Wake Forest Athletics News

100% Cotten - Standing Out
By Stan Cotten

Dec. 31, 2003

Although I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions, I am easily sucked into television shows and written articles about the good and bad of the year gone by or by best and worst moments of the last 365 days. It's history, and I think it's entertaining to capsule time and examine it.

Especially in sports. Great plays. Bad plays. I could watch or listen to or read about them almost non-stop.

So what about Wake Forest in 2003? What do you think was the best moment for the Deacons during the past calendar year? Is it too difficult to pick just one?

A national championship is hard to beat. The Deacons' NCAA field hockey title, the second in a row for Coach Jennifer Averill's team, would have to get very serious consideration and might just have to be the winner period. If you picked this, you wouldn't get much of an argument from me.

A lot of you are thinking about a particular basketball game that just barely did make it in in 2003. The Wake Forest-North Carolina 119-115 triple overtime basketball game that pitted two top ten teams in the best league in the country against one another on December 20 in Chapel Hill at the Smith Center will go down as not only one of the best games of the year - it will also go down as one of the best games ever in the history of the ACC. The fact that the Deacons won the game - and the fact that it was against Carolina - has to make it a contender for best Wake moment in 2003. Right, Julie? Again, hard to argue if you picked this contest which might be remembered one day as simply "The Game."

Consider some of the miscellaneous notes that are attached to this instant classic between the Deacs and the Tar Heels:

  • only one other game in ACC history included more overtimes - Wake's four-overtime marathon against N.C. State in 1989
  • thirteen players, seven Deacons, scored in double figures
  • the 233 combined points tied for second-most in ACC history
  • Wake's 119 points are the most ever scored against North Carolina in its history
  • it marked the first time in their history that the Tar Heels scored 100 points and lost
  • it was the first triple overtime game in Deacon history, still second to the aforementioned four overtime game with N.C. State
  • it was the Smith Center's first multi-overtime game ever

    I could go on and on, but I think we all get the picture. Even though no championship was on the line - even though the game did not happen during the ACC Tournament - the Wake Forest-North Carolina game waged December 20, 2003, is likely the best of the series that has had 207 games played before it.

    Now something new as we ponder the New Year. What are your thoughts on Wake Forest sports in 2003? Did the best moment happen on the gridiron? Was it the Deacs' win over North Carolina State of Clemson? Was it a single play in a contest? Did it happen on the soccer field or a cross-country course? If you have several, rank them for me.

    Let me know what you think, and if we have enough response I'll put it all together in a column for us all to digest. Send me what you think to:

    scotten@ispsports.com

    Happy New Year to all of you, and here's to 2004. GO DEACS!