Comments

Frankly, I don’t think LD has said anything out of line here.  The kid has done nothing but give maximum effort for almost four straight years and represent the program accordingly throughout his entire career.  I am proud to have him on this team. 

And I expect him to react to the so-called naysayers in the exact way that he did, and I think he has earned the right to do so.  The team really needs to come together in the coming weeks.  And from the players’ perspective, they really need to shut out the negativity coming from these naysayers in order to accomplish that.  Good for LD for trying to rally the troops.

Greg on 03/01/2010 (12:12 pm)

L.D.
Shut up and play ball, while you enjoy the free college education that I and other Deacon Club members provide for you, you should remember to not bite the hand that feeds you….

Trey on 03/01/2010 (11:20 am)

Deaconfan—Mmhm. Cause if the top 8 are playing poorly then the walk-on’s would be better…throw in the towel. That’ll show em. I bet you couldn’t show me an example of the Deacs not putting forth top effort during that game if your life depended on it. How is hitting shots on the coaches? Was it on the coaches when they were winning? You sound like a Carolina fan. Bottom line. They’ve lost two in a row because of poor shooting. The real problem is that Wake is a team with no real scorers. Who’s fault is that? Dino’s? How hateful can you be?

Thomas on 02/28/2010 (11:07 pm)

I think that the dog analogy is appropriate.  Even a domesticated dog is dangerous if it perceives a threat and is forced to defend itself.  In that vein, I fully expect and support the Deacons to play their way out of the current slump and build some momentum heading into postseason play. 

But in the interest of learning from this experience, I think you have to acknowledge that the Deacons find themselves in this precarious situation because they lacked the sense of urgency to remedy problems that were apparent back in December (if not before). 

The good news is that the season isn’t finished.  I think this team definitely has some fight in it.  Even in the middle of three horrendous games, you can sense the players pushing themselves.  In that sense I really admire their effort.  But individual effort during these next few games won’t be enough.  Obviously the senior leaders will need to step up.  But Coach Gaudio needs to point them in the right direction too. 

I wish all of them luck in coming together down the stretch this season.  I certainly haven’t given up on them, and I don’t think anyone in the Wake Forest community has either.

Greg on 02/28/2010 (10:48 pm)

It’s easy to point the fingers at the coaches, they are the ones who can call for 5 starters who are struggling to sit the pine while 5 non-starters get in there and show some heart.  Every once and a while, you’ve got to send a statement to players that playing time is dictated by hard effort on every play.  It is on the coaches when we’re down 5 and Aminu tosses up a 3 pointer which he hasn’t hit in 2 years.  It is on the coaches when a team who was in the top three in defense for most of the year has gotten away from Defense during the 3 game skids.  It IS on the coaches… Period.

Deaconfan on 02/28/2010 (9:38 pm)

It’s easy to point fingers at the coaches, but the coaches aren’t the ones shooting 30 percent from the floor. No one can make the ball go in the basket except the five guys on the floor.
I think those who rip on L.D. about comments are the exact people L.D. doesn’t give a fart about and rightly so. Are you in the locker room? Are you on the court? Are you even a real fan or just someone who likes to complain?
This is a 22-23 year old person who is having people he’s never seen give him crap at a time when they are supposed to be lifting him up. Now I’ve done my fair share of badmouthing the Deacs throughout my life, but I certainly would never leave a basketball game early or ever stop cheering. Leave L.D. be, and if you don’t like what he’s got to say, then don’t watch. it’s that simple. I will say, Dino needs to light a fire, of which it seems he has a limited ability to do. But fire can only go so far. Like I said. IF YOU CAN’T SHOOT, YOU CAN’T WIN. Let’s hope the Deacs find themselves in Tallahassee and that the doom and gloom Deacons can get over themselves.

Thomas on 02/28/2010 (7:39 pm)

A recent article in Sports Illustrated right after football signing day presented strong evidence that most athletes attend a certain school because they like the school and that is where they want to spend their next few years;changes in coaches may not be as big a deal as generally believed.

I mention this because I really believe Gaudio has to go, and that the extension of his contract and keeping him on to prevent scaring away potential recruits is folly.

I am Wake alum and have been a loyal Deacon fan for 50+ years, but I have had it with the current basketball program. I have decreased the amount I give to the Deacon Club and I plan to decrease it further—-not that my modest giving will be missed.I can’t see buying season tickets next year. I know that folks say rats desert a sinking ship, maybe so. But why continue spending money, emotion and time to get disappointed year after year?

