The Dillemma: To Know or Not To Know

I'm headed down to the Verizon Center in a few minutes to watch the Capitals play the Red Wings. The puck drops at 12:30, thirty minutes after Wake tips off down in Atlanta against Georgia Tech. The game is on TV, so I'm, of course have the DVR recording the game. My question is: Do I shut myself off from the world (turn off my phone/send a mass text to anybody who would write me about the game) and attempt to make it through the Caps game and then back home without finding out the score so I can watch the game fresh? Or do I check my phone occasionally, find out the final score and then watch when I get home?
In high school I used to have swim practice at night and would tape Maryland games to watch while I ate dinner. At first, my mom would give away the score by saying something or giving me a look when I got home. Then she got better at concealing the result, only I would perceive every comment or facial expression she made as an indication of what happened and would be convinced that I had figured out the result before I was watching. The thought proces would go something like, "OK, she smiled when I came home which means that the Terps won. BUT she knows that I might think that her smiling suggests the Terps won, so that means she's compensating becuse they lost." I would do that the entire 90 minutes spent watching the game.
Maybe it will be too hard for me to get home and sit through a two hour game knowing that I can find out the result in ten seconds. My buddy Jaf has started taping Georgetown games and watching them later so he can fast forward through commercials. I mock him for this. It's now 11:00 a.m. and I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do.
Thoughts?

The Last Two Minutes of Duke-Wake Forest

I've watched the final play about 75 times on replay since last night. I can't get enough.
I give Dick Vitale a lot of crap. (In fact, I did so today.) But I have to say, I think he was pretty on point last night. He repeatedly explained why the game was so important (only two ACC teams will get to play the first and second round Tournament games in Greensboro) and he pointed out late in the game that Duke finally started playing a zone. Granted, he might have explained earlier that the Deacs were shredding Duke's man-to-man and that Coach K really should have gone to a zone earlier, but, in the grand scheme of things, for him to call that out in the final minutes was something a lot of guys wouldn't have done. (Billy Packer was always the best at that. People got caught up in his bluster, but Packer was the best at explaining what was happening in a game.) Vitale also called the play to James Johnson at the end.
Anyway, Wake really tried to give that one away. Teague pushing the ball to Aminu with 1:15 left was killer, as was Johnson's lackadasical rebound attempt (which he apologized for last night). That they kept their heads in it and didn't let the wave of Duke momentum bury them was quite impressive.

* And Luke Winn has it right (as usual) on his SI.com Power Rankings. Again, the rankings don't matter, but if the AP vote were today, it would be preposterous not to have the Deacs at No. 1. As it is, I'm happy that most voters would go with Connecticut today.

WWWHHHHOOOOOOOO! Wake Downs Duke In Final Seconds

Maybe because I'm still not used to Wake being a good team, I was expecting Duke to come back all night. When Gerald Henderson tied the game with 2.6 seconds remaining, it seemed like the Blue Devils were on their way to taking an easy overtime victory. Wake had made some foolish mistakes (Teague trying to get the ball inside with 28 on the shot clock, etc.) and it looked like the more veteran Duke time would capitalize after storming back from 13 points down. (Even if the comeback wasn't nearly as impressive as Mike Patrick thought it was. He compared it to the Maryland game from '01, which is insane. Duke was down 10 with :58 seconds left in that one.) But, James Johnson made up for his lazy (lack of) rebound on a Duke three point miss and hit the game-winner on a beautiful LD Williams inbounds pass. (It was all Gerald Henderson's fault. There's been debate on whether he left Johnson to go to Teague or Smith but, either way, the zone set off the inbounds was a mistake.)
With wins over UNC and Duke, Wake is staking a claim to one of the #1 seeds that will undoubtedly begin the NCAA Tournament in Greensboro. They don't get UNC again (thank you, John Swofford) but they will head 75 minutes east on I-40 to play Duke in Durham later in February.
A great win. Now Wake has to TCB against Georgia Tech on Saturday. I'd argue that if they win they should be No. 1 (because UConn and Pitt don't have one win that's as impressive as the two wins Wake has over their Tobacco Road rivals), but I'll take a page from Jeff Teague and not care about that trivial nonsense. After the vapid sideline reporter's question about whether Wake should be No. 1 after the win, he said, essentially, it doesn't matter. That's the sign of a smart player and a good coach.
Holler.

