Wake Forest had a rough season this past year. No, wait, that’s not right. Bad? Terrible? Catastrophic?  I’m having a hard time capturing the scale and scope of how bad last season was. The ideal word would capture a sort of hopeless, inevitable despondency mixed with mind-blowing, frustrating futility. Imagine a turtle trying to climb up a hill. Then the camera zooms out, and the turtle is at the bottom of the Grand Canyon trying to scale the side of a cliff. Now imagine that the turtle accidentally falls onto it’s back. Now imagine a mob gathering at the top of the cliff to push boulders down onto the turtle. That’s how last season felt in Winston-Salem.

Jeff Bzdelik Has A Lot Of Work To Do After Last Season's Disaster

Wake Forest had a single win in the Atlantic Coast Conference against lowly Virginia. Wake Forest won a single game away from its home court: a neutral court win against Elon at Greensboro Coliseum. Wake Forest stunned the world by losing the season opener against Stetson and then proceeded to lose to Winthrop, UNC Wilmington, and Presbyterian. They also lost to a number of very good basketball teams, but that kind of goes without saying when Stetson and Presbyterian are giving you the business on your floor. Ken Pomeroy’s basketball efficiency statistics demonstrate that this wasn’t just a few unlucky games. This was a systemic and utter, season-long failure. Every 16-seed in last year’s NCAA tournament was significantly better than Wake Forest. For the record, that group included UNC-Asheville, Boston University, Arkansas-Little Rock, and Texas-San Antonio. Last season, in short, was an unmitigated disaster. I hope we’re clear on that. That said, this summer may have been worse.

While Jeff Bzdelik had certainly counted on losing senior starter Gary Clark, it’s unlikely he had prepared for the other losses. Another starter, Ari Stewart, announced that he was transferring to USC. Melvin Tabb was hardly a major contributor to the Demon Deacons, but on a shrinking roster, it didn’t help that he was suspended and then released from the team after facing charges of breaking/entering and fraud. Another starter, freshman sensation J.T. Terrell, left school after he was charged with driving under the influence. Finally, 7’0″ senior Ty Walker was ruled ineligible to compete with the team throughout the duration of the fall semester due to a violation of Wake Forest’s honor code. All of this happened from the months of April to September. Ouch.

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Zach Hayes is an editor, contributor and bracketologist for Rush the Court.

26 days. That’s all that separates us and live, meaningful, regular season college basketball.

Every week from now until opening night, I’m here to be your tour guide for the 68 must-watch games of the upcoming season. The list includes 15 conferences from the Pac-12 to the CAA and covers everything from rivalry games dating back a half century, non-conference RPI-boosting tilts and intense battles for state supremacy. Games in February and March, when the margin for error is slim to none, are valued more than contests in November and December. The large majority of these games will have a lasting effect when the bracket is unveiled on that early spring late afternoon in March.

Get your pens and calendars out, folks. These are 68 games that college hoops fans can’t afford to miss (all rankings derived from RTC’s post-draft deadline top 25 and all times EST).

68. January 19: #1 North Carolina at  Virginia Tech (9 PM, ESPN)- The Tar Heels have some challenging tests on their schedule prior to this trip to Virginia Tech, including home/neutral dates with Michigan State, Wisconsin and Texas and road swings to Kentucky and Florida State. If the ultra-talented Heels can navigate those treacherous waters, their #1 ranking will be put to the test in Blacksburg. Tech returns a handful of intriguing players primed to make a leap forward, including double-digit scorer Dorenzo Hudson and breakout candidate Erick Green. Freshman Dorian Finney-Smith is a smooth and skilled freshman forward that could make an immediate impact for the Hokies.

Seth Greenberg won't be so relaxed when UNC comes to town

67.  February 4: Detroit at Butler (12:00, ESPN2)- If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. Detroit aims to claim their first Horizon League title since 1999 behind the guard play of Wooden Award watch list honoree Ray McCallum and all-conference second teamer Chase Simon. The Titans hope forward Eli Holman, a double-double threat who is currently on a leave of absence from the team to address personal matters, returns in time to bang bodies with a strong Butler frontcourt bolstered by the skilled Andrew Smith and athletic Khyle Marshall.

