AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2008 > March > 02 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USMorrow has made his mark
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Anthony Morrow remembers the shot that would have evened the 2005 ACC championship game against Duke. Top of the key, 40 seconds left. He’d just made a 3-pointer a minute earlier, and the way Morrow rose and delivered this one made a guy sitting courtside say to himself, “Tie game.”
Morrow thought he’d made it, too. Alas, the ball, he recalled, “went a little long.” And Will Bynum climbed Shelden Williams’ back for an offensive rebound that set off a careening sequence that wound up with Morrow making a two-pointer from the lane that would leave Georgia Tech one point short with 25 seconds to go. Then Jarrett Jack was whistled for the infamous phantom foul on J.J. Redick, and the Jackets wound up losing 69-64.
Morrow was a freshman then, and from a big-picture standpoint you could say nothing about Tech basketball has been as good since that frazzled day in Washington. Those Jackets would be eliminated from the NCAA tournament by Louisville one week hence, and here it is 2008 and Tech hasn’t won a postseason game of any kind — NCAA, NIT or ACC — since 2005.
“There have been certain situations I don’t want to go into too deep,” Morrow said Saturday, speaking after Tech had won its first game in 3-1/2 weeks. (Presumably he meant the early departures of Thaddeus Young and Javaris Crittenton to the NBA.) “But guys like Jarrett Jack and Will Bynum [upperclassmen who led Tech to the 2004 NCAA championship game] set the standard really high.
“My sophomore year [the Jackets were 11-17] was kind of rough, but we got back to the NCAA last year. So I don’t think things have gone backward.”
Tech needs to sweep three games in the regular season’s final week just to reach .500. Morrow believes the Jackets can play their way into the Big Dance — “Definitely,” he said — but realistically they would have to win the ACC tournament to do it.
As deflating as the past three seasons might have been — Tech is 43-44 since Jack and Bynum and their accomplished group left — there has been one reason to smile. Morrow came here as a standstill shooter and will leave as something more. He should exit as one of the top 20 scorers in school history, and he’ll have gotten there on the strength of more than just a sweet stroke.
After his freshman season, Morrow recalls coach Paul Hewitt saying, “You’re just a catch-and-shoot guy.” And he was. But he isn’t now. He can score off the dribble, and he can even post up.
“Some guys might not have taken that the right way,” Morrow said, speaking of Hewitt’s apt critique, but this guy did. Hewitt and his assistants helped, but Morrow attributes most of his improvement to a time-honored concept. “It’s definitely hard work. It’s coming out to pickup games and telling yourself, ‘Today I’m going to work on posting up.’ It’s setting up the chairs and using the heavy ball to work on dribbling.”
Four years after he arrived — a bit in awe of Jack and Bynum and the rest, truth to tell — Morrow is Tech’s leading scorer and only consistent offensive option. He scored 22 points on only 12 shots in the Jackets’ overtime defeat of Wake Forest on Saturday, and if that modest victory was required to break a five-game losing streak … well, so be it.
“That’s just part of the game,” he said. “The ACC is one of the biggest conferences in the history of college basketball, and you’re going to have ups and downs. It’s all about who wants to do something about it at the end of games. That’s what makes it so much fun.”
Often we on the periphery get caught up in wins and losses and RPIs, and we lose sight of a basic underpinning: College basketball is fun. If Tech basketball isn’t what it was when Anthony Morrow enrolled, that doesn’t mean his four years have gone for naught. Indeed, he said, “This has been the best time of my life.”
Permalink | Comments (27) | Post your comment | Categories: Mark Bradley, Tech / ACC
Comments
By thesidewalkfan
March 2, 2008 7:16 PM | Link to this
wow. nice column. did i just read that?
By Hitman
March 2, 2008 8:07 PM | Link to this
nice column, but Jarrett Jack was a junior in 2005 not a senior.
By Ben
March 2, 2008 9:25 PM | Link to this
Awesome article. Brings everything back into proportion.
By chad
March 2, 2008 9:29 PM | Link to this
Nice column, Wish Morrow could have experienced more success but he has made great strides.
By Ted Turner
March 3, 2008 12:49 AM | Link to this
GaTech is a school for underachievers — academics & athletics. Categorically, second rate, second best in the state of Georgia. Emory (academically) & UGA (academics & athletics) are superior to the North Avenue Trade School mouth breathers. And considering that most graduates of GT leave the southeast (and country I might add — ching,chang,chung), the school is irrelevant for the region.
Now, the urine colored jerseys adorned by the student athletes show their true temperament — Nancy Boys! I should punch you all in the nose.
I built Atlanta!
By Darren in the Springs
March 3, 2008 1:04 AM | Link to this
Ah yes leave it to a typical UGAg poster to write such rhetoric rambling on the Tech blog. I cannot believe he just listed Emory and UGAg together academically.
Your racial reference shows your true colors. The fact that Tech has such a broad racial/ethnic base just shows how respected the school is around the world.
Anyway, back to the subject. I have to agree that Morrow made great strides from his Freshman year, but he never seemed able to get over that hump. He would have great shooting games, then go into hiding. It would have been nice to see him be more assertive. I wish him the best in everything he does.
