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The Week in Wake

2013-06-17T00:07:31Z

A collection of links from around the web about the happenings in Tie Dye Nation.

It may be the offseason on Deacon Boulevard, but there is plenty of Wake Forest news making the rounds on the Internet. Here's a look at what's been going on this week in Tie-Dye Nation:

Wake Forest head women's basketball coach Jen Hoover spent the week in New York City as one of the 30 participants in the WBCA's Center for Coaching Excellence. This is a top-flight leadership program that is invitation-only.

Hoover To Attend WBCA's Center For Coaching Excellence - The Official Site of Wake Forest Demon Deacon Athletics

Speaking of the women's basketball program, the ladies were one of five Wake Forest teams recognized this week for their showing in the APR. Not the most shocking revelation in the world if you know this group even a little.

Five Teams Earn NCAA Public Recognition Award - The Official Site of Wake Forest Demon Deacon Athletics

The Winston-Salem Journal's Dan Collins had a chance to chat with Jeff Bzdelik this week about the basketball team's inclusion in this year's Battle 4 Atlantis, featuring (among others) Kansas, USC and Tennessee.

Bzdelik says Deacons eager for challenge of strong field at Battle 4 Atlantis - Winston-Salem Journal: Basketball

Finally, you may have heard that former Deacon Tim Duncan is once again in the NBA Finals, this time against LeBron James and the Miami Heat. Thursday night, the Spurs LeBeat the Heat to take Game 1.

Spurs Nation " Spurs 92, Heat 88: First blood

The Week in Wake: June 15

2013-06-16T01:48:30Z

Two Demon Deacons selected in MLB draft | Old Gold & Black

Pat Blair and Niko Spezial were selected in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft. Justin Van Grouw signed a free agent contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Wake Forest Adds Will Murphy to Basketball Staff - The Official Site of Wake Forest Demon Deacon Athletics

Recently-graduated former student manager and walk-on Will Murphy has joined the Deacs as the team's video coordinator.

Path to the Draft: No. 9 Wake Forest - Men's College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN

Part of Eamonn Brennan's ongoing "Path to the Draft" series, Wake Forest is listed as the ninth-best school for getting players to the NBA. Hint: He talks about Tim Duncan a lot, and why shouldn't he?

Will the Demon Deacons ever wake back up? -- college basketball - ESPN

Brennan wasn't finished talking about the Deacs, addressing the current state of Wake Forest basketball as it heads in to year four of the Jeff Bzdelik era. BSD's John Mundy, a longtime resident of Winston-Salem, gave his personal opinion on what has happened and what he thinks it will take to get the Deacs back on track.

Wake Forest rushing to find offense in 2013

2013-06-13T13:06:02Z

Fans of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons hit their respective pillows the night of November 3, 2012 with visions of another bowl bid dancing (okay, maybe just sitting around playing cards) in their heads. After all, the Deacs had just dispatched Boston College, 28-14, leaving Wake Forest with 5-4 record with three games remaining on the schedule.

Granted, the next three opponents were not exactly pushovers: N.C. State, an athletic group with a veteran leader in Mike Glennon, Notre Dame and upstart Vanderbilt. Yes, Vanderbilt. However, a one in three chance to become bowl-eligible is better than none, and the Wolfpack and Commodores could (on paper) be had.

What happened next will take a while for fans of Wake Forest football to forget.

The Deacons gave up 130 points over the course of those last three games (55 of them to Vandy) and were completely blown out of football's postseason picture, leaving only a trail of injuries and divisiveness among the team. Fingers were pointed, rumors abounded – and that's before Jim Grobe and his staff could get back to the drawing board to figure out the football problems.

The numbers were ugly, especially on the offensive side of the ball. The Deacons scored a paltry 18.5 points per game over a 12-game schedule, compared to 31.8 scored by their opponents. The Wake Forest rushing attack sputtered to accumulate just 1,206 yards with 15 touchdowns. That statistic is alarming, more so when one considers that Tanner Price threw for 2,300 yards and 12 touchdowns with 7 interceptions. In short, a change in strategy was needed.

Earlier this spring, coach Jim Grobe announced the Deacons will be moving to a more option-based attack in order to take some pressure off of Price. This will not be the first time in Grobe's tenure that Deacon fans will see an option look, as Wake Forest has utilized the option in the past. Benjamin Mauk was a talented athlete who was adept at running the option for Wake Forest before he was injured during the first game of the 2006 season. Mauk's injury forced a mad scramble to adjust the Wake Forest game plan to fit Riley Skinner, who by his own admission was not an option quarterback.

