Tech takes on Georgia, loaded with local talent

By Carroll Rogers

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Coach Paul Hewitt is not shy about recruiting from in-state, but never in his 10 seasons at Georgia Tech has he had a roster with this many players from Georgia: eight. That's only three shy of the 11 in-state players on Georgia's roster.

Tuesday night, when the Yellow Jackets travel to Athens to play their archrival, a wealth of in-state talent will be on display, particularly from Tech's freshmen class.

Derrick Favors, one of the nation's top recruits out of South Atlanta, is one of five Tech freshmen from the state of Georgia, the most ever in a Tech recruiting class. He and fellow freshman Mfon Udofia (Stone Mountain) join junior Gani Lawal (Norcross) as three locals in Tech's starting lineup. Glen Rice Jr. (Marietta) comes off the bench.

Tech has a long history of standout players from the state of Georgia – James Forrest, Brian Oliver, Matt Harpring, B.J. Elder and Tony Akins -- but only three other times since 1950 has Tech had this many Georgians on one roster.

"It just kind of broke that way," Hewitt said.

Hewitt usually has a handful of players from Georgia, ranging from four to seven. This year he added Loganville's Daniel Miller (who is redshirting) late, when Miller jumped from Georgia to Tech after coach Dennis Felton was fired.

But it's not as if Hewitt has to make a concerted effort to recruit in-state. It behooves him to do so. He's got a lot of talent to choose from

"Not to get too deep, but as the population of the United States has moved from the Midwest and the Northeast down to the Southeast, it stands to reason you're going to have more talented players, more bodies playing the game," Hewitt said.

Broadcaster Mark Gottfried backed Hewitt up when he pointed out during the Georgia-Illinois broadcast, which Hewitt was watching, that 40 players in last year's NCAA tournament last year were from the state of Georgia.

Long gone are the days of the early 1980s when Bobby Cremins first arrived at Tech. He was more interested in what New York City had to offer than Sparta, Ga. But even Cremins was plucking from in-state late in his tenure at Tech.

Cremins signed two Georgia players in his first three recruiting classes at Tech. He had 30 in his last three. Those three other Tech teams since 1950 with eight or more players from Georgia all played in Cremins last three seasons at Tech (eight in 1997-98, 10 in 1998-99 and 12 in 1999-2000).

Hewitt said coaches who used to scour the Northeast when he was an assistant Fordham and Villanova are coming south.

"Georgia has become a hotbed," he said.

That's something that new Georgia coach Mark Fox is counting on, as he rebuilds Georgia's talent base. As Hewitt tells it, there's plenty to go around.

"I remember [former Georgia coach] Jim Harrick telling me my first year here, ‘There's no need for you and I to get into feuds, there are plenty of players here to go around,' " Hewitt said. "He was right."

Hewitt said more often than not, the two schools target different players. There are a few notable exceptions though, including two of the best players on the floor Tuesday night.

Trey Thompkins, the 6-foot-10 forward who leads Georgia with 15.9 points per game, was recruited by Hewitt out of Wesleyan. Hewitt still laughs about a photo Thompkins' mother showed him of Thompkins as a kid at Tech's basketball camp.

"He was about that high," Hewitt said, putting his hand to his waist. " ... with these goggles on. I would prefer if he was still about that high. I'm looking up to him now."

Fox wouldn't mind having Favors either. Favors, who is averaging 12.8 points and 8.8 rebounds, chose Tech over Georgia last January, months before Fox took over as coach.

Both schools gave Favors a chance to stay close to his Atlanta home, but it came down to math.

"[It was] just how many players they put in the NBA," Favors said.  "That was pretty much it."