Skip Prosser dead at 56

[WVRed]

Not sure how many follow college basketball to a large degree, but Prosser was on the hot seat at Wake before he landed probably what will be the no 1 recruiting class in 2008. Al Farouq Aminu, Tony Woods, and Ty Walker were all recruited by Prosser and should be major impact players for the Deacons if they stay. I just hope these kids dont do what the one recruit for Va Tech tried to do and do honor their commitment to Wake.

I hope for the players sake that either 1.Wake appoints an assistant as head coach or 2.Brings in Skip's son who is an assistant at Bucknell as head coach. It's going to be hard for them to adjust to losing a father figure in Prosser, so I hope Wake eases the burden for them, at least in the short term.

My thoughts and prayers are with the Prosser family.

[15fan]

Prosser's Asst Coach Dino Gaudio has been a HC at Army and Loyola. 5 or 6 years total of HC experience. My uninformed guess is that in the next week or two, Dino will become acting head coach & then Ron Wellman will figure out what he wants to do for the long term in the coming months.

The other assistants (Battle & Kelsey) have also been with Skip at Wake for a while. They've been doing lots of recruiting, too. They're adding a couple of top 50 talents this year (Jeff Teague from Indy and James Johnson from Wyoming) to a very young team that started to gel late last season. If Aminu, Walker & Woods hold firm on their commitments, Wake is looking at a dynamite team in 2008-2009. That's a strong case to promote from within.

But that's all down the road. I think there's still more crying and grieving that has to happen first.

Here's another story from Wake beat writer Dan Collins.

[Reds4Life]

Have any funeral arrangements been announced? I wouldn't be suprised if he's laid to rest in Cincinnati, he spent quite a bit of time here, even when he was the coach at Wake.

[15fan]

Arrangements here.

[OldRightHander]

I heard this news the other day while laying over in Pennsylvania. I met Skip on several occasions and I always had a favorable impression of him from those meetings, basketball aside. I used to play in jam sessions at Haps Irish Pub a few years back and he was known to frequent the place on the nights when we were in there playing. He was quite the fan of Irish music and he would sit in there for hours just listening to an open session and having a pint or two. He would want to talk to us about music and we were always asking him about Xavier basketball.

[cincinnati chili]

Here's a tribute to Skip that starts out touching and then ends up tasteless

[15fan]

Bump.

Undoubtedly, Skip is somewhere smiling after the events of yesterday. And in Winston-Salem, NC, sights have officially been set on the 2009 Final Four in Detroit, and the 2010 Final Four in Indianapolis.

Deacs 3 Player Class is Official

By Dan Collins
JOURNAL REPORTER

Skip Prosser always wanted the best for Wake Forest.

Yesterday, in certain eyes, his wishes were fulfilled.

The players in the final recruiting class of Prosser - the Deacons’ coach who died in July - all signed letters of intent to play for Wake Forest. It’s a three-player class of Al-Farouq Aminu, Tony Woods and Ty Walker, considered by some recruiting analysts to be the best in the nation.

Aminu, Woods and Walker committed to Wake Forest when Prosser was alive, and remained with the Deacons after Prosser was succeeded by Dino Gaudio.

“These guys are here because of Skip,” Gaudio said yesterday. “And we should all be thankful to him for that.

“And for those kids to stay committed to us, through the adversity we went through in July, says volumes about who they are as people. They came from great families and great programs.

“They’re high-character kids that are going to do a great job at Wake Forest.”

All three are highly acclaimed front-court players who will join a program well stocked on the perimeter but somewhat suspect inside.

Aminu is a 6-8, 210-pound wing forward from Norcross, Ga., ranked by USA Today as the third-best prospect in the nation. He chose Wake Forest over offers from Florida, the two-time defending national champion, Georgia Tech and North Carolina.

Woods is a 6-10, 240-pound center from Rome, Ga., ranked as high as No. 18 in the nation. He also chose Wake Forest over Florida.

Walker is a 7-foot, 220-pound center from Wilmington ranked as high as No. 14 in the nation. He chose Wake Forest over N.C. State, Virginia, East Carolina and UNC Wilmington.

Rivals.com, an internet website specializing in recruiting, ranked Wake Forest’s class as the best in the nation. Scouts, Inc., another recruiting source, ranks the class at No. 5.

“I think they’re going to have a major impact on our program,” Gaudio said. “Those guys who have signed to us, coupled with the guys we have, we have a chance to win ACC championships, win possibly a national championship.

“It’s not just those three guys. It’s the guys we have, plus those three guys.”

Coach Eddie Martin of Norcross High School, whose team has won two straight Georgia 5-A championships, said that Aminu is just beginning to show all he can do on the court. His brother, Alade, is a junior forward at Georgia Tech.

“He’s only 17 right now,” Martin said. “He won’t be 18 until next August. He’s a young kid who is only going to get better.”

Woods was a big-time recruit last year, even though he began the season weighing around 200 pounds. He has added 40 pounds since, and Coach Keeth Jones of Rome High School said that Woods hasn’t sacrificed brawn for bulk.

“It’s nothing but muscle,” Jones said.

Woods’ combination of size and athleticism made him a prime target of Coach Billy Donovan of Florida.

“His upside is unbelievable,” Jones said. “He’s 6-10½, he runs a 4.8 40(yard dash), he (lifts) 280 pounds, he’s strong, he’s athletic.

“Most people, like Billy Donovan, say you don’t find guys his size who can go up and down the floor and get off the floor too. He’s an athletic kid, at that size.”

Linc Lyles coached Walker for three seasons at New Hanover High before leaving coaching to become a school administrator. He said that Walker was a bit of a project as a freshman, when he didn’t even start for the junior varsity.

Lyles said that Walker joined a program that played a more up-tempo style than Walker was ready to play. But instead of throttling down to accommodate Walker, he asked Walker to develop into a full-court player.

By the end of his senior year, when Walker led New Hanover to the North Carolina 4-A championship, Lyles could see how far Walker had progressed.

“Now you’ve got a 7-footer who just runs for days,” Lyles said. “And to me that’s special.

“He’s always had good hands and he’s always had good feet – although it’s hard to say somebody who wears a size-19 shoe has good feet.

[15fan]

Bump.

Somewhere, Skip is smiling.

[15fan]

Skip's final roster looks like it's got a bit of ability.

Game #2 of the season, and the Deacs went out and hung 120 points on the board, only making 4 3s, and playing w/o starting PG Ish Smith (jr) who just got cleared yesterday to resume practicing after a broken foot.

Giddyup!

[Hoosier Red]

I said to a friend of mine the other night, It's one thing when you beat a low Div 1-A team by 40, it's another thing when you blow out a mid major school. But when you beat a mid major by 40 like they did to UNCC, there's a certain amount of talent necessary for that.

If my brother hadn't gone to Wake, I'd really be happy for them.