Deacon Decade - Men's Basketball
12/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2009
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10. March 30, 2000 - Wake Forest takes down Notre Dame, 71-61, to claim the 2000 NIT Championship.
In Dave Odom's 11th season at the helm of the Deacons, Wake Forest began the season with a bang by starting out 9-2. However, a mid-season slump that saw the Deacons lose six of seven games in late January and early February, sunk any hopes of an NCAA Tournament berth. Wake made the best of its situation, though, as the team had won three of its last four games entering the NIT. The Deacons dispatched would-be NCAA participant Vanderbilt in Nashville before posting home wins over New Mexico and California to advance to the semifinals in New York City. Making its first appearance in the NIT semis since 1983, Wake Forest edged rival NC State, 62-59, in overtime before racing past Notre Dame in the finals.
9. June 25, 2009 - Sophomores James Johnson and Jeff Teague are each selected in the first round of the NBA Draft, becoming the first pair of Deacons to be taken in the first round of the same NBA Draft.
When Wake Forest's 2007 recruiting class of Gary Clark, James Johnson and Jeff Teague was ranked No. 30 in the country by Rivals.com, few knew that the three-man class would have a pair of NBA first-rounders in just two short years. However, Johnson and Teague proved to be immediate impact players for Dino Gaudio and Wake Forest. Johnson was the runner-up for ACC Rookie of the Year in 2007-08, while Teague saved his breakout year for 2008-09. Teague was a consensus All-American and was among those considered for national player of the year awards. Both decided to leave school early for the NBA Draft after the 2008-09 campaign. Johnson was eventually selected 16th by the Chicago Bulls and Teague went three picks later to the Atlanta Hawks.
8. Jan. 19, 2009 - Wake Forest stands as the country's lone unbeaten and takes the No. 1 national ranking for the second time in school history.
In their second year under head coach Dino Gaudio, the Deacons went from a respectable top 25 team to the top squad in the land in what seemed like no time. Gaudio and the Deacons rattled off 16 straight wins to open the season, rising from a preseason ranking of No. 21 all the way to the top. Wake Forest's coming out party was a stretch of four games in early January. The Deacons pulled out an impressive road win at BYU, toppled eventual national champion North Carolina at home, beat Boston College for the first time ever and then took down Clemson in a battle of unbeatens at Littlejohn Coliseum. Gaudio became the third-fastest coach in ACC history to take his team to the No. 1 national ranking, needing just 46 games at the helm of the Deacons to accomplish the feat.
7. Nov. 22, 2004 - Wake Forest reaches the No. 1 national ranking for the first time in program history.
The Deacons entered the 2004-05 season hyped as one of the top teams in the country. Wake Forest was ranked No. 2 in the preseason polls, coming in just mere points behind top-ranked Kansas. However, after the Deacons posted wins over George Washington and VCU in the Preseason NIT, the Deacons leapt the Jayhawks for the top spot in the nation. Wake Forest remained No. 1 for two weeks before dropping a game at No. 5 Illinois in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Deacons were ranked in the top 10 the entire season, finishing at No. 5 in the final AP Poll.
6. Dec. 20, 2003 - No. 14 Wake Forest outlasts No. 4 North Carolina, 119-114, in triple overtime in Chapel Hill.
Behind seven players in double-figure scoring, Wake Forest pulled out a miraculous win in what may be the most thrilling ACC opener in league history. Eric Williams hit a jumper in the lane with 36 seconds left in the third overtime and added two late free throws to lift No. 14 Wake Forest past No. 4 North Carolina. Thirteen total players scored in double-figures, and the teams combined to finish two points shy of breaking a 25-year-old record for the most points in an ACC game. Head coach Skip Prosser said simply after the game, "I have been doing this for 30 years, and I have never seen anything quite like that."
5. March, 2004 - Led by freshman Chris Paul, Wake Forest advances to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for the first time since 1996.
