My Take on Wake - Thoughts and Ruminations From the Beach and Back

Thoughts and Ruminations From the Beach and Back

“So you want to be a rock and roll star
Then listen now to what I say
Just get an electric guitar
Then take some time and learn how to play.’‘
—Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman

So you want be a sportswriter. You only think you do.

If it had been you instead of me dragging your behind back through Kernersville last night well past the Wilson Pickett hour of midnight putting the final miles on a 500-mile trek to the beach and back to cover a non-conference basketball game, you might reconsider. Then there’s that thing about weekends. When your friends and family are in party mode, your nose is still to the grindstone. That’s when they play the games. Of course the exorbitant compensation makes it all worthwhile.

Actually I’m whining for no good reason. I could have pulled over in Raleigh. My longtime pal Crag T. Perry lives three minutes off I-40 and he said I was more than welcome to crash there. But my energy level stayed pretty high and I had both XM radio and a CD of a Robert Patterson novel (Cross Country) to keep me company. And I also had plenty of time to mull this Wake team I’ve been covering for the first nine games of its season. And what I concluded, along about Efland, was that in the middle of December we never, ever, ever know what to expect a team to do over the remainder of his season. If last season didn’t remind us of that, then we’re past the point of learning anything. But the difference this mid-December is that least I know I don’t know what to expect over the remainder of the season.

I have to say I was down on the Deacs after the loss at Purdue, not because they lost by 11 to a No. 4 team on the road, but because of the way they lost. Wake is physically strong and can play some defense, and the Boilermakers were having a really, really tough time scoring. So what do the Deacons do? They turn it over 17 times in the second half to jumpstart the Purdue offense and they foul 17 times in the second half to keep a procession up to the Boilermakers’ free-throw line. And this is a team that has four seniors, three of them—Ish Smith, L.D. Williams and Chas McFarland—who between them have started more than 200 games in their careers. So you couldn’t chalk the performance up to an inexperienced team getting spooked on the road.

Then Wake turns around to win at Gonzaga, where the Bulldogs had won 65 of 68 games in what the Deacons described as one of the loudest and craziest road atmospheres they’d ever experienced. I heard the commentator Jimmy Dykes mention the other night the dearth of significant road victories by Top 25 teams and how Wake’s win at Gonzaga might be the most impressive win of the season. And he may be right.

So here I sit on Dec. 17 thinking that if everything in the world went right—if the defense remains strong, if Ish Smith plays like he did at Gonzaga and last night against UNC Wilmington, if one or two of the post players come along offensively to complement Al-Farouq Aminu inside, if Farouq plays as well he is capable, if C.J. Harris and Ari Stewart are truly as good as they’ve looked at times and if Gary Clark can provide another outside scoring threat—then Deacons could win as many as 11 or 12 ACC games and contend for the title. On the other hand, if they play the kind of sloppy, out-of-sync basketball they played against William & Mary and the second half against Purdue, they could stumble into March needing another victory or two to even have a shot at post-season play.

One interesting footnote on the loss at Purdue: Ish Smith told me that night after the game, and he has repeated it at least three times since that he felt the Deacons learned a great deal from that loss. One thing they learned was that as many mistakes as they made in that game, they still led early in the second half and still had a crack at a comeback victory trailing by eight with 7 1/2 to go. He expressed confidence that night that the Deacons would clean up their act and play like the experienced battle-hardened team that they are.

As for my job, it is a dream job. It was always my dream to figure out something I could do that somebody would pay me to do.

And yes, I did sleep in.

Back to the main page.

By Dan Collins on 12/17/2009 (3:23 pm)

Comments

Hey Dan,

I laughed out loud at the line “Of course the exorbitant compensation makes it all worthwhile.”
As a fellow sportswriter (not of your level of course) I feel you buddy. I am also a young man (26) and my peers have a hard time understanding what exactly I do for so long on the weekends and Friday nights. It’s a difficult thing but the high after a good game, a good story and a nailed deadline is like no other.
I met you once at a Wake game (actually Va. Tech last year, talk about a disappointment) and, I will say this with total conviction, you were the nicest, most down to earth person who I encountered at the media feeding trough. No airs, no B.S. just a normal dude, who didn’t look down his nose at the “new kid” like the rest of PressBoxers. I’ve read you since the Duncan years and basically think you have the coolest job in the world. I’m pretty sure you like it as well, because it shows in your work. Thanks for being the most interesting writer at the W-S Journal and I have been meaning to catch you at The Garage on open-mic night. You still doin’ that?

Take care and keep those Deacs in line.

P.S. — If I see L.D. dribble around like he did at the end against State, I’m going to have a major coronary episode.

Thomas on 12/23/2009 (7:50 pm)

I guess I must not have been watching the same game as what was reported in the papers. UNC-W continually came at us and never backed down. UNC-W was the aggressor while we stood around waiting for someone to make a play. We let cutters make easy backdoor layups, swat balls back in our face and come up with loose balls that easily should have been ours. It’s time for Coach Gaudio to light a fire in the team. Let’s see the “killer instinct” not playing to the level of competition.

Danny on 12/17/2009 (9:39 pm)

Michael, Skip used to say he wasn’t going to hang crepe on a victory. You’re right to say UNCW is not a great team, but to beat the Seahawks by 11 at their place when they’re all fired up to play an ACC team is nothing to sneeze at. And it’s one game played in the middle of December. I’ve seen a bunch of games like the one last night, some played by great teams and some played by teams that didn’t turn out to be so great. So we’ll see.

Dan on 12/17/2009 (6:07 pm)

Dan - should we be concerned that we didn’t ‘blow out’ UNCW. It looked like we could have, but it seemed as if the guys just didn’t have the killer instinct - not to mention the problems with turnovers and free throws (why can’t that stuff be fixed, by the way?) And I’m not sure I’m buying that UNCW was such a good team and that this is a big win. I’m worried because teams that are really in the hunt for championships (the Dukes and UNC’s) would probably not be having to make FT’s in the last minute to seal up a victory at UNCW. And this causes me to be a bit concerned about our long-term prospects. I hope I’m wrong, though.

Michael on 12/17/2009 (4:44 pm)

Dan, I think you have a good assessment of this team. I am cautiously optimistic, providing we began to get some consistent scoring from one or more of our post players. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Chas only had one point.

Jim on 12/17/2009 (4:40 pm)