Welcoming Nikita With Open Arms
So I walked up to Nikita Mescheriakov before practice yesterday and asked ``How do you say ‘Chomping at the bit’ in Belarusian?”
Being from Minsk, he wasn’t hip to that particular down-home expression.
“It means anxious, ready and raring to to,’’ I explained.
“Oh,’’ he said and let fly a torrent of words, none of which I could even begin to understand. But whatever he said was said with enough conviction to make me believe that his bit will be well-chomped by the time Wake Forest plays UNC Wilmington in Greensboro at 2 p.m. Sunday. Wouldn’t yours?
For 12 months now Mescheriakov has been in the NCAA’s answer to limbo, that curious state where a player can practice with a team but not play in games. So Mescheriakov, who transferred to Wake from Georgetown last fall, has been participating in drills and running sprints, but consigned to a seat on the bench during games. I liked his quote, the one we used in this morning’s story for the Journal. Mescheriakov Eager to Get Off Bench
“I’m ready to get the suit off,’’ Mescheriakov said. “It’s much more exciting to be in a uniform and be out there playing for this team instead of sitting on the bench and watching the game from the side.”
It’s actually hard to tell who is more excited, Mescheriakov or head coach Jeff Bzdelik. In his first eight games at Wake, Bzdelik coached a team with a decided dearth of depth, size and experience. And in Mescheriakov, he will be able to plug in a player who provides a fair amount of all three. Mescheriakov is not the second coming of Darius Songaila, or at least if he was he didn’t show it during his two years at Georgetown. But he is 6-8, he has physically matured in his year at Wake, and he will give Bzdelik another option at power forward instead of sophomore Ari Stewart and freshman Travis McKie—both of whom are natural wings who have been forced to play major minutes out of position—and freshman Carson Desrosiers. He said he’s ready to bang inside, and he’ll have to in order for Wake to improve its rebounding and interior defense.
In talking with Bzdelik, he’s ready to see what Mescheriakov can do. I don’t imagine many minutes will elapse Sunday before Mescheriakov is in the game.
“He will be a welcome addition,” Bzdelik said. “He brings experience, toughness, a great ability to shoot the basketball.
“It helps us at a position that we need help in, and that’s power forward. He gives us an experienced, mobile (power forward) who can really shoot the ball.”
As for the final attribute, I had already mentioned to Bzdelik what he obviously already knows, how he has a wealth of players who can hit jump shots. I started rattling off the list, Stewart, McKie, J.T. Terrell, Gary Clark and C.J. Harris.
“Nikita might be the best shooter of all,’’ Bzdelik said. “He can really shoot the ball.’’