Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Traditions
 Rafael Vidaurreta's Minutes are Down, and He Likes ItBy Jay Reddick Wake Forest may have one of the youngest teams playing NCAA Division I basketball this year, but for the squad to find success, the players may have to be some of the most mature. Think about it: coach Dave Odom has been giving 10, 11, sometimes even 12 players a good bit of playing time in the early going. There aren�t but 200 minutes to go around in any regulation game, and if you do the math, you realize that there comes the possibility of a lot of unhappy faces on the bench. This team of mostly freshmen and sophomores, though, has warmed to the strategy, and it has found success in the early going. Take Rafael Vidaurreta. The 6-foot-9 sophomore started 21 games last season, including all 16 ACC contests, and averaged 23.5 minutes a game. This year, his minutes are down, and he didn�t even start the home opener against UNCG on Nov. 18. Yet it�s obvious from just a few minutes talking to him that he�s having a great time, probably more fun than last season. �When I come out of the game, I know I�m not going to play as many minutes as last year, but somebody else is getting the job done and doing it well,� Vidaurreta said. �Sometimes, you know the guy out there can�t do as well as you can, and you feel bad, but not on this team; this is totally the opposite.� The jump from freshman to sophomore is a big one for any student-athlete, but it seems like a particularly colossal leap for the Deacons� six sophs, who went from learning the system to teaching it in an eyelash. Only Joseph Amonett has more experience among the scholarship players. For Vidaurreta, the change has been nothing but satisfying, as he�s become more comfortable with basketball and life in general. �I just realized two weeks ago that I�m doing a lot better this year, academically and on the court,� Vidaurreta said. �As a sophomore, you�re so much more used to everything. You feel like you�re not doing anything differently, but you are, and you do it automatically. �I tell the freshmen now, like the upperclassmen told me last year, that I know what you�re going through. They don�t completely understand, but then, I didn�t either. I have so much more time now.� The native of Zaragoza, Spain, has no problem remembering what it was like to be an eager-to-please nervous newcomer on the Deacon roster. But that didn�t stop him from instigating a prank on this season�s first-year players before the Court Authority exhibition. �Usually, the night before games, we meet with the coaches at 10 over at the gym, just dress casual, walk through some plays - nothing strenuous, we don�t even dress out - and watch some film,� Vidaurreta said. �The freshmen knew nothing about it, they just knew there was a meeting. We called the freshmen just a little before 10 and told them to be ready to go all-out and practice. And you know the feeling, as a freshman, you don�t want to screw up. So we told them to show up loosened up and dressed out, and don�t be late or coach Odom will get mad. And of course, by that time, it made them all late to practice. We told coach Odom what we had done and he was in on it, but when the guys showed up, we couldn�t hold it in - we all just lost it.� Vidaurreta has taken one freshman in particular, Darius Songaila, under his wing. The two have similar backgrounds, coming from other countries (Songaila is Lithuanian) and enrolling at New Hampton Prep School in New Hampshire. �When Darius came here to visit, I felt like I knew the guy since we were born,� Vidaurreta said. �It was good having another guy with the same experience. He doesn�t have a car, so he likes me to take him places. We do a lot of the same things, so we hang out together a lot.� Vidaurreta�s on-the-court improvement can be charted as his offensive skills begin to manifest themselves. Last season, he was asked to stick to the important roles of rebounding and defense, while the backcourt handled the flashier scoring duties. This season, while he has kept up the rugged inside play that became his trademark, he has also been asked to look at the basket a little more. �Everybody likes to score, but my job last year was to be more of a team player, work for the rest of the team, rebounding, setting screens, the kind of stuff that only people who know about basketball appreciate,� Vidaurreta said. �This year, I�ll have to shoot a little bit more. Coach Odom told me he wants more points in the paint.� Vidaurreta believes one of the keys to getting his shooting touch down is his free-throw accuracy. He shot just 53.5 percent from the line last season, but has improved those numbers so far in 1998-99. �My biggest need for improvement is my free throws,� Vidaurreta said. �I�ve been working hard on shooting jumpers, using some post moves, just learning to shoot the ball better, and free throws are a big part of it.� Vidaurreta has shown that he can step up when his services are needed. He averaged more than eight rebounds a game over the final 12 contests a year ago, and Odom believes Vidaurreta is a player that can be counted on at winning time. �One thing you know about Raf,� Odom said, �is this: when the heat is on, he�ll match it. He�ll get his body up and his mind up and his soul up and ready to play, and that�s important.�
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