Know Thy Opponent: Wake Forest Demon Deacons

by Alex in Media | December 2nd, 2008

Each year in college basketball, there is a group of young teams flying somewhat under the radar yet capable of a deep run in the tournament.

In 2006, a team in the aforementioned group was Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators. They were a fringe top-25 team coming into that season, refined their ridiculous pool of talent during SEC play and ended up cutting down the nets.

To call this year’s Wake Forest Demon Deacons a threat to win it all would be a bit premature at this point in the season, but the talent is certainly there for a serious run.

Led by another Indiana kid who got away in sophomore Jeff Teague from Indianapolis Pike and a pair of do-it-all forwards in sophomore James Johnson and freshman Al-Farouq Aminu, the Hoosiers are going to have their hands full Wednesday night in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

Teague has opened the season on fire — 21.0 ppg in six Wake wins — while shooting a ridiculous 57 percent from 3-point range.

Johnson (15.0 ppg, 9.2 rpg) and Aminu (13.2 ppg, 9.5 rpg) are perhaps the most athletic front court duo anywhere in the country. They’ve been so good early on that head coach Dino Gaudio has two five-star freshmen in Tony Walker and Ty Woods that have yet to see major clock.

The result of this mismatch will not likely be pretty for our Hoosiers, but fans of good basketball will enjoy watching one of the up-and-coming teams in college basketball that just might make a run come March.

Tags: Al-Farouq Aminu, Dino Gaudio, James Johnson, Jeff Teague, Wake Forest Demon Deacons

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southsidehitmen

Not to mention looking at Wake Forest's sweet ass mascot....that guy looks like he would be good friends with Joe Paterno...

Disco_Briscoe

Baylor played them close, what’s to say we can’t. A little optimism here…

cooper

62 rebounds against Baylor and the most athletic front court in the country. Will be a barometer for where Pritchard really is.

JerryCT

I rewatched Baylor vs Wake last night and both teams appeared to be quicker and more athletic than us and particulary relentless. We will not beat them with more energy.

Pritchard is in a hopeless spot against Wake, as is the entire team, but it will be nice to see what he can do and who else from IU can hang with them. If I were them I would double Pritchard early and see if anybody steps up. Even though they donot need to do that to win they will need to do it later in the ACC.

DO we have anybody capable of slowing down the point of attack ?

dale11

Here is to hoping Duke and purdue tie tonight...im struggling to root for either team

HoosierSmitty

Given this is the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, I tried to set aside my hatred of Purdue and Illinois for one game...but it's pretty damn hard.

Purdue seems outmatched in the first half, despite their determination...

Also despite my disdain for anything Illinois and Bruce Weber...I was pissed to see Illinois blow it against Clemson...although I had a certain glee in watching them fumble the last possession...

I guess I'd just like to win this silly ACC/Big Ten Challenge at least once in my friggin lifetime.

dale11

I know what you mean Smitty, I am trying hard to root for the big 10 schools but i couldnt help but smile when illinois didnt even get a shot off.

DMJ

I'm confident in the ability of our guards to play good defense on Teague. I'm most likely being overly optimistic but it's not worth it to be down on this team for the whole season.

HoosierSmitty

I'd love to add to the optimism...but this is likely a game where we're searching for those moral victories instead of those of the scoreboard variety.

If this game is in Assembly Hall I think we could stay competitive...but this will be IU's first true road contest given that Maui was a neutral environment.

For it to come against Wake Forest will likely be a very humbling experience.

Let's hope the Cornell game was a result of increased team chemistry and a quickly gained maturity. Otherwise, it could get ugly early.

Nonetheless, Go Hoosiers!

JerryCT

From what I saw last night it will hard for us to outwork any B10 team this year . I noticed OSU is not too good on offense and may be a chance for a W that I had not considered but MINN if they improve may be tough to match up with.

I pity Pritchard tonight and whoever has to defend the point. Looking forward to the game and hopin gfor the best

cooper

Is Jones playing? I don't see a match up for their point guard. No way Moore can guard him. I wouldn't be suprised to see them press early, create turnovers, and jump out to a big lead. I'm not down on them but I do not see a realistic shot of us winning unless Dumes goes for 30 or more and someone else scores atleast 20-25. The reason I say Dumes is because he seems to be the only guard we have that could really go off, though he takes horrible shots and has too many turnovers Wakes front court is way too athletic, for that matter the entire team is too athletic for IU to contend. I'd say a final score of something around 90-55.

dale11

i'll go back to '03 and predict a score of 100-67 tonight.

Know Thy Opponent: Wake Forest Demon Deacons

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