"I was not very good at it at all," Skinner said. "I think I tried to run the option twice and I fumbled twice. I don't think the transition is going to be as tough for him. You've got to rep it hundreds of times to make the decisions when the bullets are flying. It's not easy to do."

Wake Forest coaches and players alike believe a revamped running game featuring Price, Josh Harris and Deandre Martin will free up a talented (yet largely unproven) receiving corps led by Michael Campanaro and Orville Reynolds. Here are the comments from coach Steed Lobotzke following the 2013 spring scrimmage.

Was a "culture change" for Wake Forest basketball necessary?

2013-06-12T22:21:32Z

Before I get started on all of this, I want to lay some ground rules and parameters that will perhaps prevent the comments from devolving into the arguments that we have had on Blogger So Dear and message boards recently.

First of all, I am not debating whether or not the hiring of Jeff Bzdelik was a good move by Ron Wellman. The statistics and results that we have seen on the court all pretty strongly indicate that his hiring was at best a mediocre move, and most likely a very poor one.

The reason I ask that we not look at the Bzdelik hiring is that I know that many people have taken a strong stance against Ron Wellman and his decision to fire Dino Gaudio and then hire Jeff Bzdelik. These are two separate moves and I would like to view them as such for this article. We all know what has transpired at Wake Forest and most of us are not pleased with it.

Basically, the question that I want to examine is whether or not the culture and direction of Wake Forest basketball was in a place (or headed to a place) that needed to be drastically fixed to maintain the integrity, academically and from a character standpoint, that alumni and fans of Wake Forest expect to see. Primarily, this would lead to the question of whether or not it was to the point that Dino Gaudio needed to be fired in order to fix it moving forward.

I do not have an answer to this and do not attempt to persuade anybody in this article to a particular conclusion. Think of this as an open-ended discussion of the basketball situation at Wake Forest for the readers of BSD!

At the press conference that announced the departure of Dino Gaudio, Ron Wellman stated that it was the demise of the basketball team in the latter stages of the year and the postseason that led to the removal of Gaudio as the head coach of Wake Forest. While this was the stated reason, all that has come out of the athletic department since then has been about "winning with integrity" and "culture change".

It is not hard to read between the lines and assume that the primary reason behind this firing was the type of players who were being brought to Wake Forest.

As we can see with the following APR scores, Wake Forest was dropping quickly in this system that started in 2005:

2004-2005: 978 (2001-2005)

2005-2006: 986 (2002-2006)

2006-2007: 974 (2003-2007)

2007-2008: 963 (2004-2008)

2008-2009: 959 (2005-2009)

2009-2010: 953 (2006-2010)

2010-2011: 939 (2007-2011)

2011-2012: 942 (2008-2012)

A quick refresher from the article yesterday that I wrote that indicates what the APR is and when a team is punished is below:

The Academic Progress Rate (APR) is a term-by-term measure of eligibility and retention for Division I student-athletes that was developed as an early indicator of eventual graduation rates.

Each student-athlete receiving athletically related financial aid earns one retention point for staying in school and one eligibility point for being academically eligible. A team’s total points are divided by the points possible and then multiplied by one thousand to equal the team’s Academic Progress Rate score. Example: A Division I Football Bowl Subdivision team awards the full complement of 85 grants-in-aid. If 80 student-athletes remain in school and academically eligible, three remain in school but are academically ineligible and two drop out academically ineligible, the team earns 163 of 170 possible points for that term. Divide 163 by 170 and multiply by 1,000 to determine that the team’s Academic Progress Rate for that term is 959.

The NCAA calculates the rate as a rolling, four-year figure that takes into account all the points student-athletes could earn for remaining in school and academically eligible during that period. Teams that do not earn an Academic Progress Rate above specific benchmarks face penalties ranging from scholarship reductions to more severe sanctions like restrictions on scholarships and practice time.

While there are a few different reasons that could be attributed to the decline in APR scores, primarily early departures to the NBA and transfers (as well as coaching changes), in order for somebody to count against a school, these players either had to drop out of school or be in poor academic standing with the school when they left.

