Fixed it for you.
The reason Gaudio won games early in seasons was that most teams play man-to-man as their base defense. Unless there is some reason to come out of it, they will stay in a man defense almost exclusively. Gaudio's teams feasted on man defenses because he had Ish and Teague to beat their man off the dribble and other athletes to attack the rim and crash the glass. Those Wake teams could play with anybody that wanted to play man-to-man and run the floor. Ironically, that was why Gaudio's teams usually played well against UNC and Duke--both of those programs had enough talent on the floor (and enough pride in their respective "systems") that they wouldn't switch to a zone.
However, other teams did, and that was when the collapses would start. Throw a zone at a Gaudio team, and watch a bunch of guys stand around for 30 seconds until someone would have to chuck up some horrible shot to beat the shot clock. Then repeat ad nauseum. Dino was completely unable to coach any other style of play than the fast-paced, open-floor game. Slow it down, and you got that wide-eyed, clueless look on his face that we all remember.
For an example of how teams used adjustments to beat Wake Forest, go back to Dino's last season. We went to UNC in early January and thumped the Heels. Just crushed them, running up and down the floor. Get to February and what happened? Carolina came to Winston, junked up the defense, and kicked our asses. Dino was helpless to stop it. So, there's your answer. Dino was able to get to #1 until it was discovered that Wake was a one-trick pony. From the point that we lost to VaTech at home when we were 17-0, he never got it back.
It is ridiculous that people have to be reminded of this.