Wake Forest beats Duke behind 2 former Bradley recruits

[Da Coach]

Wake Forest pulled an upset by beating #2 ranked Duke last night 86-73.
Freshman Jeff Teague scored 26 points, and fellow freshman James Johnson scored 24 points and hauled down 16 rebounds.

Both these talented freshman were recruited hard by Bradley coach Jim Les, and kept Bradley on their final list until their commitment to Wake Forest.

Box score--

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/boxscore?gid=200802170628

Story--

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/notebook?page=notebook/atr080218

[Braves4Life]

I watched this game and the look on coach K's face as 5 of his players fouled out was PRICELESS!

Teague is going to be an awsome player. Johnson already is a man. If Wake keeps this nucleus together with next year's class I would not be surprised to see them as National Champs in 2 years. They start 2 freshmen and 3 sophs with a top recruiting class already coming in next year...........and Gaudio can coach!

[BUBraves06]

Duke is a really good team, but I believe this game showed why they will struggle come NCAA Tourney time. They will be able to shoot themselves through the first round, but there are so many differing styles of games in the tournament that Duke's lack of a scoring post presence will come back to hurt them eventually.

[tornado]

One other of Wake's key players is from Central Illinois and has been discussed here before

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=26

[JBinPeoria]

Funny that y'all should mention Wake Forest in this forum. They have reminded me of Bradley in a lot of games this year. Those young guards are super quick, great shooters and play some tenatious D. Both Ish and Teague have qualities to their game that are fun to watch and at times both remind me a lot of Daniel Ruffin. However, they also have had a lot of problems (in the TV games I have watched) similar to Bradley:

- Lack of inside presence (that is beginning to change as their bigs gain experience)
- Turnover prone: Ish and Teague move and think quicker than the rest of the team creating turnovers
- Taking bad shots too early in the shot clock
- They live and die by the three
- They are prone to long stretches of bad shooting. Sometimes, game-long stretches.

It's been fun though to watch these young men develop as players. For the first time this year (well, not counting their preseason cupcakes), they have put together a full 40 minute game and performed well on both ends of the floor. And yes, their recruiting class next year is not only the best in the nation, but it completely addresses all their deficiencies as a team. I agree that in two years, they just may be the best team in the nation.

And in an amazing coincidence, it was also fun to watch Bradley put together one of their best 40 minute performances against Creighton. That's where you need to be this time of the season. You need to play a full 40 minutes of basketball and not have glaring deficiencies in any of the major offensive or defensive aspects of the game.

I do see Bradley heading in that direction too...with the 6 game winning streak and a wonderful performance against a very good Creighton team. However, the Illinois State game was very disappointing. That's what I mean about showing glaring deficiencies this late in the season. While one can hope, I do not see either team showing the kind of consistency to make the kind of run they need (esp facing difficult remaining schedules) to make the NCAA tournament. However, both teams have shown amazing progress and have been fun to watch develop. I wouldn't be surprised if these two very similar teams cross paths in the NIT for an exciting game.

[Da Coach]

Here are Wake Forest's stats for the season (stats are sortable by clicking on the category across the top)--

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/teams/wad/stats;_ylt=AhxgIIFHSkdOphvbA6_l7RIN1LYF

Note that their top 2 scorers are these 2 freshmen, Teague and Johnson. They will be back next year, and Wake has one of the top 2 or 3 recruiting classes comoing in next season with a bunch of blue-chip big men.

As JB said, they shoot a lot of 3's. Even James Johnson, at 6'8" he is their best big man, averages 3.5 threes a game. Nobody shoots a real high percentage, though.

[Braves4Life]

As JB said, they shoot a lot of 3's. Even James Johnson, at 6'8" he is their best big man, averages 3.5 threes a game. Nobody shoots a real high percentage, though.

Wake was absolutely terrible early in the season shooting the three. They actually had one game against Iowa where they were like 1-15 (and Iowa was 2-15).....no kidding

They are very similar in style and player type to BU with one exception -- they have gotten the better quality player that we missed out on ( Teague and Johnson).

[jasonpeoria911]

Amazing, if I wouldn't have looked at last nights scores, I would of never known that Wake Forest beat #2 Duke. Not 1 blip on the cover of ESPN today. Small link in the ESPN Mens basketball section. Why is everyone in love with Duke and hate to publicize when they get upset especially while being ranked #2? If that was Memphis or UCLA or someone, it would of been blasted all over the front page if they lost while being #1 or 2.

Jason

[JBinPeoria]

I agree. I had trouble finding coverage of the game on national sites. And on that subject, why did the #2 team (last week) in the nation only fall 2 spots in the rankings after losing to an unranked team?

[georgethedog]

I watched this game and the look on coach K's face as 5 of his players fouled out was PRICELESS!

Teague is going to be an awsome player. Johnson already is a man. If Wake keeps this nucleus together with next year's class I would not be surprised to see them as National Champs in 2 years. They start 2 freshmen and 3 sophs with a top recruiting class already coming in next year...........and Gaudio can coach!

Hey Braves4Life, who his the girl with the lovely protruding buttocks?