AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2007 > February > 26
Monday, February 26, 2007
Left, right and center
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two days removed from the Virginia game, and it’s still on my mind. Tech was drilled 22-6 in the first 7:31 and blanked 13-0 in the final 3:41 and crushed the Cavs 63-40 in between. Seriously, with the exception of a mini-spurt or two, Virginia was completely out-muscled and defended for roughly 29 minutes.
I haven’t been in the mood for much deep thinking lately, but on the flight home — which was delayed as we spent an extra 45 minutes or so in the air because of weather problems in Atlanta Sunday morning — I had time to kill so:
Viewed through a political prism, the final 3:41 of that game might split conservatives and liberals right down the middle.
Conservatives, who have been known to align themselves with winners no matter what, might suggest Tech got what it deserved, that the Jackets stood down in crunch time.
Liberals, who tend to be sympathetic with those who underfoot, would be hard-pressed to argue that the Jackets let off the gas a little, but might also contend that the visitors got hosed a bit.
Reality probably falls somewhere in the middle.
Leading 69-62 in that final 3:41, Tech missed its last five shots, was called for five fouls (two in attempts to send the Cavs to the free throw line) and had four turnovers (one on a charge). Virginia was called for one foul, which did not send Tech to the line as it was offensive, hit 3 of 7 shots and 7 of 7 free throws.
There’s little doubt Tech’s defense was not as solid as it had been in much of the game, particularly in allowing J.R. Reynolds to blow down the lane for a layup with 2:45 left. At least one Tech defender had a chance to get in Reynolds’ way before he got deep in the lane, but slid to a shooter whom Hewitt said the scouting report said to leave alone in that situation. “We just inexplicably got out of his way,” Hewitt said.
Then, Reynolds makes the shot, and Ra’Sean Dickey was called for a foul. Was it? I’m not going there, but I’ll say this: if you’re banking on drawing a charge when Reynolds or Singletary are taking it to the basket in the final few minutes AT VIRGINIA, that’s probably not a good idea. Better to make sure he doesn’t score — get hands up and hammer. Better for him to take, and probably make, two free throws than allow for a 3-point play possibility (which he got).
Which brings me to this side note: Virginia hit nine 3-pointers (but had to take 28 of them to get that number), and had five 3-point plays in the second half. That’s 14 shots leading to 42 points. That hurts.
Some folks have griped about play calls in the waning minutes, but I find that hard to agree with. Yes, Young stepped out of bounds on one (which had nothing to do with the play call), but he was fairly hot late in the game, hitting two 3-pointers and a jumper between the 9:34 and 4:51 marks as Virginia was finally putting up a fight after 20-plus minutes of flopping around. As for Morrow’s missed jumper, hey, it was a good clean shot; the play worked. He missed.
Tech got the ball in the hands of its top three scorers plenty in the last three-plus minutes, but Crittenton, Young (who was definitely fouled on the baseline drive with about a minute left), and Morrow didn’t connect. Crittenton was called for a charge that probably was, although it might not have been called in Atlanta.
The end result was that although Jason Cain (6.8 ppg) tied the game with a layup, and Tunji Soroye (1.7 ppg) gave the Cavs a lead with a stickback (crawling over Crittenton’s back), Reynolds and Singletary were the difference and not just in scoring 25 and 24 points.
In the final 3:41 they didn’t score as much, combining for 7 points, but Singletary had two rebounds (or as many as Tech, which was out-rebounded 7-2 in that stretch after out-rebounding Virginia 33-20 before that), and they each had a steal. In the game, they combined for 49 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, seven turnovers, a block and five steals. That’s a pretty nice night from the backcourt.
As for why Hewitt called off the press, which was so effective, he said it frustrated Virginia to the point where Singletary decided he wasn’t going to give the ball up. “He became a one-man press break,” Hewitt said. That can be a problem for the defense because then somebody goes unguarded, and once he gets into the offensive zone with the ball that spells trouble for the defense.
Positive signs: Tech moved the ball very well for 30-plus minutes, and played great defense for that span. The comeback from 22-6 down was keyed by almost everybody but Crittenton (out much of it with two fouls) and Young. A team effort.
Downside: Gotta close down a game like that, on the road or not. That woulda been a huge get for NCAA purposes. My take is that so long as you do what you’re supposed to at home, winning many more than you lose, you make your hay on the road. It’s a goofy example, but in the Big 10, Wisconsin was undefeated at home, and so was Ohio State. But Ohio State lost just one road game, at Wisconsin. Wisconsin lost at Ohio State, Michigan State and Indiana. Who’s the Big 10 champ? The team that won more on the road.
I can’t help but think that there’s a related principle involved in picking NCAA teams, although Hewitt disagreed with me. “People are making too much of this road business,” he said. “Neutral games now count as home games (?), and we’ve won our share away from Alexander (Memorial Coliseum).”
Wins in Maui over Purdue and Memphis, at the Georgia Dome over UConn (a home game for Tech season ticket holders, by the way), and one road win — at Florida State, which was missing its point guard … means what?
Too late to do anything about that now.
I don’t know much, but I bet selection committee members are paying attention to Thursday’s game against North Carolina AND Sunday’s against BC. A win Thursday would give Tech victories over Duke and UNC at home. But then a loss to BC would leave Tech 2-6 against the teams ahead of the Jackets in the ACC, and 5-3 against teams behind them.
That’s dicey. We could view this through a different prism if Tech hadn’t lost to bottom feeders Wake and Miami on the ROAD.
