[Eaglesfan27]

The loss to Miami drops us to 11th in the media poll and 15th in the coaches' poll.


We now have 4 players who have expressed very high interest in coming to Wake Forest. Hopefully, I don't lose them all waiting for the lone 5 star in the group:

PG Leslie Wright has indicated that it is between us and Duke, but Maryland and Georgia Tech are both in the picture as well. He has our last scholarship offer. He is the lone 5 star who is ranked 16th overall in the nation.

PG Raynardo Salow of Conway Arkansas is very interested in us. However, Clemson and Xavier are both strongly in the picture and he has offers from both of them. He is a 4 star PG ranked 38th overall.

Dommanic Nava is the smallest of the 4. He is a PG from Houston, TX. He would love to come to Wake. Mississippi State is the only other school that he really likes and they have offered him a scholarship. He is a 4 star who is ranked 90th overall.

PF Francisco Clarke (I started recruiting him because we do have 2 good PG's on the roster with Sutton and Baldwin, so I don't have to get a PG) is a smaller PF who is ranked 91st overall. He is from Elkhart, Indiana. Penn State and Wake are his top 2 choices.




Our next game is hosting Maryland. They are 15-10 (5-7) this year. Their overall roster strength is 87. They have a very unbalanced roster with 5 star guards and youth and relative lack of talent at the forward positons.

Their starting 5:

JR PG Herb Lennon is the best player on their roster with an overall rating of 86. He is only 5'10 176. He is fast (93 speed), a great perimeter defender (93), and a great ball handler and passer (92 for each.) He is a very good shooter. He is averaging over 12 ppg and 5 apg.

FR SG Jonathan Tucker is the most talented freshman I've ever seen. He was the 6th ranked player in his class. He is 6'1 183 but that is his only issue. He is ranked 86 overall and may go pro after this year. He has incredible intangibles (including a 99 hustle!), very good speed (89), great shooting off the dribble (89), and good abilities in most other areas. He is averaging 10 ppg, 6 rpg, and 4 apg this year.

JR SF Lawrence Bender - I'm mystified as to why he is starting ahead of Ron Bender.. unless Ron just gt back from an injury and they just haven't put Ron back into the starting lineup yet. Ah, I see, they've recently moved Ron Bender to center. Anyway, Lawrence has an inch on Ron, but nothing else. He is rated 72 overall and doesn't excel in any area. He is only averaging 2 ppg.

FR PF Joah Webb is 6'9 213. He doesn't excel in any area. He is rated 76 overall. He is averaging 5 ppg and 5 rpg.

FR C Ron Bender - He is actually a natural SF but Bender is forced to play center on this team that doesn't have a natural C. Ron Bender was a SF that I heavily pursued last year. He is now rated 78 overall. He is 6'6 248. His greatest strengths are his speed (87), quickness (85), dunking (84), and shooting in traffic (81.) He is a weak rebounder and post defender. I expect Sockwell to put up 30.


The bench is loaded with 3 star guards that would start almost anywhere else:

JR PG Blair Rollins is rated 85 overall and is 6'0 192. He is a dynamic scorer who is leading the team at 13 ppg despite only played 24 mpg.

JR PG Artie Fields is 5'11 196 and is also rated 85 overall. He is the best 3 point shooter on the team (88.) He is playing 18 mpg and is averaging just under 10 ppg.

JR PG Lyle Cranford is 6'2 186 and is rated 84 overall. He is averaging 9 ppg in 17 mpg.

The rest of the bench is subpar with most guys in the low 70's.

I'll play that game later this week.