This morning basketball takes the spotlight, as yesterday Philadelphia point guard Tony Chenault verbally committed to play basketball for the Demon Deacons, joining the class of 2010. Chenault is currently a three star prospect according to Scout.com. I'll publish my own take on this commitment in the next day or two, but here are some other stories until then.

Speaking of basketball, the pairings for the Anaheim Classic have been announced, and Wake Forest will face Cal State Fullerton in the first round, Thursday, November 27, on ESPN2. UTEP and St. Mary's are the other teams in Wake's bracket, and Wake would face the winner/loser of their game Friday on ESPNU. The final games are set for Sunday the 30th, with the championship being played on ESPN2. This doesn't exactly set Wake up for the matchups they would have most wanted from a strength of schedule perspective, but it does set them up well to have a good shot at winning the tournament.

Of course we can't totally ignore football, so here is Dan Collins' usual football notebook, as well as this feature on Josh Adams.

I'm traveling today, so if I'm slow to answer emails or anything like that I apologize. I expect to still have a full practice report up tonight.

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Not surprisingly, Media day for the Demon Deacons means plenty of coverage from a variety of outlets. The story that will probably be read more than any other is this AP story, which talks about Deacon Tower and the high expectations of Wake Forest fans these days.

I've been surprised by how difficult it's been to find photos of the event, but here's a pretty cool shot of everyone getting ready for the team photo. You may notice that the uniforms look a bit different. Russell Nenon has informed me that the new jerseys are "nice with skinnier numbers. The pants are a similar material with a black stripe down the side."

I'm guessing these new uniforms are one of Nike's newer, tighter fitting materials, and probably lighter weight and more breathable for increased player comfort. I'll be curious to see how the new piping on the pants looks in an actual game, and how it translates to the all black uniform.

It's a popular time to profile the 2008 defense, with this Dan Collins article about the players and Stan Cotten writing about new defensive coordinator Brad Lambert.

The Demon Deacons will practice again today at 3:30.

Photo by Bob Hebert

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Yesterday Patrick Hite at ACC Nation wrote a column about the ACC's perception throughout the country. For once someone wasn't trying to tear down the ACC or trying to defend it. The column had a very different purpose.

"The conference will never be a consistent threat to win a national title and I’m OK with that," wrote Hite. "Teams should embrace an ACC title and, if things fall into place they may earn a shot at a national championship. If things don’t fall into place, which happens more often than not, the ACC title is still pretty special."

I was caught of guard by this a little bit and had to stop and think about it. Should I just enjoy the ACC schedule and the possibilty of an ACC Championship and not worry about the rest of the nation and what they think?

Hite is absolutely right about how special an ACC Championship is. Wake fans only have to look back two years to remember, and I know that no one really cares that the rest of the country called it a down year in the ACC.

Still, it's frustrating to watch ACC football week-in and week-out and not feel like it gets the credit it deserves. There are a lot of talented teams and just because Florida State and Miami aren't the best schools in the conference right now doesn't mean the conference is awful as a whole.

I think I both agree and disagree with Hite's point at the same time.

I agree that an ACC Championship is special no matter what the conference looks like that year. If you listen to most players and coaches at the begining of the season they aren't talking about how they want to win a National Championship, they're talking about how they want to win the conference.

Ultimately, though, it is impossible for me to not want to come to the ACC's defense becaues I don't think the rest of the nation's criticism of the ACC is fair. All I ever hear is that the ACC can't be good because Miami and FSU aren't good. Why do those schools have to be the best schools in the conference? How long until it isn't a sign of a weak conference to have Wake Forest or Boston College be one of the best teams?

I love ACC football; it's fun to watch, fun to cover, and there is some great talent. If I thought the ACC was significantly worse than the other BCS conferences then criticism from others wouldn't bother me, but because I find the criticisms of the ACC unfair, I can't help but be annoyed by it.

Obviously it wouldn't hurt for the conference to win a few more bowl games, too. But is that all it's going to take? A national title? Even just a BCS win? Let me know what you think.

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Many of you may have been following the coverage coming out of the ACC's Football Kickoff, essentially a three-day event for the media to talk to conference officials, coaches, and players (and of course play some golf).

It is an event I would have loved to attend, but wasn't able to because of my summer job (and I'm not sure they would let me anyway). I've tried to do my best to keep up with everything coming out of all the interviews happening there, but to be honest I haven't been able to read everything.

Nonetheless, I have noticed (and I've seen many Wake fans point it out) that there haven't been many features on Wake while most other schools have gotten more coverage. The one notable exception to that is this great piece Gregg Doyel did on coach Jim Grobe.

I've seen plenty of people complaining about the lack of coverage (most specifically on the Scout boards regarding ESPN's ACC blogger Heather Dinich) and I think people are losing perspective in their complaints.

Yes, Wake should be one of the best teams in the ACC this season, but I haven't seen anyone in the media say otherwise.