Clearing Up A Wake Forest-Duke Misconception

Tip-off is in less than an hour and I need to go out and get some beer to take the edge off a bit. Wilbon and Kornheiser both picked the Deacs to win on "PTI", but TK added into the popular ESPN talking point this week that Duke always seems to handle Wake Forest. Erroneous! Erroneous!! Erroneous on both counts!!!
Alright, Duke has won four of the past five meetings. But Wake has won four of the past five that they've played at home. No other ACC team can say that.
If I had to predict the game tonight, I'd go with Duke. The Deacs haven't faced a defense like the Dukies all year. (Of course, Duke hasn't faced a team with Wake's frontcourt size all year either). I do like the thought of Johnson on Singler and my buddy Scott points out that Aminu could be a foil for the equally-athletic Gerald Henderson. Chas and JJ need to stay out of foul trouble early.
Dammit, I hate Duke.

Gary Williams' Fuse is About to Blow

Last May, Gary Williams took a lot of heat for recruiting troubled prep star Tyree Evans to College Park. One month later, Maryland announced they were no longer offering Evans a scholarship.
The story seemed over ... until last night when, after blowing a 16-point lead to floundering Boston College, Gary was asked about his ability to attract top-flight talent. On Monday he mentioned Evans and Gus Gilchrist, both of whom ended up at other schools (Kent State and South Florida, respectively), but said they weren't in College Park because "it was somebody else's call".
The Washington Post picks up the story:

Kathy Worthington, Maryland's senior associate athletic director, yesterday called Williams's remarks "inaccurate" and said she was "very surprised by Gary's comments because I had been so involved with each recruit."

After Maryland lost to Boston College, 76-67, last night, Williams defended his remarks and his program, and added that "Kathy Worthington doesn't speak for me. She has never won a national championship. She has never done anything. She is an associate AD.

"Why do they jump on me all the time?" Williams said of school officials. "It's somebody else's call. Who said University of Maryland's call? Nobody. Why can't I say that? This is just giving you guys stuff to make me look bad."

The latest chapter in the strained relationship between Williams and athletic department officials comes at a time when Williams's recruiting efforts are under scrutiny because Maryland is facing the prospect of missing the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in five years.

The blame has to fall on Kathy Worthington (whoever that is) for this kerfuffle. Gary made a non-specific dig at the administration, which Worthington turned into a very-specific knock on Gary. Forget that it doesn't really make sense that Gary would have turned away Evans without pressure from the MD brass. That's not the issue. The problem is, Gary gets a little leeway in these situations because he's won a national title while Worthington is responsible for overseeing the sports medicine department.
No doubt most of that quote was frustration from last night. But things are amiss in Garyland and with every loss to a supposedly inferior opponent, I think Gary is closer to leaving the program he once rebuilt (and has subsequently run into the ground).

Tiger Woods' Niece Plays Golf at Wake Forest

For all the reading I do about Wake Forest sports, I'm not sure how this one slipped under my radar. Tiger Woods has a niece named Cheyenne Woods who plays golf at Wake (courtesy Devil Ball Golf).

I'm not sure I knew whether Tiger had any siblings. For all the talk about his father and mother, you'd think there would be some mentions of his brother.
(OK, it's a half-brother, apparently. Still, the resemblance is pretty uncanny nonetheless.)

John Updike's 'Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu'

John Updike died today. He was the author of many works, but the one the first comes to my mind was his famous New Yorker piece "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" about the final afternoon of Ted Williams' career in Boston.
On this site, I often speak in hyperbole that isn't meant to be taken seriously. I don't really mean that Shaun Suisham is the worst kicker ever. He's only like the fifth worst. But, in this case, I mean it: This is the one of greatest pieces of sports journalism of the 20th century. (Bill Simmons' ode to his dog was the best of this century.) Read it here.

On Brandon Jennings, The New York Times and SAT Scores

I wrote something this morning over at The Dagger about a New York Times article on high school prep phemon Brandon Jennings, who spurned NCAA basketball to play professionally in Europe. As expected by anybody who had a slight bit of foresight, Jennings is struggling over there. However, it's a "cry me a river" type situation. The 19-year old is still getting paid $1.2 million and hasn't seen his draft stock slip too far (yet). So, in all, it will be a relative success. But, I talk about all that over at Yahoo!
What I didn't really get into in that short blog post was how ridiculous that Times article was. It was about 30% of something. There were so many holes and missed opportunities to ask the proper questions that I assume that Jennings' cooperation in the article was facilitated by Sonny Vaccaro, the infamous, shady shoe executive who preys on AAU and high school players. There are a number of self-serving quotes included by Vaccaro and the only other person quoted in the piece is Paul Hewitt, somebody with whom there have been long-associated rumors of Vaccaro-shadiness. (Remember when the word was that Hewitt offered Sebastian Telfair $250,000 to go to Georgia Tech? And now the No. 1 recruit in the country is going to play for Hewitt and nobody asks any questions? Hmmmm...)
The writer completely ignored one of the (if not the) main reason Jennings went to Europe: his ineligibility to play in the NCAA. By making him seem like a revolutionary instead of a kid who couldn't get a high enough SAT score and would have had to have sat out for a year because of the NBA age-restriction, they make this more of an experiment and less like the last resort it was. Since almost every other high school star can manage to get a qualifying SAT score, the Jennings-as-trendsetter story was never realisitic.

