It's Monday--a fresh week, a fresh start. The Deacs have until Saturday to prepare for their home contest against UNC, which has won just 2 of its last 11 games. Wake desperately needs a win here in front of what is sure to be a good crowd. That would get them to 9 wins with games @FSU and at home against Clemson remaining in the ACC. Then a split in those two games would give them 10 wins and puts them in the running for a bye in the first round of the ACC Tourney. But we won't get ahead of ourselves. Anywho, here's today's links.

Wake Forest Drops 19-10 Decision to Dayton | digtriad.com | Triad, NC | Sports News Article
Zach Jacob homered twice and drove in four runs, while Brian Blasik and Jimmy Roesinger each drove in three runs to lead Dayton to its first win of the season, a 19-10 victory against Wake Forest on Sunday afternoon at Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park.

Golf powerhouse Wake Forest in field at Wexford Intercollegiate | islandpacket.com
"I think Wake Forest is the team to beat," Francis Marion University coach Mark Gaynor said. "It's getting a little bit better each year. Over half the teams are the same, but we've got about six new teams. It's a lot of different teams from all up and down the East Coast basically, so it's a lot of fun."

Forward - Al-Farouq Aminu, Wake Forest | 2010 Unknown All-American Men's Basketball Team | Bleacher Report
Al-Farouq Aminu is a 6-9, 215 pound forward that plays for Wake Forest. Aminu is only a sophomore and has a lot of potential. He is vastly underrated. He is an outstanding player. His stats show it: 17 points per game, 11 rebounds per game, 2 blocks per game, and 2 steals per game. He consistently reaches double digit points and rebounds. He is very strong down low. I expect him to be unbelievable in the near futur

Recruiting: Junior day is busy day at Clemson, USC | GoGamecocks
[Lateek] Townsend has picked up offers from Tennessee, North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, LSU, Miami and Alabama. He also has offers from Clemson, USC, Illinois, NC State, Maryland, East Carolina and Texas A&M. He plans to see other schools but is not sure where else he will visit.

Dejected Deacs suddenly facing doubt – ACC Insider - Wilmington Star News - Wilmington, NC - Archive
If anything, Williams said his team’s lost week will only serve as motivation for the three regular season games that remain, and the even more important tests that follow in March. "Coach always talks about having a fear of losing," Williams said. "That’s a good kind of fear. That’s what we have right now. We slip up here and we can mess up a whole lot. Those three games right here determine what we want to do in postseason."

The Hunted - EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA
Desrosiers, who will play before rabid ACC crowds and national TV audiences at Wake Forest next year, has forged a deep bond with his teammates and classmates. "I never expected it to grow like this and get like this," said Desrosiers, after yet another impromptu mid-court rave broke out on the court following the wild season finale win over St. John's Prep. "The only word I can think of is special. It will be a crazy atmosphere in North Carolina, but I don't know if it will ever match what's gone on in this gymnasium this winter."

Pa. Boys: Record-setting day for Methacton's Lavong | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/21/2010
Also at Carroll, Neumann-Goretti handed Cardinal Dougherty an 89-58 loss behind Tony Chennault's 24 points.

High School Basketball Players of the Week - CharlotteObserver.com
J.T. Terrell, West Charlotte: West Charlotte lost to I-Meck regular-season champ Hopewell twice during the regular season and twice to second-place finisher Lake Norman. Terrell led the Lions to wins over Hopewell and Lake Norman on back-to-back nights at the conference tournament. He scored 20 against Lake Norman in the final and 45 against Hopewell in the semis. He had 44 in a first-round game Tuesday. That's three games and 109 points for the Wake Forest recruit.

Deuce Bello becoming complete player on and off court : News-Record.com : Greensboro & the Triad's most trusted source for local news and analysis
Bello plans to examine his college options after Westchester's upcoming playoff run. The state tournaments for the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association will begin Tuesday. After his senior year at Westchester, Bello would like to play in college one year and then go to the NBA.

Pack KOs Deacs
"Obviously we weren't scoring the basketball," Ish Smith said. "One thing we've done a great job of this year is when we're not scoring, somehow someway we've kept it in arm's length with our defense. "And we kind of let our offense affect our defense down by 10 and never really put any game pressure on them. The closest we got was six. Guys who usually don't make shots for those guys were making shots. "They were up six and eight and it's a whole lot easier to make those shots when you're up than when you're only up two or three points."

Lions take I-Meck title with upset - CharlotteObserver.com
"I didn't want to force things in the second half, because I knew we had a good lead," said Terrell, who had 16 points in the first half, but only four in the second half. Terrell made most of the plays over the three games as he averaged 36 points, totaling 109 points in three games. The Lions (19-9, 8-7), the No. 4 seed in the I-Meck tournament, beat two of the top three teams in the state rankings, in Hopewell (No. 2) and Lake Norman (No. 3) in consecutive nights.

Boys: John Marshall slips past Tucker for crown | Richmond Times-Dispatch
"We've been in tougher situations than this," said McKie, the Colonial District player of the year who scored his 2,000th career point late in the first half. With 18 seconds to go, Devonte Payne knocked down two free throws. Fourteen seconds later, McKie sank two more, the last of his game-high 28 points, for a 67-62 lead before Campfield buried an NBA-range 3-pointer at the buzzer.

My Take on Wake - The New Kid is Coming On | JournalNow.com
Having hedged, I will say this about Mescheriakov. He’s tall, taller than the 6-7 he was listed when he played at Georgetown. That’s rare. Usually the 6-7 guy that shows up is actually 6-5 1/2, if that. Nikita looks every bit of 6-8 and may be close to 6-9. He and sophomore Ty Walker are on a separate weight-training regimen under Todd Hedrick, the basketball strength and conditioning coach, that has them both lifting four times a week. It is beginning to show in Mescheriakov’s upper arms and shoulders. He looks stronger than he did a month ago. He’s left-handed and his shot is a line drive. But his touch looks pretty good. And he has 3-point range. He also has spring in his legs and moves well. Again, he looks like he belongs on the court.