I've decided to make a list of ten potential candidates for the soon-to-be-available (by public demand) head coaching position, complete with pros and cons for each, as well as how each would fare on a neutral court against a Jeff Bzdelik-coached team.

As always, this list is probably incomplete and any suggestions should be made in the comments.

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Dey see me flopping, Dey Hating

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons (11-12, 2-7) has 7 games remaining and they are all ACC games. It is not the toughest stretch, Perhaps the easiest stretch with 4 maybe 5 out of the 7 games being winnable games. The toughest out of the 7 will be this Wednesday at Virginia Cavaliers (18-4, 5,3) and are currently ranked nationally as 18.

(After the Jump, I discuss all the remaining games)

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I didn't know where else to put this, so I'll just link it and quote it:

Carolina March: Wake Forest, Trying Desperately to Regress to the Mean

Also thanks to Quzybuk for the analysis in the previous two fanposts. As you can tell from its brevity, this FanPost is only meant to be observational, not analytical.

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This was intended to be a much longer post explaining why, to a large degree, the talent drain that has occurred at Wake in recent memory has not been Bzdelik's fault. But after writing 2000 words and not even getting to the crux of the argument, I realized that no one in their right mind would read that. So instead, here's the research that I did regarding the lack of talent currently playing at Wake.

I would like to reiterate that I do not intend for this to be an indictment of anyone. These are simply numbers, with a little bit of my opinion mixed in.

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There are four general college basketball recruiting strategies which coaches may follow: (1) recruit as much raw talent as you can, and allow your players to play with a minimal pre-defined system in the hope that talent wins out (the Roy Williams approach); (2) recruit as much raw talent as you can, and impose a pre-defined system as a method of adopting consistency over time (the Ben Howland pre-2009 approach); (3) recruit as much raw talent as you can, and then tailor your system to that talent (the Mike Krzyzewski approach); (4) recruit lesser talent with the goal of fitting that talent into a pre-defined system (the Bo Ryan approach). Any of the four methods can be successful, as each coaching example indicates, but the dutiful observer will note that the key to three of the four is assembling the best talent possible. It should come as no surprise then that, typically speaking, more talented teams win more games.

Since 2005, Wake has signed 13 top 100 recruits, as ranked by Rivals (Kevin Swinton, Anthony Gurley, Jamie Skeen, Jeff Teague, James Johnson, Al-Farouq Aminu, Ty Walker, Tony Woods, Ari Stewart, J.T. Terrell, Travis McKie, Melvin Tabb, Carson Desrosiers). Of these 13, exactly three have the opportunity to play all four years at Wake Forest (Walker, McKie, and Desrosiers, and Walker has not exactly lived up to his recruiting hype). The rest either transferred (Swinton, Gurley, Skeen, Woods, Stewart, Terrell), left for the NBA (Teague, Johnson, Aminu), or were kicked out of school (Tabb).

With little to no overall talent (three top 100 recruits in the last four recruiting classes still here - with one largely unproductive until recently), it's no wonder we're lagging behind the rest of the ACC. Over the same time period, Clemson, Maryland, Miami, and NC State each also have three such recruits still on the roster, while the two Techs each check in with four such recruits each. Meanwhile, the three ACC leaders have the most, as you would expect: Florida State has seven, Duke has eight (excluding Andre Dawkins, an early enrollee who otherwise would count), and North Carolina has a whopping nine such players (which would explain how they can lose a McDonald's all-American shooting guard and start playing better of all things). Virginia has no such recruits on the roster but has a coach who preaches a set system (as well as a number of recruits just out of the top 100 cut off point, and four top 100 recruits who have transferred out or left for the NBA). And poor Boston College has no such players, which explains why they're arguably the worst team in ACC history.