Seeded fourth in the East Rutherford Region, Wake Forest may have been looked at as an afterthought with the Deacons having lost three straight games entering the NCAA Tournament. However, behind the play of ACC Rookie of the Year Chris Paul, the Deacons stormed through the first two rounds to make their first Sweet 16 appearance since the days of Tim Duncan. Wake got past VCU, 79-78, in the first round and avoided Manhattan's upset bid, 84-80, in the second round. The Deacons' run ended in the third round, as St. Joseph's, behind All-American Jameer Nelson, stopped Wake Forest, 84-80.
4. March 8, 2003 - Wake Forest clinches the 2003 ACC regular season championship, the Deacons' first outright regular season conference title since 1962.
Picked to finish sixth in the ACC in the preseason media poll, Wake Forest proved the skeptics wrong in making a surprise run to the top of the conference standings. Led by ACC Player of the Year Josh Howard, the Deacons won 11 of their final 12 ACC games to finish the year 13-3 in the league. Wake Forest clipped Duke and Maryland by two games in the final standings, marking the Deacons' second-ever outright conference regular season title and first since 1962.
3. April 24, 2001 - Skip Prosser named head basketball coach at Wake Forest.
Skip Prosser was named the 19th head coach in Demon Deacon history, taking over for Dave Odom who led Wake Forest for 12 seasons. Among his accomplishments, Prosser led the Deacons to the 2003 ACC regular season title, helped Wake to the 2004 NCAA Sweet 16, guided the Deacs to the No. 1 national ranking in 2005 and made four NCAA Tournament appearances in six seasons. Prosser also brought with him to Winston-Salem a trusted coaching staff that included current head man Dino Gaudio. The transition from Prosser to Gaudio was almost seamless, as the latter has continued to build on the staff's foundation of success.
2. Nov. 18, 2002 - Chris Paul signs his letter of intent to attend Wake Forest.
Chris Paul is the quintessential "local boy does good." A highly-regarded recruit out of Winston-Salem's West Forsyth High School, Paul was projected to be a significant player for the Demon Deacons. Few realized that he would be a program-changer. In two short years on campus, Paul led the Deacons to the NCAA Sweet 16, a No. 1 national ranking and countless amounts of national acclaim. Paul has continued his astounding success in the NBA and serves as an unofficial ambassador for Wake Forest and the Winston-Salem community.
1. July 26, 2007 - Head coach Skip Prosser passes after suffering an apparent heart attack.
While Coach Prosser's passing certainly does not qualify as a positive moment of the past decade, it is surely the most memorable over the past 10 years and may stand as the most significant event in program history. The sudden death of Coach Prosser rocked not only the Wake Forest campus and surrounding community but all of college basketball. A beloved coach and mentor, Coach Prosser's memory remains a large influence within the Demon Deacon basketball family.
Honorable Mention:
March 19, 2003 - Josh Howard is named the 2003 ACC Player of the Year. He is the seventh Deacon all-time to win the award and the first since Tim Duncan in 1997.
March 15, 2004 - Chris Paul earns ACC Rookie of the Year honors, becoming the third Deacon to ever win the award and the first since Robert O'Kelley in 1998.
March 2006 - No. 12-seeded Wake Forest made a miraculous run to the ACC Tournament semifinals in Greensboro. The Deacons upset fifth-seeded Florida State and fourth-seeded NC State before falling to top-seeded Duke in the semifinals.
March 8, 2007 - Wake Forest outlasted Georgia Tech, 114-112, in double overtime in the first round of the ACC Tournament in Tampa, Fla.
Nov. 14, 2007 - Wake Forest signs three five-star recruits to national letters of intent. The No. 3-ranked recruiting class in the country, Al-Farouq Aminu, Ty Walker and Tony Woods inked their commitments and became the most-ballyhooed class of recruits in school history.
Feb. 17, 2008 - An unranked Wake Forest squad upset No. 2-ranked Duke, 86-73, at the Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, giving Dino Gaudio the signature win of his first season at the helm of the Deacons.
Jan. 3, 2009 - Wake Forest earned a 94-87 win at BYU, snapping the Cougars' 53-game winning streak at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah.
Jan. 28, 2009 - James Johnson's layup with 0.8 seconds remaining gave No. 6 Wake Forest a 70-68 defeat of No. 1 Duke at the Joel Coliseum. It was the Deacons' first defeat of a No. 1-ranked team since 1992.
