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

I don't see us winning Saturday and I think we'll be in a real fight against Clemson. At this point I wonder if the road games aren't in our guys heads ie "Here we go again." We are likely going to finish this season 3-11 away home 🤮
 
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OldGoldBeard said:
Well, that was a punch to the gut. It was obvious that we were going to play poorly after the dook win, but I was hoping the talent disparity would allow us to GGTT it out. I still think we work the Techs and then nip Clemson in the finale, but it sucks to lose our margin for error right away like that. This team likes to do things the hard way.

Also, for an 80+% free throw shooter, Boopie misses an incredible number of front ends in clutch situations.

vs. NCSU, 4:05 left, tied, clang.

vs. NCSU, 1:39 left, tied, clang.

vs. dook, 1:18 left, up 3, clang.

@ND, 0:18 left, down 4, clang.

That's four in our last 6 games. I've never seen anything like it.
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also telling that we're still in the one and one that late into all these games
 
buckets said:
I think we could win the acct
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Definitely could. Somehow our guys have to feel no pressure and play loose. It's like they tighten up when everyone tells them they HAVE to win on the road, whereas if the expectations are sort of floating away, they might lock in and play with more freedom.

This is basically my hope for the VT game as well.
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
Would be a mistake to overlook Clemson. There are going to be some tight asses over these next two weeks, nothing ever comes easy for our Deacon Demons.
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This is the truth.

Why would we overlook anyone?

We just lost to a team that starts 3 freshman and 2 sophomores. We were up 48-39 with 17:00 to go and then just got worked. Even Carr got worked in the low post.

Our main dude Sallis did not take it to the rim, instead just keep seeking and seeking and we keep losing and losing on the road.
 
buckets said:
The truth is they've won the "must wins" this season and have pissed away the "very very nice to win" games
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At some point that becomes a distinction without a difference. A lot of those very-nice-to-win games looking back are going to revert to must-wins if we don't make the tourney. It's like how Quad games don't fully settle out till the end of the season.

My point is simply that I'm hoping we operate better when people just aren't expecting us to win on the road, and maybe we can go on a run and surprise a few teams, as well as ourselves. That's pretty much all we got left.
 
It sucks we have no one on this team that can come in off the bench and give us a spark. Parker doesn’t shoot enough and idk what the point of playing Monsanto is anymore. We all expected him to come back and average double digits, idk if he’ll hit double digits in a game the rest of this season.
 
Good news is that after Saturday this team won’t have to play another road game again.
 
I get that everyone is sour about last night, I sure as hell am. But there's all kinds of noise that makes no sense to me and one huge lingering question.

1. The complaints about depth are overblown. We've solidified an 8 man rotation which is completely normal and aligns with our talent level. UNC played 8 guys who made 2 buckets combine last night. Not a big deal.
2. We came out with plenty of energy and looked great offensively in the 1st half. Notre Dame isn't awful and won't be a Quad 3 loss. It's bad, but not disaster. Need 2/3 minimum finishing the season.
3. The big question about this team is whether the trend of us playing close on the road and dominating at home indicates that we'll struggle on a neutral court or we'll land in the middle and play to our metrics.

Everyone seems to assume road performances are a blueprint for tournament play. Well, except for folks who are posting that we could win the ACC tournament (which I agree with). We had road losses that were essentially one-possession games against UVA, NC State, FSU, and Notre Dame. UNC crushed us for a half, Duke and Pitt in the middle. Then we murdered Pitt at home, beat Duke, don't get to play UNC at home.

I don't know what you get when you jumble all that up with a kenpom rank only 13 spots behind the best ACC team and toss it onto a neutral floor with hopefully more neutral refs. But there's room for optimism there.
 
buckets said:
The truth is they've won the "must wins" this season and have pissed away the "very very nice to win" games
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giphy.gif
 
WSTigerDeac said:
I'm pulling for both Wake and Clemson to make the big dance. It is surprising to see how many people on here (and social media) have the Clemson game in the bag. I know Wake is undefeated at home but Clemson plays very well on the road. This season they only have 4 losses away from home. I did not know the Clemson game falls on the beginning of Wake's spring break. It will be interesting to see how many students show up.
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Would expect the number to be extremely low. No one is staying in WS for spring break.
 
DCDeac said:
I get that everyone is sour about last night, I sure as hell am. But there's all kinds of noise that makes no sense to me and one huge lingering question.

1. The complaints about depth are overblown. We've solidified an 8 man rotation which is completely normal and aligns with our talent level. UNC played 8 guys who made 2 buckets combine last night. Not a big deal.
2. We came out with plenty of energy and looked great offensively in the 1st half. Notre Dame isn't awful and won't be a Quad 3 loss. It's bad, but not disaster. Need 2/3 minimum finishing the season.
3. The big question about this team is whether the trend of us playing close on the road and dominating at home indicates that we'll struggle on a neutral court or we'll land in the middle and play to our metrics.

Everyone seems to assume road performances are a blueprint for tournament play. Well, except for folks who are posting that we could win the ACC tournament (which I agree with). We had road losses that were essentially one-possession games against UVA, NC State, FSU, and Notre Dame. UNC crushed us for a half, Duke and Pitt in the middle. Then we murdered Pitt at home, beat Duke, don't get to play UNC at home.

I don't know what you get when you jumble all that up with a kenpom rank only 13 spots behind the best ACC team and toss it onto a neutral floor with hopefully more neutral refs. But there's room for optimism there.
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Whatever kind of cake all those ingredients produce, it's going to be a crazy next few weeks. At least, as opposed to the dark years, we actually have a shot and have something to root for. Of course that just makes the pain of losing more pronounced.

The Wake Cake. Consume it at your peril.
 
Our depth/bench was absolutely horrid yesterday.

Monsanto - 4 fouls in 4 mins / 1-3 including a horrible airball
Marsh - Incredibly bad defensively and 0-1 from the field on top of that
Parker - bad defensively - remember at least 2 and 1's he gave up / 0-2

going to be hard to make a run with bench play like that
 
Also it's entertaining as hell to continue to see some of the same crack ogboards.com bracketologists who claimed no NCAA tourney and season ovah back in November still opining on metrics & bracket scenarios
 
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