AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > March > 02 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USInstant validation arrives for Jackets
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
It was as close to an elimination game as can be played on March 1. Georgia Tech entered with a losing conference record and a middling RPI of 52, meaning it needed to do something big in a hurry. How nice of North Carolina to arrive when it did.
A lot of folks believe the Tar Heels will win the national championship one month hence, but there was only one championship-level performance authored at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, and it wasn’t by the men in baby blue. It was by the team that has mostly been a road horror, the team that threw back a seven-point lead in the final three minutes in Charlottesville five days earlier. It was by the team from which, at least through the last vestiges of February, not much had been heard.
Everything changed Thursday night. Tech played the game we’d all awaited, the sort of game that augurs handsomely not just for its chance to make the Big Dance but for its capacity to linger long once there. Any team that can make regal Carolina look overmatched — and for long stretches that’s what the Jackets did — is an outfit capable of winning three or four games in the only tournament that matters.
“We’re playing as well as anybody out there,” said Paul Hewitt, who’d said much the same thing before Tech’s run to the 2004 Final Four.
“We’re a good team right now,” said Javaris Crittenton, who had 13 points and 11 assists, “and we’re on the verge of being a great team.”
Everything that hadn’t happened for the season’s first 3 1/2 months arrived with a flourish of trumpets this night. Thaddeus Young was the best player on a court overrun with big-time players. Crittenton flitted through the amateurish defense of the Carolina backcourt. Anthony Morrow was the 3-point complement to Ra’Sean Dickey underneath. And yes, since you asked, Hewitt outcoached Roy Williams all ends up.
Maybe in the long run it wouldn’t have mattered, but Ol’ Roy extended the ol’ hand of kindness by pulling his starting five after the Heels had seized an early lead. Working against a substandard complement was the opening Young, who had missed three shots and made two turnovers already, needed. By the time Carolina’s main men could return, Young had scored 10 points in five possessions and the Jackets had a seven-point lead.
And then all the Jackets got going, and when all the Jackets get going they’re a sight to behold. Carolina, which won the 2005 NCAA title despite playing only occasional defense, was exposed as similarly flimsy. Tech scored on 20 of 25 trips over 14 breathtaking minutes, prompting Ol’ Roy to say: “Every time I looked up, they were making shots and we weren’t there.”
Tech led by 14 in the first half and by 14 again in the second, and for long moments it seemed the Jackets would win in a breeze. But the Jackets, as we know, never do anything the easy way — it’s how they came to have a losing conference record and an RPI of 52 in the first place — and Carolina, as we know, always makes a run. (Dean Smith is still storing up timeouts for that express purpose.) And when finally it came, the Heels’ surge forced Tech to show the sort of poise it hadn’t five days earlier.
The Heels drew within five, then four. Crittenton ran the shot clock down to eight seconds before drawing a foul from Brandan Wright. He made one free throw. Then Wayne Ellington missed from the perimeter and Mario West rebounded, and with 55 seconds left the erstwhile walk-on hit the free throws that called to mind the words of a songwriter of some note: It’s all over now, baby blue.
And for this night it was. Surely Carolina will be heard from again (though the Heels might want to guard somebody sometime soon). But so will Tech, which is going to the NCAA tournament for sure, going with the capability of staying a nice long while.
Permalink | Comments (26) | Post your comment | Categories: Final Four, Mark Bradley, Tech / ACC
Comments
By Najeh Davenpoop
March 2, 2007 1:54 AM | Link to this
About time someone stepped up to take the scoring load off Crittenton and allowing him to be more of a distributor. Thaddeus Young and Anthony Morrow finally had consistent offensive games from start to finish, and not so coincidentally, Tech played arguably its best offensive game of the season. If Young, Morrow, and hopefully Dickey continue to be reliable offensive threats, this team is going to do some damage in the ACC Tournament and in the NCAAs. Gotta limit those fouls, but otherwise, a very well-played game by GT on both ends of the floor.
By OSU#1
March 2, 2007 6:07 AM | Link to this
I will not matter how well the yellow jackets do now; they can’t win away from the Big Mac Center and they can’t get to the Big Dance. Tech you have no chance. John Sader OSU 09
By Gulfbuzz
March 2, 2007 7:06 AM | Link to this
John Sadar, Were you in high school when GT beat OSU to go to the NCAA championship game? I thought so. Nice win Jackets, keep it going against BC !
By Me
March 2, 2007 7:15 AM | Link to this
Talked to a kid two years ago that played golf for OSU….He said “Academics? We don’t worry much about academics at OSU. I just play golf….” Remember San Antonio……..