This requires a lot of assumptions to get to where an individual student can be pointed out unless if they got their release from the school/withdrew from school (as Melvin Tabb did in February of 2011). Even in the case of Tabb, it is difficult to tell whether he was in poor academic standing when he missed games in the fall of 2010, resulting in a loss of points for the fall semester as far as APR scores go, or if Wake Forest was only hurt in the spring semester when he withdrew.

Ideally, I move away from blaming individuals and calling out names here, but rather look at the overall systematic approach to bringing student-athletes in who have character or academic issues once they get here. It is a very fine rope to walk with borderline academic players in high school, especially at a school that is as academically rigorous as Wake Forest. I do not envy coaches who turn down student-athletes, especially those who are in the top 50 in ESPN's basketball recruits.

We do, however, expect the student-athletes at Wake Forest to be able to compete in the classroom and on the basketball court in order to represent and maintain the reputation of our school.

Is this an elitist point-of-view? I do not think so at all. Wake Forest has always been touted as a place that has Elon and Davidson-like academics, but with athletics that compete nationally in the ACC. That is what sets Wake Forest apart and why many current students and alumni chose to attend.

The APR is not a flawless system by any means in determining how a school is doing academically. Take for example a student who makes straight A's in high school, is a top 20 recruit, and has never had any character problems who makes a once in a lifetime mistake and drives drunk, resulting in a suspension from the team and a withdrawal from said student from the university in the middle of the basketball season.

This example hurts the school because it counts against them in the APR. The school did nothing wrong in this case, bringing in an exemplary student-athlete who made a mistake that cost both parties dearly. The school is still punished though.

Another example could be a student-athlete who becomes so homesick during their first semester in their freshman season that they withdraw from school. This also hurts a school even though nobody is really hurt in this situation.

On a basketball team there are 13 scholarship players, and one player in a year who withdraws has a bigger impact than one would on a football team (comprised of 85 scholarships).

Let's be honest though, these cases do not make up the majority of the cases that make the APR score what it is. The NCAA also has a review system in place that retroactively "fixes" these instances so the school is not hurt. The scores Wake Forest has been putting up recently have indicated an average of 2 or 3 players per year who either withdraw from school or are not in good academic standing when transferring or going professional.

This is unacceptable and should be addressed in my opinion. The last two scores of 939 and 942, while released over the past two years while Jeff Bzdelik has been the head coach, represented the athletes who left under Dino Gaudio, as well as Bzdelik. Also, we have not yet seen the scores from the players who Bzdelik recruited and transferred from Wake Forest.

This is not meant at all to be a defense of Bzdelik, as how he has recruited will come out in the following years. What it does indicate to me, however, is that Skip Prosser and Dino Gaudio were making a habit of recruiting players who either transferred, went professional, or especially as of late, had run-ins with the law/campus authorities.

Let me take the space now to state that I have absolutely no problem with players who are good enough to go to the NBA doing so. Nor do I have problems with players transferring who either do not mesh well with the coach/team or feel like they can get better playing time at a different institution. As long as they are in good academic standing and continue to attend classes until it is time to transfer or go pro I do not have a problem at all.

It is often times difficult to determine whether or not players who go pro leave the school in good standing. I have absolutely no idea if James Johnson, Al-Farouq Aminu and Jeff Teague left Wake Forest to go to the NBA because they were given good prospects by scouts, or whether they left because they could not return to Wake Forest because of bad grades. I think at least 66% of these guys went based on their draft prospects, and could have returned to Wake Forest if they wanted. Or in other words, were in good academic standing. I do not know for sure though.

Same goes for the transfers of Anthony Gurley, Jamie Skeen, Cameron Stanley, Ari Stewart, Konner Tucker, J.T. Terrell, Ari Stewart, Tony Woods, Chase Fischer, Carson Desrosiers, Anthony Fields, Tony Chennault, or Chase Fischer.

What I will say, which you could probably guess by my listing out those names, is there have been A LOT of transfers over the past 8 years at Wake Forest. We know the reasons behind some of the those transfers, or at least like to think we do. Others we do not have any idea other than to take their reason for leaving at face value.

There is of course room to speculate that the coaching change from Prosser to Gaudio, and then from Gaudio to Bzdelik, is responsible for a reasonable number of the transfers. Perhaps it has just been the perfect storm between elite talent, coaching changes, on occasional "knucklehead" or two (as Coach Grobe would say), and the era of instant gratification, where kids who don't get PT or results right away want to go somewhere else.

