Shoemaker Steps It Up For Men's Hoops Squad
12/5/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 5, 2000
By Jay Reddick
When the basketball team first heard about Rafael Vidaurreta's knee problems, they thought it was no big deal. The doctors would take a look at the knee, they thought, and he might miss a couple of weeks.
Then the surgery happened, and they found that everything was much worse than originally believed. Vidaurreta would be at least until December, maybe longer.
Immediately, Josh Shoemaker's mindset changed.
"When I first heard, it was just a minor thing, and it ended up being bigger than we expected," Shoemaker said. "When I first realized that, I just told myself, 'I've gotta be the man inside for us.'"
And Shoemaker has done just that for the Deacons so far this season. Through five games, he had already broken his career high for rebounds twice, gotten his first double-double, and led Wake Forest to an unblemished 5-0 record.
Not surprisingly for the modest Shoemaker, he says the jumps in his statistics are just a result of the extra minutes he's getting with Vidaurreta on the bench in a coat and tie.
"It's just about the same," Shoemaker said. "The one thing I'm proudest of is working hard every night, and this year it's doing good for me. I don't know if I'm a better rebounder. I think my numbers have gone up just because of my minutes."
But the numbers don't lie. Shoemaker's 31.4-minute-per-game average is about half again as much as his career average, but his scoring (8.0 a game) and rebounding (10.8) have more than doubled.
Two things that are obvious from watching Shoemaker this season are that he is learning to use his considerable strength more, and he's become more agile. Both are the result of offseason workouts during summer school.
"I tried to gain a little more strength, and just worked out a lot basketball-wise, taking a lot of shots. I think it helped me," Shoemaker said. "We went through a little program and it's helped everybody, especially in terms of jumping and getting quicker off the floor."
Shoemaker is actually the Deacons' strongest player, if you pay attention to bench press (335 pounds) and hang clean (350) numbers. And his agility has paid off with six blocked shots already (he had 21 in 96 games coming into this season).
And don't forget that scoring average. Shoemaker's only gotten five shots a game, but he has made them count with a 65.4 percent shooting clip. Does he feel himself becoming a more dominant offensive force?
"I don't know, maybe so," Shoemaker said. "This is my last year, and I've played against a lot of good players. I kind of know what position I need to be in, so I guess that helps me out."
But most importantly to Shoemaker, all his hard work is making the team better. Of course, he won't take all the credit for himself -- that's not his way.
"I think everybody's working hard to play together, and that shows in our play," Shoemaker said. "Everybody on the team recognizes what their teammates can do, and they're starting to respect that and each other. When we do that, we play good offense, play good defense and win ballgames."
It might be easy to get complacent with a 5-0 start, but Shoemaker's seen great starts before that turned into lackluster finishes. He's ready to close his career with an NCAA tournament bid, and will have trouble accepting any less.
"It's definitely going to be disappointing" if the team doesn't reach the Big Dance, Shoemaker said. "We have the tools to get there, but success is a long way away. We have a lot of games to play, and we have to take them one by one."
As a team leader, Shoemaker knows he may have to give up his spot in the starting lineup when Vidaurreta returns, but that doesn't bother him in the least.
"I don't know how my playing time is going to work out, but we definitely need that guy back, so I'll be happy when he comes back no matter what," Shoemaker said.
Of course, Shoemaker has plenty of experience bouncing in and out of the starting lineup. He started just over half the time in his freshman and sophomore seasons, then got just three starts all of last year.
He says his preparation doesn't change one way or the other.
"I love starting a basketball game, but I have no problem coming off the bench, either," Shoemaker said. "I've started a lot of games, but I've come off the bench a lot too. It really doesn't matter. I do the same thing. There's not a big difference coming off the bench or starting, you still have to be mentally prepared and know what's going on."
The 6-foot-9 forward from Gate City, Va., is well aware that he won't be putting on a WFU basketball uniform after this spring, but he's too focused on the present to worry much about the future.
"Things are going by awfully fast right now, but I'm just enjoying playing basketball," Shoemaker said. "When it's over, I'll move on."