Based on roster construction, then, we should be middle of the ACC in terms of talent (let's say that Ty Walker actually lives up to his five-star recruiting billing). What separates the other teams with similar amounts of talent from Wake? The most glaring difference is experience. Look at the top recruits of the other teams:

Clemson: Milton Jennings (junior), Devin Booker (junior), Bernard Sullivan (freshman)

Georgia Tech: Mfon Udofia (junior), Glen Rice Jr. (junior), Kammeon Hosley (sophomore), Jason Morris (sophomore)

Maryland: Sean Mosley (senior), Mychal Parker (sophomore), Nick Faust (freshman)

Miami: Dequan Jones (senior), Durand Scott (junior), Rion Brown (sophomore)

NC State: Richard Howell (junior), C.J. Leslie (sophomore), Lorenzo Brown (sophomore)

Virginia Tech: Jarell Eddie (sophomore), Dorian Finney-Smith (freshman), Robert Brown (freshman), C.J. Barksdale (freshman)

Most of the other teams with comparable talent have experience to go with that talent. The exception to this is Virginia Tech, who, not coincidentally, has largely struggled in conference play. Wake has two sophomores and a senior who did not play for two years (essentially: a sophomore). Now, with the caveat that correlation does not equal causation (and that these rankings do not account for a good number of quality ACC players, such as ACC Player of the Year favorite Mike Scott), there certainly does appear to be a high correlation between these lists and position in the league standings.

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Of the 13 Wake recruits in question, how many can we actually say are Bzdelik's fault. I would argue one. We can immediately rule out the players that departed prior to Bzdelik's arrival: Swinton, Gurley, Skeen, Teague, Johnson, and Aminu. That leaves seven recruits for which Bzdelik is potentially responsible: Walker, Woods, Stewart, Terrell, McKie, Tabb, Desrosiers. Three of these players either were outright booted from the team or transferred as a direct result of non-coaching disciplinary actions (Woods for the unfortunate incident with his girlfriend, Terrell for his DUI, and Tabb for what is rumored to be theft). One can argue that these transfers came about as a result of Bzdelik as a stricter coach when compared to Gaudio, but I personally would like to believe that we would have released these players regardless of coach. I take great pride in my alma mater, and sometimes doing the right thing trumps on-court success.

That leaves only Ari Stewart plus our three current players. Stewart, I feel, is the only casualty that can be directly related to Bzdelik: he was unhappy with the new system and decided to transfer as a result. While this should not be ignored, it's also unfair to say that Bzdelik's completely at fault regarding the current lack of talent on the roster.

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So what's being done to fix this?

Much has been made about the incoming class, but to me, there have already been some (albeit limited) signs of improvement. You can't really teach talent. However, players can choose to work hard and improve, and the current roster of players certainly illustrates that concept. There have been noticeable strides made in the individual games of numerous current Deacons (C.J. Harris has developed an extremely consistent jump shot from both mid-range and out as well as a knack for drawing contact on drives; Travis McKie has improved his post game considerably; Ty Walker has finally started playing like an ACC caliber player after three years of no production; Carson Desrosiers has increased his strength and his shot-blocking timing). This is itself a promising sign, as it bodes well that the current staff can groom future players given time.

From a recruiting standpoint, the first full recruiting class a coach has to put together is always the most difficult. Bzdelik got credit for keeping together Gaudio's final recruiting class (although it was mainly Jeff Battle), but of the recruits in that class, only three of the five are still with the program. Bzdelik's first full class was underwhelming - no top 150 recruits. However, due to the time consuming nature of recruiting (it takes years to develop the relationships with players and their support circles), it is usually difficult to get an accurate reading of a coach's recruiting chops based on the fact that other, more established coaches will have had years head starts. Bzdelik's second recruiting class, as has been noted on many an occasion, consists of one or two top 100 recruits (depending on which site you use), including one that could be Wake's first top 50 recruit since the Aminu-Walker-Woods triumvirate of 2008. This is, to say the least, a step in the right direction to remedying the talent shortage that currently represents Wake's largest problem.

via cdn2.sbnation.com

Wake Forest is currently 11-11 this year. They have struggled a lot this year. When we beat Nebraska, I thought that this year might not be that bad. Well, I was wrong. Yes, We have improved from last year A TON BUT, We haven't improved enough.

(After The Jump I talk what wake needs to work on to become a competitive team)

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What follows are my (attempts at) impartial thoughts concerning the men's basketball team. I will offer analysis of players, schemes, and attempt to diagnose causes based on these. This is not intended to be an indictment of any individual. The players are 18- to 22-year olds. Some fluctuation of quality of play is to be expected, based solely on that fact alone.

