Comments

This is a great win for us. It is just one win though. Next is Maryland, then State, then Duke. Win two out of three of those games and I would say we have come a long way since the Wofford loss.

Craig Carter on 01/09/2012 (6:17 pm)

Tony,

I’m not looking for offensive production at the 5 position in playing Walker and Desrosiers together. I’m looking to take advantage of Carson’s faceup game at 4 while maintaining a post presence on the offensive glass.

The only back to the basket player we have is McKie and he’s not effective against bigger stronger 4s. Having Desrosiers at 4 will make Travis more effective on the low blocks, guaranteed.

Ty Walker is a defensive stopper period. That’s how he was recruited out of high school, where he was an all american. If I’m not mistaken his senior season he only averaged 8ppg, yet he was a gamechanger. If he blocks 3 shots and changes 6 shots, he has single handedly lowered the opponents shooting percentage by 15%. Virginia Tech shot what 34% Saturday, what if they had shot 45% instead? A win becomes a double digit loss.

I thought Walker got tired in the 2nd half. I didn’t see enough of Meschirakov down the stretch. I really thought his absence from the 8 min tv timeout allowed VT back in the game.

We don’t have a lot of fire power. Our games are going to be won on the defensive end. The offensive formula is McKie and Harris 15-20, some combination of Fischer, Meschirakov, Desrosiers and Chennault producing 12-15 and the other two about 8-10. 6 from Walker will just be a major benefit.

JoeyD on 01/09/2012 (5:48 pm)

I hate to disagree with Joey however while we have size we lack instictive talent at many positions. Ty Walker has no instictive basketball talent, he has size and wing span but has very little talent. He hasn’t improved at all from last year. On Saturday if any of you DVR the game, go back and look at him…twice in the second half he had easy looks at the basket and rather than take it up strong he moves away from the basket rotates to the middle and takes a 9 ft shot then a few minutes later he decides to take a 13 ft jumper rather than the open lane to the basket which fueled VT come back. You didn’t see him again until late in the game. Credit to the coaches they must see For whatever reason he is not comfortable taking the ball strong to the basket which is why you rarely see both he and Carson on the floor at the same time. Look at his numbers, he does not shoot many foul shots like someone of Duncan’s size. Tim was long not very heavy much like Walker but Tim also rebounded blocked shots, but he was also a threat around the basket. I think Walker has unlimited potential but he has yet to show the promise. And without a threat around the basket from either Ty or Carson we won’t see many wins.
Out of this years freshman class, so far we have one that contributes….Chase, he is the only threat we have coming off the bench.
What I did see is a lot of grit and emotion from the players. I rarely see any from the Coaches, but I did see Buzz interacting with the other assistant coaches, during every TV timeout he would huddle for a few seconds with the coaches then address the team, you could see him lean over and talk to Rusty or one of the other coaches.
I did see improvment on the boards, we certainly didnt look like we ranked over 300 in the rebounding department.
I hope we continue to improve….time will tell.

Dan by the way…great article by both you and Lenox.

Tony Collins on 01/09/2012 (4:27 pm)

Don’t be fooled by the 3 rebounds by our 7 footers. They made things happen. When a shot blocker changes a shot, he’s not likely to be in position to grab the board. Ty Walker changed a lot of shots Saturday and Carson Desrosiers blocked a lot of shots Saturday. That created opportunites for McKie, Meschirakov and even Chennault on a couple of occasions to grab boards.

Travis McKie proved what I’ve been preaching about for 2 seasons. He’s a beast at SF and unstoppable. Believe it or not, we have a size advantage over most teams in this league. Only Duke and N.Carolina can really compete with us size wise.

We need to stay away from the 3 guard sets (which we did most of Saturday) and we need to let Ty and Carson play together more.

Contrary to popular belief, we don’t lack talent. We lack experience, but we have talent.

JoeyD on 01/09/2012 (12:42 pm)

Way to go Deacons!!! Having heart and class are what we always tell people the Deacons are all about… our basketball team is rebuilding the proof that we are truly about that!!!

Lee Jackson on 01/09/2012 (12:42 pm)

Way to go, Deacs!  Motivation. Motivation.  Motivation!  Attitude.  Attitude.  Attitude! When a team’s a team, it a lot more fun, win or lose.  It appears these young men are winners, no matter the record. I believe!  Lee Anglin

Lee Anglin on 01/09/2012 (12:05 pm)

Great team victory for the Deacs. What makes the rebounding margin even more amazing is that our 2 7-footers had a combined total of 3 rebounds!

Mike Lewis on 01/08/2012 (9:24 pm)

After the depths of last season, this year has put a new perspective on the enjoyment that comes from a win. I felt almost the same level of satisfaction and encouragement from the wins over Nebraska and Virginia Tech (the only two I’ve been able to see on TV) as from any win in the memorable past, including Ish’s jumper against Texas in 2010. After nearly purging ourselves of all the “knotheads” (to use a “Grobe-ism) that were brought in to the program since 2005, we may not be the best team, but it’s a team you can really root for. I believe I now know what it must have felt like to watch the Deacs in the 1980’s. A sad state of affairs, but players you could get behind and wins that meant something. For those of you old enough to remember the dark-days I give you kudos for sticking with the ship for this long. Many would have thrown their hands up in disgust and turned their back. But from those ashes came the 90’s and we all remember how FUN it was to watch those teams with Anthony Tucker, Chris King and Rodney Rogers knock off Duke in The Joel. The reason it was fun is because it WASN’T supposed to happen. While it’s not really EVER suppose to happen, it had been so long since Wake had made noise at that point that those wins and that steady level of excellence that came later with Randolph and Timmy was like a breath of air to a drowning sailor. We will have this again. It may not be with this group and it may not be with this coach. But the people at Wake Forest are smart enough to build a winner. But for now lets shoot for something that seemed to have lost it’s value over the past seasons and that is RESPECTABILITY. Let’s be respectable as we once were and then things WILL fall into place. We can get there. I am behind these boys and wish them the absolute best. There is always a way to put a negative spin on a game, or point out flaws and there were plenty on Saturday. But I’m just so dadgum happy that the Deacs pulled out that win that I just don’t care. Lets get another one! GO DEACS!

Thomas on 01/08/2012 (6:55 pm)