Tony Woods and Wake Forest say their goodbyes

Tony Woods was slated to start for the Demon Deacons at center, but after assaulting his girlfriend (who ended up with a fractured spine) and subsequently pleading guilty to one misdemeanor charge, Woods and Wake Forest have parted ways.

Woods requested and was granted his release from the Demon Deacon's program on Monday, which seems to be a polite way of saying that Wake Forest gave Woods the boot.

"We wish Tony the best of luck in all his future endeavors," head coach Jeff Bzdelik said in a statement. "Tony and I met a number of times and we felt this was the best course of action for him."

Tony Woods has played his last game at Wake Forest.
(photo credit: BIAH)

Wake Forest didn't really have a choice here. Woods pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend to the point that she fractured her spine in front of their eight month old child and both of their mothers. The move is all the more commendable considering how valuable Woods would have been to Wake this season. Woods is a 6'11", 255 lb center and a former top 20 recruit that would have anchored the front line.

Bzdelik will have three heralded freshmen and two (unproven) juniors -- Ty Walker and Georgetown transfer Nikita Mescheriakov -- at his disposal, meaning there is still talent in his front court.

There are a few interesting plot lines to come out of this mess:

• UNLV's Tre'Von Willis was suspended, essentially, for one game for allegedly choking a female acquaintance. LaceDarius Dunn has been indefinitely suspended from Baylor -- including from classes -- and is still awaiting a punishment to be handed down. Will Baylor drop the hammer on Dunn, whose girlfriend is claiming his assault was accidental, or will they follow the lead of UNLV, who took Willis' statement at face value?


• What schools are going to pursue Woods for a transfer? Like I said, he is a 6'11" center that has two years of ACC experience and was a top 20 recruit coming out of high school. Those don't grow on trees.


• Wake Forest's vaunted class of 2008 turned out to be a disappointment. Obviously, Woods has left the school after two underwhelming seasons. Ty Walker, another top 20 recruit, has played in a grand total of 19 games in two seasons in Winston-Salem. As good as Al-Farouq Aminu was, the two teams he played on both collapsed down the stretch. He won one game in postseason play in those two years.
  

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Tony Woods gets off easy in court

The legal results are in for Tony Woods.

Less than a month after Woods assaulted his girlfriend, which resulted in a fracture in the young woman's spine, the 6'11" junior appeared in court. Woods, who is scheduled to be Wake Forest's starting center, plead guilty to one misdemeanor (he was charged with three, carrying the potential for 20 years in prison) and received a 60 day suspended sentence, he must perform 100 hours of community service, and is required to go through an anger management course.

Tony Woods got off easy legally. What will Wake Forest do?
(photo credit: Washington Post)

From the Winston-Salem Journal:

Woods and [Courtney Lorel] Barbour were in the bedroom with their 8-month-old son when they started arguing, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Martin said. The mothers of Barbour and Woods were both in the living room at the time. Woods picked up his son and began to leave. Barbour tried to get the child back but Woods turned around and kicked her and pushed her away, Martin said. Barbour's mother told authorities that Woods had drawn back his fist as if to hit her again but didn't, Martin said.

The punishment seems light, but there may be a couple of explanations. Barbour told Martin that her injury could have occurred when she fell out of a bed a few days before the incident. She also told prosecutors that she didn't want Woods punished, she wanted him to be forced to get counseling and anger management. That could explain why the punishment Woods received was so light.

That said, it will be interesting to see what Jeff Bzdelik does to punish Woods. Tre'Von Willis went through a similar situation this summer, and he received a similar punishment. Willis was given, essentially, a one game suspension by head coach Lon Kruger, a punishment that was widely criticized.

What will Bzdelik do?

Fracturing a woman's spine is a serious, especially when done in the presence of the victim's mother, the attacker's mother, and the child of the victim and the attacker. But Woods is also the only big man on the Demon Deacon's roster with any kind of experience.

No doubt he is a very important piece to Wake's puzzle.

But teaching a lesson here may be even more important.
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Jeff Bzdelik keep Wake Forest's recruiting class intact

When Jeff Bzdelik was hired at Wake Forest last week, there was a some backlash over the fact that he would not be bringing his coaching staff from Colorado with him, instead choosing to keep Rusty LaRue and Jeff Battle on as assistants.

Maybe now we know why.

With Ishmael Smith and Chas McFarland graduating and Al-Farouq Aminu off to the NBA Draft, the key to immediate success for Bzdelik was going to be retaining as much of the Demon Deacon's talented 2010 freshman class as possible. Wake Forest returns just five scholarship players -- as well as adding Georgetown transfer Nikita Meshcharakou (whose last named was spelled Mescheriakov at Georgetown).

A week into his tenure, Jeff Bzdelik has gotten an A+ for his job at Wake.
(photo credit: Blog.Taragana)

Over the weekend, Bzdelik and his staff met with all five of the Wake Forest recruits in the span of 36 hours, and all five decided to honor their commitments to the Winston-Salem school. It was an impressive bit of recruiting by Bzdelik, and no doubt was aided by LaRue and Bennett remaining on the staff.

Wake Forest may end up being a sleeper team in the ACC next season despite losing three first round draft picks the last two seasons.

Ari Stewart and CJ Harris were both pleasant surprises as freshman, and will now become the focal point of the Demon Deacon offense. Big men Tony Woods, who showed flashes of promise while playing behind a talented front line the last two years, and Ty Walker, a top 20 recruit with loads of potential, both return for their junior years as well. Senior Gary Clark, who averaged 7.6 ppg as a sophomore before seeing his minutes dwindle last year, also returns.

Now add to the mix a top ten recruiting class -- SF Travis McKie, C Carson Desrosiers, PF Melvin Tabb, and SG JT Terrell are all four-star, top 100 recruits, while PG Tony Chenault is a three-star recruit -- and what you are left with is a team with a lot of pieces looking to be put together.

Now, Wake won't have a lot of experience on this roster. But with a new head coach that runs a much different system than Dino Gaudio -- Bzdelik runs a Princeton-style offense -- maybe its better to have a fresh canvas, so to speak.

And seeing as no one on this roster is a potential early entrant, the future is looking bright for Wake Forest.

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