By tech'71
March 2, 2007 7:21 AM | Link to this
Great and timely effort - it may be enough to overcome a bad road loss to UVA. But Coach, you gotta get the guys to FINISH games. Without the double digit cushion, this one would have slipped away also.
By Gator Nation
March 2, 2007 7:23 AM | Link to this
Hey OSU, your school is great at bragging about being number one … we got a good look at your football team earlier this year. Care to remember the score? 41 Gators, 14 OSU…total domination of the Buckeyes baby!
The Gators might be slipping at this time but you have one great player and a few good players. We look forward to taking you back to the woodshed again in March Madness if you make it to the Final Four. OSU = Gator Bait
In the meantime, shut your pie hole about teams you obviously know nothing about. The jackets have the makings of a very good team in a very good conference and they are worth watching, which is why I go to some of their games here in Atlanta. But, I am a Gator through and through.
Go GATORS!
By gtbaltfan
March 2, 2007 7:47 AM | Link to this
To OSu09, you are about as dumb an a*s as there is. You should go to class more often.(maybe sign up for Basketology 101.) This Tech team is good. They will Beat BC and will finish the regular season with 7 wins in 9 tries, including a 6-2 second half in the league and a win over UConn for good measure. They will wind up the regular season in 6th place, ahead of Duke. Tech will also win a couple (at least) in Tampa. Unlike most years when there are always 2-3 teams at the top of the league that the second tier teams can’t realistically expect to beat in the conference tournament, this year, there’s not a team in the league that Tech would play without expecting to win. If you don’t think this team’s performance from February 1st forward will get them to the Tango, then you don’t know jack. The Jackets played against Carolina the way I thought they would play back when the season began. The confidence that will flow from this win will be immeasurable. These guys are dangerous and I can’t wait to see what happpens during the rest of March. GO JACKETS!!!
By bh
March 2, 2007 8:48 AM | Link to this
Isn’t there a word called “shock”? Don’t say “for sure” for sure.
By O. Verit
March 2, 2007 9:57 AM | Link to this
A great win, but let’s not break out the dancing shoes yet. A win over BC on Sunday locks us in, but a loss leaves us with a losing conference record and abysmal road record. If we lose to BC and drop the first game of the ACC, I think we miss the dance. If we lose to BC, I think we must win 2 games in the tourney to lock us in (one won’t do it, the first game will be against a relative cream puff). We proved we can play with the big boys…now show everyone it wasn’t a fluke and seal the deal!
By 3 Rivers jacket
March 2, 2007 10:07 AM | Link to this
Glad to haveBradley on the bandwagon. Of curse if Tech loses the tip Against BC he will say they are through. Great win but they need to beat bc to lock up a tourney berth goiong to the ACC tourney. We could win a few there too if we play well. Will Ga.play their NIT games at the Gwinnett Arena?
By GT80
March 2, 2007 10:18 AM | Link to this
Before the game last night while having a beer with the boys before going to the BIG T, I noted how in college basketball this year there are a handful or really good teams (UCLA, UF, Texas A&M, probably OSU & Wisconsin and UNC) and there are a lot of good teams. Thing is the good teams can beat the really good teams on any given night. Like last night for the Jackets. UNC is a really good team and we played our best game of the year and were able to beat them. If you don’t think UNC is really good you weren’t watching them continually run the court and have us gasping and cramping in the 2nd half. This just shows how strong the ACC is and come NCAA tourney time you will see as the ACC will show up big time.
By Andre 3000
March 2, 2007 11:04 AM | Link to this
OSU#1, GT can’t win away from home? GT is 3-1 on neutral floors this year, with the only loss coming to UCLA. Guess where the NCAA tournament is played?
By gtbaltfan
March 2, 2007 11:25 AM | Link to this
Hey , Andre, I meant to make the same point in my earlier comment. And remember, the three neutral court wins were against an excellent Memphis team (RPI 8) a very good Purdue(RPI 47) and a mediocre but ever dangerous UConn (RPI 100). And don’t forget that the ACC tourney ain’t in Cameron or the DeanDome — it’s on a neutral floor in Tampa. March has the potential to be mucho funo for Jackets fans
By gt45
March 2, 2007 11:33 AM | Link to this
gt80, you’re right. The one thing that concerned me last night was how slow we were getting back on defense after we scored, but I saw Hewitt chewing some A about it late in the game. It has been good to see him showing some fire the last two games. I know it’s not always his style, but sometimes that’s what it takes. I thought we got sloppy again in the last few minutes, but this time we hung on for a change. It’s a learning curve, and we’re getting it at the right time! Great game guys-players and coaches.
By Ramble ON!
