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2023-24 Wake Forest Basketball Season - 21-14 (11-9) - KP#29 / NET#43

BeachBumDeac said:
It’s frustrating we don’t have a signature road win but we are winning games by big margins and losing games by very small margins which points to a good team
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We play half our ACC games on the road, only winning 35% of those (not including the COVID season) puts a pretty low ceiling on our post season potential, no matter how good we are at home.
 
BeachBumDeac said:
It’s frustrating we don’t have a signature road win but we are winning games by big margins and losing games by very small margins which points to a good team
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I believe the betting favorite has won every single won of our games except Florida and @FSU.

That said, I do think it’s more than simply bad luck that we’ve not been able to beat good teams - as I think our offense has some systemic issues that get exposed against better competition
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
We play half our ACC games on the road, only winning 35% of those (not including the COVID season) puts a pretty low ceiling on our post season potential, no matter how good we are at home.
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I mean if we continue to win only 35% of our conference road games in perpetuity then yeah our ceiling is low.

I think that number will be higher some seasons though
 
I lost sleep over Wake’s situation last night. I knew this week was a likely 0-2 week but we really should have won yesterday. We have almost no margin for error left. It would be such a shame to get Reid eligible, have Monsanto return, land a portal god like Sallis, yet come up a game or 2 short.

My biggest concern now is the team doesn’t stick together to possibly overcome and get in the tournament. When you have selfish play, it can destroy a team. We have seen Cam not understand his role and crater this team on multiple occasions. Let’s see how the locker room reacts as we can only speculate.
 
Still think 13-7 with no losses to GT/ND is comfortably in the field. I'm not down on this season until a home loss or an L to ND. And we could still sustain 1 non-GT home loss if we beat VT away.

Our defense has held up on the road very well, but our offense has not.
 
IckerDeac said:
I lost sleep over Wake’s situation last night. I knew this week was a likely 0-2 week but we really should have won yesterday. We have almost no margin for error left. It would be such a shame to get Reid eligible, have Monsanto return, land a portal god like Sallis, yet come up a game or 2 short.

My biggest concern now is the team doesn’t stick together to possibly overcome and get in the tournament. When you have selfish play, it can destroy a team. We have seen Cam not understand his role and crater this team on multiple occasions. Let’s see how the locker room reacts as we can only speculate.
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There are lot of aspects of coaching that I think are fair to criticize Forbes about but his teams do seem to have amazing chemistry and really like each other.

Seems like he very very rarely calls players out postgame like he’s done the last two games but when he does it is effective.
 
lazydeac said:
The reason I still have hope are:

(1) If we win the next two home games - I think we’re firmly in the field. There’s a good likelihood we end with at least 2 quad 1s which should be enough (between Duke, Florida, maybe VT and big maybe BC could get there with a strong finish). Hopefully we can hold it together from there.

(2) Forbes kinda blasted Efton publically after the Duke performance. It seemed to work. He definitely blasted Cam after UVa. Hopefully changes will be coming there somehow also. I can only hope this is part of us working out all the kinks and now Forbes gets us and himself over the hump.


All the being said, the Duke game is an actual must win. The Pitt game is objectively not, but would definitely add a lot of pressure if we lost.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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The Duke game was never the path
 
Don't know how long this has been the case but according to kenpom our defensive efficiency is actually ranked higher than our offensive (36 in the country for the O vs 29th for the D). Know this was definitely not the case earlier this season and seems a bit weird given some of our second half defensive performances the past few games...
 
IAppreciateIt said:
I believe the betting favorite has won every single won of our games except Florida and @FSU.

That said, I do think it’s more than simply bad luck that we’ve not been able to beat good teams - as I think our offense has some systemic issues that get exposed against better competition
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especially teams with length
 
Another up and down season. I have learned nothing in the last few weeks, except that I am absolutely not built for this shit. Live and die with every possession on the bubble is so exhausting.

There is really nothing left to discuss, it is absolutely put up or shut up time. It drives me fucking insane to see people saying after every road loss oh this one didn't matter, we have chances etc etc. We still have "a path" (shoutout cam the dork), but that path is narrow as can be now. Duke is a must win (I'm sure someone will tell me its not blah blah, nah it's a MUST WIN). We can drop maybe VT I guess but even that would scare me. If we take care of business for the most part, and our name comes up on Selection sunday for a Dayton spot etc, that road record is going to be absolutely glaring. We need to win 6-7 games from here in to make that a non factor. Tall task. We've let too many opps slip away that I keep hearing don't matter. We'll see.

4 of the 6 are at home, two road games vs bad teams. If we can't do it, no one to blame but ourselves. Not gonna get much into specific players etc, but my god Cam, you are better than that shit.
 
deacfan123 said:
Another up and down season. I have learned nothing in the last few weeks, except that I am absolutely not built for this shit. Live and die with every possession on the bubble is so exhausting.

