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Gaudio counting days until basketball practice begins
Wake Forest has closed scrimmage set against South Carolina
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Published: October 3, 2008
Coach Dino Gaudio has waited six and a half months for his second season as Wake Forest's head-basketball coach to begin, so he can certainly wait another two weeks.
But that's not to say it will be easy.
"When I flipped the calendar to October it really got me going." Gaudio said yesterday. "When it's still September, it still seems like it's far away. But in October, the weather's changing.
"To heck with Jim, I told him. This is hoops season."
Jim, by the way, is Jim Grobe a good friend of Gaudio who coaches the Deacons' football team. The success of Grobe and his team has helped take the edge off a down period in Wake Forest basketball that resulted in two straight seasons without a post-season berth, but there's a feeling around campus that the drought will soon end.
It's based on a deep roster that features five returning starters along with three freshmen -- Al-Farouq Aminu, Tony Woods and Ty Walker -- who comprise one of the most highly regarded recruiting classes in school history.
Even with Ish Smith, the starting point guard, expected to be sidelined the first two weeks by a broken foot, Gaudio has plenty of parts to work with while putting together his team.
The other returning starters are guards Jeff Teague and L.D. Williams, forward James Johnson and center Chase McFarland. "It's an athletic group, it really is," Gaudio said.
To help his team prepare for its early schedule, Gaudio has arranged a closed scrimmage at South Carolina in early November.
The Deacons will play Mount Olive in an exhibition on Nov. 6 and open their season against N.C. Central on Nov. 14. After two more home games against UNC Wilmington (Nov. 18) and Winston-Salem State (Nov. 24), they will travel to Anaheim to play Cal State Fullerton in the first game of a three-day tournament.
South Carolina is coached by Darrin Hood, the former coach at Western Kentucky who succeeded Dave Odom.
"It will give us a good indicator," Gaudio said. "It's an SEC school. They've got a bunch of guys back. I wanted to go there because there's three home games at the beginning of the season and then, bam, we've got to go out and play in that tournament. I want those kids staying overnight in a hotel, understanding what that's like."
Gaudio said that Smith, who broke his foot on Sept. 19, is scheduled to have his cast removed on Oct. 13.
"That will really help us immensely because once he gets the cast off and goes into the boot he can begin rehabilitating that left leg muscle," Gaudio said. "We can get him into the pool and start working on getting his cardiovascular back a little bit.
"So far everything's just right on schedule."
The official day of the first practice is Oct. 17, but Gaudio said he plans to stockpile the amount of time for individual improvement allotted by the NCAA to practice on Oct. 16. He has no plans for a Midnight Madness type scrimmage open to the public, partly because Wake Forest will begin fall break at that time.
Early emphasis, Gaudio said, will be on rebounding and 3-point defense. The Deacons ranked 10th in the ACC last season with a rebounding margin of minus 0.6, and ninth with a 3-point defense percentage of .353.
"If our defense improves and our rebounding goes up we've got a chance to be really good," Gaudio said. "The three freshmen are going to help us in that area. And because our guys are one more year older and a little more physically mature, it will just come around for those guys a little bit more.
But Al-Farouq and Tony are terrific rebounders, at both ends."
■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.
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