AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2008 > February > 23 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USThat light in GT’s tunnel? It’s Duke on the way
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you didn’t see this game and recorded it with the idea of watching later, don’t. It’ll make you scream.
If you spurn my advice, and watch anyway, you’ll surely want to scream, “BOX OUT!” at the television.
The Jackets were out-rebounded 42-27.
Granted, Georgia Tech is not a good rebounding team. But the Hokies aren’t, either. They’re No. 7 in the ACC in raw rebounding stats in league-only games, and undersized.
Hate to bury something as pretty as Moe Miller’s performance, but …
Even though the Jackets had their point guard score 29 points on seven of 13 shooting, make 13 of 14 free throws, grab four rebounds, hand out five assists, add a block and a steal in the best all-around effort by a Tech player this season, they lost.
Virginia Tech, which has seven freshmen including four pretty darned good ones, won on the glass, and in the paint (40-30 scoring edge).
The Jackets lost in other areas, too. Their bench let them down, getting outscored 22-12, by a VT unit that has not built a reputation for that kind of thing. It was the first time in 16 games that Georgia Tech’s bench has been outscored by the opponent’s bench.
Causey scored 30 on these guys last month, and didn’t score today. Some of that is because he played just 10 minutes because Moe was playing so well. Some of it was because VT paid attention to him, and VT coach Seth Greenberg admitted as much.
There was more to that problem.
Zack Peacock after five straight double-digit scoring games has scored six and two in the last two. He had ZERO rebounds today.
Brad Sheehan played five minutes, ostensibly because the Jackets were in heavy foul trouble, and registered one steal (on a loose ball), nothing else.
Lance Storrs? He fouled out with no points, one rebound and one assist.
Alade Aminu, who’s been decent of late, scored six, grabbed six rebounds, and blocked six shots. Much as I understand the desire to develop Gani Lawal (four points, three rebounds, one assist — his seventh of the season — and three turnovers), Aminu has been playing more efficiently, at least to my semi-trained eye. I write that while fully believing that Lawal may one day be a monster. Really.
And the killer: Lewis Clinch. He scored once, on a baseline drive. He added two assists, three turnovers, and no rebounds.
It’s hard to rally on the road when several starters are in foul trouble, your bench is doing so little, and one of your chief sharpshooters — Clinch — is AWOL. He missed all three 3-pointers Saturday.
After making 38 of 99 bombs in Tech’s first 19 games, he’s made one of 14 in the past six games.
That, folks, is a slump.
This was not about the absurd number of fouls called (83), or free throw shooting (Georgia Tech scored just eight fewer points at the line, which isn’t so bad on the road).
It was about playing with force, or not, specifically on the glass, and in the paint.
And though Virginia Tech had five turnovers in the first four minutes or so, the Hokie had just five turnovers in about 36 minutes after that, a paltry one in the second half.
Where did the defense go? VT made 15 of 29 shots in the second half.
I know coach Hewitt has said his team’s defense is better than stats indicate, that they’re skewed by open-court turnovers that lead to easy baskets.
That’s hard to buy when you turn the ball over a modest 13 times, and give up 18 points off turnovers (to 14 for GT).
This team is not the mess that it was two years ago. This team competes, other than in losses at Vanderbilt and Clemson.
But the Jackets do not play defense very well, at least not for prolonged stretches, save during that three-game winning streak.
And they rebound very, very poorly.
Perhaps it all comes down to two things more than all others: players do not appear to take instruction well, and they’re not as tough as they need to be to endure life in the ACC.
Next up? at angry Duke.
Fun.
Comments
By Terry
February 23, 2008 8:25 PM | Link to this
Dishearting is all I can say about this “team”. Our teams have always played their best when they play tough defense. It creates turnovers, and sets a rhythm.
Plus, it appears we don’t know how to run any kind of half court offense. It appears we are back to the same strategy of the beginning of the season, which was throw up a 3.
Rebounding is both skill and heart. None of our players seem to have the intense desire to be a really good rebounder. You have to have the fundamentals, but you also have to have the attitude “That is my ball, and you are not going to get it!!”
Hopefully these guys are doing great in the classroom, because there is not going to be a place in the NBAroom, for them.