* Although, just as I was hitting "publish" on Yahoo! with my SAT theory, I read this in Mike Wise's excellent piece in this morning's Washington Post about DeShawn Stevenson.

Stevenson was a 6-foot-5 athletic godsend in high school. He could shoot the three-point bomb with aplomb, play defense and dunk on anybody. He won the slam-dunk contest and was the best player in the McDonald's all-American high school game in March 2000. But when the Educational Testing Service questioned the validity of the sudden jump in his SAT scores from a combined 450 as a sophomore to 1,150 as a senior -- essentially accusing Stevenson of having someone take the test for him -- his plans to play college basketball ended. Stevenson still maintains he took the test himself.

A 450?? The test scores start at 400! The urban legend was always that Chris Washburn got a 480 on his SAT before going to N.C. State and I always thought that was the pinnacle of SAT incompetence. As usual, I was wrong.
By the way, the article is really, really good. Read it.

ACC, Throw In The Towel On The Duke-Maryland 'Rivalry'

When the ACC sold its soul for a conference championship football game that has been a complete failure, it ruined the beauty of the double round-robin basketball scheduling. Now, with 12 teams, the schedules rotate from year-to-year, but each school has two designated "rivalry" games that ensures that Duke and North Carolina will face-off twice per season.
Back when this plan was implemented, Maryland was as good a basketball program in the country. Now, the Terps are the dregs of the ACC, having experienced the steepest drop-off of any National Champion since UNLV. And they fell for different reasons altogether. Simply put, Maryland is completely irrelevant on the national scene.
Yet, for some reason, the ACC continues to consider them a "rival" to Duke. This needs to stop. It's not a rivalry when one team is good and the other has Greivis Vasquez. (And, by the way, I'm appalled at how crowded the Greivis hate-wagon is getting. All these people who praised him for two years are now turning against him, even though Greivis is just as useless now as he was then.) Anyway, the Terps lost 85-44 to the Blue Devils today in Durham and it wasn't even that close. Watching Maryland play Duke is like watching an amateur fighter getting into the ring with Floyd Mayweather. It's not a fair fight. And, more importantly, it doesn't make for good viewing.
The ACC needs to start rotating the "rivalries" to provide more spice and excitement to its schedule. That, or they should go back in time and refuse to get blackmailed by Mark Warner, thus jettisoning the failed expansion in the first place.

The Player Hater's Ball Does Some Player Hating on Donovan McNabb

An email exchange from this afternoon:

Jaf: Are you going to change the name of your blog?
Me: Why? Did I say something? ChrisChase.com has been re-registered by my cousin, the other Chris Chase.
Jaf: No, I just figured you might because lately it's more like the 'wake forest' ball

Touche, Mr. Mackey ... Touche. I then asked what would have happened if I hadn't taken the "are you going to change the name" bait. He said, "then I wouldn't have been able to find myself so amusing." But, knowing Jaf, it wouldn't have taken long. We find ourselves plenty amusing many times during the day.
Anyway, I get the point. It's been a lot about Wake here on the site. Not much is going on with the Redskins, all my other NFL and NCAA thoughts go to Shutdown Corner and The Dagger, respectively. Plus, the Deacs are playing really well. But he's right, so in honor of Jaf, here's some good ol' fashioned player hating:

This is a picture of Donovan McNabb taken before the 4th and 10 play on the Eagles final drive (after three straight bad passes):

This is all the visual evidence one would need to call Donovan a choker. Look at him. Would you have any faith in a man so sweaty? The game was played in a climate controlled stadium for crap's sake! And, I checked, nobody else on the field was sweating like they were Patrick Ewing after a summertime pick-up game played directly on the Equator. He looks like Newman when he was in Basic Instinct. The look on his face indicates he is contemplating how he can fake an injury in order to get replaced by Kevin Kolb. He looks defeated. (Granted, this face came after three terrible incompletions.) That is not a champion quarterback, my friends.
Donovan is a head case. He can't perform in the clutch and it is that reason that the Arizona Cardinals are in the Super Bowl. You can blame the defense all you'd like, but Donovan missed open receivers on at least ten occasions during the Championship game, three of which likely would have gone for touchdowns. Watch those three plays before the 4th and 10, he misses open guys each time.
And to those Donovan defenders, I'm sure you'll trot out the "he's been to five NFC Championship Game" fact. Great, it's very nice. But let me counter with a fact of my own: No other quarterback in the NFL history has ever been judged by the amount of conference championship games they've made. Quick, how many did Montana play in? Young? Manning? Brady? Roehtlisberger? Marino? Aikman? You don't know because nobody cares about that. Making Super Bowls is what matters. Donovan has made one but failed in four other attempts. Yet we keep hearing about how the five championship games are some sort of badge of honor. But, it's not because in order for it to be a badge of honor, Donovan and the Eagles would have had to have won more of those games than they'd lost.
And it all goes back to the sweaty, petrified face he had seconds before throwing a bad ball on a play that could have been flagged for pass interference. And what that face should tell you is, even if they had called PI, it wouldn't have mattered because with the way Donovan plays under pressure, a first down there merely would have extended the tease for Eagles fans.

