You need players to stay a year longer than NBA interest dictates. A player who stays four years because the NBA doesn't want them does no good. A player who stays four years when he'd be the first pick after 2 can give you the best run in program history.
Idiotic - what do pre season rankings have to do with anything. That's your proof? So ignorant. Please tell me which team Wake has had since that exceeded the talent of Skip Brown, Frank Johnson, Jerry Schellenberger, Rod Griffin, Larry Harrison and LeRoy McDonald. Hasn't been one.
Rod Griffin was from NC and wanted to play for Carolina, but Dean didn't offer him a scholarship.
BKF, Rod Griffin was recruited by a Wake Alum from Fairmont, NC in the early 70's. Rod worked for him while in h.s. The alum was very aware of Rod's basketball talents and alerted Carl Tacy who came to see him play and immediately offered a scholarship. Later when queried, Dean Smith was upset that he was not aware of Griffin but wished he had known. Tacy or the athletic dept. presented the alum with a framed plague thanking him for the recommendation. Ten years later in the early 80's I met Rod and the alum in Fairmont and heard the story firsthand...
It doesn't hurt to have guys like LaRue and Blucas as seniors. And yes LaRue eventually played in the NBA but he had to work his tail off after Wake to make it. You also can't ignore the fact that it was Duncan and Childress together that gave us the best shot at a Final 4. It a different time now but guys like Bogues and Childress that were very good by the end of their Junior seasons but the NBA was not beating down the door for them at that point.
Looking at the 95 team we had:
Childress - the senior that took his game to the NBA level
Duncan - having his real break out year as a soph
LaRue - solid role player
Peral - a good role player
Rutland - the frosh PG that was a decent backup
Braswell - another frosh but behind Rutland
Banks - another senior
We'll never know what 96 could have been if Rutland hadn't blown out his knee. For that matter it also helped kill 97. That plus the in ability to bring in strong enough players to surround Duncan with.
Yes, you make endless excuses about Tacy that you don't provide to other coaches. We get it.
Pretty much every ACC gym back then was a barn. Reynolds, Carmichael, Cameron (before it was considered this hallowed place to play).
It was much easier to recruit under the radar type players back then. Plus Wake got its share of fairly sought after recruits. Recruiting was much more regional.
And nobody was on TV back then. There was an ACC game of the week and that was it. An occasional national TV game.
With all due respect, you haven't said shit in that post. I think that, for some unknown reason, you just feel an obligation to degrade Coach Tacy for no other reason than because I support him so strongly. I know you are an intelligent person who has followed WF closely for a long time. Whether or not you want to say it on this board, you have to realize what a great job he did for Wake Forest.
Do you think being recruited to play basketball at Auburn qualifies as being "highly recruited"? Auburn? We're not talking football here.
That's only school he specifically mentioned because his brother went there. What we do know is that he had a major scholarship offer.
The fact that he kept Tacy on the line also indicates that he had choices.
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Surprised Frank Johnson was not recruited by U. Fl. or FSU since he was from Weirsdale not too far from Gainsville or Tallahassee...