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Wake Forest 2023 baseball season thread (Deacs end historic season with extra inning loss to LSU: Final record 54-12 and top 4 finish nationally)

I think it is a situation similar to the one over at Clemson with Monte Lee. The dude did everything but never could win games in the NCAA's despite hosting several times.

Lee, who has had 19 winning seasons in his 20 years as a full-time NCAA coach, most recently was the head coach at Clemson University for seven seasons (2016-22), garnering a 242-136 overall record and leading the Tigers to four NCAA Tournament berths. Lee coached nine All-Americans, including at least one All-American in six of his seven seasons, and had 34 players drafted a total of 38 times at Clemson. He coached Max Wagner, a Dick Howser Trophy finalist and ACC Player of the Year, in 2022. Clemson won the 2016 ACC Tournament, going 4-0 in Durham, N.C., helping the Tigers to a No. 7 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers then won 42 games in 2017, hosting a regional for the second-straight season. Lee’s first five teams at Clemson all received perfect 1,000 APR scores.
 
And Clemson got rid of him despite that success. Our not firing Walter is LOWF as hell.
 
Right after the UMD regional I was ready to part with him, but given everybody he has coming back/coming in, I think it was the right call to give him this year as a make it or break it.

I want to host a regional/super-regional and have a legit shot to make the CWS. I understand that the postseason is a crapshoot, but we need to be in a great position entering the NCAAT given all the talent we have.

No excuses this year.
 
FWIW, baseball has the most random results of any major sport. As an example, here are the 2022 pre-season rankings of the 8 participating CWS teams:

Champ: Ole Miss -- #9 (had a hugely disappointing regular season; was the last team in the tournament; NC State was probably more deserving).
Runner-up: Oklahoma -- Not ranked
Notre Dame -- Not ranked
Auburn -- Not ranked
Arkansas -- #8 (had a disappointing regular season; not a top 16 seed; had to win on the road to get into the CWS)
Stanford -- #7
Texas -- #1
Texas A&M -- Not ranked

So, half the teams that made the CWS weren't ranked to start the season.

Further of the top 16 seeds heading into the tournament after the regular season and the conference tourneys, only 4 made the CWS: #2 Stanford, #5 A&M, #9 Texas and #14 Auburn. So, last year, only two teams were:

  • ranked in the top 25 to start the season,
  • received a top 16 seed in the NCAAT
  • made the CWS:

Texas and Stanford, and those were the first two teams knocked out of the CWS. FWIW, Tennessee was far and away the best team in college baseball last year. They dominated the entire season; won the SEC tournament, and then, ACC middling Notre Dame upset them in the super-regional.

So, if the expectation is that any team will:

  • Get ranked to start the season
  • Have a good enough season to host the first round (top 16 seed)
  • Make the CWS
  • Win a game in the CWS

Last year, zero college baseball teams reached that level of expectation.
 
Deacsfan27 said:
Right after the UMD regional I was ready to part with him, but given everybody he has coming back/coming in, I think it was the right call to give him this year as a make it or break it.

I want to host a regional/super-regional and have a legit shot to make the CWS. I understand that the postseason is a crapshoot, but we need to be in a great position entering the NCAAT given all the talent we have.

No excuses this year.
Click to expand...
This is where I am at too. Right to bring him back for this year and have to let him go if we don’t live up to expectations. Recognizing the randomness of college baseball, to me, that would be hosting a regional or being one of the top couple 2 seeds (and ideally advancing to at least a super regional).
 
We have a very talented team and Walter will likely coach the entire '23 season. While I'm very clear on his past shortcomings, this thread has the potential to be insufferable...
 
Dkin said:
We have a very talented team and Walter will likely coach the entire '23 season. While I'm very clear on his past shortcomings, this thread has the potential to be insufferable...
Click to expand...
He will definitely coach the whole season. That’s not a question. I think our fanbase is knowledgeable and has realistic expectations. Calling us insufferable is LOWF in my mind. We are a preseason top-10 ACC team. We have been preseason top-20 multiple times in the past decade with one decent result and a bunch of not even making the postseason. The leash on Walter and the frustrations with him are entirely understandable, especially given that he has facilities on par with AAA teams and better than 99% of college programs.
 
DeacWatcher said:
If Walter can't host a regional and get out of it with this amount of talent, he needs to be gone.

Then go get a top assistant out of the SEC which is what the Vols did 5 years ago.
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We could even get an alum with Scott Daeley.
 
Dkin said:
We have a very talented team and Walter will likely coach the entire '23 season. While I'm very clear on his past shortcomings, this thread has the potential to be insufferable...
Click to expand...
5 straight years of failure with talented squads. Excuse the fuck outta me for being skeptical and annoyed from him still being the lead man. Maybe this year will be different, but I highly doubt it.
 
Pilchard said:
Actually think its the other way around. There aren't 10 teams that return the talent that WF does heading into 2023. It's not like the people who evaluate college baseball owe anything to WF or get any benefit from giving WF an elite ranking.

If this same roster was in any other uniform, this team would be higher (better) than #10. The team is stacked.
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Then it’s time we show it and not lose in the College Park Regional…
 
Pitching. Pitching. Pitching.
Wake hasn't had enough quality pitching.

Wake continues to handicap the baseball team with the asinine policy of not accepting Junior college transfers.
 
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