My Take on Wake - Media Blackout for Black and Gold

Media Blackout for Black and Gold

I have it on good authority that none of the Wake Forest players are going to be reading this blog after today’s 77-68 loss to North Carolina in Joel Coliseum. Or at least they’ve been ordered not to by head coach Dino Gaudio, who also dictated that they not watch the highlights on television or peruse the message boards.

That was the message Gaudio had for his team after the stunning loss, and that’s what he told the assembled media after what was probably—given the opponent, the losing streak, and the the week off to prepare to play at home on national television—the toughest loss the Deacons have had to swallow all season.

It’s been often said a team looks good when it shoots well and looks bad when it shoots poorly. The Deacons missed 52 shots and looked terrible. (They were 22 of 74, the exact totals of last March’s first-round loss to Maryland in the ACC Tournament). They also looked like a team that will have to turn it around fast to avoid undoing all accomplished over the first 3 1/2 months on the way to an 18-5 overall record with a 8-3 conference record.

Now they’re 18-8 and 8-6 with one foot in Thursday’s first-round of the ACC Tournament and the other sliding ever close to the NCAA Tournament bubble.

“I told the kids, `Turn the TVs off,’ Gaudio said. “(I said) `Turn the boards off, turn the television off, with `Are you in, or out you out?’ None of that stuff matters right now. All we have to worry about is trying to get better. We have to worry about us. Don’t worry what this person is saying, `ACC Tournament, NCAA Tournament.’ That’s the last thing we need to worry about right now.’

“We’ll just worry about trying to get better and trying to get a win right now. That’s the only thing that matters right now. It’s not, `Are we in, are out, are we on the bubble, are we off the bubble, do we have a bye, do we not have a bye?’ We’ve just got to play. Those things are so much on the periphery of what we need to concentrate on.’

Senior L.D. Williams echoed the sentiment, when asked what he can expect after the final two regular season games against Florida State in Tallahassee on Wednesday and Clemson at home on Sunday.

“We’ll see after those two games,’’ Williams said. “Those two games will define a lot of what we want to do. We can’t be worried about what Joe Lundardi is going to say about us tonight. We can’t be worried about what the committee is going to say about us tonight. We can’t worry about that. The only thing we can worry about is what we’re going to do to fix the problem against Florida State on Wednesday.’‘

Back to the main page.

By Dan Collins on 02/27/2010 (7:15 pm)

Comments

Steve, The refs are out to get Chaz. He built a reputation over the last few years and now he is suffering for it. It isn’t right to be prejudged but the fact is that he will have to play without a even a shove for the next 4 years to lose the reputation and to stop getting called on everything no matter how small. It’s too late for Chaz’s college career. Maybe as he becomes a banker or whatever he’ll start the career with a clean slate and not have to correct his reputation for the rest of that career.

LJCPA on 03/01/2010 (2:05 pm)

Wow, what a stunning loss and a terrible performance. To see Chas play that way after four years, you wonder if he has matured at all. Getting fouls and running to the bench like he did when he was a frosh and sophomore. He looks like he thinks the refs are out to get him which is a recipe for disaster. CJ appears to have lost all confidence and the Deacs best lineup may be with Ari starting. I truly hope they can pull it together but you wonder if Wake has another collapse like last year if Wellman will keep Dino around.

steve on 02/27/2010 (7:45 pm)