The fact is, a national media outlet like ESPN has to cater first and foremost to the teams that bring the most readers to the site. Just because Wake is going to be good this year doesn't mean the general public wants to read about it. Florida State could go 7-7 every season and there would still be more people interested in them in the preseason than a great Wake Forest team.

Why are the Red Sox and Yankees on TV all the time when they aren't the best teams in the baseball? Obviously because the most people want to watch them.

There is a reason Old Gold & Blog is the only independent site covering Wake Forest when every other ACC school has more than one. Even so it's a pretty good day when a few hundred people visit the site. There just isn't that large of a fan base who are interested enough to constantly follow the Demon Deacons.

If you're interested in the ACC at-large then I think Heather and the others at the Kickoff did a great job of covering everything being talked about there. Many stories about various issues in the conference included Jim Grobe's thoughts and comments, but when it comes to stories specifically about Wake, it just isn't always practical.

Wake is getting plenty of preseason respect, and I look forward to seeing the team prove that respect is deserved on the field. I'll do my best to keep providing good Wake coverage between now and August 28, and hopefully I can make it to the 2009 Kickoff to give Wake the coverage it deserves.

Right now I'm just going to enjoy the excitement surrounding this 2008 season.

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As has been rumored for the last week or so, Wake Forest, Baylor, and Fox Sports Net have come to an agreement that will move the season opener from Saturday, August 30 to Thursday night, August 28.

It was possible (although I think unlikely) that the game would not have ended up on TV at all had it been played Saturday. The move to Thursday guarantees not only that the game will be televised but that it will be televised nationally. Since it's the first day of football for the year, I have to imagine our football-starved nation will be desperate to see any football at all and that our game will get pretty good ratings. Because they will play a game three days earlier than most schools, Wake will be allowed to start practicing three days earlier, and will have more time to rest up and prepare for the home opener (and long awaited Deacon Tower opening) against Ole' Miss the following weekend.

The move does have some downsides for Deacon fans, though. Although it would not have been a huge contingent even without the change, I imagine the number of Wake fans attending the game would have been larger on Saturday than it will end up being Thursday night. Traveling to the game isn't exactly easy when it's on a school/work night. It will also cause the athletes to miss at least two, but likely all three of the first days of school. It remains to be seen whether or not they will fly out Wednesday or Thursday, but from a football perspective Wednesday is definitely preferable.

In the end, I think the advantages of the national TV exposure far outweigh the potential downside for fans and players. It's a great opportunity to make inroads in Texas recruiting as well.

Had the game been on Saturday I was definitely going to be making the trip, however Thursday makes things a bit more difficult. I'm hoping to make it work and successfully attend every game this season. We'll see what happens.

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There are a couple notes of interest here on Tuesday morning:

Defensive Coordinator Dean Hood is set to be named Head Coach at FCS Eastern Kentucky University, apparently at 2pm this afternoon. This is definitely an unfortunate loss for the Deacs, but I expect that whoever fills his shoes will do so admirably and that next season's defense will be just as incredible as we all expect it to be.

The basketball team heads down to Clemson tonight for a 7 pm tip. I'm hoping to have an interview up later, but it seems that may have fallen through. If there isn't one I may attempt some sort of preview, but we'll see. Have to figure out my new class schedule and when I can write.

Last night I was a guest on the ACC Nation radio show/podcast, which provides an excellent look around the ACC every week. You can listen to the whole show (or just my part - I think it starts about a third of the way through the program) here at ACC Nation.

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The idea of Time-Warner picking up this game and showing it throughout North Carolina isn’t bad, but the execution is clearly awful. When Winston-Salem and the entire surround county can’t even see the game when it starts (yet to be determined if we’ll see it at all) you’ve got a pretty terrible system going on. To be honest I can’t imagine there are more than 100 people in this county who care about this fishing show. How can we not get this game on TV?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I’m not sure this is actually better than having it on ACC select, because I’d be more than happy to pay to see this game then not see it all. Add to that the fact that no one can get through to TWC to find out the problemand you’ve got a very very bad situation. All I can say is this fishing show better not last very long (hopefully only a half hour) and then we’ll get the game. I’m not counting on it at this point.

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Lincoln has agreed to sell its sports holdings to Raycom.

It appears this move was expected to happen eventually, as Lincoln ended up with the sports rights after merging with Jefferson-Pilot last year. Raycom will now be the sole holder of the broadcast rights to ACC and SEC football and basketball previously held by Lincoln. I don’t think this will have any significant impact on fans, but it is worth noting. I think we’ll just be calling it “Raycom” pretty soon.

Raycom Press Release

MSN Money article

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It's worth mentioning that the Associated Press has finally gotten their act together and now correctly identifies the Wake student section as the Screamin' Demons, rather than their previously incorrect "Screamin Deacons"

You can see the corrected article from the Fairfield game here.

Apparently the AP Style Guide incorrectly states that the student section is called the Screamin' Deacons, however it looks like we may have finally gotten this straightened out.

The question now becomes - will the next AP writer who writes about the Deacs get it right?

My money's on no.

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