Once again, new one is quickly done
Jan 29, 2009
That was quick.
Just like that, for the second time in two weeks an ACC team ascended to the No.1 spot in the national rankings, only to be immediately knocked down at Joel Coliseum by a conference opponent. “Maybe it’s a curse on this building for No.1,” said reserve big man David Weaver, who had a season-high nine points for victorious Wake Forest.
Just like that Wake, which fell last Wednesday from the top of the men’s basketball heap, upended Duke 70-68 on a layup by forward James Johnson on an improvised inbounds play with eight-tenths of a second remaining. The Blue Devils had replaced the Demon Deacons as the nation’s top-rated team earlier this week.
“Obviously someone fell asleep,” David McClure, Duke’s best and most versatile defender, said of the final play under his team's basket. “We lost the matchup. We lost the man. You can’t do that, especially in a play like that. That’s when you have to be your strongest and your most together, and we weren’t.”
Just like that, the Deacons collected the program’s first win over a No.1 squad since 1992. Back then the opponent also was Duke. Those Devils, led by Christian Laettner, Grant Hill and Bobby Hurley, would not lose again, finishing 34-2 en route to the national championship. The current crop of Dukies, now 18-2, showed on Wednesday night they possess the heart but probably not the wherewithal to win an NCAA title.
And, just like that, Dino Gaudio, son of an Ohio steel worker, directed his team to its second victory this month over a perennial national power, having previously beaten No.3 North Carolina at Joel on Jan. 11. Wake improved to 17-1, equaling its win total for all of last season.
The untimely death of Skip Prosser still hovers over the program in much the same way a banner bearing the coach’s likeness hangs from the Joel rafters above the Wake bench. And Gaudio did inherit both a cohesive staff and a roster of gifted players. But give the man credit for remaking the Deacs into a team that is both tough to face and fun to watch, with its collection of soaring big men and nifty guards, and a fearsome defense that is the ACC’s best at suppressing opponents’ shooting accuracy. Duke hit a third of its field goal tries in defeat, its worst effort of the season.
Wake attacks at both ends of the floor. “We wanted to keep pushing it and pushing it and pushing it,” Gaudio said. The Deacs held an 11-2 edge in transition scoring, usually a Duke staple fed by its overplaying defense. Gaudio's group had 10 steals, twice stripping dangerous Gerald Henderson as he drove through traffic. They had nine blocks, swarming to protect the basket or to contest shots, often seeming to appear out of nowhere.
“We were just complacent, and they were the aggressor the whole game,” McClure said. “They did a great job being aggressive and just playing physical with us. Not to say that that’s what beat us, but it definitely knocked us back and we weren’t who we should have been.”
Gaudio allows players plenty of leeway to create, apparently countenancing maneuvers such as point guard Ish Smith’s rearward, between-the-legs pass on a fast break that led to a thunderous dunk by trailing teammate Al-Farouq Aminu. The coach even allows Aminu, a spectacular combination of skill and soaring talent, to shoot 3-pointers despite a 2-for-19 conversion rate on the season.
“A young guy getting 15 (points) and 10 (rebounds) in a game of this magnitude, two blocks -- terrific performance,” Gaudio said of the freshman forward. “We’ve still got to get that line in a little closer for his threes.”
Wake’s fifth home win over the Blue Devils in its six most recent tries, including last season, Gaudio's first as head coach, was achieved with leading scorer Jeff Teague contributing only 11 points, about half his average. But the sophomore guard clearly occupied Duke’s attention, to the extent his decoy maneuver caused sufficient distraction and confusion for a switching defense to allow Johnson to get open inside on the final play.
“Even if he doesn’t score, he creates space for his teammates to score,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said of Teague, an obvious candidate for ACC player of the year. “That’s what a great player does.”
Yet, for all that, for all of Krzyzewski’s sense “there was a period there where we thought we were going to get blown out of here,” Duke managed to hang around. The Devils trailed most of the game, and remained down by 11 points with under nine minutes to go. But rather than buckle, they rallied, pulling into a tie at 68 on Henderson’s jumper with 9.8 seconds left.
“The effort to come back was outstanding,” Krzyzewski said, streaks of residual excitement shining redly in his cheeks below and to the outside of his eyes. “I thought there was a fierce determination on the part of that group of kids.”
Duke stayed close in the first half by grabbing a dozen offensive rebounds, scoring nearly half its points on second-chance shots. Of course 28.2 percent shooting in the period – the third time in six games the Devils made under 30 percent in the first half – created an unusual number of rebound opportunities.
Henderson (20 points, 8 rebounds) and Kyle Singler (22 points, 12 rebounds) nearly carried their team to victory. The pair produced 32 of Duke’s 40 second-half points. Others struggled to score, especially guard Jon Scheyer, who went 2-10 from the floor and has now hit 13 of his last 56 shots (23.2 percent) over six games.
In the end, however, it was the Devils who cracked. “We were horrible in defending the last play,” Krzyzewski said. “Losing the game on the last play makes it hurt a little bit more. Sometimes getting hurt is good.”
Good or not, in a competitive conference getting hurt is inevitable. Even if you’re the nation’s top-ranked team. “It’s an honor, and it says that you’re playing really well,” Krzyzewski said the other day of the No.1 standing, accorded his Duke teams in 92 polls since 1986, more than any active college coach. “And you don’t get anything from it except a big headline when you lose.”
