Where did Jeff go?
He’s moved to a new location. Check him out on the new blogging platform and let him know what you think.
Home > Jeff Schultz > Archives > 2009 > February > 14
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Hard to watch for ex-Jacket Jack
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Most of us have become numbs to the clanks and the meltdowns by now. True, a 21-point home loss to North Carolina State might seem like a new low. But really, what’s so startling about getting smoked by one of the ACC’s worst teams when, in fact, you are the ACC’s worst team?
But Jarrett Jack — he is not numb to this. This isn’t the Georgia Tech program he grew up in. Jack defined toughness as a Tech point guard. He represented the highs under coach Paul Hewitt. But things got so bad Saturday, with Jack watching from behind the bench, that, “I wanted to jump and play.”
The NCAA would have had a problem with an NBA player on the floor. But at this point, probation might be a mercy killing.
An 86-65 loss to the Wolfpack dropped Tech to 1-10 in the ACC. The last time the team was this bad, it went 0-14 in 1981.
Jack didn’t get too worked up about that. He was born two years later. But he was so upset Saturday that he went into Tech’s locker room at halftime, unbeknownst to Hewitt, to unload on the players.
“I yelled at them a little bit,” he said. “I can’t really repeat some of the stuff I said. But they’re not playing Georgia Tech basketball. They’re not representing what we built here. This was a winnable game. You need to take more pride in yourself on your home court.”
If it’s not turnovers, it’s missed free throws. If it’s not missed free throws, it’s poor shooting. If it’s not poor shooting, it’s a sleepy defense. At various times against North Carolina State, it was all of the above.
The Jackets started well (11-5). Then they missed six layups in the first half. They were aggressive at times on defense (with 10 steals). But they got hurt when they backed up into a zone and N.C. State made seven of its first nine three-pointers.) An early six-point lead became a 16-point hole (40-24).
Perhaps inspired by Jack’s halftime speech, the Jackets closed to within three points, 47-44, in the second half. But they continued to blow shots, stretching from the 1-to-10 scale of difficulty.
The rest of the game became just another cliff to fall over.
“It’s very interesting to go through something like this,” Hewitt said later. “I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody. You learn an awful lot. You’ve heard the cliché, ‘You learn through adversity.’ Well, you learn a lot. You see a lot. You learn what people know. You learn what people have no idea about. You learn what people are talking. I don’t ever intend on going through something like this again. But as I move forward, there are certainly some things I intend on doing differently and better.”
He kept it vague. He talked about his appreciation for the support of the school’s administration and “the vast majority of the people I come in contact with,” even amid cries from some for his firing.
After the postgame news conference, he touched on some of the same themes and his surprise at the way the season has unraveled. Presumably alluding to the quick trigger by several of the nation’s athletic directors, he said: “I’ve learned that I made absolutely the right decision to come to work here at Georgia Tech.”
And then this: “But that’s no excuse for being 1-10. We’re supposed to win. We’re Georgia Tech. We’re supposed to be better. We’re absolutely supposed to be better.”
On that, his detractors find common ground. There is all this talk about next year’s great recruiting class, but we’ve certainly learned in sports that talent doesn’t always win. Something to has change.
Hewitt said, “You don’t forget how to coach over night. But you can get an idea about what can have an impact on your circumstances.”
It’s the usual: Academics. Injuries. The far-too-slow maturity process of some players.
But the coaching? Jack, who plays for Indiana, says those pushing for Hewitt’s firing are misguided.
“People shouldn’t have such short memories,” he said. “Coach Hewitt has brought a lot of success to this program. It’s way too early to even think about something like that.”
Maybe so. But this is getting old.
Permalink | Comments (63) | Post your comment | Categories: Tech/ACC