By MVP
March 3, 2008 1:27 AM | Link to this
There is no ” A” in Academics at the University of Georgia. Uga dead last in the “Academics” in the SEC! Keep up the good work leghumpers!
By Ted Turner
March 3, 2008 2:19 AM | Link to this
I was an All-Conference Linebacker at Emory, on their 1998 Div III National Championship Football Team — we went undefeated! I am a Champion. You are a mouth-breathing Nancy Boy! I feel that you are disrespecting me, and that calls for a Punch In The Nose!
I am a graduate of both Emory & UGA (and Ga.State). I am Legion. GaTech offered me a scholarship, I wiped my arse with the offer letter — nice and soft like Bobby Ross.
By razerGT
March 3, 2008 2:57 AM | Link to this
Wait, wait, wait. You were an all conference linebacker for Emory, a school that has never fielded a football team? Excuse me while I laugh at you. Enjoy your fail, sir.
By WFC
March 3, 2008 6:18 AM | Link to this
My thanks go to Anthony Morrow for his efforts in behalf of GT. A solid citizen with a sweet 3-point stroke. I’m proud of him!
By Ted Turner
March 3, 2008 7:31 AM | Link to this
We were undefeated in my entire illustrious football career at Emory. While I was unable to gain admission to Ga Tech, I did go on to graduate from the Jan Kemp college of remedial studies. And boy, was the spooning there with the footbal team fun!
Don’t disrespect me or I’ll punch you in the nose
By Connie Lingous
March 3, 2008 7:49 AM | Link to this
Mark - you are wrong - Jarrett Jack did not play his senior year at GTU - left after 2005, his junior season. (Hope the rest of the article has more credibility.)
By aw
March 3, 2008 7:50 AM | Link to this
Dear Ted,I hope your butt grows together.
By E
March 3, 2008 9:50 AM | Link to this
Nice column Mark, sorry the comments posted don’t reflect it…..people get a life
By Mark Bradley
March 3, 2008 10:24 AM | Link to this
Thanks to those folks who have served as line editors: No, Jarrett Jack wasn’t a senior in 2005. He was a junior. I messed up. We’re fixing it now.
By neilmarlowe
March 3, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this
morrow, smith, and dickey came to tech with great promise, and all three have not come through. what a shame. Morrow has some good numbers, but ends up being a below average ACC performer.
By RogersParkRob
March 3, 2008 12:01 PM | Link to this
Yeah right. I am a season ticket holder and AM has not matured into the player he could be. He still cant dribble the basketball and if ANYONE is playing any sort of defense on him, he doesn’t get open.
By Wrecker1
March 3, 2008 1:29 PM | Link to this
I’m sure AM is a raaly good guy who will graduate and be a solid contributor in society. He is not a good basketball player. He can’t dribble, defend , or rebound. He’s still primarily a catch and shoot player. He does actually post up pretty well but for some reason isn’t given many chances to that. The real key to this story was that he missed the 3 with the game on the line. I can’t remember the last time he hit a really meaningful shot.
By roh
March 3, 2008 1:30 PM | Link to this
Connie Lingous, what is GTU? There is not U in Georgia Tech.
By Hugh G. Rection
March 3, 2008 2:54 PM | Link to this
Mark, I liked your hair better when you wore it poofy. Can you fix that too?
By Joe Bling
March 3, 2008 7:25 PM | Link to this
Nice column, but I just can’t agree. I’m sure Morrow is a good kid and has played hard his whole time at Tech, but he’s essentially the same player he’s always been. One difference - he gets fewer shots now than ever because the defenses know he’s the only shooter with any range. Wrecker1 is right - he still can’t dribble, defend or rebound. He can’t create off the dribble at all. He’s still a great catch and shooter. Wish he’d made that shot against Duke, though, and the one this year against Carolina.
Now, can someone please tell me why Lewis Clinch is on this team?
By stings to lose
March 3, 2008 9:40 PM | Link to this
AM evidently had something in his eye or something slippery on his hands tonight…three air balls in a row…yuk!
By TJ
March 3, 2008 9:40 PM | Link to this
Anthony’s total lack of discipline cost georgia Tech four points and the game against UVA.
By yellowblood
March 4, 2008 8:39 AM | Link to this
I don’t remember one Tickle Pile that Anthony was instrumental in causing. Good Kid but not a good player!
By shawhem
March 6, 2008 11:36 AM | Link to this
Anthony is one of the best pure shooters I have ever had the pleasure of watching. Good luck to him as he moves on from Tech.
By Heather
March 29, 2008 7:46 AM | Link to this
of the inland corn dealer has ever yet enjoyed was bestowed upon http://idisk.mac.com/dukebluedevilsfreewe/Public/0/my-space-layouts-disney-villians.html >my space layouts disney villians care of their own interest, as in their local situations they jevbuaumpp
By Heather
March 29, 2008 7:46 AM | Link to this
of the inland corn dealer has ever yet enjoyed was bestowed upon http://idisk.mac.com/dukebluedevilsfreewe/Public/0/my-space-layouts-disney-villians.html >my space layouts disney villians care of their own interest, as in their local situations they jevbuaumpp