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1. The Mikan Drill: Did I hear correctly that you wanted an in-depth analysis of Maryland sophomore star Terrell Stoglin‘s offensive game and Mark Turgeon‘s tempo? If so, you’ve come to the right place. Seriously, these are a couple of great articles from one of the most interesting and informative basketball bloggers on the Internet. To summarize, Stoglin is a beast in transition, but Turgeon teams tend to execute long half court sets. This is going to be something Turgeon has to reconcile, as his team this year is undermanned and undersized.
2. Baltimore Sun – Tracking the Terps: Speaking of Maryland, here’s quite the informative back-and-forth on Maryland hoops from beat writer Jeff Barker and reporter Don Markus. The best part of the article is when Barker calls the new coach “Turg.” I’m not sure how popular this nickname is yet, but I’m in total support with the slight caveat in that I’d make it “The Turg.” Anyway, in addition to cool nicknames and puns (“shorthanded”), the discussion looks at the roster’s woes and the eventual possibility of Turgeon moving back out to Kansas to take the helm in Lawrence.
3. Boston Globe: And just when you thought the Globe was done with conference realignment, but the paper has an editorial on how college sports have lost sight of its academics whilst in pursuit of television dollars. This comes just a couple of days after the ACC officially announced it is renegotiating its TV contract. While I totally agree with many points of the article (namely, colleges aren’t educating enough athletes), I think the author and I would differ on how to fix the problem. Regardless, it’s an informed article pointing out a problem that is only growing for the NCAA: “the basic integrity of college athletics rests on the idea that student-athletes are receiving an education.”
4. Charlotte Observer: North Carolina’s longtime basketball bus driver, “Super” Dave Harder died suddenly last week. Harder was a team constant over the last two decades, famously navigating through the roughest weather conditions to shootarounds and road games. He was even honored with a championship ring for his service to the Tar Heels after the 2004-05 season. North Carolina road trips just won’t be the same this year without Super Dave navigating the way.
5. Finally, a quick shout out to some in-house content. If you haven’t already, make sure to check out Zach Hayes’ feature on the Top Ten Players You Don’t Know Yet (But Soon Will). Two ACC players made the list: Erick Green of Virginia Tech and Terrell Stoglin of Maryland. We’ve certainly talked a lot about Stoglin here, but Green is definitely a sleeper for one of the All-ACC squads (and I wouldn’t be shocked if Stoglin ended up on the first team).

1. USA Today: Marien Garcia talked with Roy Williams and Tyler Zeller about North Carolina‘s upcoming game on the aircraft carrier against Michigan State. Williams sounded excited about the game, though it definitely sounds like he expects a few early game jitters from the environment. Zeller indirectly supported Williams’ thoughts, wondering how the boat’s movement would affect shooting. Magic Johnson has confirmed his role as honorary captain for the Spartans, while rumor has it that Michael Jordan may be wavering on his commitment to attend on behalf of the Tar Heels.
2. Raleigh News and Observer – ACC Now: Rejoice NC State fans! Alumnus Sidney Lowe has already landed on his feet (not counting the million dollar check he’ll be receiving from the Wolfpack athletic department). Lowe was hired by the Utah Jazz as an assistant coach. Lowe’s departure was a double-edged sword: on the one hand his team’s performances and lack of NCAA Tournament invitations mandated his dismissal; on the other Lowe has a lot of history with the program, which made the parting more than a little bittersweet.
3. Baltimore Sun – Recruiting Report: Matt Bracken profiles Syracuse sophomore CJ Fair, focusing on his rollercoaster recruitment. While Fair played a more limited role for the Orange last season, Jim Boeheim expects him to take on more responsibility for this year’s team. But the coach’s praise didn’t stop there: “But he’s on a tremendous path. I think he can be a dominant player before he leaves here.”
4. Washington Post – Terrapins Insider: Maryland freshman Alex Len still hasn’t been cleared to play by the NCAA. This isn’t very surprising as Len signed very recently (August) and is from overseas. In other news Mark Turgeon expressed his excitement to play Mike Brey and Notre Dame in the BB&T Classic this fall: “Mike was on the staff at Duke when I played in the Final Four [in 1986 with Kansas]. I lost when I played, but we won the next time…”
5. The Heights: A new student group at Boston College, Donahue’s Disciples, is out to generate more student enthusiasm for Eagle home games. Having attended a couple of games in Conte Forum, Ryan Dunn and his friends have a lot of work to do. Both games sported a half-empty student section, and the only real noise came from the band (for the record one of these games was a crucial NCAA Tournament bubble game against Virginia Tech). Donahue’s Disciples have some good ideas to get students involved: namely, free food and possibly a three-on-three basketball tournament. The official Donahue Disciple twitter account is @BookOfDonahue, which is already up to 189 followers.