Jerry on 02/28/2010 (7:06 pm)

I am sorry to say but the lack of a half court offense is astounding to me.  To watch guys stand around with no ability to catch the ball in a position to score, not to mention, no plan to get it to your best player reminds, me of my son’s rec team. Contrast it with UNC’s constant flow of screens and movement & one can’t avoid looking to coach.  Hope I’m wrong but the lack of continuity on offense leads to an underachieving team.

njfan on 02/28/2010 (2:42 pm)

LD’s right.  When things look bad and it looks like you’re not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. ‘Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That’s just the way it is.

Josey Wales on 02/28/2010 (1:56 pm)

I think that LD has every right to call out the “fans” that left early while we were down by 6. There is nowhere in Winston that is so important, you have to beat the traffic to get there. He’s the one who is out there playing, practicing, working out and scouting all while he is pursuing a Wake Forest education. The last one alone is difficult enough; I can’t imagine having to be an athlete on top of being a Wake student. If you’re going to leave early and/or not cheer, save your money, stay home and watch it on TV.

That being said (and as I posted on the journal article), the boys really need to turn back into the team that they were at the beginning of ACC play. Dino is struggling down the stretch for the second year in a row. I say that we use relative Wake Forest history to judge: we should have fired the man who, in three consecutive years, had our football team at 5-7; 4-7 and 4-7! He obviously couldn’t win the big ones if they were handed to him! Oh, wait… by giving him time to implement his system properly, he went on to be NCOY and took us to the Orange Bowl. Could Dino do the same thing once all of his recruits are here? We’ll have to give him time and see.

Patrick W. Crist '07 on 02/28/2010 (12:20 pm)

I too believe that much of the problem is with the coaching staff. 18 first half points at state, 28 at home after a week off. very little offensive movement, other than ish taking 21 shots-makes 5 (one is a bank shot from out front? he actually shot less than 20% from the floor yesterday.Ish has the worst shooting % on the team, but has taken by far the most shots. He needs to be setting up the other guys more, not just on fast breaks. He seems to be trying to get his stats better—which he’s not doing. Dino needs to tell him to be more of a passer, and less of a scorer. As someone else mentioned, Chas never finishes around the rim. he gets fouled on contested layups, misses the shot, then misses one or both foul shots. he needs to play better in traffic. It’s become very apparent that Wake does not perform well in the half court, and they have not rebounded well as of late. I too feel like there is going to have to be a coaching change based on the continual lack of intensity by the team, the coaching blunders that seem “normal” now, and the overall confusion surrounding the program. I too think Dino is a good person, but agree that he is probably better suited as an assistant, or head coach at a smaller program. I realize that he is not the one missing all the shots, not blocking out, missing assignments, etc., but he is responsible for having the team ready to play each game. I think anyone watching the last seevral weeks would agree that the team has not been ready to play. I am still cautiously optomistic about the next 2 games, but I am also skeptical too. I still love the deacs!

david mcglaughon on 02/28/2010 (10:25 am)

LD should be ashamed to talk about naysayers and critique people’s desire to jump off, on, or leave.  We’re being charged through the roof for season ticket packages, parking, food, etc.  It costs a family of season ticket holders up to 150 dollars a GAME!  I know we’re paying for the entertainment, but they’ve got to put out a little harder than they’re doing.  Aminu is really playing lazy and 2 steps slow.  Their body language looks like they’re flippant to the results.

Ron on 02/28/2010 (10:07 am)