Number One No More: Wake loses to Virginia Tech

Wake Forest wasn't going to go undefeated and a home game against a bubble team provided the classic trap formula. The Deacs didn't disappoint, playing flat, careless and uninspired basketball in a four-point loss in their first ACC game as the No. 1 team in the country. Some thoughts:

* They were just off tonight. Nothing was going right. That's what happens in a 35-game season. it was bound to happen eventually and my hope is that everything going wrong in one night means it won't go wrong next week against Duke. And, make no mistake, everything did go wrong tonight. No short shots were falling, VT was making contested threes, VT was pulling down every loose ball rebound, the Deacs got in early foul trouble and the refs gave VT a huge advantage at the free throw line. It was a perfect storm. That the game was so close late speaks to how good Wake Forest can be.

* For those who thought Chas McFarland was an innocent party in the infamous Clemson tackle (the most-watched online video in the world this weekend), tonight demonstrated why he was certainly anything but. McFarland gave a dirty shoulder chip in the first half and should have picked a technical foul, but the incompetent refs (who gave VT a 20+ free throw margin) missed it. Chas then picked up an undeserved technical after a VT player did the same exact thing to him late in the game. Shockingly, the refs screwed that up too. I have trouble having sympathy for him on that call though (which fouled him out of the game). McFarland brings it on himself and he has earned a suspicious eye from all officiating crews. His reputation precedes him and he got unnecessarily nailed on it tonight.

* Wake cut the Tech lead to four, three and two at different points in the second half tonight. It was amazing it ever got that close. The Deacs played really terribly and Virginia Tech was shooting lights out in the second half. Yet, Dino Gaudio's squad was a poor James Johnson decision (dishing to Harvey Hale instead of a streaking Jeff Teague on an open 3-on-2 late in the game) from tying up the contest. (Hale ended up missing an easy bank shot.)

* Len Elmore was become unlistenable. I used to like him and he's a Terp so I'm inclined to still like him, but I'm not sure what happened tonight. It sounded like the only preparation he did for the game was scanning over the media notes before the tip. He knew nothing about either team, repeated himself frequently and didn't make one interesting point the entire evening.

* Wake's schedule is pretty easy post-Duke, so the game isn't a must-win or anything. However, if they drop that, the Deacs will fall to 3-2 in the conference, back into an essential tie with North Carolina.

* Also important to note, if Wake had to pick a game to lose in their next two (vs. VT, vs. Duke), they would certainly have chosen this one. For seeding purposes, beating Duke is much more important than beating VT.

* Virginia Tech players were throwing so many elbows I wondered if they thought they were Michael Vick and Wake Forest players were pitbulls.

I'm Sick, Get Google Reader

Been under the weather for the past few days, hence the infrequency of posts here and over at Shutdown Corner and The Dagger. Mostly, my days have been spent watching Seinfeld reruns, taking in the stunning visuals from the inauguration while trying to tune out the blathering commentators and reading the media notes for Wake's first ACC game in which they'll be ranked No. 1, to be played tomorrow night in Winston against Virginia Tech. (CLASSIC TRAP GAME, which means they'll either win by 20 or lose.)
And, beyond that, I've had fun searching around on Google Reader, a feature that allows you to aggregate all the sites you visit into one page. For instance, if you like coming to this blog, Shutdown Corner, Awful Announcing, The Washington Post news feed or any other blogs or RSS feeds from any type of organization, you should get on Reader and -- my head feels like it weighs 500 pounds, I'm having trouble thinking of the proper words -- condense your blog-hopping into a quick, one-stop page to read all the entries that have been posted throughout the day.
Then, the best part is, you can share the posts that you find most interesting and those shared posts can be seen by select others. It's a great way to see what your friends are finding interesting and it has given me many a story idea for Shutdown Corner and The Dagger. So while I might not write a full blog post here or at Yahoo! about ESPN adding Steve Phillips to Jon Miller and Joe Morgan's Sunday Night Baseball booth, if you follow my feed on Google Reader you'll know how I thought we came so close to getting Joe Morgan out of the booth, but at least this seems like a step in the right direction.

So, what I'm trying to say here through a Robtussian Haze is: get on Google Reader. Invite me to share things with you and that way we can be one big happy sharing family. It's like a lazier blogging. It's blazier.

