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Preseason Preview: Georgia Tech
Pre-Season Preview: Georgia Tech
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
2006-2007 Results: 20-12 Overall, 8-8 Conference
Head Coach: Paul Hewitt
Record at Tech: 127-95 (.572), 7 seasons
Overall Record: 193-122 (.613), 10 seasons
Where is Jimmy Chitwood when you need him?
Last Year in Review:
The 2006-2007 season can be best described as mediocre at best for the Yellow Jackets. With a highly touted freshman class, the Jackets never had the chemistry to consistently play with the conference heavyweights and stumbled to a 20 win season and a first round exit in the NCAA Tourney.
Singletary Withdraws, Young Stays In
ESPN.com news service is reporting that Sean Singletary has decided to withdraw his name from the NBA draft and return to Virginia for his senior season. We think this was the right decision given his projected draft position. Though Singletary was an All-ACC performer, his lack of size and inconsitent shooting hurt his draft position. Sean can't fix the size issue, but he can become a better shooter. This is what the NBA draft rules allow for -- players to test the draft waters and learn directly from pro scouts what their strengths and weaknesses are.
ESPN is also reporting that Georgia Tech Freshman Thaddeus Young has decided to remain in the 2007 NBA draft. We think Young could benefit from another year in college, but it's hard to argue against staying in the draft when he's currently projecting in the top 15 and his teammate, Javaris Crittenton, is also leaving Tech. Young has a pro-ready body but will still need some time to develop.
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Tech Outplayed in 67-63 Loss....
Georgia Tech looked lost on the court at key moments today as UNLV sent the Yellow Jackets home for the season.
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NCAA First Round Preview: UNLV (#7) vs. Georgia Tech (#10)
Our second preview of ACC teams in the NCAA tournament.
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ACC Receives 7 NCAA Tournament Bids
By Michael
We would have posted some comments on the brackets earlier, but the server was down for several hours. Of all days for that to happen...
North Carolina wins a share of the regular season conference title and wins the ACC Tournament outright...and what is their reward? Possible games against Marquette, Texas, and Gerogetown in the toughest regional bracket. Thanks, but don't do us any more favors.
That and other thoughts in this post.
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Shake and Wake….Deacons Win a Classic, 114-112.
It is hard to call any Thursday game a classic in the ACC tournament, but Wake and Georgia Tech put on an offensive show on Thursday night/Friday morning. Wake Forest’s guards put on a show led by Harvey Hale’s 21 points in the two overtime sessions, including a few shots that defy explanation. The Deacons were also led by Ishmael Smith with 13 points and 15 assists. As TRR advised, the Deacons also got to the foul line 48 times. The lead in the game exchanged hands 16 times with the last overtime ending when Anthony Morrows jumper rolled in and then off the rim.
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Tobacco Road Report All-ACC Awards V
In this article we present our final TRR All-ACC Awards. Some of these awards are quite unconventional, including the TRR Coach with Brass Award, the TRR Shut-up Dickie V. Award, and the TRR Jason Vorhees Award for the team that comes back from the dead. That and much more is just a click away.
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Tobacco Road Report All-ACC Awards III
In the third installment of the TRR All-ACC Awards, we reveal our choices for the Tobacco Road Report Freshman All-ACC Team and TRR Freshman of the Year Award.
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Tobacco Road Report All-ACC Awards
We've finished passing around the ballots for the 1st Annual Tobacco Road Report All-ACC Awards. Today we present our results for the TRR All-ACC Team selections and TRR Player of the Year in the ACC. Congratulations to the winners.
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Georgia Tech Gets Signature Victory...84-77
Georgia Tech established an identity on Thursday night and got an upset win over UNC at the Thrillerdome, 84-77. Unlike Saturday at Virginia, Tech was able to withstand a strong UNC rally in the last few minutes to hold on and perhaps move off the NCAA Tournament bubble.
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3:41 that Determines a Season
By Michael
Just a few more thoughs on the Georgia Tech loss to Virginia, and the 3:41 that may have ended the NCAA Tournament hopes of the Jackets.
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Cavs Rally to Sting the Jackets…75-69
Virginia clinched a first round bye in the ACC Tournament on Saturday by staging a late rally to edge a game Georgia Tech team. Trailing 69-62 with 3:31 left, Virginia would score the last 13 points in another road meltdown by the Jackets. The key play was a put back by Tunji Soroye with 29 seconds left that gave Virginia a two-point lead and the eventual win.
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Duke Thrives on Tech Mistakes….71-62.
22 turnovers, 36 points off turnovers…game over, Blue Devils win.
Georgia Tech showed their youth on Sunday as the Blue Devils went on a 14-5 run over the last 5 minutes of the first half to get a working margin and a hard fought victory. Duke was led by their guard trio (Paulus-15 points, Nelson- 13 points, Scheyer-14 points) and won the game with the help of Georgia Tech’s fundamental errors.
Tech Finally Ends Road Losing Streak….
