Tech

By GT

February 19, 2008 5:34 PM | Link to this

The excitement is gone. It is like you have been married for 30 years. It is not water torture but the memories are too good to be excited over this, and apparently the students that don’t even remember the good old days find it hard to be excited.

By LongBeachJacket

February 19, 2008 5:36 PM | Link to this

Mike - This is a tough campaign to ride out.

I am only a fan (obviously) and will thus only posit a suggestion…

I was very disappointed by the seemingly “out of control” way the Jackets played on Sunday….pretty much the whole game.

Commentator Eddie Fogler (fmr USC coach) referred to this continuously.

This led to turnovers galore, which contributed heavily to the loss.

We’re just not that good overall, but disciplined play does not always require superior talent. And some discipline appeared to be lacking on Sunday. Mo Miller had a forgettable game.

Causey had several miscues, but when he would make nice dishes down low to the bigs….usually they dropped the ball out of bounds….

That equals a loss….

By Mike Knobler

February 19, 2008 6:50 PM | Link to this

LongBeachJacket

Your analysis looks good to me. I think Causey’s mistakes on Sunday were offset by the energy he brought to the game; it was a much different team with him on the floor.

Tech’s passing and catching weren’t good. That many turnovers against a non-pressing, non-trapping defense is just plain sloppy basketball.

Are you Long Beach, Calif., or Long Beach, N.Y.?

By Navigator

February 19, 2008 7:37 PM | Link to this

I watch a new football coach having his first recruited team, and it’s so much better than anyone could have hoped. I watch the same old basketball coach, having a lame recruiting year, a lame year playing, and I’m sure at the end he’ll plenty of lame excuses.

By John

February 19, 2008 9:23 PM | Link to this

Nope

By aw

February 20, 2008 6:45 AM | Link to this

Dittos John.Its time for a change.For a team to look so good one game and be so out of control the next ,is a sign of poor coaching.

By Gordon

February 20, 2008 7:17 AM | Link to this

Unlike Dennis Felton, Paul Hewitt cannot blame injuries and dismissals for his team’s play. I know JC and TY left early and RS is out, but we are NOT undermanned. I could live with an NIT (not even sure we will get that now) season if I saw steady improvement over the year. In Hewitt’s second season for example, the team started 7-13 with all the freshmen but won 8 of their last 11. Though they finished one game under .500, you got the feeling things were headed in the right direction. You certainly don’t now.

Maybe I am being unrealistic, but I just think we should be a more consistent team, and I don’t think we are getting the most out of the talent that is there. Players like Morrow and Smith don’t seem to have developed.

Will DRad let this play out for two or three more years, or will he pull the trigger this year? If this team quits and only wins a couple more games, will that do it? What do you all think? Also, does anyone know how many years Hewitt has left on his contract?

By m

February 20, 2008 7:20 AM | Link to this

It definitely could be worse…if Chan Gailey was still the coach. But…halleeeyyydamloohyah he is gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By Dr Bill

February 20, 2008 11:54 AM | Link to this

I understand everyone’s frustration, but firing Hewitt isn’t the answer. When Jack left, Austin Jackson swore to him he was coming even the day he signed a pro baseball contract. When Crit left early, pretty much unexpectedly, he had Miller and Causey . They play very well at times, but are not on the level of Javaris. Does anyone actually recall the last 5-6 years of Bobby’s tenure??? Love the man and his teams reinvented Tech hoops in the early 80’s. But those last few years were a nightmare. Hewitt performed a miracle within FIVE years getting this team to the NC game. The problem is the level of his help. Remember… Lewis, Elder,McHenry ,Ish etc. were considered good players ( a peg or 2 below Shumpert, about 4 behind Young and Crit). They were not blue chip recruits, but Hewitt and his staff developed that team into an outstanding group. Jack and Bosh were the “studs” that molded that team. How many people thought Tech would be mediocre when Bosh left??? Did anyone see the development of Schenser??? Point is that kids like Morrow, Clinch etc. are good players, but for what ever reason, thet have not developed like the other group….. Hewitt has been hit hard by early frosh defections, perhaps more than ANY other program in the nation. Honestly, when you blast Hewitt for Crit or Young leaving early, ask yourself if you would take the millions guaranteed by the NBA if it was there for you??? This was a difficult year recruiting for Hewitt…he probably thought Alade’s brother was a lock for Tech and he didn’t get most of his targets. This is also a staff problem. Hewitt has to change his staff a bit, just as Danny Hall has experienced this year. I honestly believe the baseball team is going to have a very big year which is going to shock many people. Paul Hewitt will have to change his staff to create a new mindset that will help him return to being a premium team. I do not know what happened at LSU with Brady, but Tech will be in dire straits if he is fired. Yes, like all coaches, he has flaws. But he needs to honestly take a look at his staff and see that the upperclassmen aree not progressing as they should The recruiting has dropped …and that is a staff problem. NOT the head coach.

By Gordon

February 20, 2008 1:36 PM | Link to this

If it is a staff problem, it is a head coach problem. That’s why he gets the corner office and the big bucks. Next year we are picking up Shumpert, getting Dickey back, and losing Causey, Smith, and Morrow. Everyone else will be a year older. If we aren’t back in the NCAA next year (barring major injuries to key people), Hewitt should be let go. This is especially true if the team isn’t any better in February than it is in November like this year. He is ultimately responsible for the program and no one is stopping him from making staff changes if that’s what is needed.

