Wake takes ACC edge to extreme
Dec 4, 2008
Basketball insiders will tell you that, if a single factor explains the ACC’s continued, total mastery of the Big 10 in their annual Challenge series, it is an edge in overall athleticism and quickness. That difference was on display to an almost painful degree in Winston-Salem on Wednesday night, as a crippled Indiana squad came to Joel Coliseum to take on Wake Forest, a team bursting with athletic talent, size, and depth.
The result was a dazzlingly easy 83-58 Wake victory, contributing to this year’s 6-5 ACC advantage in the series. The Demon Deacons are one of five ACC teams still without a loss this season, joining Challenge victors Clemson, Duke and North Carolina, and N.C. State, the odd team out in a matchup with the misnamed Big 10, which has 11 members.
The meeting with Indiana presented the best of all possible scenarios for Wake, now 7-0. Few programs in college basketball are richer in tradition than the Hoosiers, who have won five NCAA championships. The mere name commands respect. Beating IU carries a special cache.
These days beating Indiana is no great challenge, however. The program is a shell of its former self, its reputation and roster savaged as a result of cheating perpetrated by former coach Kelvin Sampson, who was paid to go away. New coach Tom Crean inherited two substitute players who appeared for the Hoosiers last season. Against the Demon Deacons, who returned virtually everyone and added one of the nation’s better recruiting classes, Crean started four freshmen and a newly-arrived junior college transfer.
“That’s part of our process right now,” said Crean, who flatly refused to discuss his strategic decisions, such as a junk defense designed to thwart Wake guard Jeff Teague. “You look out there, often enough, there’s going to be one or two walk-ons in the gym, on the court. When you’re trying to match up against All-Americans and guys like Jeff Teague, that’s a hard deal.”
Trailing by 16 points at halftime, with 15 turnovers and 10 baskets, the beleaguered visitors huddled in a Joel hallway before returning to the court. “Hoosiers!” they cried in unison. Then, as the clot of red-and-white clad bodies began to disperse, a single voice shouted plaintively, almost pleadingly, “Come on!”
The exhortation went unavailed, as Indiana set a season high with 26 turnovers on 20 baskets, and shot 37.7 percent from the floor. Wake scored 26 points as a result of Indiana’s ballhandling mistakes. “I think 26 turnovers tells the story,” Crean said. Part of it, anyway.
Adding to Wake’s advantage, the crowd at Joel was typically loud, lively and numerous. Students and other fans sported their now-familiar black and gold tie-dyed T-shirts. The Deacon mascot entered the court area on a motorcycle for player introductions -- a fumey maneuver particularly despised by Duke coaches -- and the miniature CVS Pharmacy blimp floated lazily above the crowd. A new, amusement-park touch was contributed by a purple Dino the Dinosaur mascot, its beak a horribly incongruous dayglo orange.
But the real show was a Demon Deacon squad brimming with talented young big men. Second-year head coach Dino Gaudio can call upon six players 6-9 or taller, among them James Johnson, a member of last season’s ACC all-freshman team, and Al-Farouq Aminu, the predicted 2009 ACC rookie of the year.
Wake’s play around the basket was consistently entertaining, and often spectacular. Alleyoop passes and emphatic dunks were commonplace occurrences against the smaller Hoosiers. But that was nothing new -- upon returning from a tournament the Deacs won in Anaheim, California, Johnson said he and Teague savored one of the guard’s dunks against Cal State Fullerton, watching it repeatedly on You Tube during a religion class.
In keeping with its prominent presence in the post, Wake’s defense has become heavily reliant on the blocked shot. Only aggressive Clemson averages more blocks per game than the Deacs’ 6.4. Aminu, a mobile, hard-working, long-limbed forward, alone accounted for five against Indiana.
“We haven’t had a shotblocking team like this for a long, long time,” said Gaudio, who previously served six years as an assistant to the late Skip Prosser at Winston-Salem. “We want to do that. We practice it. In the past, we didn’t have those big shotblockers and it wasn’t a point of emphasis for us. But now we’re telling them, if you can get a piece, get a piece.”
Much work remains to be done before 15th-ranked Wake stands toe-to-toe with more tested, savvy ACC units. The Deacons committed 24 turnovers against Indiana, many unforced, the result of sloppy passes or ill-advised forays into constricted circumstances. Such wasteful conduct is likely to be punished by equally athletic but more disciplined teams.
The Deacs also entered the game hitting a measly 27.9 percent from 3-point range, worst in the ACC. They were the only squad in the league last season that failed to make a breakeven percentage of their 3-pointers (31.6 percent.)
Consequently Indiana resorted frequently to a zone, as did opponents in the 76 Classic in Anaheim. “We won without the threes in the tournament in our previous games,” said Johnson.
He hit 3-of-3 against the Hoosiers as Wake made a refreshingly efficient 5 of 11 from long-range. The ability of Johnson, Teague, playmaker Ish Smith, and wings L.D. Williams, Gary Clark and Harvey Hale to add consistent perimeter scoring will be crucial to keeping opposing defenses from collapsing inside.
“We said, for our team this year, there were three big factors,” Gaudio said. “No distraction. Leadership. We have those two so far. And the third one was going to be chemistry. We have all these young, talented guys. How are they going to play together? They’ve been playing very well together.”
Certainly well enough to handle the hobbled Hoosiers, and every other challenge that has come their way so far.