By John
February 23, 2008 9:02 PM | Link to this
Bobby was 13-17 his last year at GT. Hewitt is 11-14 now with a good chance of being even worse. I project 12-19. Yet, a week and a half ago nearly 50% of the people that voted in the poll thought GT had a chance to make the NCAA’s - yeah, right! Time for another change. Bye Paul, thanks for a few good streaks of basketball but - overall - no thanks.
By Bravesfan79
February 23, 2008 11:18 PM | Link to this
This team is very capable of going on a hot stretch and winning the ACC tourney. We could of won today but in the first half we kept making stupid fouls and putting them on the line! I think once we get over the foul limit…Hewitt should tell them to back off a little on Defense.
Next year with Dickey back we will be a better rebounding team, and will be better overall! Next year this team will be very capable of making another serious run!
This program is just fine, Hewitt just needs to make a few changes and all you fairweather fans will once again be GT fans. By the way… with Lawal staying 3 years or so, while hes here…id make a bet with some more talent around, (we have some bigtime recruits coming in 2008,9) i think its a roster capable of a final 4 run!
Go GT!!
By Bravesfan79
February 23, 2008 11:25 PM | Link to this
Gt is just not playing smartly. All the dumb off the ball fouls, missing free throws, not boxing out.
I still believe this is a team very capable of making a run in the ACC tourney.
Hewitt has some GREAT recruits coming in here and this team will be back next year.
OYEA…. D Favors…..COME TO GT and play in front of your HOME TOWN!!
This roster will be LOADED for the 2009/10 season!!
By Billy
February 23, 2008 11:41 PM | Link to this
I’m so tired of hearing about “wait for next year.” We did that when Young and Crittendon were coming, and how did that turn out?
You coach who you have, not who you should have had or who you’re going to have. Maybe our “wonderful” coach should look at some of his contemporaries in the ACC…
And any fans that get excited about 1-2 great players coming, look at the past 2 years. Hewitt can turn average players into a great team, but he has shown that he’s useless with top-notch players.
By StingerSplash
February 23, 2008 11:59 PM | Link to this
Well, Coach Hewitt, it may be time to address those open court turnovers that “skew” the defensive stats. It also could be time to understand the concept of floor balance, like having somebody get back to stop those runouts. When you keep making the same mistakes or continue to play poorly in certain facets repeatedly, where does the fault lie? I like Hewitt, but … this season is squarely on him.
By Billy
February 24, 2008 12:26 AM | Link to this
It used to be that Gailey and Hewitt were two of the MANY reasons that GT didn’t get any of my alumni money. Now it’s just Hewitt…
By Concerned
February 24, 2008 1:34 AM | Link to this
How anyone can defend this guy is beyond me. In his 8 seasons as coach, he has a winning ACC record once…Once in 8 years, that is absolutely pathetic. Every Georgia fan I know, and every ACC fan, hopes we keep him. He is terrible. What do you have to do to get fired?
By RAMBLE ON!
February 24, 2008 10:14 AM | Link to this
NEXT YEAR WILL BE NO DIFFERENT THAN THIS YEAR, JUST DIFFERENT PLAYERS…unless we have a new coach.
By shane #1
February 24, 2008 11:30 AM | Link to this
wake forest and miami have shown that duke is beatable.tech does not have the speed of the deacons,very few teams do,but they can beat duke if they force duke to play a half court game and pound the ball inside.duke’s weakness is on the inside,as everybody knows.tech will have to take care of the ball,turnovers will kill you against duke,they are smart and run the floor well,give the ball up and you give up an easy basket.tech’s guards will have to get out on the three point shooters but the inside guys have to stay home.duke likes to spread the floor in the half court game to open lanes to he basket,so tech will have to play smart team defense.get back on defense,get the rebounds,duke is not a good rebounding team.play hard and smart,and take care of the ball and you can beat duke.
By DanRad
February 24, 2008 12:24 PM | Link to this
I have to be honest. I think the refs are picking on us. And also, all of our players have to take Calculus and other schools don’t have that requirement. So it boils down to grades and the refs. And oh, don’t forget Chan.
By GT Student
February 24, 2008 12:50 PM | Link to this
The funniest part of it it all is the way they walk around campus. If anyone were to ever see them they would be extremely surprised to know that they do not WIN!! These guys think they are amazing but all of them are having terrible seasons…Lewis, Zach, Lance—perfect examples of players with too much ego which has undoubtedly spilled over to their NONperformance on the court.