Ok Deacon fans let’s not jump ship or fire the coach yet although I know many of you want to.  Yes this 3 game slide is starting to worry me.  Yes I blame the coaching staff.  The one thing I ask though is did Dino miss 50+ shots today or fail to box out etc.?  Sometimes the players just don’t execute or make shots.  Folks Wake Forest is not a very good shooting team (newsflash right?)and it’s hurt them the past few games.  Teams know that if you let Ish penetrate,  he’s gonna burn you and teams are adjusting to that.  People are gonna zone and zone Wake from here on out. I know sometimes it makes you wonder if the coaching staff works on halfcourt offense against a zone because there isn’t much halfcourt offense going on at Wake.  Could you imagine a game against Syracuse in the tourney?  Wake should not be losing to the bottom feeders either but then again Duke lost to State in Raleigh and although UNC has been struggling, they have the coaching and talent to play with folks at times although they are not a very good team this year.  Wake’s halfcourt offense is not very good but again when you have only 1 or 2 guys that are hitting 3’s,  Wake just isn’t hard to defend. It’s simple,  pack the lane and watch Wake build a new arena or fill up a blimp with all of the bricks and airballs they can put up.  Maybe Ari should get the start over CJ since he’s been struggling on offense I’m not sure.  And I will disagree with the statement that Aminu and Woods haven’t improved.  If you can’t see that they have improved some over last year you haven’t been watching.  Woods obviously still needs work but he has been playing much better lately although he is still a turnover machine and Aminu has learned to play within his game much better than last year. I suppose folks expect Woods to be an All-American in year 2.  When Aminu has a game like he had today Wake is gonna struggle some. I guess we could pick apart this team until we are blue in the face if we wanted to and find all of the faults with this team.  People need to stop acting like Wake is this super talented team because they are not.  Wake has good talent but the margin for error with that talent is slim.  When your best 3 point shooters are freshmen that’s very telling about a team don’t you think? It doesn’t help that Ish is a terible freethrow shooter and really isn’t a very good jumpshooter and he is our senior starting pg!  Take his penetration away and what you get out of him is what you see today although he did have a very bad game and normally hits some of those shots.  Ish has done many wonderful things for Wake Forest but the bottomline is for a guy that handles the ball as much as he does,  it really hurts Wake that his shooting is not very good.  I love Ish and wouldn’t trade him for anyone but for people to act like we have this mega talented team that should just run through the ACC and dominate everyone is not being practical. And yes I know the league is down this year.  Maybe Wake has been playing over their heads this year.  I think Wake is a much better team than what we have seen since the 2nd half of the Va. Tech game and I think there’s still some fight left in them.  I’d rather them lose 3 now than lose 1 when it counts.  I don’t know what to expect from this team the next few weeks and I imagine for Ish, LD, Mcfarland, and Weaver these guys want so badly to finish strong because they know what happens in March (see last year) when you don’t bring it.  For us Wake fans we have the right to start thinking “uh oh here we go again”.  How many times have we as fans been burned by a good or great regular season only to be dissapointed with a terrible postseason showing? Will the stars ever align?  I don’t know what to think of Gaudio in year 3. First year I give him a pass.  The second year was a complete bust. Year 3 and the verdict is still out but the jury already seems to know what the verdict will be. He’s been to the NCAA once and is 0-1 when his team should have won at least 2 games.  He and the coaching staff have turned Wake’s defense around.  His teams have performed very well for the most part in bigtime games (excluding March).  His halfcourt offense coaching is not very good as we have seen.  I like coach Gaudio but I think year 3 is gonna make or break lots of fans based on how Wake finsishes this year.  If Wake makes the NCAA’s and wins 1 or 2 games,  I think I can live with that and give him a pass because let’s be honest how much are we expecting from this team?  Maybe just win one game for us Deac fans in both tourney’s.  Is that too much to ask?  That’s a start.  If Wake bombs out the rest of the season and in the ACC tourney and heads to the NIT,  I think people are gonna be calling for the chopping block and I’m not sure I blame them.  I know this team isn’t a great mega talented team but at it’s best (have we seen the best out of Wake Forest this year?) this is an NCAA tourney team and there’s no reason the Deacs shouldn’t be dancing.  The losses to William and Mary, Miami, State, and UNC are very puzzling and were bad losses and shouldn’t have happened but they did.  Don’t worry LD and Ish I love watching you guys play and have enjoyed the four years you guys have given us fans.  Boy oh boy all the memories from the game winners to all of the fantastic dunks.  I’m with you until the end and will support you guys no matter what.  Please finish strong for yourselves and go out on a high note and make us fans proud.  I think us fans are really worried right now and we really don’t know what to expect so please prove us wrong!  We know you can do it and a road win at Fl. State would go a long way toward getting that terrible taste out of everyone’s mouth right now.  Gonna be a long day at work on Monday.  Carolina fans will be wearing their cute little blue shirts for the first time in quite a while. 

Hang in there Coaching staff and team and get refocused. There’s still some proving to be done and we know your better than what you’ve shown as of late.  Ok my ramblig is done. Go Deacs!!

Cliff Daniel on 02/28/2010 (2:15 am)

I have never seen a team regress more than Wake the past two years. Players with sterling national reputations at the time of recruitment, come in, and melt into mediocrity.
It is the role of the coach to have his players show continuous improvement, not steady regression. In looking at the team do you really feel Chas, Woods, Weaver, et al have really improved. Not one lick.

Rather the team continues to do the same dumb things time and time again. The spectacular dunk is prized over sound offensive skills. To think Aminu is being touted as ready for the NBA when he continuously disappears in big games, even ones vs. lower tier teams. His game has not improved one bit since arriving, only the marketing of his stats. That leads us back to Gaudio.

Wake will NEVER be an upper tier team with him as the coach. He can coach defense (though not visible lately) but has no concept of big time college basketball offense. NO CLUE. If you think Smith going 1 on 5 continuously is an effective offense, well welcome to Wake’s world.