I do not write this article in an attempt to libel or belittle the coaching jobs by Prosser, Gaudio or Bzdelik (there are other articles for the latter), but rather an effort to try to figure out, along with the commenters who will respond, as to whether or not a change in directions was necessary to get Wake Forest back to the place where it should be academically and consequently athletically.

We need to look no further than the top of our own conference at the Duke Blue Devils (I know, disgusting), as a team that has succeeded in both realms. It may not be feasible to replicate the job Mike Kryzewski has done in Durham, but I do not fault anybody who is using that school as an ideal way to win on and off of the court.

I ask that we put aside our personal feeling for the current head coach and AD just for this article, and honestly take a look at what has caused so many departures from our basketball program over the past 8+ years.

Is it the perfect storm of circumstances? Were we on a path that we as fans/alumni do not want to be on in terms of the players we were bringing in? Is it a combination of both? Do I like asking rhetorical questions in my articles?

Maybe this will provide us with an answer and maybe it will not, but looking at it through a different view and maybe playing a bit of Devil's Advocate will allow us to take a "rounder" look at the entire situation at hand and understand it better.

Wake basketball dead last in the ACC in NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR)

2013-06-11T23:01:38Z

First of all, let's take a look at what the Academic Progress Rate (APR) is. It can be often times be confusing to understand, even for people that understand the basics behind it. From the Wikipedia page about the APR:

The Academic Progress Rate (APR) is a term-by-term measure of eligibility and retention for Division I student-athletes that was developed as an early indicator of eventual graduation rates.

Each student-athlete receiving athletically related financial aid earns one retention point for staying in school and one eligibility point for being academically eligible. A team’s total points are divided by the points possible and then multiplied by one thousand to equal the team’s Academic Progress Rate score. Example: A Division I Football Bowl Subdivision team awards the full complement of 85 grants-in-aid. If 80 student-athletes remain in school and academically eligible, three remain in school but are academically ineligible and two drop out academically ineligible, the team earns 163 of 170 possible points for that term. Divide 163 by 170 and multiply by 1,000 to determine that the team’s Academic Progress Rate for that term is 959.

The NCAA calculates the rate as a rolling, four-year figure that takes into account all the points student-athletes could earn for remaining in school and academically eligible during that period. Teams that do not earn an Academic Progress Rate above specific benchmarks face penalties ranging from scholarship reductions to more severe sanctions like restrictions on scholarships and practice time.

Before I get into this I just want to say that I spent a good amount of time trying to break down exactly what they are measuring here in their rolling, four-year period. It's extremely hard to determine why schools were penalized, who was penalized, and what year they were penalized. I suspect it is like this to protect the individual student's rights.

Therefore, anything I postulate in the rest of this article is advanced guesswork based on my understanding of the APR. If I am off on any of it please tell me and I will fix it!

From what I could best determine, this year's APR score is measuring the time frame of the 2008-2012 basketball seasons. For context, that is from James Johnson sophomore year (which he left after), to Jeff Bzdelik's second season (Carson Desrosiers, Tony Chennault and Anthony Fields all left after this season).

Here are the APR results from this season:

1. Duke 995
2. Miami 990
3. NC St. 984
4. VT 981
5. Clemson 973
6. GT 972
7. FSU 960
8. UNC 959
9. BC 958
10. Maryland 948
11. UVA 946
12. Wake 942

First of all, I'm going to list all of the players who left during this timeframe (if I missed a couple please let me know):

James Johnson ('09)
Jeff Teague ('09)
Al-Farouq Aminu ('10)
Konnor Tucker ('10)
Tony Woods ('11)
JT Terrell ('12)
Ari Stewart ('12)
Melvin Tabb ('12)

Now, it says above in the NCAA's rules that schools aren't hurt by players who transfer or go pro who are in good academic standing. It's hard to discern those above who were in good standing, but if I recall correctly, Melvin Tabb was dismissed right before the 2011-2012 basketball season. J.T. Terrell withdrew from school in September of that year. Therefore, I believe they both lost at least one point a piece because they did not stay in school. It's unclear as to whether they were in good academic standing or not.

The interesting thing about this (and where a bit of ambiguity comes into it is), is that the score actually went up this year from 939 last season. So that either means that the people we dropped (Cameron Stanley and Jamie Skeen both transferred from Wake Forest) were worse in APR-terms than Terrell, Stewart and Tabb, or that the problems of Tabb and Terrell were put into the 2011 season.

