Wake Forest Athletics News - Wake Forest University Athletics

100 % COTTEN

April 4, 2000

by Stan Cotten

Within the last twelve months, Wake's "Big Three" have given all Demon Deacon fans something to cheer about.

It started in late spring of 1999 with the Deacs' second consecutive ACC baseball championship and run toward the College World Series which ended just a few base hits short of Omaha. Coach George Greer's team was a model of precision and poise. A school record 47 wins resulted. And as of this writing, Wake is halfway to that standard for this season.

Fall arrived with Coach Jim Caldwell and his football Deacs facing skepticism and lack of respect. But they believed in one another, and the Demon Deacons did what Caldwell's staff asked. As a result, they all celebrated Christmas Day in Hawai'i and brought home the school's first bowl trophy in more years that Wake fans care to remember. It truly was paradise.

The football season ushered in basketball. Unlike their gridiron brethren, Coach Dave Odom's Deacons had gained peach baskets full of respect over the previous two seasons in the rugged ACC with back-to-back fourth place finishes with players too young to really know what they had accomplished. Robert O'Kelley returned as the leading scorer in the ACC. This was going to be the Deacs' return trip to the NCAA Tournament.

The midseason lull which followed a great start has been well documented. February rolled around with Wake Forest searching for answers, frozen in the headlights. But somehow Dave Odom reworked his team and got the ship righted to make a postseason run that left Deacon faithful salivating for the 2000-2001 season. Despite the January collapse, Wake won the NIT Championship in New York and finished with 22 wins. And everybody is back. After a dark winter, the sun has definitely come out.

The sun is out, and it is shining down on Wake Forest's Big Three.

As of this writing, the baseball Deacons have just come off a road sweep of Duke and sit a half game back of first place and Florida State in the ACC. The Deacs took two of three from the top ranked Seminoles earlier this season. George Greer pulled Cory Sullivan, Dan Conway, Jamie Athas and Ben Clayton out of his hat to mix in with the Deacs' seasoned veterans. Greer's "new" team seems to be working just fine, thank you. The media tabbed Wake fifth in the ACC in a preseason poll. Fifth. Talk about no respect. But Wake seems undaunted. The Deacs just win. Don't count them out of a third straight ACC crown.

As I write this, the basketball Deacs are planning an informal gathering on campus for tonight to cap off their NIT run with a celebration with students and fans. The Quad still resembles Halloween gone crazy after it was rolled extensively Thursday night in honor of the Deacs' victory over Notre Dame and the NIT field. Dave Odom will make the event special as only he can. Let's hope he and his staff can bottle their end season run and the Deacons pick up next season where they left off. If they can, the coming season will be quite a ride.

The football spring game is set for April 15. C.J. Leak has inherited this team which will be youthful but talented. I suspect we'll see some mistakes mixed in with some great plays. The Aloha Bowl practices gave the Deacs, in essence, an extra spring practice. As a matter of fact Wake got more workouts in during the weeks leading up to the bowl game than it will by the end of spring practice. That will help, and I think this particular group will get better quickly once the season begins. Talent comes out when tested and given a chance to improve and learn from mistakes. Toss in the confidence gained from a seven-win season and you have a fall to look forward to.

Back to the present and baseball's current season leaves me urging you to get out to the ballpark and support the Deacs in their bid for an unprecedented third straight ACC championship. If you can't, then I invite you to listen in on the Saturday-Sunday broadcasts of Wake's remaining ACC series on the radio or here on the Internet.

Football. Basketball. Baseball. It's been some year for the Demon Deacons.

See you on the radio.