AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2008 > January > 14
Monday, January 14, 2008
Without one-and-dones, Tech would be … ???
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some folks have suggested to me (not that I can do anything about it) that Paul Hewitt should stop recruiting one-and-done players because when they leave, the program ends up in a lurch.
I see their point, but it sure is a fuzzy one.
Hewitt has had three one-and-done players by my math (admittedly I’ve only paid close attention the last two years): Chris Bosh (Tech went to the title game the year after he left), Javaris Crittenton and Thaddeus Young.
Bosh’s depature didn’t pin Tech, but the Jackets definitely are in a lurch right now, and the departures of Crittenton and Young have a lot to do with it. So does the loss of Mario West (also to the NBA), Ra’Sean Dickey’s academic ineligibility/knee injury (although not a lot), the inability of Mouhammed Faye to make it work at Tech. And there is STILL a trickle-down affect from Austin Jackson deciding two years ago to play pro baseball instead of PG at Tech.
Hewitt has been asked about this over and over. My favorite answer was when somebody bugged him about it at the ACC preseason meetings. “I’ll stop when Duke and North Carolina and Wake Forest and everybody else in the league stops, because if I don’t recruit players like that, they’ll all end up playing against me,” or something like that.
Bottom line, very few people pegged Crittenton to leave for the NBA after just one season. Young? Yeah, not much of a surprise there, and he came closer to staying that Crit. It’s a funny world.
Moe Miller was supposed to back up Crit this year, and take over next. Then again, the plan before that was for Crit to back up Jackson last year, and take over this or next. Plans don’t always work out, though.
But if not for the arrival of Crittenton and Young, even for one season, Tech might be staring at its third straight season without making the NCAA tournament.
That’d be even worse that what is happening now, wouldn’t it?