Georgia Tech got a much needed road victory Tuesday night at Tallahassee against FSU, 63-57. Tech was able to get FSU’s post players in foul trouble (Al Thornton fouled out in the last few minutes) and forced FSU into a complete perimeter game. Both team’s offenses sputtered, but Javaris Crittenton was able to carry the Jackets with 29 points and add more confusion to the ACC post-season picture.
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ACC Men's Basketball Players of the Week for Feb 12
Boston College's Jared Dudley was named the ACC Player of the Week while Georgia Tech's Javaris Crittenton and North Carolina's Brandan Wright shared ACC Rookie of the Week honors. Read more here.
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Tech Wins.....Was That Shooter Coaching the Wolfpack?
Georgia Tech 74, NC State 65
In a game that was a microcosm of Tech’s entire season, the Yellow Jackets went on an 18-0 run over an 8 minute period to rally for an impressive victory on Tuesday night. The Jackets were led by Javaris Crittenton (21 points, 7 assists, 2 turnovers) and Thaddeus Young (15 points, 7 rebounds), while the Wolfpack put four players in double figures.
Big Win in the ATL
Georgia Tech 80, Clemson 62
Georgia Tech can play defense? On Saturday afternoon at the Thrillerdome, the Jackets stopped the bleeding, temporarily at least, by beating Clemson at their own game. The Jackets scored the bulk of their points in the lane with dribble penetration and domination of the offensive glass. The Jackets pulled 21 offensive boards (4 less than Clemson’s total) and exploited the soft Tiger post defense. Tech collected 62% of their missed shots.
As Michael Jackson would say, "Who's Bad?"
Wake Forest 85, Georgia Tech 75
TRR to wife: Georgia Tech lost again. Like I thought would happen, no defense, no heart, and an opponent post player goes for 20.
TRR’s Wife: Why did you even watch the game?
TRR: Hmmm. (As of Wednesday morning, still searching for the answer…..)
Georgia Tech lost another road game last night to the conference’s weakest team. Georgia Tech showed a few positive signs last night (only 9 turnovers, 24 foul shots, 14 assists on 26 field goals), but the team should finally realize that you can’t beat anyone with poor position defense. Kyle Visser was the latest post player to receive the gift of Tech post defense as he went for 26 points and 9 boards. Was I the only one taught to not allow an easy entry pass to the post? For our statistics fans out there, easy post catches leads to close shots around the rim which leads to 54% from the floor. Tech looks lost on the defensive end. Maybe they can sneak into a Coach K practice and actually learn the concept of help and rotate. The good news for Tech is they are almost assured of an extra home game in the post season. Of course, I am not sure how many Jacket fans will turn out for an NIT opener.
Georgia(s) on My Mind
by Chris
When the managing editor of TRR gave me my weekend assignment, Virginia Tech vs. Georgia Tech, I had a feeling that we would see a good game from Dowdell and career games for one of the Hokie post players. As we pointed out earlier in the week, Georgia Tech has a problem with post defense. So, today’s winner from the Hokie frontline was A.D. Vassallo who posted a robust 19 point, 10 rebound effort. Dowdell was solid as usual with 23 points and 8 assists.
What can we say about Georgia Tech? We’ve found three letters that work: NIT. The frontline of Smith, Dickey, and Young combined for 11 points and the team shot 36 percent from the floor. When you grab 17 offensive rebounds and take 71 field goal attempts to your opponents 42, you should win the game.
On to bigger things…
TRR is in the process of looking at potential NCAA matchups for the ACC in March. Today, TRR took a road trip to Athens, Georgia to watch LSU battle Georgia. In a closely fought contest, Georgia edged LSU 57-54 on a last second three pointer by Levi Stukes. TRR offers scouting reports on each club.
SOTJ: State of The Jackets
By Staff
President Bush offered the State of the Union address earlier this week, so at TRR, we will now offer our state of Georgia Tech basketball and our recipe for making the post-season.
We have some (strong) opinions on the Jacket’s troubles but we wanted to look at some statistics to see if there are any trends. We compared the 2003-2004 National Runner Up team, last year’s squad, and this year’s version of the team on both the offensive and defensive ends.
Terps Get a Needed Victory
Maryland 80, Georgia Tech 65
Maryland got a much needed victory on Wednesday night by exploiting Georgia Tech’s soft interior defense. With Tech extending out to prevent DJ Strawberry and Mike Jones from getting good looks, the Terrapins were able to dump the ball inside to James Gist who dominated the Jackets with a 26 point effort.
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This Just In....UNC is Good.
UNC 77, Georgia Tech 61
On Saturday night, UNC dominated Georgia Tech in all phases of the game, and imposed their will on both ends of the floor. Prior to the contest, TRR had questions concerning Tech’s toughness, and UNC exposed Tech as a youthful and raw team.
The opening few minutes of the game were key as UNC established the tempo with end-to-end action and sloppy play by both teams. While few points were scored, UNC began to exert themselves as Tech could not execute anything resembling a play out of their half court set. On the offensive end, Tyler Hansbrough once again dominated Tech inside. Few in the ACC can match Hansbrough’s effort in the paint and he easily established block position on Ra’Sean Dickey for easy put ins.