Number One: Deacs Rise to the Top

Its official: Wake Forest is ranked number one in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, receiving all but six first place votes. The AP poll has yet to be released, but it will surely have the Deacs atop the rankings. Wake was number one in November of 2004, before getting waxed by Deron Williams, Dee Brown and Illinois in Champaign. This is the first "real" number one ranking in school history. Wow.

Clemson D-Bag Takes Down Chas McFarland

I got in a little trouble on the Wake message boards for suggesting that Chas McFarland wasn't completely innocent in the following tussle. They called me a traitor for not totally blaming the Clemson kid:

My main point is that McFarland plays with a little dirty in him. This is a fact. I love that about him. However, as I wrote last week, he's like a walking, talking, gesticulating technical foul waiting to happen. When he stands under the basket, he often gets "tangled up" with other players and then proceeds to play a nice game of "see who can viciously disentangle their arm first" with them. When he gets fouls, he's right up in the refs face. He's going to get T'd up soon, and it could hurt the team in a crucial spot.
So, it was my opinion that McFarland gave a little bit of the business when he fell on the student. And then, I think he probably plays a little bit of the arm tangle game with him on the way up. Everything else, though, is on the kid from Clemson.
I just don't see why being a fan of one team has to make you completely blinded to the realities of a situation. Maybe Chas didn't go in hard on purpose. But to suggest that he's completely innocent when you watch him play chippily every game is homerism at its worst. Have some perspective, people.
The Clemson student is a punk. And Chas looked like he got tangled up with said punk and wanted to let him know that he's got a little mean streak in him too. Mission accomplished.

Wake Forest: Number One?

I give the coaches who vote in the coaches poll zero credit, but even I give them enough credit to assume that they'll leapfrog Wake Forest over Duke in order to give the Demon Deacons their rightful No. 1 rankings. The Associated Press will definitely do so.
The Deacs are good. They're really good. They don't seem to get flustered, each player knows his role and Jeff Teague is the best player not named Blake Griffin in the country. UNC is still the favorite (and will be until further notice) but the Deacs are a true contender.
They will lose soon. How they react to that is the next big mystery of the season. They have made successes of all the others (traveling to BYU, hosting UNC, going on the road for the classic trap game at BC and then going to racous Clemson for an uber-hyped game with national attention). It's a testament to Dino Gaudio that it's reasonable to assume that the Deacs will eventually be able to rebound from their first loss, whenever that may be.
And don't look now, but if Wake can get by Virginia Tech on Wednesday (a big if, because they're going to lose soon and that game is as good a time as any) the match up with Duke on January 28 could very well be one between the top two teams in the country.

Oh, and Donovan:


Thank goodness the Eagles didn't win today. I don't know whether I would have been able to write for two weeks at Shutdown Corner about Donovan and the Eagles.

My Biggest Television Pet Peeve (and Wake-BC Thoughts)

* Wake Forest runs down the court off the inbounds very quickly, something that wreaks havoc with the television coverage since directors love cutting to a floor-level close-up of one player (usually the one who made the basket or committed the foul) after an inbound. Normally, this isn't an issue since the director can usually cut from the player back to the game action by the time the offense has brought the ball over half court. But with a running team like Wake, the cut back to the wide floor shot often comes after the Deacs have crossed half court and started to run their offense. Frequently, the director will cut and a Wake player will be penetrating. You'd think that after this happens once during a game, the director and crew would realize not to do it again. You'd think, wouldn't you. Amazingly, this still happens about five times per game. And don't get me started on how many times they don't show a guy shooting free throws.

* For the first 30 minutes of the game, I was as impressed with Wake Forest than I had been on Sunday night. Minutes 30-37? Well, let's just say there was some unease.

* The improvement Chas McFarland made between his freshman and sophomore years was staggering. That he was able to make an even bigger jump between his sophomore and junior seasons is just as impressive. However, the dude is a walking technical foul. He's going to get one in a huge spot this year and it could kill the Deacs at a critical moment. A friend pointed out last night that opponents have started to bait him too.

* I like Dan Bonner (he calls out defensive switches, substitutions and mismatches as well as anyone in the business), but when Wake got a big lead and he ran out of things to talk about, he got on a weird kick about criticizing Jeff Teague for holding the ball too much, which is sort of like criticizing AI back in the day for taking too many shots. Yeah, it may be true, but that's why he's that guy. He's been great because he holds the ball and creates. That's what makes things happen.

* Undefeated Wake Forest travels to undefeated Clemson on Saturday afternoon. Holler.

