Wake Forest Traditions

Dave Odom Q & A

Wake Forest finished the season with nine active scholarship players, where a year ago, Dave Odom figured he would have 13. The transfers of Loren Woods last spring and Aron McMillian and James Griffin this winter, along with the season-ending shoulder injury to Niki Arinze, left the cupboard a little more bare than perhaps Odom would have liked it. Still, the squad persevered and showed tremendous improvement in February to finish at 17-13, one win short of the NCAA tournament again, but in the postseason for the ninth consecutive year. On March 18, days after the season-ending loss to Xavier in the second round of the NIT, Odom talked to Gold Rush's Jay Reddick. The following is their conversation:

Gold Rush: You were faced with the challenge of trying to deal with a younger team this year, but the squad developed plenty of depth during the year. How do you feel like the season came out for you?

Odom: All things being considered I think we had a good season, not a great season. I think we played a difficult schedule, with a young team. I think the personnel losses that we experienced after the end of last season, Loren, Aron, James and Niki, all dealt a difficult blow to our team. The schedule was not a friendly one in terms of when we played the teams and the things that went on surrounding some of the games. Like the Arkansas game - we were playing pretty good basketball at the time, our record was good at the time, this was the first real stand-up game since New York (the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic on Nov. 10 and 11). We had been through a series of experimental games, testing games and now we were really ready to play another nationally known opponent, only to have inclement weather take away our crowd and with it the atmosphere that you need at home to support a young team and hopefully get them to the point where they could win a game like that.

There were a series of things that happened like that. We lose to Maryland up there one day after we lose Arinze to a shoulder. Our first home conference game was Jan. 2, with no students. And our other three home conference games that month were Duke, Carolina and Maryland. We weren't playing our best basketball in January, and we had to go on the road against the teams we were competing against for ACC seeds and possible selection in the NCAA tournament. It wasn't a favorable situation.

We found ourselves at 2-6 at the first turn, and it was sometime around the middle of January that if we were going to have a good year, we needed to increase our workload, on the players and the staff, at a time that most teams are cutting back. We almost worked to exhaustion at times, to get it turned.

We had a very good February, with some good wins and some close losses, and to end up fourth in our league after being 2-6 at the turn, I'm proud of our team for that and I'm proud of our staff for that. They deserve a lot of credit. There were some great wins along the way.

Still, the standard for a successful season at Wake Forest has become competing in the NCAA tournament. For the second year in a row, we didn't make it, and that's an extreme disappointment to me. We didn't play well in the second half against North Carolina State in the ACC tournament. Apparently that's the thing that cost us the NCAA bid, and that's a terrible burden to bear. It almost says that what you've done the rest of the year doesn't matter, and I'm not sure that's fair, but if that's the way it is, we've got to adjust to that.

Our team recovered very well and made a strong accounting of themselves in the NIT. We played extremely well against Alabama and a very exciting game at Xavier. That's hard to do after experiencing two major disappointments in one weekend - not playing well against State and being excluded from the NCAA field. All in all, our team had a solid year, and we laid a solid foundation for successful basketball in the future.

Gold Rush: Was the Maryland win (Jan. 31) gratifying to you after the January you had?

Odom: Well, that was the midpoint of the ACC season. That was certainly our best performance to date. It was gratifying in that we were coming off one of our most disappointing halves of basketball at North Carolina State, a night that I was furious at our team. I didn't think we competed, I didn't think we executed in the second half the way we needed to, and I in no uncertain terms told our team that, and they reacted positively. I give them a lot of credit for that. The turnaround was very clear in the Maryland game. They accepted our coaching, and they were embarrassed by that as well. So yes, the Maryland game was certainly a highlight for us.

Gold Rush: In some ways, it's similar to last year, when you held a meeting after a loss to Duke that you said helped turn things around. Do situations like that arise because it's time for the freshmen to grow up, because of the young teams the last couple of years?

Odom: We try not to talk about youth any more than you can help, because that gives them a natural crutch to be less than they can be. We would not have had such a young team had we not had those personnel losses. But we were faced with that, and at times we started four freshmen again this year, three almost all year, so we were just dealt with a different situation, and as the cards faced up, we had to play around some obstacles and played through some others.

But when you look at the league, Duke and Maryland notwithstanding, I think our team played very well. I think we improved. One of the standards we always have for our team is, did we gradually improve, or dramatically improve, as the year went on? And I think you can say without question that we gradually improved. I think there was a dramatic improvement as of Feb. 1, but I think that was a result of what we did in January.

You want to be playing your best at the end. What does that mean? It means you've improved, and we did. We were playing our best at the end, which I'm always pleased with.

Gold Rush: You're left with only one senior this year. Talk a little bit about what Joseph Amonett has meant.

Odom: If ever a player has come into our program with high expectations only not to meet those expectations from a statistical standpoint, it was Joseph. He was a scorer in high school, and I had every reason to believe he would score points at Wake Forest, and he didn't do it.

If there's ever been a player who has every reason to be disappointed and become a negative factor on a team, Joseph's situation was made for that.

But I don't think I've ever had a player who has been more selfless, more team-oriented, who has given more while still being somewhat disappointed and having a right to be. I don't think I've ever seen a player continue to fight in the face of disappointing results. It seemed like one disappointment after the other. What you find there is a very sobering experience. You find who your friends are and who they aren't. Some of our fans weren't as kind to him as I would have liked.