There is really nothing left to discuss, it is absolutely put up or shut up time. It drives me fucking insane to see people saying after every road loss oh this one didn't matter, we have chances etc etc. We still have "a path" (shoutout cam the dork), but that path is narrow as can be now. Duke is a must win (I'm sure someone will tell me its not blah blah, nah it's a MUST WIN). We can drop maybe VT I guess but even that would scare me. If we take care of business for the most part, and our name comes up on Selection sunday for a Dayton spot etc, that road record is going to be absolutely glaring. We need to win 6-7 games from here in to make that a non factor. Tall task. We've let too many opps slip away that I keep hearing don't matter. We'll see.

4 of the 6 are at home, two road games vs bad teams. If we can't do it, no one to blame but ourselves. Not gonna get much into specific players etc, but my god Cam, you are better than that shit.
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100% agree. The team has been in the position to win each game away from the Joel except for UNC. And other than almost choking a 10 point lead at BC and a blowout at GT, we have absolutely failed to play smart basketball down the stretch each time. I do not see us all of a sudden figuring it out and winning @ ND, @VT, and a game or 2 in DC. Especially when one of our team captains goes rogue and completely ignores everyone. We are who we are at this point. We’ll also inevitably drop at least one home game. NIT bound is my prediction
 
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Here are the bubble teams (I am including from listed 10-seed and higher that are non-AQ) listed on Bracket Matrix. Maybe you can add in the 8/9 seeds, but we are roughly looking at 16 teams battling it out for the last 10 at-large spots.

In the Field Currently
Northwestern 59 NET, 4-5 Q1, 9-1 Q3/Q4, SOS 39
Boise State 43 NET, 5-5 Q1, 8-1 Q3/Q4, SOS 27
Butler 56 NET, 4-9 Q1, 8-0 Q3/Q4, SOS 10
Mississippi State 37 NET, 3-6 Q1, 11-2 Q3/Q4, SOS 40
Nebraska 50 NET, 3-6 Q1, 13-0 Q3/Q4, SOS 62
Utah 49 NET, 3-5 Q1, 8-1 Q3/Q4, SOS 18
Mississippi 64 NET, 3-5 Q1, 14-0 Q3/Q4, SOS 79
Nevada 44 NET, 5-4 Q1, 13-1 Q3/Q4, SOS 89
Gonzaga 23 NET, 1-5 Q1, 16-0 Q3/Q4, SOS 134
Providence 58 NET, 4-6 Q1, 10-0 Q3/Q4, SOS 69

Not in Field Currently
Cincinnati 35 NET, 3-6 Q1, 15-1 Q3/Q4, SOS 60
Seton Hall 68 NET, 5-5 Q1, 10-2 Q3/Q4, SOS 45
WAKE FOREST 39 NET, 1-6 Q1, 11-0 Q3/Q4, SOS 65
Colorado 42 NET, 1-5 Q1, 10-0 Q3/Q4, SOS 66
Villanova 34 NET, 3-6 Q1, 6-3 Q3/Q4, SOS 19
St. John's 45 NET, 2-9 Q1, 7-1 Q3/Q4, SOS 11
 
Looking at some of those “already in the field” that look very solid: Utah, Boise State, Mississippi State
 
Utah is very much in trouble but their buzzer beater putback last night at UCLA might’ve saved their season. After a really good OOC slate they’ve been miserable in conference and one of the worst road teams in the country.
 
Q1 is pretty glaring, if we had 10-12 opps instead of 7 we are at the top of that first list.
 
deacfan123 said:
Another up and down season. I have learned nothing in the last few weeks, except that I am absolutely not built for this shit. Live and die with every possession on the bubble is so exhausting.
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It is often said that players and coaches are "obviously taking the X loss much harder than the fans." I have begun to think about that statement, which on face value makes sense, and wonder if it's actually true. Many of our fans have been following the Deacs for 30+ years, and have therefore lived through a lot of heartache, much more than the players who may only be at Wake for a few years (or just 1). The players and coaches have also been, or will be, a part of many different programs (high school, AAU, NBA, overseas, etc.), whereas for most fans, this is our only bball team. Also, I've coached a lot of sports, and I always seem more affetced by the losses than the players are. I think about Skip saying he hates the losses more than he enjoys the wins, and that is definitely how I have felt, and I was only coaching rec leagues.

On the other side, the coaches certainly have a lot at stake, and both the players and coaches put a lot more time into than the fans do. But, in the end, I'm not sure it's a given that the players and coaches care a lot more than the fans. Especially when it comes to rivalry games, where fans may spend a large portion of their lives surrounded by Tar Heels, Dookies, etc.
 
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