Editors Note: We will have a RoundTable Discussion of Wake Forest basketball coming later this afternoon from the perspective of some editors and writers. This is a fantastic first look at the Deacs and where we are at this point in the Jeff Bzdelik Era, as well as the players that are here.

This is also a great example of the work that should be put forth to get on the front page. It's well researched, well written, and generates new and good discussion of the basketball team.

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Certain individuals have not been acting within the site rules. Consider this an official warning to everyone: I will not hesitate to start banning. This is unacceptable, and my patience is waning.

As a reminder, here are the site rules:

We welcome healthy discussion between all sports fans, not just Wake Forest fans. Be courteous and do not attack other members and everything will move swimmingly. Personal attacks won't be tolerated, but smack talk is totally fine--just be ready to back it up. Trolling and spam are not allowed, and it is up to the site manager and the SB Nation staff's judgment to determine what constitutes both.

This is not a two-sided conversation. This is a statement. Play nice, or you won't be playing at all.

Wake will try to pull off an inter-conference upset against the flaming hot Seminoles of Florida State. Florida State is coming off a win at Cameron against Duke. FSU has also beaten UNC this year (BADLY 91-67 i think). This may be one of the toughest games of the year! Would be simply amazing if wake could pull it off. Wake is coming off a win at a very young Boston College team. They tarted 4 freshmen.

After the Jump I talk keys to the game, and predictions

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Starting off the season 1-3 in the conference isn't reason to panic for many teams, but in the case of the Deacons it is. Granted the team has an overall record of 10-8, but many of those wins were against teams an ACC team is "expected" to beat (i.e. High Point, Gardner-Webb, Georgia Southern). However, during their pre-conference schedule, Wake inexplicably lost to Wofford and got blown out by a weak Arizona State team in the Old Spice Classic. Most recently the Demon Deacons got dismantled by Duke on ESPN, losing 91-73.

Any true college fan knows a pre-conference schedule gives fans a gauge of the direction and potential of a team, but conference play is most important. Getting off to a solid start in a conference as historically talented and tough as the ACC is key. Starting 1-3 is definitely not what any Demon Deacon fan hoped for, but what is more troubling is the way the team has looked in those four ACC games.

The team started out on a positive note, by gutting out a win against a hard-nosed Virginia Tech team. In the last three ACC games however, the team has looked shaky and been very inconsistent with its play on the court. Here are some disturbing stats about the Deacs in their four conference games:

• Currently have a scoring margin of -14.2
• Shooting 38.9% from the field
• Shooting 25.4% from the 3pt line
• Averaging close to 15 (14.8) turnovers a game
• Outscored 142-105 in the first half of games

Now statistics sometimes do not tell the entire story, but in the case of the Deacs, these glaring stats explain a lot about the team’s 1-3 conference start. The team’s lack of continuity and consistency on the offensive end of the floor is a glaring problem. The offense looks spastic and some of the players show an inability to make basic fundamental plays (feed the post properly, using the dribble effectively, shot selection, etc). Those basic fundamental skills are direct reflection of coaching. Any coach knows fundamentals are essential at any level and should be focused on consistently throughout the course of a season, especially when playing at a high level like the ACC. Look at Duke compared to other teams in the ACC as well as the nation. The thing that sets them apart from a lot of teams is not how athletic or talented they are, but how fundamentally sound their players are on both ends of the floor, something that Coach K stresses regularly in practices. It is very frustrating as an alum, to see Wake Forest with its rich tradition of basketball, look more like a recreational league team rather than an ACC contender. Many of the team’s offensive woes could be turned around with improvement in fundamentals by each player which in turn will create better execution offensively.

Now this post isn’t about bashing the coach (however, like many other Wake fans, I’m not sold Bzdelik) or the team but changes need to be made or this will be a very long season for Wake Forest basketball fans. I hope that this slow start can somehow light a fire under the coaching staff and players to focus on improving and that they can right the ship. If things do not turn around soon and the team’s performance does not improve, there will be numerous disappointed alumni and Wake Forest fans will be calling for Bzdelik’s job by the end of this month.

Shana White is a blog contributor for Gold Star Games, a cornhole bags supplier

Source.

Some thoughts on this after the jump:

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