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ACC Men's Basketball Players of the Week for January 15
Zabian Dowdell and Javaris Crittendon pick up this week's honors. Check out the details here.
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Tony Romo isn't the only poor ball handler...Tech Upsets Duke 74-63
By Chris
Georgia Tech finally got production from multiple upper-classmen in a hard fought win over Duke. Tech had beaten Duke once in the last 22 attempts, so I guess TRR will classify this as an upset. The Jackets were led in scoring by juniors, Ra’Sean Dickey (21 points) and Anthony Morrow (19 points), while Duke was led by Jon Scheyer with 16.
Respect the Tigers: Clemson 75, Georgia Tech 74. Tech Can’t Close
By Chris
The Georgia Tech-Clemson matchup on Saturday showed that the Tigers are not likely to fade in conference play. Clemson used their basic formula for success on Saturday: aggression. The Tigers were able to force 17 Tech turnovers, pull 15 offensive rebounds, and get to the foul line 26 times. Their statistic advantage in these areas was the difference in the game.
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Georgia Tech 78 Georgia 69
By Chris
Georgia Tech got a career high tonight from freshman Thaddeus Young (23 points, 11 boards) to outlast Georgia in Atlanta on Friday night. Georgia was led by Levi Stukes with 21 points in the losing cause.
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Grading the Georgia Tech Offense: Equal (In)opportunity
By Michael
I was recently talking to a fan of the Yellow Jackets about Georgia Tech’s 73-64 loss to Vanderbilt. Although we agreed that the obvious remedy to Tech’s woes is to eliminate the turnovers, this fan and TRR reader asked me about the efficiency of the offense versus the 2-3 zone relative to Vandy’s man-to-man defense.
At TRR we aim to please. The Official Wife of the Tobacco Road Report was across the street at a Christmas cookie exchange, so I ramped up the DVR and charted each of Tech’s offensive possessions (and waited for cookies!). The results will surprise you. They surprised me.
Vandy Downs GT. Repeat After Me: The Ball is My Friend
By Chris
Apparently, the Georgia Tech hoops team has decided to emulate Reggie Ball. Again on Saturday in Nashville against Vanderbilt, the Tech team turned the ball over with reckless abandon. By the buzzer, Tech had accumulated 25 turnovers and once again allowed an opponent to shoot over 50 percent. Unfortunately, these statistics are beginning to become the norm for Tech basketball early in the season and will result in a trip to the post-season NIT if not corrected soon.
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Miami 90, Georgia Tech 82
By Chris
Miami used superior shooting and a hustle advantage to top the youthful Yellow Jackets tonight in the ACC opener for both teams. Miami was led by Jack McClinton (22 points) and Brian Asbury (16 points, 8 boards), while Tech was led by Lewis Clinch (22 points). While both teams executed well on the offensive end, the key for the Hurricanes was their dominance on the glass (37-22) and their superior shooting (56 percent - 44 percent).
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Georgia Tech 77, Penn State 73
By Chris
Georgia Tech survived a strong showing by the Nittany Lions in the Thrillerdome last night, 77-73. The game exposed a series of flaws in the Yellow Jackets that Coach Hewitt will need to repair before ACC play begins on Sunday.
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Excellent Early Returns for Youthful Jackets
By Chris
3 games, 3 blowouts. Could this be the return of Tech hoops? Georgia Tech went to 3-0 on Thursday night with a 103-74 dismantling of Georgia State. Tech was led by the freshman duo of Thaddeus Young (19 points, 5 3-pointers) and Javaris Crittenton (18 points, 4 boards, 9 assists). Also contributing was sophomore guard Lewis Clinch with 20 points.
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ACC Lands Four in AP Preseason Top 25.
The Associated Press Top 25 basketball poll for week 1 of the upcoming college basketball season contains four ACC schools. North Carolina is ranked second, behind the Florida Gators who received 63 first place votes and one spot ahead of the Kansas Jayhawks. The Tar Heels received 9 first place votes while Kansas did not receive any.
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TRR’s Projected Order of Finish in the ACC.
1. NORTH CAROLINA. Roy Williams and company simply have too much firepower. The key will be getting the youth up to speed. Ellington, Wright, and Lawson surrounding ACC MVP Hansbrough will be too much for opponents to handle.
Postseason destination: NCAA final four or better.
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A Chance for Georgia Tech Football
Saturday afternoon at Bobby Dodd Stadium, Georgia Tech has the opportunity to put a stranglehold on the Coastal Division with a victory over Miami. Tech (5-2 overall, 3-1 ACC) currently is tied with Miami for the division lead, but Miami’s lackluster play this year suggests that this could be Tech’s best chance in a decade to win the conference title.
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Pre-Season Preview: Georgia Tech: The Kids Can Play
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Division: Costal
2005-2006 Results: 11-17 Overall, 4-12 Conference
Head Coach: Paul Hewitt
Record at Tech: 107-83 (.563), Six seasons
Overall Record: 173-110 (.611), Nine seasons
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