By bubble burst

February 20, 2008 4:39 PM | Link to this

Don’t let blogs and the impulse to post get a good coach fired. We’ll be fine next year. Remember 3 games ago when we won the last 4 or 5 before the scheduling debacle by having to travel up to play UCONN AT UCONN during the meat of the ACC schedule w/ a young team.

We’ll be fine fine next year and for years to come. Good grief. You folks are way, way ,way to impatient. At least Hewitt recruits excitement. He’s the only one outside of Calipari, Roy Williams, Coach K, or Donovan who can recruit the blue chippers. Austin Jackson’s defect hurt more than most folks honestly know. He’ll regroup and rebuild.

By Jack G

February 20, 2008 4:55 PM | Link to this

Cheer up——things could be worse——so I cheered up and sure enough things got worse. Hewett is branes other half of the chan gaily fiasco.

By Jake Astron

February 20, 2008 6:49 PM | Link to this

I’m still not sold on firing PH. I was there at the end of the Cremins era and it has not gotten that bad yet.

However, if I have to watch one more game of four guys standing on the perimeter and passing it around until we turn it over I’m going to be sick. It doesn’t appear to me we even have an offense. No motion, no cuts, no dribble drive.

Let’s get it fixed Paul…

By Steve

February 20, 2008 8:50 PM | Link to this

PH has a lot to learn about leadership. Read his quotes from today’s paper. When the leader expects bad things to happen, they usually do. Time to find a leader that knows how to coach and lead.

“You work on your half-court execution more, but there’s no secret, no magic bullet that you pull out to stop it,” Hewitt said of turnover problems.

“The last two games I’ve been surprised and disappointed with how we’ve played, but it happens in sports,” he said.

“It’s the time of year when the basketball is going to get sloppier and sloppier because everybody knows what you’re doing,” Hewitt said.

By HelluvaEngineer

February 21, 2008 11:34 AM | Link to this

Firing Hewitt may not be the answer, but keeping Hewitt is certainly not the answer. I do not mind PH going after the blue chippers who everyone suspects will leave early. Nor do I blame Young, Critt, Jack, Bosh for leaving early.

Why is PH not the answer? Just look at the product on the floor. I say this not in jest at all, but my nephew’s third grade YMCA team plays FAR better defense than Hewitt’s teams. Why do opponents consistantly shoot > 50% against Tech? Not because we play teams that always shoot the best; rather, they take high percentage shots beceause Hewitt’s teams cannot defend. They do not even know what defense they are in quite often!

Offensively, his teams are indistinguishable from an NBA offense. PG dribbles one pass down low, a NBAesque 1-1 move and done. Watch the players who do not touch the ball; there is no motion offensively at all.

Paul Hewitt: a great guy who I would love to succeed here, but is in well well over his head.

Fire Paul Hewitt.

By Keith

February 21, 2008 11:56 AM | Link to this

Tech can not and will not fire Paul Hewitt this offseason. Anyone close to Tech knows full well what firing Chan Gailey did to an already financially-strapped athletic department. Buying out Hewitt would put the department in financial shambles. They just flat-out can’t and won’t do it. So stop hoping for it.

In addition, I for one am a big Hewitt fan, and I hate to see the team struggle. And I will be the first one to say that a coach should be fired if he isn’t winning and the time is right to start over. For the record, this is his 8th season and if they finish strong, he will still only have 2 losing seasons, one of which was highlighted with an 8-3 finish in order to get to 15-16. So, a strong finish here and he’ll have 6 postseason appearances, 1 just barely under .500 (01-02), and 1 awful season (05-06). Not bad for 8 seasons. And let’s not forget he is the first Tech coach to lead the team to the Teriffic Two. He’s turned them around once and took them almost all the way. He’s earned the right to try it one more time. If it doesn’t work after another year or two, then it will be time for a change.

That is all.

By GTYouthGuy

February 23, 2008 6:06 PM | Link to this

It’s a good thing the UVA game was “rained out.” I’ve never been to an ACC game and seen such a pitiful crowd, especially in regard to the students. I was a student during the Dwayne Morrison days and we had more students at games then with the Metro Conference foes than are turning out now for ACC games. Apparently the Thriller Dome isn’t thrilling enough for students these days, or other fans either.

Whose fault is that? Part of the blame has to go to Paul Hewitt. I believe there are times a coach needs to show just how much he wants to win during the game. There are times a coach needs to earn a “T” when it is called for. Last Sunday against Miami on the last shot by Causey when he was knocked to the floor and no foul was called, which would have given Matt a chance to tie the game, I guarantee you Bobby Knight would have thrown another chair across the floor if he had been on the bench.

The level of enthusiasm shown by the students and fans is a mirror image of that shown by the players and coach. The Cameron crazies just go crazier when Coach K shows some emotion or gets a “T.” Today Seth Greenberg was waving for the fans to get up and create a “home court” atmosphere. When is the last time we saw anything like that out of Paul?