My Take on Wake - No Better Time to Play Wake

No Better Time to Play Wake

If I were a fan of East Carolina, UNC Asheville, Bucknell, St. Francis or Winston-Salem State, I would be miffed my team doesn’t have Wake Forest on this year’s schedule. And if I were a fan of Appalachian State, I’d be cursing a blue streak.

For while the Deacons are 7-0 all-time against East Carolina and UNC Asheville, 5-0 against Bucknell and St. Francis and 4-0 against the cross-town Rams, they’ve beaten the Mountaineers all 20 times they’ve played them in a series that began in 1951. Of course, before yesterday, the Deacons had beaten UNC Wilmington all 12 times they’d played the Seahawks, going back to the first game of the 1977-78 season.

So if I were Coach Jason Capel of ASU, or anyone who cares about his program, I’d be thinking that if Buzz Peterson, in his first season at UNC Wilmington, can beat the Deacons with a couple of unheralded freshmen and whatever remnants he has from last season’s 9-22 meltdown—and not just beat them, but build a 21-point lead while dominating the final 30 minutes—then Wake is fair game for anybody.

And Capel would be right.

I’ve scoured the record books for another Wake team that has suffered as many ignominious setbacks, to no avail. The 1987-88 squad, Bob Staak’s third of four, lost to Siena, Furman and Coastal Carolina, all at home. But it did beat Winthrop and UNC Wilmington, something Jeff Bzdelik’s first team was unable to do.

My own sense is that losing to Stetson and Winthrop in Joel Coliseum and UNCW in Greensboro is worse, especially considering that Stetson, since cuffing the Deacons by 10 in the opener, has lost to such juggernauts as Bethune-Cookman (78-66) and Palm Beach Atlantic (61-55), whereas the Seahawks, before beating Wake, had lost to North Carolina A&T (84-79 in overtime).

If Capel is cursing his luck, then Mike Dement of UNC Greensboro, Gregg Nibert of Presbyterian and Scott Cherry of High Point have to be loving theirs.

All have games scheduled against Wake, with Dement getting his crack against the Deacons this Wednesday.

Back to the main page.

By Dan Collins on 12/13/2010 (11:06 am)

Comments

Everyone was perplexed when Bzdelik was hired. Maybe Grobe’s contract and having to buyout Gaudio had something to do with it.

John Futrell on 12/14/2010 (8:32 am)

Looks like there is some dissent on this team. I don’t know, and particularly don’t care whether it is with the coach’s methods or working with some over-sized egos. This team (coaches and players) need to focus on why they are out there. I don’t want to hear excuses about lack of talent, lack of point guard, lack of height, lack of experience, or that these were not “his” players. For a coach, the answer is relatively simple; you recruit your way out of this trouble. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen anything on the recruiting sites that give me much hope that Bzdelick is bringing in his “type” of kids. Usually, when a school hires a new coach, you invariably see a surge in recruiting activity as excitement for the program grows….not here.

Jim on 12/13/2010 (5:48 pm)

Dan - great way of writing Wake stinks and expressing everybody’s frustrations in a nice way. Very creative way of doing it I must say. I didn’t go to the game, and am now glad I didn’t. I might have pulled my hair out if I saw UNCW up 21 on us. Why didn’t JT play more (I only saw the box score… wondered if he was sick or injured)

Aaron on 12/13/2010 (2:13 pm)

Embarassing and unacceptable… The football season was bad enough, but this basketball season may prove to be worse. It is very hard to stay positive when losing to the likes of Stetson, Winthrop and UNC-W. I never thought I’d see the time when that all happened in one season. Thanks to Coach Bzdelik for taking us in a new direction.

Steve on 12/13/2010 (1:35 pm)

As the game drew to a close on Sunday, I looked over at Mr. Wellman who was sitting 1 row in front of me. Looked like he was off in space. Maybe wondering how we weren’t able to sell any more tickets than what was sold and finally figuring out why. I guess even the Deacon didn’t have a ticket because he wasn’t there either. It was bitter sweet for me though, because even though my dad grad in ‘66 from wake, I grad from UNCW, and was glad to see my boys in Teal shoot lights out.

Dano on 12/13/2010 (1:19 pm)

In truth, I expected our team to play better by this point in the year. But no one expected to be watching a contender at any point.

With a team this inexperienced and uneven, there were bound to be some serious bumps in the road like the ones we’ve experienced against Stetson, Winthrop and UNCW. And there will certainly be other debacles once we enter ACC play.

But that doesn’t mean we won’t be watching a team in February that is better than the team we are watching now. That has always been the standard of success for this year. This group certainly hasn’t “clicked” yet, but there is still a lot of basketball to be played.

DC on 12/13/2010 (1:14 pm)

It’s a sad year indeed to be a Wake fan. This team is just not playing like a team at all, and 9 times out of ten, that’s a coaching problem of some type.
I gotta tell ya, so far, I am NOT impressed with Coach Bzdelik. No passion, no fire… just a snore.

Kathy S on 12/13/2010 (12:11 pm)

Dan,

As I said on the message boards, yesterday was awful…really awful. As a Wake alum, I’m really embarassed and totally disappointed! There are no acceptable excuses!

Ken Green on 12/13/2010 (11:49 am)