It's happening before my very eyes...

[marquee moon]

Like watching a slow motion car wreck....

WE'RE GOING TO THE BIG DANCE!!!!1111*

















*See "irrational exuberance"

 

[inspectah]

We aren't going to the tourney but we will be welcoming Bz back next year. All but inevitable at this point.

 

[piratedeac92]

In big dance you mean ACC Tourny? I feel like thats buzz's goal, to make it to that tourny every year. And somehow he has made it every year....... ........ ......

 

[BudatWake]

We aren't going to the tourney but we will be welcoming Bz back next year. All but inevitable at this point.

Too true I am afraid

 

[BobStackFan4Life]

Welcome back for year five Coach!

 

[ChrisL68]

We gotta make the NIT at least for there to be any chance Bzzzzz is retained, IMO.

 

[ACCOffice]

We gotta make the NIT at least for there to be any chance Bzzzzz is retained, IMO.

I'm not sure the NIT will do it. We would have to win at least one in the NIT, even if we got there.

I can't see Wellman extending Bz's contract without some serious excitement going on. And it's useless to leave him hanging one year without an extension. It would kill recruiting.

 

[ChrisL68]

Our schedule gets tougher. Most of our "tossup" games have been at home 1st half and most of them will be on the road 2nd half.

 

[VaDeac]

Has Bz actually recruited the Class of 2011, instead of landing Fischer/Fields/Green, he wouldn't be in the position of having all of "his" guys be freshmen and sophomores.
That first class, which should have been a "recruiting bump" in any other coaching situation, is one of Bz's most prominent failures IMO, and one that isn't talked about enough.

*I think it's fair to give a pass on Green due to injury, but I think my point stands even still.

 

[ChrisL68]

The problem is Bzzz is that he seems to rely on a star recruit or two underrated player. I don't think that will yield a consistent winner. He was faced with rebuilding at CU, he never recruited any talent to AF, and he is faced at Wake with a complete rebuild when this current soph class graduates.

 

[VaDeac]

The problem is Bzzz is that he seems to rely on a star recruit or two underrated player. I don't think that will yield a consistent winner. He was faced with rebuilding at CU, he never recruited any talent to AF, and he is faced at Wake with a complete rebuild when this current soph class graduates.

Especially since his star recruits aren't really star recruit caliber.

 

[BacktoBack]

I agree. Think you are dead-on here. Without at least that, Wellman has no choice but to make a change...no matter what he wants to do. And I think he understands that.

However, if you accept that this is really only his 2nd year with his players having most of the minutes....what, 7 sophs on this team?....and he ends up with 20+ wins and a post-season appearance, I don't see how anyone can just flatly rule out that he could not accomplish even more with those guys as juniors & seniors. Anyone who cannot see major improvement this year....not just improvement, but major improvement...is simply not looking at the situation objectively.

Maybe this team will flop down the stretch, winning only 3 or 4 more games....in which case the next move by Wellman will be obvious. However, if this team continues to make strides and wins 20+ games & a post-season invite, a fair-minded person has to give [Redacted] a lot of credit for it.

How could we have possibly gotten any worse? When the bar is so ridiculously low we can only show improvement. We can rule out that he can't accomplish more because his historic record says he sucks.

 

[DCDeac]

Especially since his star recruits aren't really star recruit caliber.

Devin was freshman team All-ACC and is leading the ACC in rebounding this year. Codi is in the top 10 in scoring in the ACC this year.

Are they not stars because they're not going pro next year?

 

[MBDeac08]

I agree. Think you are dead-on here. Without at least that, Wellman has no choice but to make a change...no matter what he wants to do. And I think he understands that.

However, if you accept that this is really only his 2nd year with his players having most of the minutes....what, 7 sophs on this team?....and he ends up with 20+ wins and a post-season appearance, I don't see how anyone can just flatly rule out that he could not accomplish even more with those guys as juniors & seniors. Anyone who cannot see major improvement this year....not just improvement, but major improvement...is simply not looking at the situation objectively.

Maybe this team will flop down the stretch, winning only 3 or 4 more games....in which case the next move by Wellman will be obvious. However, if this team continues to make strides and wins 20+ games & a post-season invite, a fair-minded person has to give [Redacted] a lot of credit for it.

I don't think it matters what year it is with his players. If we make the NCAA tournament, it would be difficult to justify firing him based on on court results. The team didn't look good until the last couple of games and other teams are going to adjust to what we have been doing well and try and take it away. We are playing better of late, but it remains to be seen if we can keep it up for another 5-6 weeks.

However, this situation is bigger that just on-court results. Based on posts by those with inside sources, the lack of money coming in may be a bigger factor in determining Bzzz's future than wins and losses. When your coach affects overall donations to the university, you have a problem. Whether right or wrong, it is a major problem that has to be rectified.

 

[VaDeac]

Devin was freshman team All-ACC and is leading the ACC in rebounding this year. Codi is in the top 10 in scoring in the ACC this year.

Are they not stars because they're not going pro next year?

We're splitting hairs here, and in the end my point doesn't matter a whole lot if the player becomes something he wasn't really expected to be, as is true in Devin's case. All I'm saying is that the recruits who are supposed to be the headliners of their class (I'm thinking Mitchell specifically) aren't really headliner level on a national scale. Mitchell is what, top 75 right now, and that was before his injury.

Codi and Devin are outplaying their advance billing (and yes in fact are stars) which is nice, and I hope Mitchell will too. I just question the viability of that recruiting model, because that won't happen but so often.

 

[KidA23]

Devin was freshman team All-ACC and is leading the ACC in rebounding this year. Codi is in the top 10 in scoring in the ACC this year.

Are they not stars because they're not going pro next year?

Not that I'm disagreeing with your general point, but using ACC stats only paints a slightly different picture. Through 7 ACC games, Devin is 13th in rebounding and Codi is not among the top 20 in scoring. Incorporating non-ACC games basically just pits our OOC schedule against everyone else's.

 

[ChrisL68]

Having star firepower and supplementing it with 4 year players yielded a period where WFU went to the postseason 18 of 20 years. I seriously doubt the diamond in the rough strategy would even touch that level of success.

And if you have any legitimate success then it is likely that one of those "diamonds in the rough" will be good enough to go pro early.

 

[BacktoBack]

Not that I'm disagreeing with your general point, but using ACC stats only paints a slightly different picture. Through 7 ACC games, Devin is 13th in rebounding and Codi is not among the top 20 in scoring. Incorporating non-ACC games basically just pits our OOC schedule against everyone else's.

Great point

 

[DirkTheDeac]

Skip got caught with his pants down when CP left early. I think he was doing everything in his power to remedy that shortly before his death. I think he proved you can build a program to compete with Duke and Carolina on a regular basis at Wake Forest. And I know for a fact, beyond doubt, that he never looked at the players he recruited as anything less than student athletes. Emphasis on student. His kids had mandatory study sessions. He sometimes led them. If they didn't hit the books they didn't play. If they chose to leave early he understood. There are big dreams and little dreams and Skip appreciated big dreams.

 

[pinochadeac]

UNC is the only team in the top 50 that we have beaten. Rons cupcake magic is working on you guys. We will lose and lose big very soon. [Redacted] better not come back.