The two big stories to come out of the conference realignment circus in the past few days involve Missouri, Texas Christian University, and the Big 12, yet both of these stories have potentially huge ramifications for the ACC. Despite a an attempt at a unity-preserving meeting of the Big 12 schools, it didn’t take long for Missouri’s wandering eyes to fix on to the greenest of green pastures of the SEC. The implications of this move would leave the SEC set at a balanced and reasonable number of 14 teams, making a raid on the ACC football powers like Virginia Tech, Miami, Clemson, and Florida State moderately less attractive. In turn this means that the ACC is more likely to not make additional moves, standing pat itself at a reasonable 14 teams (with a willingness to grow only if Notre Dame is involved). The end result of this domino effect, at least according to some Connecticut fans, is that UConn looks increasingly less likely as a candidate to move to the ACC.

The Wheel of Conference Affiliation Continues to Spin

Now, today, Texas Christian University threw a monkey wrench into all of this conference alignment calculus. Instead of eventually going to the Big East, TCU has received an invitation to join the Big 12, an invitation that TCU seems almost certain to accept. This is not great news for the Big East which seems to be showing more and more stress lines these days. The departure of TCU doesn’t bode well either for West Virginia or Louisville staying in a league that’s about to become even less of a factor in football. If those schools leave, then it seems like Notre Dame’s current positive feelings about the Big East may soon diminish, and maybe the ACC starts to look like an okay place to be. UConn would be only too happy to come along, but it seems that many Connecticut fans see the TCU news mostly as a bad omen, projecting a future where the Big East remains drained and the Huskies are stranded in the ruins of a once great conference.

For the ACC, the story is much simpler: Barring a now-unexpected SEC raid on ACC teams, or some really panicked maneuvering on the part of Connecticut, the Atlantic Coast Conference seems unlikely to expand anytime soon.

1. The Pitt News: Pittsburgh‘s student newspaper gives Panther fans a snark-filled rundown of what they can expect from ACC member schools. Highlights include: “The most recent U.S. News & World Report ranked Duke’s undergraduate program No. 10 in the nation, which is also the lowest Dick Vitale has ever ranked the basketball program,” or “Wake Forest admits students who correctly complete the analogy “Demon Deacon basketball is to _______ as DePaul basketball is to the Big East.” Really all of the descriptions are gold, though NC State’s The Hangover reference left me wondering whether Greg Trietley knows that Zach Galifianakis actually attended NC State…
2. CBSSports.com: Jeff Goodman managed to catch up with North Carolina alumnus Sean May in Europe and ask him about Gary Parrish’s recent post claiming this might be Roy Williams‘ best team at UNC. It suffices to say, May was not convinced: “It’s not even close […] Overall, talent-wise, I think we were better.” While his initial assessment is a slight overstatement, May does provide pretty solid evidence for his squad, though I’ll still stick with the 2008-09 team for most dominant (if not most talented).
3. ESPNHS: Senior Mitch McGary is the second rated prospect for 2012 according to ESPNU, and he’s cut his list to five including three ACC schools. The obvious leaders appear to be Michigan, Duke and North Carolina, which are the only schools McGary officially visited. McGary wrote a blog post for ESPN talking about his top schools in addition to reviewing Jay-Z and Kanye’s album “Watch the Throne” and J. Cole’s new album “Cole World: the Sideline Story.” For what it’s worth, recruiting guru Dave Telep thinks McGary is probably leaning towards Michigan, but I wouldn’t count Roy Williams or Mike Krzyzewski out just yet.
4. The Diamondback – Terrapin Trail: Maryland‘s student newspaper sat down with new basketball coach Mark Turgeon and talked everything recruiting. Turgeon also noted the transition to working at Maryland has been easier than when he first started at Texas A&M. The observant Maryland reporter also spotted Curtis Malone, the president of DC Assault, talking up one of Turgeon’s assistants. One thing that got under Maryland fans’ collective skins–especially late in his career–was Gary Williams‘ lack of interest in dealing with AAU coaches.
5. The Daily Orange: Syracuse‘s student newspaper dredged up a little bad blood the school has with Virginia politics in a very good piece about the Orange’s first invite to join the ACC back in 2003. Eventually the invitation was rescinded, as Virginia threatened to leave the ACC if Virginia Tech wasn’t one of the new teams. While I certainly don’t advocate reneging on one’s word, it’s tough to argue with Virginia Tech’s selection (they’ve been consistently competitive in football and basketball). Regardless, it’s an interesting piece that may have the seeds of a new conference rivalry.