March 2, 2007 11:51 AM | Link to this
Congrat’s coach Hewitt, I for one am eating some crow about you. This reminds me of a few years ago, the way the team is starting to jell.
OSU I kind of feel sorry for you, it’s a shame to be so dumb and ignorant, please get help soon.
Gator Nation…thanks for you’re kind words.
By meh
March 2, 2007 12:24 PM | Link to this
I’m starting to wonder how good UNC really is.
By GetoverGT
March 2, 2007 12:38 PM | Link to this
Although its a nice win last night you are still going to be sub .500 in the league and everyone across the country knows that you have to be 9-7 at least to be considered to go. You also have to consider that GT has two sub 100 RPI losses (Miami and Wake) and when you compare that to teams like an Illinois, Alabama, West Virginia, and Purdue it just doesn’t stack up because everyone has essentially the same RPI but those teams have winning records in their conference and no bad losses. Sorry GT the only way your getting in is if you beat BC and win a couple of games in the Tourney. But I heard the NIT is nice.
By Jon
March 2, 2007 12:43 PM | Link to this
Gator Nation, you’re welcome on the Tech blogs anytime. Actually, I sorta pull for the Gators most of the time. They’re great at beating the Dawgs and you gotta love them for that.
OSU#1, go to class and quit writing on Atlanta newspaper blogs. You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about.
By UNC Fan
March 2, 2007 1:26 PM | Link to this
I should have put money on Tech yesterday…I.m the one who predicted the upset. I’m not real happy about it, but you’ve got to give credit to an insipred peformance to the Yellow Jackets. One more win puts them in the NCAA…and they will be fun to watch if they keep their momentum going!!
By gtlinz
March 2, 2007 1:29 PM | Link to this
Great win last night. This is a young team where it counts (at point) and this team mostly has gone as Javaris has gone. The difference in the first 8 ACC games and the last 7 can be traced directly to his play/leadership and to the defensive intensity. Duke made him revert for a half (at Duke) but otherwise this team has been steadily improving and played well since the loss at Wake. Also, like the 2003-4 team, this team lost enough ACC games to start listening to coach about playing D because they have to to be sucessfull and that is Hewitt’s style (besides a free form offense). The loss at Miami and the loss at Wake put this team in trouble and I believe we HAVE TO beat BC at home and win the first ACC tourney game, or win 3 ACC tourney games to feel good about going to the dance. The facts show that all ACC wins except the Heels in the second ACC half season have proved out to be wins against lower half teams (Clemson, NCS, FSU, Wake) - we let Virginia off the hook and lost at Duke - so a BC win to go with the Carolina win is necessary unless a deep ACC tourney happens. And this will be a tourney that 7 to 9 of the teams could win. GO JACKETS !
By stemo021
March 2, 2007 1:36 PM | Link to this
GetoverGT is an idiot Purdue is a great team considering they have losses to Indiana State, Minnesota, Iowa, and Tech. Bama has losses to Auburn twice, Arkansas twice, and Mississippi. West Virginia losses to Arkansas, Cinci, and Providence. Illinois losses to Iowa and Xavier. None of those teams have beaten anyone and would not last in ACC play your an idiot if you think those teams are better than tech. Those losses are worse then Miami and Wake which are decent teams unlike Minnnesota, Indiana State, Iowa, Auburn, Cinci, and Arkansas. We have beaten Carolina, Duke, and Memphis which none of those teams could beat in a single year.
By GT Fan Jeff
March 2, 2007 1:52 PM | Link to this
GetoverGT
Since you did not divulge your affiliation, I will assume you are a disgruntled UGA fan, based on your obvious bias against GT. No need to worry, though. GT will indeed beat BC and win at least two games in the ACC. Glad to hear the NIT is nice, because that is where your puppies are going to be playing. Go Jackets.
By Ramble ON!
March 2, 2007 3:43 PM | Link to this
getoverGT is OSU#1, clearly a retard from the “small eleven” conference.
Since OSU#1 has been proven an idiot by numerous bloggers, the idiot has decided to change to getoverGT, but your stupidity gives you a way.
Hey moron, GT pounded Purdue, remember?
By a tech guy
March 2, 2007 4:27 PM | Link to this
ilove the gator nation, they are classy and they always put the dawgs in their place reguardless of the sport
By jacketnation
March 2, 2007 5:24 PM | Link to this
OSU stands for Overly Stupid Underachievers. Stay off the Tech blog you idiot Yankee.
Well done Jackets!
By preston
March 2, 2007 6:01 PM | Link to this
REMEMBER THIS OSU#1………….
“Bynum with 9…8…7…6…5…4… Bynim, going to the goal, puts it up!! Good with one…And georgia tech, plays monday night for the national title!!!!!”