Sunday, February 28, 2010

In Case You Were Wondering (About Woods)

Sophomore Tony Woods made his eighth start of the season, and his first since Dec, 13, against North Carolina yesterday, in place of senior Chas McFarland.

Woods scored four of the Deacons’ first six points, but was on the bench well before the first media timeout, the first Wake player to be substituted for. He played 10 minutes in the first half, hitting three of four shots from the floor for eight points to go with four rebounds.

McFarland started the second half, and Woods never returned to the game until the second media timeout at 11:38. John Henson of the Tar Heels dunked on an inbounds play and at the other end, Woods began a drive from the top of the key, took a dribble or two and threw the ball away. Moments later the horn blew and McFarland replaced Woods. So Woods, done for the day, played a total of one minute in the second half.

I asked Coach Dino Gaudio about the decision to start Woods.

“I just thought Tony was practicing better, nothing outside of that,’’ Gaudio said. “I just thought he was practicing better so we put him in there.’‘

And I asked Gaudio why Woods played only one minute in the second half.

“The only reason he didn’t play in the second half, I just didn’t think he was playing well,’’ Gaudio said. “I didn’t. I didn’t think he was playing well. I think early in the game their post guys were hurting us. They were hurting us with second shots.

“But those were just coaching decisions off players’ performances, nothing else.’‘

It’s not an original thought to say that coaches are much quicker to take into account defensive performance, while most fans (and sportswriters) put much more stock in what happens at the offensive end. The Tar Heels did score their first two field goals on follow shots, and when Deon Thompson scored over Woods, Woods was on his way to the bench.

But the performance did bring to mind last year’s NCAA Tournament, when Woods made a surprise start and played a total of five minutes in the 84-69 loss to Cleveland State. The difference is, last year the season was over and Woods had to wait seven months to make amends. This year he only has to wait four days before the Deacons’ game at Florida State on Wednesday.