Lengthy [Redacted] Interview with Gold Rush

[deacphan]

Combine the two rosters and give me your starting lineup for last year. I have 4 UVA players and McKie.

Stetson? UNCW? etc.? Etc?

 

[deacphan]

Don't have the data for that. I think it was 48 for a couple years, then 52 or 52 another year or two before expanding to 64. Not sure how many teams that would add to the list. I'm confident it wouldn't add 15.

No doubt. Not trying to play "gotcha," but I was interested to see what it would be since the 64 teams were added. Doubt it gets much higher than 10.

 

[The Stig]

You don't see how having the players participate in ROTC crap, instilling "military-like discipline," etc. appeals to old white people who also despise the "NBA thugs?"

I'm sure plenty of top recruits will be clamoring to wake up at 5 am to run with a bunch of dorks.

I think that having a disciplined team appeals to everyone, provided they can win. This isn't a race issue so I'm not sure where that came from.

Considering that their days often start at or before 5 anyway, it's not going to change anything. A D1 athlete does more before 11AM than most college students do before 8 PM.

 

[deaclite]

27, I like your spunky attitude but Bz comes across so poorly even winning may not save him. The combination of losing and not being popular with the fans is lethal.

 

[Deacsfan27]

Sorry, man. I'm sure I'm not the only one who read that post as if you were approving [Redacted]'s coaching since that's the main point you're making on this thread. It seems like you believe his system was OK despite the fact it did not lead to improvement. In fact, you just said it. Am I supposed to take that to mean that you don't like that the system is going to need more time to show improvement?

I wanted to see improvement as the year went on, but it became pretty clear that it was not going to happen in my opinion.

 

[deacphan]

Absolutely not. I thought he should have gotten another year, but understood the firing. I was also very against the hiring of Coach [Redacted] when it happened.

I was speaking more so prior to the firing.

 

[myDeaconmyhand]

If Ron Wellman really wanted a "culture change", and only wanted players who truly represented Wake Forest, he would stop giving basketball scholarships and field a team of 12 walk-ons. If culture and discipline are more important than winning, then we shouldn't have a team at all. Wake already has 4,500 other cultured and disciplined students who can't play ACC basketball.

 

[Deacsfan27]

27, I like your spunky attitude but Bz comes across so poorly even winning may not save him. The combination of losing and not being popular with the fans is lethal.

Winning will save pretty much any job if you do it enough times and don't cheat.

 

[Deacsfan27]

I was speaking more so prior to the firing.

I was very incorrect about calling out people that thought he should be fired simply because of the fact that I thought firing him was an absurd move at that point.

I was not happy about the post-season woes, but certainly did not think that he would actually get fired. I don't believe that I was ardently pro/against Dino.

 

[Deacsfan27]

Stetson? UNCW? etc.? Etc?

Extremely bad losses that were inexcusable...what else can you say?

 

[tiltdeac]

Stetson? UNCW? etc.? Etc?

Yeah obviously those sucked. We were bad in the OOC. We were better than those teams. The gap between us and them was a lot smaller than people think though, especially Wilmington.

 

[PhDeac]

I wanted to see improvement as the year went on, but it became pretty clear that it was not going to happen in my opinion.

And why was that improvement not going to happen? Because the players were so bad they couldn't improve or Bz' system does not generate improvement until next season?

 

[deacphan]

I think that having a disciplined team appeals to everyone, provided they can win. This isn't a race issue so I'm not sure where that came from.

Considering that their days often start at or before 5 anyway, it's not going to change anything. A D1 athlete does more before 11AM than most college students do before 8 PM.

It isn't race. It's culture. DUH!!!!

 

[Buttermaker]

There is no problem with 2 and done players if it does not harm the team in the long run. I know that it is a double-edged sword (we wouldn't have been as good without them, but I don't think we could ever go far with them in the tourney).

Least we made the tourney...

 

[Marietta Deac]

You don't see how having the players participate in ROTC crap, instilling "military-like discipline," etc. appeals to old white people who also despise the "NBA thugs?"

I'm sure plenty of top recruits will be clamoring to wake up at 5 am to run with a bunch of dorks.

Ease up chief. A lot of these guys are paying their way through school through ROTC. I don't know about now, but ROTC wasn't just "dorks" when I was at Wake.

 

[rjequalsmj]

This talent argument just kills me. Where was all this talent? I don't care what ranking numbers were beside the player names, Travis was the only one prepared to contribute this year. You want to call Bz incompetent based on coaching the '10 - '11 team? If you believe that, you're an incompetent fan for using that as your sole proof.

OK, flail away with your "throwing players under the bus" red herring stuff. If you watched the games, you saw that JT, Carson, and Tony were not ready, physically or mentally, for ACC play. Melvin didn't contribute anything for non basketball reasons. They might be ready to compete next year, emphasis on might, depending on their skill sets and off-season preparation. No PG, no center, and we supposedly have all this talent. Amazing concept.

what about players we had that contributed two years ago. first people dont give cj enough credit, yeah hes not a point guard, but he is a starter on a lot of acc teams. He started as a freshmen on a team that made the ncaa tournament. Also, look maybe Ari is a jerk or whatever but he contributed last year and bzz got absolutely nothing out of him. JTT is a really good player too and a lot of the things he did poorly seem coachable (shot selection, etc. although hes probably not part of the bzz culture either). Part of being a good coach is adjusting your style to the players you have, not trying to make everyone fit into a certain mold.

 

[deacphan]

If they were running with most any group of WF students outside of athletes, I'd probably consider it running with a bunch of dorks. Granted, during my time at Wake a fair amount of the ROTC group was particularly dorky.

 

[Deacsfan27]

And why was that improvement not going to happen? Because the players were so bad they couldn't improve or Bz' system does not generate improvement until next season?

It took the players longer then Coach [Redacted] expected to buy into what he was doing (drastic change for them), and by that time there was no way that the system was going to pay dividends by the end of the year.

This is not the only the player's fault, Coach [Redacted] struggled to teach them in a manner that they could relate to. I think it is a combination.

 

[Deacsfan27]

what about players we had that contributed two years ago. first people dont give cj enough credit, yeah hes not a point guard, but he is a starter on a lot of acc teams. He started as a freshmen on a team that made the ncaa tournament. Also, look maybe Ari is a jerk or whatever but he contributed last year and bzz got absolutely nothing out of him. JTT is a really good player too and a lot of the things he did poorly seem coachable (shot selection, etc. although hes probably not part of the bzz culture either). Part of being a good coach is adjusting your style to the players you have, not trying to make everyone fit into a certain mold.

What team does CJ start on besides Wake Forest?

 

[The Stig]

It isn't race. It's culture. DUH!!!!

If you're making the claim that culture = race, you are stating that you are racist. By saying that disciplined non thug athletes have to be made "whiter", you're stating that all non whites are undisciplined thugs. Using the extreme is wrong either way you try it.