Wake Forest Athletics News
|
100% COTTEN
Feb. 7, 2000
by Stan Cotten
I honestly felt, once the game began, that Wake Forest was going to win at Florida State. I didn't feel so good about it after leaving Davidson and even up until game time Saturday. Who could blame me? But as the opening tip approached I believed surely, after the Davidson game, it was time for something positive to happen to the Demon Deacons. Surely the second half of the ACC season would be a gentler, kinder eight games. When the Deacs had erased a 15-point Seminole lead in the second at Tallahassee to take the lead, I thought that was it. Something had finally clicked inside the Deacs that brought them from the ashes at the Leon County Civic Center to the lead with only minutes to play. Wake Forest was going to turn the tables on the Seminoles who had done the same to the Deacs early last month in Winston-Salem, erasing an 18-point deficit to win by two. But it didn't happen. The ACC is neither kind nor gentle. I don't guess it ever has been. Now, as the Clemson games approaches, Coach Dave Odom and his staff have the Tigers to hang their hats on. What else is there? Florida State is done. No more chances at them, unless the two meet in the ACC Tournament. And that is quite possible. Nope. Clemson is it. Then Carolina. Then N.C. State. You got it...one game at a time. Media and fans get tired of hearing a coach or a player say that, but what else can be expected? Think about it. How ludicrous would it be right now for Wake Forest to think about any other team than Clemson? Duke can afford to look past a game or two now. Wake Forest, and the rest of the league for that matter, cannot. And this is part of what makes the ACC special. Nobody expects Duke to lose a game right now, but those in the know wouldn't be at all shocked if Duke loses one or two down the stretch. But, as Georgia Tech's Bobby Cremins has said, "Duke is Duke." And Wake Forest is Wake Forest. The Deacons have to take care of their own house. They can't worry about anything or anybody else. And as bad as it seems right now, the Deacs are still just two games out of second place! Four of the Deacs' remaining ACC games are at home at the Joel Coliseum. Starting with Clemson, the Deacons are hoping their contest with the Tigers will be a family affair. Wake Forest needs its fans to hang tough, to be there. The Demon Deacons need to be able to expect that, when they run out of their locker room and on to the Joel hardwood with the pep band playing the fight song, somebody will be there to sing it. They need to expect the same kind of advantage that their opponents have over them when Wake goes on the road. Florida State and Virginia have already proven that ACC teams don't quit playing good basketball when they leave home. They proved it in Winston-Salem. The Deacs can't afford to lose at home again. Coach Odom, his staff and players have taken some pretty tough shots around the water cooler and in the chat rooms in recent weeks. Some of it has been fair. Much of it has lacked sense or clear thought. How quickly some forget that Wake Forest is second only to North Carolina in consecutive postseason tournaments made with nine. They forget that Wake Forest won two ACC titles in the 90's. They forget that, for a stretch there, Dave Odom was as decorated a coach as there was in the league. He is, after all, 10th all-time in ACC wins. I know this is a "What have you done for me lately?" society we live in. And sports is, perhaps, this mentality's worst stage. But one can simply not disregard the big picture. No program or coach deserves to be judged for a small stretch of games. Win or lose. Remember, the Wake Forest team that is struggling right now was once once-beaten and nationally ranked. That was then. The Deacons had all kinds of fans then. But the struggle is now. And now is the time for the real Wake Forest fans to be counted. I hope you're one of them. The Deacons, like all of us at times, need to see some friendly faces and hear words of encouragement. They need their family. And you know who you are. We'll see you on the radio. Better yet, see you at the game!
|