Still, he stuck with it. It tells you he's one of the most courageous people I've ever been around. It also tells you he has a tremendous love for Wake Forest and his team. It also tells you he was extremely thankful for the opportunity to come to school here, and he can rise above disappointment and criticism and be a positive factor on our basketball team.

I am so pleased that he ended up starting and being a positive factor in our good play down the stretch. I don't think I've ever been more proud of a graduating senior than I am Joseph Amonett. It's easy to be proud of All-Americas, all-conference players, but I really am equally proud of him.

Gold Rush: There were times this season that Robert O'Kelley had to pick this team up and carry it on his back. Talk about what he has meant.

Odom: Robert was in a little different situation this year. A year ago, he had a wonderful year and statistically it was about the same as this year.

Last year, Robert played without a great amount of pressure, because he had the three seniors to take pressure off of him in (Tony) Rutland, (Jerry) Braswell and (Steven) Goolsby. This year, with those three gone, Robert was asked to shoulder a greater responsibility, and I think he did that.

At times, he fell prey to taking on the game and taking on our team more than he really should've. I think that's normal. You would expect that from Robert. Next year, hopefully, we'll have enough experience around him to shoulder some leadership and responsibility and help Robert relax throughout a 30-game-plus season. I think we've got that, finally.

Gold Rush: There were a lot of guys showing a lot of improvement during the season, especially when you look at Rafael Vidaurreta and Darius Songaila in the frontcourt.

Odom: I think Rafael is the best example of improvement just this year alone. I don't think he was in great shape when we started, and we pushed him very hard starting the first of January with extra workouts, flexibility exercises and things of that nature. He responded very well. Again, our improved team play paralleled his improved individual play. I thought he was our most consistent player down the stretch, one of our team leaders if not the team leader, and the rock of our team.

Darius had an excellent first year. He improved in every facet of the game. He got in foul trouble less down the stretch. It was interesting, every time he did get in foul trouble, we had problems winning. So a lot of his improvement as it relates to next year will be his ability not to get angry, not to get even, but to use the intense situations in a game to his advantage. He's such a competitor, he needs to generate competitive energy in a positive way, and he learned to do that more as the season went on.

Gold Rush: You've talked a lot about worrying about the things you can control and letting the rest take care of itself. There were a couple of things this year that were seemingly out of your control, in Niki Arinze's injury, followed by James Griffin leaving. How was the team able to deal with those two things?

Odom: The years teach you that there are some things you can affect and perhaps control, and others just happen. The weather happened at the Arkansas game, nothing I could do about it. We tried to make it a positive, we couldn't.

As it relates to personnel losses, you start out with the premise that they are a part of the game. Some are going to happen to you, some are going to happen to your opponents, and you really just have to play through.

The unexpected departure of James Griffin hurt. It blindsided us so badly. We had extended ourselves beyond description for James in order to help him adjust to college life here at Wake Forest and in the ACC, and I didn't feel like what he did showed the amount of appreciation for what Wake Forest has done for him. That hurt, he knows that. I'm not mad at him, but I didn't feel good about that. I usually feel good about kids who leave for the right reasons; I'm still not convinced that was the case there.

But you learn to quickly look past things. Once it was done, it was done. I've always held the philosophy that we are better served giving our time, thought and energy to those who are here and want our help than we are worrying about those who don't want to be here or might be here some other time. There's no need to worry about next year's recruits, or about those who want to leave. So I think our team did an excellent job of refocusing on those who were here. We did the best we could, and it wasn't an easy thing to do.

One of the toughest things to do is to retool your team in midstream, when you suffer personnel losses, to redefine roles, that's hard in midstream, you need an offseason to do that. That is difficult coaching, and it was an odd year in that nearly everyone in the league had to do that.

Gold Rush: Next year's rotation should be a well-established one, losing only Joseph from this season, adding Niki back into the mix, plus (Missouri transfer) Tate Decker and whatever recruits come in.

Odom: Obviously it's too early to be talking about lineups, but I do think our roster is well-fortified at each position. There are some possibilities for some exciting things. There are some glaring needs, though. For example, we need to rebound the ball better, particularly from the small forward spot. I think Niki coming back, assuming he's in good shape, will help us there, along with whatever recruiting help we get.

Joseph's departure will give someone an opportunity to give us some leadership help along with some playing time. I would hope we could move Craig (Dawson) over to that other wing, and let he and Ervin (Murray) man that spot. And you have your five post players and guards out front, I think we're in good shape to play the season. The competition for playing time should be great, and it's an exciting time.

We need to improve our assist-turnover ratio some more. Free-throw shooting is good for the most part but can always improve. Our 3-point shooting needs to be improved. And I think it can be.

Gold Rush: Is there a priority on getting a second ballhandler in the backcourt to share those responsibilities with Robert?

Odom: Yes. Whoever ends up back there, with a year more experience, will do that. Broderick (Hicks) will improve dramatically as he gets bigger and stronger, Ervin will be more relaxed and more aggressive, and Craig Dawson had the best assist-turnover ratio. That will improve just off the year. And I think Robert will improve.

Wake Forest Athletics

Dave Odom Q & A