Kurt Warner Is No Ken Anderson, Says ESPN.com

Is the sub-head suggesting that Ken Anderson is comparable to Bart Starr and Joe Montana but Kurt Warner isn't? Ken Anderson was an excellent quarterback. He took the Bengals to one Super Bowl and won the NFL MVP award in 1981. Kurt Warner took the Rams to two Super Bowls, won one and received two NFL MVP awards. If ESPN.com was going to question any member of that list, it should be Ken Anderson. (Not that they should. It's almost like somebdoy had the headline idea before looking at the list)
And, perhaps more importantly, is anybody really surprised that Kurt Warner has one of the best playoff passer ratings of all-time? What, did ESPN believe all of its own hype and think that Donovan was on there somewhere?

Jeff Teague is Randolph Childress

Randolph Childress - Sophomore - 1992-93

19.7 points per game
4.2 assists per game
2.8 rebounds per game
48.4% field goal
44.2% three-point

Jeff Teague - Sophomore - 2008-2009

20.6 points per game
4.1 assists per game
4.2 rebounds per game
53.6% field goal
54.1% three-point

Wake No. 2 in the AP Poll, No. 3 in Coaches

As usual, the coaches poll messes it up while the AP gets it right. Wake Forest moved to No. 2 in the Associated Press rankings, while Duke inexplicably stayed ahead of the Deacs in the coaches poll. Jeff Teague and company moved to the second spot in the AP, despite the increasingly ridiculous rankings of the San Jose Mercury News' Jon Wilner, who ranked Wake Forest No. 8 this week. I'll be ranting about this tomorrow on The Dagger's weekly Poll Dancing feature.

Stunner: Wake Forest Knocks Off North Carolina, Stays Undefeated

I've been writing this blog for five years. (I know, that sounds crazy.) I can honestly say that I've never been at a loss for words, but I am tonight after Wake Forest's 92-89 win over North Carolina. Wow. I'm speechless. I didn't think they had it in them and I thought they'd lose it down the stretch to an older, more experienced Tar Heels squad.
Instead, the Deacs stood toe-to-toe with the best team in the country and showed that they're big-time legit. Big time. Jeff Teague is the Real Deal Holyfield. I've spent all year looking forward to next season (when, if everyone comes back, the Deacs would likely be the preseason #1 team in the country). But why not now?
Tonight, the Deacs didn't just prove that they can hang with the big boys, they proved that they are one of the big boys.

Now that I've had my normal post-game phone conversations, I'm less speechless than before, so let's go with it in rapid-fire format:

-- I've been watching Wake Forest basketball closely since 1999 and tonight was, by far, the best defensive effort I've ever seen from a Demon Deacon team. They cut off the baseline, defended the perimeter, were rarely late in switching up coverages and they managed to keep all UNC's big guns (Hansbrough, Ellington and Lawson) in check. I loved -- LOVED -- Dino's strategy of putting just one rebounder on the line during Wake FTs. I assume he did that so UNC couldn't run any fast breaks. It worked; the Heels rarely got out ahead of the Deacs.
-- Chas McFarland, while a technical foul waiting to happen, put in huge minutes tonight and is the most underrated cog in Wake's machine.
-- If Ty Lawson was the best point guard in the country before tonight, what does that make Jeff Teague, who absolutely manhandled Lawson all evening? Teague is the best player most of the country has never heard of. I expect that to change in the next 24 hours.
-- Where was Tyler Hansbrough tonight? Wake did a great job keeping him in check, but he really didn't do much on either end of the floor. The player on UNC who scares me the most is Danny Green. He's phenomenal.
-- It's still way too early to be getting too excited. Wake is just 1-0 in the ACC and they have 15 more to go. Sadly, there won't be a rematch of tonight's phenomenal game because John Swofford is a greedy, soulless hack. Thanks, John. But, hey, we appreciate the home-and-home with Boston College.
-- I don't care about rankings in the sense that I feel it validates my teams. So, if Wake ends up getting ranked No. 3 tomorrow, I won't be upset about their placement, but rather that the voters who vote in these polls are awful at what they do. Because there's no reason Wake shouldn't leapfrog Duke tomorrow to become the No. 2 team in the country. Duke has one loss, against Xavier Michigan. (Originally had Xavier in there, but was alerted that it was, indeed, Michigan and not Xavier who bested the Dukies. I knew Xavier didn't sound right, but I couldn't remember any other team giving Duke a game.) Anyway, Wake Forest has no losses. Before the Deacs beat UNC, it was valid to suggest that they hadn't beaten a great team. Now they have. In fact, they've beaten one more great team than Duke has and lost to one less good team than Duke has. It's a no-brainer. Wake should be No. 2.
-- Dino has done a spectacular job so far with this team, but on a night like tonight, you can't forget about the reason all of this is happening: Skip Prosser. These are Prosser's players, Prosser's staff and Prosser's philosophies. His memory lives on in Winston-Salem.

