The Problem With Prosser

Even early in his career, there was never any doubt Keanu Reeves was a terrible actor. His lack of theatrical chops were on full display when he starred opposite the finest thespian of our time, Patrick Swayze, in Point Break. In the 1991 film, Reeves stared and winced his way through his portrayal of Johnny Utah and almost single-handedly sunk the seminal bank robber/surfer film of this generation. At that moment it became evident Keanu hadn't done much acting when playing Ted Logan in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Ted was Keanu. Keanu was Ted. And we, as a society, were doomed.
But even though everyone knew Keanu had less range than Manny Ramirez playing left field, he always managed to exceed those low expectations with an even worse performance in his next film. In Speed, America was supposed to believe Keanu could diffuse bombs and match-wits with a master criminal despite sporting a haircut and steely glaze that suggested he'd have difficulty crossing the street without getting hit by a taxi. After Feeling Minnesota debuted, the state had an identity crisis that resulted in the gubernatorial election of one of the bad guys from Predator. Al Pacino played Satan in Devil's Advocate, but it was Keanu that had led moviegoers into the depths of hell.
With each subsequent movie, Keanu managed to get worse. In one film it could have been his inflection on a key line, in another an ill-timed, creepy stare that ruined a pivotal moment. Either way, Keanu could do it all. He was versatile in his crappiness.
Yet today, Keanu Reeves still manages to land plumb acting roles and is a millionaire dozens of times over thanks to the inexplicable popularity of those terrible Matrix movies.
His success should be inspiring to Skip Prosser, another man who strives for greatness while toiling in the barren depths of mediocrity. Prosser's Wake Forest team dropped a must-win game last night against Florida State and now appears bound for the NIT for the first time during the coach's tenure in Winston-Salem. Just like Reeves, Prosser has enjoyed a small measure of success in spite of his tremendous failings. But his charade is almost up. It has become clear Skip Prosser is the reason Wake Forest basketball has gone from ACC contender to way off the bubble in six short weeks.
There's been a lot of rumors swirling about the future of Skip Prosser, but after last night's home loss further exposed him as the worst coach in major Division I basketball, how could any university possibly want him? This would be like hiring Ken Lay to run your new energy company.
Wake Forest has the second-most talented team in the ACC, but are second-to-last in the conference standings. Even with a stellar 2-guard and dominant big man, the Deacs have no discernible offensive gameplan. They always seem content to let the shot clock run down to 12, then try to force up a shot in double-coverage. Nobody ever moves without the ball, passing is relegated to tossing it around on the perimeter and picks are set so lazily defenders often step around them with ease.
Prosser supporters (a group which probably consists only of Skip's mother and wife - especially since my buddy Scott, the eternal Wake basketball optimist, has recently boarded the Prosser hatewagon) will say the team's apparent lack of offensive strategy is due to their penchant for running an up-tempo offense. I suppose that argument could have been made last year (unsuccessfully, since you still have to have a half-court offense for all the times you're forced to run a, gasp, half-court offense), but without a true point guard, Wake can't even be considered an up-tempo team this season. Especially when they rank 7th in the ACC in scoring offense. Every time Wake is forced to get in a half-court set they're like Chris McCray on his way to class: Lost. And that's all on Prosser.
On the rare occasions when Wake runs actual plays that work (feeding the ball inside to Eric Williams), they abandon them soon after. Williams always seems to get a quick four or six points in the middle, taking advantage of mismatches against smaller, slower defenders. Then, just when it looks like he's ready to break out for a 25/15 game, the Wake guards totally forget about him. This happens more times than you'd imagine.
Perhaps the worst part of Prosser's offense is its lack of vision. When Prosser calls a play, there never seems to be a "Plan B" should the initial call fail to work. If the main play isn't there, Wake seems lost and the possession nearly always results in a bad shot or turnover. For example: Yesterday, the coach called a ridiculous timeout on a key possession late in the second-half. After the TO, with Wake down three, they inbounded with 11 seconds on the shot clock. Prosser's play was designed to get Eric Williams a one-on-one match-up in the paint, but when FSU brought down another defender to help out, Big E panicked and quickly kicked the ball out to Michael Freakin' Drum who ran over to help out at the last second.
Watching that play, it was obvious Wake fully expected Williams to have an easy run to the basket since there was no contingency for anything else. A good coach would have called a play that would have had Justin Gray or Harvey Hale lined up behind Williams so a defender would have to leave a good shooter alone if he wanted to double-up the big man.
But Skip Prosser doesn't think about such things. He's like the chess player who only looks to make the best move at the time; never anticipating what will happen down the road.
Drum quickly turned the ball over, FSU went down the court and hit a three and the game was essentially over.