I'm not sure if the problems of Ty Walker during his Wake Forest playing days actually resulted in any points lost in terms of APR, but it is likely that he lost at least one point for us while here during his two suspensions.

The biggest thing I can discern from these results being released is we are being hurt from both the players going pro (this is not a dig at those three in anyway for going to the NBA, just a statement based on our score), as well as the poor academic standing of some of our transfers/withdrawals over the past 4-5 years.

It is extremely disappointing that Wake Forest is last in the ACC in the APR standings, especially since we have been doing so poorly on the basketball court. For a school, which prides itself on both basketball and academic excellence, this is something that is embarrassing for the alumni and the school alike.

As much fire as I'm probably going to get for this next paragraph I'm going to say it anyway, because the research that I did indicates that it is factually likely.

I'm sure the majority of people who see this will immediately blame Jeff Bzdelik. While there is certainly plenty of blame to go around for these bad scores, I would say the biggest problem lies in the bad decision making and sub-par academics of the student-athletes who were recruited over the past 6-8 years. It will be seen in the next few years as to whether or not the most recent departures were in good academic standing when they left Wake Forest, but what is clear is those recruited by Skip Prosser and Dino Gaudio, both those who went pro and transferred, had academic problems while a Demon Deacon.

The good news is we should see an uptick in the APR score next year because everybody who was not a senior last year stayed at Wake. It will be interesting to see how much it goes up, as it will indicate the academic standing of Anthony Fields, Carson Desrosiers and Tony Chennault. These are kids who Wake Forest labeled as "good kids" coming in, but transferred for one reason or another.

It will also give us a little insight as to whether or not James Johnson was in good academic standing when he went pro. It doesn't really matter in the long run, but something I've been interested in as Wake Forest continues to label those who go pro as "bad eggs."

Hopefully in the future we can focus on good basketball and great academic performance, because the past few years have been extremely embarrassing as a Wake Forest alumnus. I'm tired of writing this articles about my alma mater and am ready for something to be done about it.

All thoughts are extremely welcome and I'm sure I messed up somewhere, so let me know about it!

Wake Forest football still hitting Florida hard

2013-06-10T21:02:42Z

One key component of Wake Forest's success on the gridiron during the Grobe era is the establishment of a Florida talent pipeline. Deacon stalwarts like Alphonso Smith, Stanley Arnoux and Riley Skinner are just some of the talent plucked out of the Sunshine State to make a difference in Winston-Salem.

Coach Steed Lobotzke took time today on Twitter to let everyone know that the Deacs' efforts in Florida weren't falling by the wayside.

Florida is Deacon country! pic.twitter.com/UxY603a2F1
— Steed Lobotzke (@coachlobotzke) June 10, 2013

If anything, it would appear that Wake Forest has more of a foothold in Florida than ever before, as many of the players noted in the picture will depended on for quality contributions this season. Duran Lowe, Merrill Noel and Ryan Janvion should all see significant minutes in Derrick Jackson's secondary, while Orville Reynolds and Deandre Martin are expected to play a major role in the overhaul of the Wake Forest offense.

SS Pat Blair drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 12th Round

2013-06-08T17:38:02Z

Pat Blair, a shortstop who recently finished up his collegiate career at Wake Forest, was just selected in the 12th round of the 2013 MLB Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. He was the 368th overall pick in the draft.

He was selected by the Houston Astros in the 24th round last year but decided to come back to Wake Forest to raise his stock and get his college degree. While Blair comes in at just 5'10", 180 pounds, he has a phenomenal eye for pitches, ranking 3rd in the country in walks (57 walks in 55 games). This is especially impressive because not a lot of people pitched around him this year, and nearly all of his walks were earned.

Blair batted .275 for his career, but thanks to his ability to take walks, had an impressive .400 OBP. His senior season he finished with a .283 batting average and .459 OBP.

He is a versatile player who can play many different positions if asked to, and since he moved up to the 12th round will almost certainly sign since his collegiate eligibility is expired. While he may not be a superstar, I expect Blair to move up over a few seasons in the minor leagues and hopefully get a shot at the Big Leagues a few years out.

Here are a couple of draft profiles on him from The Crawfish Boxes (Astros SBNation site), and Prospect Digest.

Congratulations Pat, and the best of luck to you in your major league ventures!

The Week in Wake: June 7, 2013

2013-06-07T17:23:42Z