Jeff Benton
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Wednesday's action ...
20 Dime: WAKE FOREST (minus the points vs. Boston College)
Wake Forest
The world is expecting the big letdown with the Demon Deacons tonight at Boston College in the wake of their impressive win over North Carolina on Sunday. The world is about to be disappointed, because a letdown is not happening. It’s not happening because, unlike Boston College, which lost back-to-back home games to Harvard – yes, HARVARD! – and Miami, Fla., after upsetting North Carolina, Wake Forest is way too talented, way too motivated and will be way too focused to fall into that trap.
For one thing, the young Deacons have been down this road before. Exactly a year ago, in an otherwise dismal rebuilding season, Wake Forest came out of nowhere and shocked second-ranked Duke, the third win in a three-game winning streak near the end of the ACC campaign. Then the Deacons, likely feeling a little too good about themselves, went out and lost four straight games SU and ATS and finished the year on a 1-5 SU and ATS slump.
Another reason to believe Wake Forest will show up ready to play tonight: It is looking to become the first Demon Deacons team since 1926-27 to start a season 15-0 – nothing like going down in the annals of school history to motivate a bunch of youngsters. On top of that, there’s the fact that Wake Forest has lost all four games to Boston College (both SU and ATS) since the Eagles joined the ACC … and that includes an embarrassing 112-73 de-pantsing at Chestnut Hill in last January’s ACC opener. Think that beat-down won’t be front-of-mind for the Demon Deacons tonight when they first walk into the gym? Think they MIGHT want to exact a little revenge? Yeah, me too.
Look, other than a 20 Dime winner when they played Indiana, I’ve been a little slow to come around to Wake Forest, but I’m fully on board now. What they did in Sunday’s 92-89 home win over Carolina – the game wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicates – was more than a little impressive. The Deacons outshot the Tar Heels 47.5 percent to 35 percent; they allowed the Heels to make just 6 of 23 attempts from the 3-point arc; they won despite finishing with 11 fewer rebounds; they completely bottled up UNC’s two best players (Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson combined to go 7-for-24 from the field and 0-for-6 from downtown, finishing with 26 combined points); and, most impressive of all, they took the lead with more than 14 minutes left on the clock against what most believe is THE best team in the land and they NEVER gave it up!
In its last two games, Wake has scored 92 points against Carolina and 94 against BYU – ending BYU’s 53-game home winning streak – and it is averaging exactly 90 points on 49.7 percent shooting in its last five games, scoring 83 or more in all five. In fact, Wake has scored more than 80 points in nine of their last 10 games! Boston College? Well, it has allowed 76, 78, 82 and 77 points in its last four contests. The opponents in those four? Sacred Heart, North Carolina, Harvard and Miami, Fla. That’s right: Harvard scored 82 points on the Eagles’ home court!
Check out any state page on the Internet that you want and you’ll find that Wake Forest is better on offense, better on defense, better from the 3-point line (both offensively and defensively), better on the boards and better from the foul line. The Deacons have two of the best players in the loaded ACC in sophomore stud Jeff Teague (34 points vs. North Carolina; 30 at BYU) and 7-foot center Chas McFarland (20 points vs. UNC). Meanwhile, the Eagles’ best player – point guard Tyrese Rice – has struggled since his big game at Carolina, scoring just 14 points versus Harvard, then missing nine of 12 shots from 3-point range in Saturday’s home loss to Miami.
Bottom line: Not only are these two teams headed in opposite directions; these are two teams playing on a completely different level with completely different talent bases. And with a perfect 14-0 record, a No. 2 national ranking and that 39-point loss at Boston College last year serving as ample incentive, Wake Forest will come out mentally and physically ready to go from the opening tip and they’ll have absolutely no problem with this overrated Boston College team. Don’t sweat the pointspread, as Wake wins by double digits.
Struggling a lot lately...
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