The lack of basketball being played right now is upsetting, and though Midnight Madness draws near, the gap between that and actual games is still disconcerting. To add even more heartache, NBA labor talks broke down yesterday making the possibility of at least some professional games soon less likely. The San Antonio Spurs’ French star Tony Parker showed his lack of confidence in the labor process by signing with the French team ASVEL recently. Things are not looking good for basketball fans who want to see their favorite players in action. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so without further adieu, I’d like to present the ACC Fan’s Guide to French Basketball.

The Ligue Nationale de Basketball is actually one of the better international leagues outside of Spain and it has the added benefit of being chock full of former ACC players. The league is divided into two divisions: Pro-A and Pro-B. Each division has eighteen teams and follows a relegation model where the worst two teams in Pro-A are relegated to Pro-B while the winner and runner-up of Pro-B is promoted to Pro-A. For now, let’s just talk about Pro-A, which begins its season on Friday, October 7, conveniently providing the basketball junkie with a quickly delivered fix.

Malcolm Delaney is Gone From Virginia Tech, But For Now, You Can Watch Him In France

The highlight for ACC fans might be seeing recent Virginia Tech standout, Malcolm Delaney playing on Élan Sportif Chalonnais based in Chalon-sur-Saône. Chalon is a talented team and features another ACC veteran in Alade Aminu out of Georgia Tech.  For North Carolina fans, Paris-Levallois Basket offers a chance for Tar Heel fans to witness a reunion of 2005 national champions Jawad Williams and David Noel. For those who want to see a reunion of the 2009 national champions, I have to direct you to Slovenia where Danny Green and Deon Thompson play together for Union Olympija.

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The Academic Progress Rate, a measure designed to roughly measure the academic performance of student-athletes that was instituted by the NCAA in 2005, has mainly been the scourge of schools that already have insufficient resources. While Southern and Grambling struggle to move beyond the post-season bans brought on by a failure to meet the required APR, the power conferences remain mostly unscathed by the increased academic requirements. The past year was an exception, however, when none other than the national champion, Connecticut, received a two-scholarship penalty and notice that future violations could result in much more severe penalties, including a postseason ban.

Georgia Tech Has an Academic Progress Rate Problem

The ACC, in the short history of APR, has largely been untroubled by the sanctions that result from this policy. The exception, however, has been Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech had the number of men’s basketball scholarships it could offer reduced by two during the 2007-08 season, and this year will have to work around another scholarship reduction. For a Yellow Jackets team that is coming off a disastrous season, has a new head coach, and that will basically have no true home court for the coming season (splitting time at the Arena in Gwinnett and Philips Arena in downtown Atlanta while awaiting completion of a new home), the scholarship reduction seems like salt in an already significant wound. While new head coach Brian Gregory seems cautiously optimistic, it looks like Georgia Tech may have to juggle far too many problems at once.

On the positive side, the conference as a whole has done very well at meeting the Academic Progress Rate requirements. Outside of Georgia Tech, Florida State is the only school that is dangerously close to missing the APR cutoff, scoring a 926 last year when the cutoff for immediate penalties is at 925.  The rest of the conference seems to be in pretty good shape, with Duke , North Carolina State, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech all receiving APR Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA, and the others safely above the cut line (currently, and at the 930 cut line which goes into effect soon).

1. ESPN: two (and a half) ACC schools will be represented during ESPNU’s coverage of college basketball’s Midnight Madness on October 14. Coverage starts at 9 PM EDT. ESPNU will cover eleven schools’ official season kickoff, including Duke, North Carolina, (future ACC member) Syracuse and defending national champion Connecticut. Stuart Scott will be holding down the fort at the Dean Dome, while Lou Canellis and announcing legend Bill Raftery will be at Cameron Indoor Stadium. My one disappointment is Raftery won’t be joined by rap aficionado and Duke alumnus Jay Bilas, which would truly make for must-see TV.
2. The Collegiate Times: Virginia Tech‘s student newspaper takes an in-depth look at the university’s dynamic duo of compliance, Tim Parker and Bert Locklin. The Hokie journalists also manage to throw in a couple of warranted jabs at conference rivals Miami and North Carolina for their respective compliance struggles. The article is a great look at the men behind the curtain who normally only make the news when there’s been a major violation.
3. Palmetto Sports: Clemson has an official visit scheduled with point guard Adonis Filer of Chicago.  According to Rivals.com, the 6’3″ Filer is a top 150 player who already has offers from Baylor and Oregon State, but definitely hasn’t made a decision. He noted his final decision “will come down to where I feel comfortable and the amount of playing time I’m going to be looking at my first year.” My guess is Filer would see a good bit of playing time right away with the Tigers.
4. Washington Post – Terrapins Insider: Maryland basketball legend and subject of ESPN’s 30 for 30 “Without Bias” (a must-watch for any hoops fan), Len Bias is being inducted into the Washington Metropolitan Basketball Hall of Fame along with Maryland announcer Johnny Holliday on November 9. Bias’ tragic cocaine overdose, immediately following being taken second overall in the NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics, forced the country to come to terms with the drug’s rampant use amongst athletes in the mid-to-late 1980s.
5. Winston Salem Journal: Wake Forest baseball player Kevin Jordan is back in practice. In one of the most amazing stories you’ll ever hear about in sports, Demon Deacon coach Tom Walter donated a kidney to Jordan last year. On seeing Jordan back in action, Walter exclaimed: “This is the best day of my coaching career […] I mean by far. Just to see him back out here doing what he loves to do.” This stands in stark contrast with all of the cut-throat recruiting, oversigning and general dishonesty so often reported in college sports.