By Imanerd
February 24, 2008 2:05 PM | Link to this
Most of the athletes at Tech act like they are special and I get tired of it. Even the womens tennis team got the big heads and they lost this weekend to Georgia again. The football players act like they won the national championship. Pie really are square.
By reasonablefan
February 24, 2008 2:10 PM | Link to this
The talent is not as good as you think at Tech. Lawal is mediocre. Have you ever seen him make a shot that was not a dunk. No, cause he can’t shoot past 5 feet. He fouls incessently. Causey plays out of control and sometimes gets hot. Then throws as many away as he scores. We have no shooters and now it appears Miller has decided he will shoot it all the time. So now we have no true point guard. And next year will be worse.
By razerGT
February 24, 2008 4:38 PM | Link to this
So that light at the end of the tunnel is just a train coming our way. Great.
By Chester
February 24, 2008 6:02 PM | Link to this
Matt,
I think that the problem with our team is that we did not capitalize on the final four run. We brought in a recruiting class that has proven to me soft on defense. Morrow, Smith, Dickey are all guys that are were good recruits but not great ones. I think we should start recruiting guys who are good high school defenders because in the end you can always improve offensively. I think we also have to realize that we are not a program who can handle the lost of two big time recruits and just bring in 5 star recruits again like the dukies and north carolina’s of the world. I would assume that next year is the year to evaluate the coaching staff.
By Gee Tech
February 24, 2008 7:25 PM | Link to this
Fair weather fans. fair weather fans. fair weather fans. This team competes day in and day out and will be just fine. No, they won’t make the tourney this year, but 3 or 4 ACC road wins and two very close losses to top 5 teams are very competitive. Player development is a problem but a shake up in Hewitt’s staff is needed. But DO NOT FIRE PAUL! You are idiots if you do. This team is very young in the guard positions and I don’t care who you are, you won’t win until they grow up. And Mo Miller continues to improve. And Shumpert and Miller w/ Dickey and Lawal ain’t a bad core to work with next year. We’ll be fine.
Look at who we’ve lost to this year and where. W/ exception to the Vandy game, we’ve been very competitive and are one or two smart plays away from being in a very different position. But I know, we aren’t so fans are impatient. But stop the madness. Mike K had a few losing season before he figured things out. Paul H is capable of leading to the Final Four so give him a chance. If not, let’s just fire EVERYONE and send a message to every coach out there….who would we get to coach us then?
By basketballfan
February 25, 2008 4:07 AM | Link to this
I read all the blogs and evaluate the good comments with the not so good. The one that is scary is the fact that Hewitt has had only 1 winning ACC season out of 8. That fact had escaped me for sure. I get tired of watching the defensive lapses, giving up the easy dunk even in half court sets. No good teams do that. Tech plays very hard at times, but this year and last they have had far too many games where it looks as if they are not interested. I say one more year like this and it’s time to start over. Tech is still a great basketball school in a great conference which will make it easy to bring in a great young coach. Remember where we found Bobby C, Appalachian State.
By RAMBLE ON!
February 25, 2008 10:26 AM | Link to this
Hey coach Hewitt (I mean GEE TECH), are you forgetting the Winthrop, UNC Greensboro game, UGAG game, FSU (at home), Clemson?
…But we did have an impressive win against Ga. State…@ Georgia State!!!
I say we give you another 8 years to see if you can beat your best record of 9-7. Yes sir, keep up the great work! You got the program headed in the right direction (if you like living in the cellar).
By BobinBuford
February 25, 2008 11:20 AM | Link to this
Just a preview for next year.
Georgia Tech-bound Iman Shumpert scored a game-high 28 points to lead Oak Park, which also got solid games from Marcus Acree (10 points, all in first half), Adam Taylor (6 points) and Levelle Coppage and Bryan Bakker (5 apiece).
By GT
February 25, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this
Kind of saw the same thing in some of Cremins teams. Maybe the thrill is gone in coaching the same place for a long time. Cremiin’s teams could not rebound and could not shoot free throws. The early teams could but as the years took their toll the teams became less fundamental. I think if we had kind of waded through that process it would have been fine but we wanted to make this move. I kind of felt it was right myself but never have liked Tech since Bobby left like I liked it before. Duke has a totally obnoxious coach that exaggerates every move both in speech and action, but his players block out and hit foul shots, play tight defense. I am not sure I would not rather loose than have that but two coaches have burn out here with a lot less energy spent than the guy in Durham that out lasted both of them.