On Saturday, I was able to attend my first Wake Forest basketball game at LJVM stadium courtesy of some free tickets from a friend. The seats were on the upper deck at the end of the arena but I did not mind as the stadium has great sights lines from anywhere within it and I was able to see the Deacons totally shred Florida State. It is a far different experience to see the game in person than on the television.
With that decisive win and another over Georgia Tech to make up for the earlier loss to the Yellowjackets, Wake Forest seems to find its footing again. For awhile, it appeared that Wake Forest could only get motivated to play its best against top ranked teams and seemingly left the weaker teams of the conference to get their key wins against the Deacons. These two wins will help restore the confidence of the team which seemed to be shaken since they fell out of the top ranked spot in the polls a month ago.
If credit must be due, it is to the play of James Johnson who set the tone early with key shots in the FSU game before leaving prematurely due to foul trouble and in the GT game as he lead all Deac scorers with 24 points. This is probably out of necessity as other teams are concentrating their attention on Jeff Teague which means less attention on other Wake players. This may work on some teams but the strength of Wake Forest is not having a superstar player dominating the game but rather the depth of the team at all positions along with a deep bench to boot. Wake Forest can burn its opponents in many different ways when they are motivated to do so.
Looking ahead to its next game, Duke in Durham on Sunday evening, Wake Forest has a chance to move back up in the polls and more importantly a more favorable position when it comes to the rankings for the NCAA tournament. In the end, that is what it is all about.