Amazingly, Wake's offense wasn't the worst part of their game last night. Defense has always been a problem for Skip Prosser teams, but it was excusable when they'd put up 90 points a game and lead the nation in rebounding margin. Without stars like Josh Howard and Chris Paul though, the Deacs can't get by with subpar defensive efforts.
Defenders are made, not born. Watch any Duke team if you disagree. Certain skills, like steals and rebounding, are instinctual, but things like playing a zone, boxing out, positioning and footwork all come from practice and coaching. It speaks volumes about Skip Prosser when Wake Forest is the worst team in the ACC at all those fundamental defensive techniques.
FSU won the game last night, in large part, to the Deacs inability to grasp those basic fundamentals. If you look at the box score you might think the 'Noles just got hot from downtown and the Deacs were powerless to stop it. But watching the game told a different story. FSU got hot because they were left wide open. On their eight first-half three-pointers, maybe one could be considered "contested".
Nobody was guarding FSU's shooters because of a defensive switch Prosser made. Early in the first-half, when the game resembled a track meet, he decided to change to a 1-3-1 zone in hopes of slowing the game down by clogging the middle and forcing FSU to work the ball around the perimeter. Like many of Prosser's ideas, this wasn't a bad one, in theory. The problem was, Wake hasn't played a 1-3-1 in ages and the players were totally unprepared to run it. Leonard Hamilton's team had no problem breaking the zone; they would throw one or two passes at the top of the key, feed the ball inside, watch Trent Strickland collapse in the middle (as he is supposed to) and then immediately kick the ball out to a wide-open player on the perimeter. After FSU ran the same exact play twice (successfully) on their first two possessions against the 1-3-1, you'd have thought Prosser would have changed up the defensive set. He didn't. The Seminoles proceeded to run, again, the same exact play five more times, each time with their shooter even more wide open than before. Trent Strickland was unable to recognize what was going on and his coaches apparently didn't either. The non-existent awareness coupled with Strickland continually biting on the lob into the middle like a rat getting electrocuted by a fake piece of cheese, led to 29 FSU first-half points. No adjustments were made until halftime and by that point, FSU already had a double-digit lead.
For the Deacs to be 1-5 is a travesty; especially when less-talented teams like UVA are 4-2 (with an, admittedly, easier schedule thus far). No other ACC school, besides Duke, has two All-ACC candidates like the Deacs and few teams in the young league are as seasoned as Wake Forest. If they could play any defense at all and run some semblance of an offense, the Deacs would be at least 4-2 in conference play. Instead, they're way off the bubble at the moment and will need a miracle (or Skip Prosser falling off the top of Wait Chapel) to get an NCAA berth.
It's no wonder Chris Paul turned pro after his sophomore season; he couldn't risk playing another year with Skip Prosser as his coach. Paul loved Wake Forest. He was a hometown hero and the most popular man in the city. College basketball is made for guys like Chris Paul. But he had to realize playing under Prosser could lower his stock and cost him millions. He had to go to the NBA, thus giving up the dream of leading his school to the Final Four.
I truly believe Paul would have stayed in Winston-Salem if he thought the Deacs could have won the National Championship this year. Luckily for him, Paul was smart enough to realize that would be impossible as long as Prosser was the coach.
Remember; Prosser didn't get to the Sweet 16 without Chris Paul, even when the Deacs were a #2 seed in their ACC Championship season of 2002.
Even with Paul, the Deacs struggled in the NCAA's. Had CP not bailed Wake Forest out with his heroics in a first-round game against VCU his freshman season, they would have had an early exit. The next round, Wake faced Manhattan and were again saved by Paul. Last season, the Deacs were down to #15 seed Chattanooga at halftime before Paul keyed a second-half run to give Wake the victory. In each of their last three NCAA Tournament wins, Chris Paul saved Skip Prosser. He couldn't afford to risk millions to do so again in his junior season.
Now, Paul is tearing up the NBA, averaging nearly 17 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds in his first season. He should be a lock for the All-Star team after leading the lowly Hornets to more wins in the first-half of this season than they had during the entire 2004/2005 year (with the same team pretty much in-tact). The Rookie of the Year Award is as good as his. Most great college players experience growing pains in the NBA. But Paul is arguably more dominant than he was in college, yet another sign of Skip Prosser's inability to harness talent.
Just 14 months ago, the Wake Forest basketball program was celebrating their first #1 ranking in school history. Now, they're fighting for their NCAA lives. When they don't make it, athletic director Ron Wellman needs to make the tough decision to get rid of Skip Prosser. He is a great recruiter, graduates most of his players and is a good man, but he's taken the Demon Deacons as far as he can. They've peaked. Few teams have ever done less with their talent than Wake did last season. This year, the talent level is down in Winston-Salem, but not so much so that the Deacs should be close to the bottom of the ACC.
It's time for Skip Prosser to go. Good riddance when he does.