Welcome to the first ACC Edition of the Morning Five. Every weekday morning we’ll highlight links from local and student papers concerning ACC hoops.

1. Raleigh News and Observer: new NC State head coach Mark Gottfried spent time last week selling his program to the Raleigh Sports Club. Gottfried discussed NC State’s illustrious basketball past as well as his plan for revitalizing the program’s future. Gottfried was pretty succinct and bluntly honest about the present. As for concrete evidence for his vision of the future, Gottfried mentioned scheduling a home-and-home series with Kansas. He even managed to send a jab back at one of the future members of the ACC: “Jim Boeheim popping off up there that he thinks it needs to be in New York. He needs to get in the league first, before he starts making demands on the league.”
2. Baltimore Sun – Recruiting Report: with Maryland‘s depleted roster the Terrapins will rely heavily on returning players like Sean Mosely to minimize Jordan Williams’ departure. While he’s only 6’4″, new coach Mark Turgeon expects Mosely to see time at power forward this year. Mosely is Maryland born and Maryland bred, a truly historic player at the state high school level. He was expected to be Williams’ sidekick last season on a Maryland team that never lived up to preseason expectations, but his numbers declined significantly from a strong sophomore campaign. This year Turgeon will need Mosely more than ever to help sophomore stud Terrell Stoglin carry the scoring load for the team.
3. Durham Herald Sun: North Carolina is looking to replace athletic director Dick Baddour (who is set to step down following the NCAA Committee of Infractions meeting later this month), and the selection committee is looking for experience in hiring coaches and demonstrated NCAA compliance. Both qualifications make sense, as the Tar Heels are currently searching for a new football coach, and the university wants to both have a strong arm to deal with compliance–not to mention sending a message to the NCAA that the university is serious about it.
4. The Chronicle (Duke‘s student newspaper): “The NCAA is broken.” Duke student Andy Moore checks in on a topic of much recent debate largely spawned Taylor Branch’s Atlantic piece. The most interesting quote from the piece comes from Duke’s Charles T. Clotfelter, Z. Smith Reynolds Professor of Public Policy: “What is happening now gives everyone the benefit from the market except the athletes […] They’re kept out because the universities have made a deal not to pay them. In economics, we call that a cartel.” Moore also attacks the pettier NCAA rules, using two examples of recent NCAA violations which hurt Duke basketball over the past couple of years including Mike Krzyzewski‘s overblown summer recruiting violation and Nolan Smith‘s suspension for playing in a game not approved by the NCAA.
5. The Old Gold and Black (Wake Forest‘s student newspaper) and The Collegiate Times (Virginia Tech‘s student newspaper): ACC expansion has been a hot topic lately with the additions of Syracuse and Pittsburgh from the Big East. Many college football reporters scoffed at the move, saying it dilutes an already weak product. However, ACC basketball fans salivate at the prospect of seeing Jim Boeheim’s 2-3 zone and Pitt’s offensive rebounding prowess grace the courts of the ACC (ignoring for the moment any instability it causes the Big East). Wake Forest’s Evan Quinn notes that the move will only make it harder for a struggling Demon Deacon team to compete in the conference. Virginia Tech’s Alex Koma wants the conference to look at West Virginia and Connecticutto fill out the ACC at 16 members.Author’s Note: for the record, I disagree. I think the ACC should hold tight on expansion unless a jackpot team (i.e. Notre Dame) comes to its doorstep looking for a home.