even when it’s a 9:00 pm (none this year) Wednesday night game and I have an hour and half drive to get home and an early morning start at work the next day. I’m sure there are lots of loyal Deacon fans like me who just wish we could make a little more noise in postseason play.  Dino has yet to prove he can get them ready, but maybe he can this year.  Go Deacs!

Steve on 03/01/2010 (10:31 pm)

Country,
Would think Coach Gaudio should know you are only as good as your last dance.

That is what folks always remember…

BTW, You are an excellent writer and your body of work qualifies you for a Pulitzer prize, if they give those to sports writers!

Tom on 03/01/2010 (9:51 pm)

Just an observation or two - I agree that the crowd was not, did not, and could not get into the game on Saturday, for an almost full house, it was like a tomb.  We tried, but to no avail.  Making a small run, Saint Roy called time out and before the band could play, before the dancers could dance, before the cheerleaders could lead a cheer, (actually instead of leading a cheer, they work real hard to build some sort of mass pile up) we had the Pepsi, Time Warner, Champion Tee-shirt smile cam advertisement.  Hard to build or sustain enthusiasm, just sit down and wait, if we were at home, click, the channel would be changed.  And please,settle on the student seating, hard for them to get fired up when the band is up, down, in the middle, there are seats, no seats, standing room, what’s going on there?  Seems disjointed and unsettled, get some stability, engage the crowd, the students line the chute for the team to enter, introduced as the “sixth man” and then no other interaction between the team and the fans except when one of the players tries to lead a cheer.  Come on, acknowledge the crowd, we really do want to cheer, really do want to make our home on of those places that on the visiting teams bio, they list the Joel and the place they least like to visit.  It is possible, we were working hard toward that a couple of years ago and need to regain that momentum.  Make the place rock.  One time the Deacon Club awarded loyalty, time in the club counted, loyal fans were rewarded, those days are gone.  Now it is what have you done for me today.  The most money gets the better seats, corporations buy them up, pass the tickets out and so much for fan loyalty.  This year we were fortunate enough to have visiting fans beside us at every game.  (A bank has the seats and gives the tickets to clients or employees of the visiting team.)  Looking forward to sitting next to a couple of tigers next.  We have to be able to overcome this, just a fact of life, but WFU basketball in itself should generate enough enthusiasm to fill the place with rabid fans of the home team.  This team is exciting, hope springs eternal.  Go Deacons.

EJ on 03/01/2010 (9:03 pm)

Dan,

The truth hurts. And it would be a shame if you felt your relationship with Deac fans was compromised. I think that’s far from the case. You’re a straight shooter and this blog is dead on.

I know a lot of Deac fans want Dino to succeed but at the same time these late season swan dives with our talent are extremely frustrating.

Dirk341 on 03/01/2010 (8:54 pm)