Dino is a good guy, a loyal guy to Skip but it time for him to go to divsion II. If you can’t win the big ones and your team does not show improvement, you are not an effective coach. And game day coaching is laughable.

Deacon Fans deserve better. LD can berate fans for being critical, but I think he and the rest of the team need to look in the mirror. It is not the fans on the court performing poorly time and time again.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. LD look at the tapes and tell us who is crazy. It’s the same old thing time and time again.

If you had an effective coach, he would be able to communicate that message to you and the rest of the team and affect meaningful improvement.

Last call is upon us for the season. Let’s step up Deacs.

Jake on 02/27/2010 (11:34 pm)

Hey Dan,

Well, to borrow your line, my take on Wake now is that they actually played above themselves for the first part of the season.  I think that the last two games may have indicated that Wake never really was that good of a team but that they just gutted out a lot of close games and found ways to win because of their determination and not due to their talent or their coaching.  When you look at their 8 ACC victories at this point in the season, you can see that all but one (Maryland, a game at home that ended only when Maryland missed what would have been a game-winning shot near the buzzer in OT) have come against teams below them in the conference.  When they have played average or better ACC teams they have lost.  (That does not bode well for them in their next two games, by the way.)  And when they have played some of the lower teams in the conference of late they have lost.  So perhaps they have actually been overachieving to this point and are finally being caught by the development and growth of the other teams.  That would suggest to me that this Wake team did not get any better as the season went on (even though other teams have gotten better) and that last year’s demise was due to the same thing - no growth as a team (or worse - the unraveling of a team) as the weeks went by.  How else would a team that desperately needed a win after two losses, that was playing a lower-echelon ACC team, that was playing at home, and that had an entire week to rest, heal, and prepare, play the way they did on Saturday?

I don’t think that A.D. Wellman will fire Coach Gaudio after this season.  But if Dino stumbles again next year with all of the alleged talent that he has coming in, he’ll be gone for sure.  And I’m here to tell you right now - that is exactly what is going to happen.

Matt on 02/27/2010 (10:51 pm)

Dan,
As I’ve said before, it is in the “DNA” of basketball at WAke.

Bobby

Bobby H Griffin on 02/27/2010 (9:46 pm)

I would say to LD give your fans something to cheer about instead of busting on them.  How do you lose a game at home to a bottom rung team (this year at least) after a week of preparation?  I did not see the game, taped it and WAS going to watch later, won’t bother now.  Ish Smith 5 for 21 says it all, he shoots too much for a point guard and does not set up his teammates enough. 
One more thing, all this talk about the seniors Ish and LD needing to lead the team. Isn’t Chas a senior? Where is he in this equation? And Weaver is a 5th year guy!
OK team, time to prove your pouty fans wrong and stop the March meltdown pattern this team has perfected.

Charles on 02/27/2010 (9:34 pm)

Country,
From my observations the team failed to execute defensively. Did not block out much, allowed UNC to get too many uncontested shots. Once again missed too many easy shots and free throws. Why L.D. throws the ball so hard against the glass, I wish I knew. This occurred several times today. Likelihood of a basket is slim and none and slim just left town!!!

Reality is that Wake will be in the NIT next month. The way they performed today, I do not see them doing well @ FSU. I said two weeks ago it would have been much better to win and be unranked than getting in the polls and coming unglued. Which they have.

I have always been a supporter of Coach Gaudio. However, after the last three games I feel much of this late season failure lies squarely on his shoulders. I know it is easy to criticize from the observation box but again, that is why he is paid the big bucks. Produce results or search for employment elsewhere. To have had the talent that he has had to work with the past two seasons and produce these results is totally unacceptable. Reluctantly, if he was a CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation, he would be requested to resign at this point by the board of directors…

You are either a hero or a heel. For the last two weeks it has been the latter…

Tom on 02/27/2010 (9:08 pm)

LD is exactly right when talking about the naysayers but when the team folds the tent early 2 years in a row, I have the right to be critical. I’ll always love my Deacs and I’ll be there for them but right now the team has me extremely disappointed in them. We have lost to the 2 ACC bottom feeders and blown a double-digit lead at Va Tech and LD wants me to be happy?? Sorry, LD, you guys have to show me some resilience first!

A couple of wins would certainly go a long way to satisfy me.

Ken Green on 02/27/2010 (8:40 pm)

I hope they certainly have a dunking practice at some point.  It continues to confound me why Chas continues to put up a layup right next to the basket instead of trying to slam the ball through the hole and creating more of an opportunity to score and get fouled.

CP on 02/27/2010 (8:35 pm)