AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2008 > February > 04
Monday, February 4, 2008
Rest? Tech don’t need no stinking rest
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Back, but still dead (bad cold).
Two days after the fact, I think Tech’s loss to Maryland was a case of rest vs. rhythm. Tech had not played in six days, but that wasn’t an advantage against a team that was playing its third game in a week.
Jackets were out of it (“not there mentally the first 10 minutes,” Paul Hewitt said), early and again for a while in the second half. Deadly. Message: value rhythm over rest.
I believe Tech is 1-8 coming off byes since Paul’s been coach.
Bell did a very nice job on Vasquez for the most part (and he wasn’t very impressive even when Bell wasn’t defending him), but in general Tech didn’t do enough to keep Maryland’s perimeter players from driving either into scoring position or into prime passing position.
What this loss means: Tech has to win all four games at home and split six on the road to have a prayer. Even that might not be enough without a win or two in the ACC tournament.
I think this team is concentrating better on the road, although two glaring examples of the opposite cropped up: the lopsided loss at Vandy, and an ugly loss to a bad Georgia team.
The Jackets have given themselves a lot to overcome.
