Running out of gas

Wake Forest freshman forward Aaron Rountree got his share of good-natured ribbing from his teammates at the ACC Men's Basketball Media Day in Charlotte for letting C.J. Harris' jeep run out of gas earlier this fall.

"There was a recruit on campus, and Aaron had C.J.'s car," Wake Forest forward Travis McKie said. "I don't know where C.J. was at this point, and Aaron helped take him back to the hotel, but C.J.'s gas light was on, so when he took him back to the hotel and went back to the room and he came back and he tried to cut on the car the car cut off, because there was no more gas, so he calls me to come get him."

Harris was unaware that the incident occurred for about a week until he heard them talking about it.

"I was like my car?," Harris said.

McKie laughingly called it a freshman mistake.

He said Rountree passed at least four or five gas stations on his way to the hotel.

Harris and McKie have invoked a tax policy for Wake Forest's seven freshmen, charging them for automobile usage.

"I accept gas money," Harris said. "I don't care if it's card or cash. Whoever drives they have to collect gas money. If they're just going down the street I don't mind, but they don't get the car a lot. They get it once probably during the weekend, so they try to go everywhere in one day. They'll go to the mall, they'll go to the movies, they'll go to a restaurant. I just let them have it sometimes. Just bring it back in one piece, and at least give me the gas that I gave it in."

Harris said he, Chase Fischer, McKie and one of the walk-ons are the only players on the team with a vehicle.

"I have a jeep, so they can fit five or six in those," Harris said. "There's usually two people in the back, back, in the trunk, so I got the bus."

McKie equated the system to a rental service.

Rountree and the other freshmen will be watching the gas meter closely more next time. They do not want the costs to go up.