Analysis: Moving Forward
What a frustrating conclusion to an exciting night at the Joel.
It really boiled down to Maryland's best players playing better than Wake's best players. Gist finished with the following career highs: 31 points, 3 3's, 10 FT's. He also grabbed 11 boards and was a monstrous presence on the defensive end. Osby was the difference in College Park. Tonight, it was Gist. He looked like an NBA player this evening.
Vasquez was also sensational. I've heard a lot of different things about Greivis and can't imagine that Gary has an easy time coaching him. But Gary has won a bunch of games with temperamental point guards(Francis, Gilchrist, etc.). Greivis used his 6'6'' frame and deceptive quickness to dominate any defender Wake threw at him, scoring on Teague, Harv, LD, and Ish throughout the game. Like Gist, Vasquez was 9-15 from the floor, and he scored 7 straight points after the Deacs tied it at 49 which put the Turtles back in the driver's seat. I'm not sure that Greivis is an NBA player, but he's the kind of guy that could drop 35 out of nowhere for the Venezuelan national team in the Olympics.
Dino sounded exasperated postgame when he remarked, "We missed so many really good shots." The Deacs were 21-50 on 2-pointers, and I bet a shot chart would indicate that Wake was about 8-30 on five footers. There was also a number of examples when a chance at a 3 point play was erased because the point-blank shot wouldn't fall. Just one of those nights for Wake.
Jeff Teague played his worst game of 2008. Take that with a grain of salt, because he has been phenomenal for the most part over the course of the season, a combination of Randolph and Taron. Tonight he never found a rhythm, didn't score in the first half, and finished with 6 points(2-11 FG), 1 assist, and 2 turnovers. It wasn't that he didn't come to play; he just had an off night.
In addition, the Deacs still wasted an inordinate number of possessions, an excruciating trait of this team that eventually will be its downfall. The defense has been improved, the day-to-day effort has been top-notch(peaks and valleys like all teams, but overall, Dino has had this team ready to play hard.) More than anything, the offensive possessions that end with Ish dribbling 25-30 feet from the hoop with 8 seconds on the shot clock destroy this team. They gave away 4-5 possessions tonight, ending in turnovers or forced 3's. You can look at countless factors as being decisive in a four point game, but more than anything else, those empty trips exemplify the inconsistency of this team.
At 6-7 in the league with two of the remaining 3 on the road, it would take a Herculean effort to avoid the NIT(barring a great run in the ACC tourney, which I definitely think this team is capable of, but that's a discussion for another time.) Georgia Tech has continued to play very hard, as evidenced by their gutty second half in Winston-Salem back on February 6th. The team is busing down to Atlanta tomorrow morning at 8:30AM, and the next 36 hours are going to be a mental grind more than anything else. Will Ish, Jeff, and James be able to play smart, while tired, for 40 minutes against Morrow and company? I'm not sure. After that, a trip to Blacksburg on Tuesday night, to face a hungry Hokie club who has TONS to play for, and that doesn't even include the revenge factor from the ACC opener that A.D. Vassallo gift-wrapped for the Deacs in the final 90 seconds, a game VT should have won. I would not be at all surprised if Wake falls to 6-9 over the next 5 days. It'll be a major testament to Dino and the gang if they can steal one against the Techs.
Last point: Think about the big picture. This was an incredibly frustrating night, but isn't this what we expected back in October. Personally, I thought the ceiling for this team was 9, maybe 10 wins. And that was only if EVERYTHING went great. The injury to LD, the late game mistakes at Clemson, not boxing out McCauley in Raleigh, those are the tiny differences that make this a 6-7 win team vs. an 8-9-10 win team. Yes, there's still time, and you know this team will not give up. But considering everything we've gone through, the program is moving in the right direction.
As one media colleague pointed out to me after the game: "It could be worse. We could be NC State."
Very true. Very true.