All You Need to Know About the NFL Championship Games

The Redskins went 3-0 against the two teams in the NFC Championship Game. The Redskins went 0-2 against the two teams in the AFC Championship Game.

Ron Cherry Is Now The One Giving The Business

The always-entertaining Ron Cherry got the coveted referee assignment for tonight's BCS Championship game. The ACC official has been delighting fans for years with his gruff manner, southern drawl and explanations that make Ed Hochuli look like a mere amateur. (Plus, he doesn't blow games, ED.)
In honor of Ron's achievement, may I present his greatest moment (watch it):

It may not be as good as the original, professional version (the hand gestures are what makes it), but we'll give Ron a pass on that tonight.

Maryland Loses to Morgan State: Now THAT'S Rock Bottom

There's really not much more to say about it other than that. Maryland blew a double-digit lead against MEAC bottom-dweller Morgan State tonight in College Park, giving the Terps their worst loss since Gary Williams took the head coaching job.
Morgan State's last win was against William Jessup, which is presumably a college and not some dude they met in Baltimore. And you know that Atlantic 11 poll that Dan Steinberg does on the D.C. Sports Bog? Morgan State was "ranked" No. 19 last week. Man, does that make that idiot that voted Maryland No. 10 in the country look even dumber.
I saw that the Terps were up ten, flipped off the game and didn't turn it back on until I got a message saying the game was tied with two minutes left. My response: "I miss the days when that news would have been surprising."
Greivis Vasquez had a typical game -- 5-22, a ridiculous three point attempt with 30 seconds left, plus an offensive goaltending call that gave Morgan State possession with the lead and under 20 seconds remaining. That the Terps couldn't capitalize on the [no, I'm not going to look up what Morgan State's mascot is... let's go with Panthers] missing the front end of two one-and-ones is not to be forgotten either.
I'm sure this will renew the calls to fire Gary Williams, but that's bunk. Yeah, bunk. How many Final Fours had Maryland gone to before Gary showed up? How many titles had they won? Gary deserves to go out on his own terms. He seems burnt out though, so maybe that will come sooner rather than later.

Why the BCS Games Feel So Blah

It's not that the BCS bowl games have become less important because of the BCS Championship, it's that by placing the games on separate nights, we're reminded of how unimportant they were in the first place. If the Rose, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta Bowls were all on January 1 and 2, people would still watch because that's what you do. Nothing else is going on on New Year's Day, so people watch football. But once you start putting these games on at night during the work week, they become less intriguing. Waiting four days for Ohio State and Texas to play a meaningless game; there's no compelling reason to watch.
Even without the BCS, this game likely would have meant nothing. But we wouldn't have cared about that if it was played on New Year's Day. It just would have been another thing to flip to on a day spent in front of the TV. Now it's the same game, just on a much-larger scale, each step of which we're reminded how worthless it really is.

Carolina Drops ACC Opener; Cue Wake Forest Overconfidence

So much for that battle of the unbeatens next week. Number one ranked North Carolina was stunned tonight in Chapel Hill by a lightly-regarded Boston College team. (Read some of my thoughts on the game at The Dagger.)
While the upset itself was surprising, the manner in which BC knocked off the mighty Tar Heels was even more so. Usually when a team as good as Carolina loses in an upset like this, it's because the other team catches lightning in a bottle for 40 minutes and plays the game of their season. But other than a six-minute stretch in the second half, it didn't feel like Boston College was playing on that high a level. It looked like, for tonight, they were every bit as good as UNC. They aren't, of course, but it has to be troubling for Roy Williams that his team looked so out of sync against a marginal NCAA team. Malaise isn't supposed to hit until the middle of the conference season.
The best explanation for the poor effort is that Carolina's players have spent six months hearing how they're the greatest thing since Bill Walton's Bruins so they probably had zero respect for BC. Plus, they shot miserably from the stripe (15-27) so the game was closer than it should have been.
Luckily for Wake, UNC has one more game (vs. College of Charleston on Thursday) before they head to Winston-Salem. Had the Deacs been up next, the Heels probably would have thrashed them by 30. As it is, Carolina will be out for blood Sunday, particularly when they're going to have to hear all week about how the upstart Deacs could force them to an 0-2 conference start.

* Is there a chance Wake could be ranked ahead of Carolina this week? It's unlikely. I imagine UNC will drop to #2 behind Pittsburgh, with Duke and Wake moving up to #3 and #4, respectively. I have no problem with the top two; but the Deacs should be ahead of the Dukies ... for this week anyway. I've got to enjoy this gaudy ranking before reality sets in.

