Wake Forest, which lost two-thirds of its 3-point shooting from a squad that ranked 11th in the Atlantic Coast Conference in that category last season, doesn't expect to be the best outside shooting team in the league this season.
Instead, the Demon Deacons are battling each day to lead the conference - and country - in another statistic: rebounding.
"We have a drill called 'War,' " freshman Ari Stewart said. "Write this down in your notepad: The drill called 'War' has no rules, no out of bounds, no fouls - and you HAVE to get the ball. You do whatever you have to do, and that just deals with your mental toughness and your physical toughness. So we beat each other up every day in practice; we all hit the floor, get bruises and cuts and scrapes so when we get to the game, it's all second nature."
So far, the plan seems to be working.
Behind Al-Farouq Aminu's team-leading 10.7 rebounds per game, Wake is averaging 44.7 boards through its first three contests.
Granted, the Deacons had a height advantage over the likes of Oral Roberts, East Carolina and High Point, with five players 6-feet-9 or taller in the rotation. So it will interesting to see how they fare against ACC competition when teams such as North Carolina, Duke and Florida State can match their size.
That's why the battles in practice continue.
"Every day in practice, I don't care what drill we're doing, there is a coach assigned to the offensive backboard, and they're just barking at those guys to get to the board," said coach Dino Gaudio, who thinks his squad also can be one of the best defensive teams in the nation. "I really think we can be one of the best rebounding teams in the country. ... And it's not just about size, you've just got to go in there and tiger up."
Smith adds 'D'
The man-to-man, high-pressure defense Duke has used for so many years appears to be in place that Nolan Smith has returned to the lineup.
Duke's lack of depth in the backcourt and unusually tall lineup prompted coach Mike Krzyzewski to say the Blue Devils would back off their perimeter pressure defense. Krzyzewski said in the preseason that Duke would use some zone principles and try to force opponents to shoot over its big guys.
That's how Duke played in its first two games while Smith was serving a two-game NCAA suspension for playing in unsanctioned summer league games. But upon Smith's return, the Blue Devils returned to the high-pressure style in a 101-59 thumping of Charlotte on Tuesday.
Krzyzewski said Duke isn't pressuring fullcourt as much as it has in the past, but even that could change. Early, significant contributions from freshmen Andre Dawkins and Ryan Kelly have helped Duke develop depth that makes extending its defense possible.
"It's more half-court and a little bit three-quarters court [against Charlotte]," Krzyzewski said. "The more our freshmen develop, we might be able to do more three-quarters and full. But initially going in we don't know how the freshmen are going to come around. If they come around, then we can rest [the starters] for a few minutes and do a little bit more."
Monday, Monday
UNC plays an unusual four games on Mondays during its nonconference schedule, which associate athletic director Larry Gallo said is a quirk of timing this season.
The Nov. 9 game against Florida International was part of the 2K Sports Classic. This Monday's game against Gardner-Webb is because the Tar Heels don't play a true Thanksgiving tournament this season, so competing early in the week gives them more time to take a couple of days off and travel home.
Rutgers was scheduled for Dec. 28 because the Tar Heels were trying to avoid a conflict with any bowl games, and didn't want to play until a few days after Christmas. And the game at College of Charleston is on Jan. 4 because players won't be back in class yet, and it will give them a chance to go to South Carolina early and practice there.
"Sometimes it's not the day of the week, but the date ... how many days do you want to play after a holiday, how many days do you want to play before the ACC season starts?" Gallo said. "And sometimes it depends on the opponent, and when they're available to play, too."
Dribbles
In case you haven't seen it by now, former North Carolina All-American Tyler Hansbrough has followed his AT&T "Lost Dog" commercial with an ad for Performance Subaru. In his latest acting performance, the Indiana Pacers rookie has a speaking role - in which he says "Wow!" over and over and over again.
So which one took more takes, pushing the puppy for AT&T, or exclaiming "Wow!" for Subaru?
"I said 'Wow' too much,'' Hansbrough said in a phone interview recently, laughing. "The dog, that didn't take too long; it was a specially trained dog."
Like UNC, Duke doesn't have anyone on its current roster that has hit a last-second, game-winning shot, but Krzyzewski isn't concerned.
"We do [have a lot of options], and we have an inside option," he said. "We should not have a go-to guy. We should have a go-to team. If you have one guy that you go to, you can defend that guy better than if you have a team that you can go to.
"Any one of the three guys on the perimeter can create something, but they also can create it with or without a screen. If you create it with a screen, then you get a big guy involved, and then he might create something. Then when we do shoot, we've been a good rebounding team.
"There are more options, not just number of players who can shoot, but how you might be able to score in those situations. That's why I think we might be a really good basketball team because we have that balance."
Ken Tysiac contributed to this report.
