by Alex Schwartz

Travis McKie '10 was one of five players who had signed with Wake Forest in the early signing period, and none of them had any inkling they would be playing for anyone besides Dino Gaudio at the ACC school. McKie, a 6'6 small forward from John Marshall (VA), had been committed to Wake Forest for over 350 dayswhen the news came last week that Gaudio had been fired as the head coach ofthe Demon Deacons.

McKie and the other four Wake Forest signees formed a class that was ranked #7 in my Class of 2010 Team Recruiting Rankings- January Edition. It was the Old Dominion State small forward who was the highest ranked player of the bunch though, checking in at #32 in Northstar Basketball's Class of 2010 Terrific 125. The centerpiece of the class is understandably shocked that Gaudio has been fired, and has been forced to reevaluate his future, just like fellow signee Carson Desrosiers.

A positive sign for McKie is that he has already spoken with newly named Wake Forest Head Coach Jeff Bzdelik. "Yeah, I talked to him [Wednesday] night. He introduced himself, told me what he was trying to do with the program. He's coming to my house on Saturday are we are gonna talk face to face. He said he already knew me before he got the job, so that's good. I'm gonna try to get used to him and the style of play, see if it's best for me," said McKie.

The bouncy athlete said that Bzdelik "most definitely" still wants him to attend Wake Forest and added that "Coach [Jeff] Battle and Coach [Rusty] LaRue are definitely staying" on under the new coach.

Asked if Battle and LaRue staying on staff will impact his decision, McKie replied, "Yes and no. Coach Gaudio and [new Boise State Assistant Coach Dave] Wojcik, those two guys are gone from the program, but I'm cool with Coach Battle and Coach LaRue. Coach LaRue took over my recruitment after Coach Wojcik. I'm trying to make the right decision."

Just how will McKie make that decision as to whether or not he should still attend Wake Forest? "If I like his system and I feel comfortable with my decision, I'm gonna stay. I'm already committed to Wake. If I like his system and trust him as a person because Wake Forest is already a good school academically."

McKie, one of the top seven small forwards in the senior class, said it will not be long before decides whether or not to stick with the Demon Deacons. "Probably soon, next week or so. After this meeting I'm gonna do some more research and then after that I'm probably gonna make my decision."

"I'm leaning towards staying. I committed to Wake Forest for a reason. I love Wake . . . and I want to stay, but I wanna make the right decision so I'm just trying to take it day by day," said McKie.

If it turns out that McKie decides Wake is no longer the right fit for him, he would be open to all comers. "All schools, it would be open to anybody. I'm just trying to make the right decision."

When he made his decision last April, McKie considered a handful of schools, primarily from the ACC. "I really don't remember. It was like Wake, Virginia, Clemson, some other schools. [It was] pretty much all ACC schools," said McKie of who his finalists were.

McKie, who had just finished playing the Capital Classic when we spoke last night, informed me that his coaches had heard from school that were interested, but that none had contacted him directly.

"Shock, shock, speechless, shock, completely shocked, scared," remarked McKie on what his reaction was to hearing that Coach Gaudio had been fired. "I don't think I tweeted that day. I might have tweeted once that day. I was in the gym when I found out. I had 20 missed calls, like 3,000,000 mentions on my Uber Twitter, and like 20 text messages. I thought the worst had happened so I called my mamma and she said Coach Gaudio was fired and I just hung up."

Since hearing the news, McKie has reached out to Gaudio and the two have spoken, something Travis plans to continue to do in the future. "Yeah, I talked to him. I called him. All he said was, 'if you need help in the future just hit me up.' I could tell he was kind of upset about the firing, but that's the business. I'm probably always gonna keep in touch with him in the future."

McKie has already started to get familiar with Jeff Bzdelik, who was officially hired by Wake on Wednesday, coming over from Colorado.

"I know he coached in the NBA and he coached Carmelo in the NBA [when he was the head coach of the Nuggets]. I know Colorado averaged more points than Wake last year. I know he had a freshman [Alec Burks] that's gonna be a top draft pick next year, is projected to be a top pick. They can score the ball. I know some people say he uses the Princeton offense, but I'm just trying to check out all the X's and O's, make sure everything is straight. He seems like a pretty good guy, for real though," said McKie, adding, "I saw some YouTube clips of his team. I saw some articles on him and whatnot. I'm just trying to make sure it's all good."

While McKie would like to play with the other four players who signed with Wake, he understands if someone decides the school is no longer the right fit. "We wanna play with each other, we check up on each other, but at the end of the day we go to do what's best for us. We wanna play together, but if one of us backs out because we feel like we don't fit Coach Bzdelik's system [that is ok]," McKie said.

As of now he is unsure what Desrosiers, JT Terrell, Melvin Tabb, and Tony Chennault plan on doing. "We talk every day, we try to keep up with each other. I haven't heard anything drastic, everybody is trying to just feel him out, see what he's talking about."

McKie, who said that in reality "it was like 87 or 100" mentions on Uber Twitter, picked up "like 100, 150 Twitter followers" the day after Gaudio was fired.

"I don't know, I'm kind of addicted to it," said McKie—you follow him Here —of why he likes Twitter so much. "I just like being connected to the world. If somebody hits me up, I'm definitely gonna hit them back. I haven't ignored anyone. I just love Twitter, I feel like it's a great way to connect with someone you don' t know, who admires you from far away."

While all of Travis McKie's Twitter followers would certainly like to have the talented baller at their favorite school, he is just trying to make the best choice, though as of now he even admits that is looking like sticking with Wake Forest.

Note- both photos are from http://scouthoops.scout.com/