This is Why Nobody Watches SportsCenter Anymore

Because I didn't watch the Wake-BYU game last night, I taped the 8:00 a.m. SportsCenter so I could watch whatever highlight package they had on the game. My belief that this game wouldn't receive much national attention was proven wrong with the game getting good billing in the headlines section of each major sports Web site, so I figured it was only natural that SportsCenter would have something on the game.
Instead, here's how the 60 minute show broke down:

8:00 - 8:35 -- Coverage of wild card games. Including: decent highlights of the two games from yesterday, separate "in-depth" analysis of the games from Merril Hoge and Trent Dilfer, previews of today's games from Hoge and Dilfer, plus on-site reports and even more coverage of the two games. Commercials were included.
8:35-8:38 -- Package of four college basketball highlights (Pitt-Georgetown, Tennessee-Kansas, St. John's-Notre Dame and -- wait for it -- Tennessee-Rutgers women's game. Seriously. )
8:38 - 8:40 -- Two NBA highlights (Spurs and Nuggets)
8:40 - 8:44 -- Commercials
8:44 - 8:49 -- More NFL previews
8:50 - 8:53 -- Commercials
8:53 - 8:54 -- International Bowl Highlights
8:55 - 8:58 -- Top 10 Bowl Highlights thus far

In all, SportsCenter spent about 25 minutes talking about games and approximately 10 minutes actually showing daily highlights from games. There was no hockey, little NBA and scant college basketball coverage.
The NFL is the most popular sport in the country and should be covered as such. But ESPN fails to realize that people watch SportsCenter to see what they don't know about, not what they just watched on another network.
The lack of highlights and heavy does of analysis is the same reason previously must-watch programs like Baseball Tonight have become unwatchable. Show highlights; nobody cares what John Kruk has to say about said highlights. How difficult can that possibly be to understand?

Here are some highlights from The Daily Herald in Provo, UT. Although, to watch the clips they chose, you'd think it was a BYU blowout -- the Cougars outscore the Deacs 23-2 in the higlight package.

Bring on the Heels: Deacs Stay Unbeaten After Win at BYU

BYU's 53-game home winning streak is history, after the 6th-ranked, undefeated Wake Forest Demon Deacons won a thrilling 93-87 game against a Cougars team that came into the game at 13-1. You likely won't read too much about this win tomorrow or if you see it on the ticker you'll think "well, the #6 team in the country should beat BYU," but don't let that diminish how fantastic this win was for Dino Gaudio's squad. The Cougars had the longest home winning streak in the nation, and were a missed jump-shot against Arizona State away from being undefeated. Pitt's victory at Georgetown will get all the press, but Wake's win in Provo was far more impressive.
Even if the Deacs had lost, I would have been more confident about them than I was when they were undefeated. Sure, they were #6 in the country. But their resume was paper thin, with the best win coming against a Baylor team that might be a #10 seed in the NCAA Tournament. So, for Wake to go to Provo and to play a fiercely competitive game in front of 23,000 crazed fans and a team that wanted nothing more than to knock off a top 10 team from the ACC ... fantastic.
If I could discuss more about the actual game I would, but the contest was broadcast on something called the Mountain Network, which is apparently only available on the east coast if you have DirecTV's sports package. Figuring that I didn't want to go to a bar to watch a game I cared about on a Saturday night where everyone else would be drinking and more interested in the NFL playoff game, I sat at home and listened to the BYU broadcast.
To call the two announcers homers would be a disservice to homers everywhere. All I do is complain about refs, but if I were broadcasting a Wake game, I'd be able to keep that to myself. These guys sounded like they were calling the 1972 Olympic gold medal basketball game.
Although, to be fair, the play-by-play guy was excellent when he wasn't screaming at every BYU basket (seriously, he made Gus Johnson sound introverted) or bitching about the officiating. It's strange to listen to a game on the radio; I found myself closing my eyes at the end and picturing the action and the description from the PBP announcer (whose name was, I think, Paul James) allowed me to do that.
It's no wonder BYU had a 53-game winning streak at home; the crowd was as loud as I've ever heard a crowd at a basketball game. Maybe it had something to do with the fact I listening on the radio, but I'm impressed, Mormons. Maybe the lack of booze keeps fans invigorated for the second half unlike, say, at Maryland where the students are all going through alcohol withdrawal by the end of the game.
The Deacs are off until next Sunday when they'll host #1 North Carolina in what should be a match-up of undefeated teams (provided UNC beats Boston College and College of Charleston this week). Wake will likely be ranked #4 for the game, assuming they jump Connecticut and Oklahoma. (In reality, after that win, they should surpass Duke as well to move to #3, but that's irrelevant and won't happen, because it's Duke.)
UNC looks unstoppable and Wake doesn't really match-up too well with them (namely, Ty Lawson), but I'm already giddy with anticipation and the game is still eight days away. It's too early to get excited about a team that has yet to play an ACC game but, needless to say, Dino's Deacs are way ahead of schedule.