Jackets fizzle again, but Radakovich in Hewitt’s corner
Georgia's Gerald Robinson drives past Tech's Daniel Miller for a layup in the second half, and the Bulldogs rallied for a 73-72 win. (AP photo)
For most of the evening, it looked like early December basketball: Missed jumpers, mistimed passes and long stretches of mediocrity interrupted by the occasional highlight.
Actually, if you flipped back the calendar a couple of weeks, it was the Georgia vs. Georgia Tech football game.
In the end, the Bulldogs won this one, too, 73-72 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The difference: a 3-pointer by the Dogs’ Dustin Ware that broke a tie with 18 seconds remaining, followed by a Tech team that looked again as if it lacked either a plan or an ability to execute thereafter.
Why would Glen Rice drive the lane for a layup with 6.8 seconds left rather than attempt to set up a three-pointer to tie it?
Why, with the Jackets inbounding the ball with 2.8 seconds left, would Brian Oliver attempt a low-percentage pass the length of the court to center Daniel Miller when there probably was time for a mid-court pass, a dribble and a shot? (The pass was intercepted by Travis Leslie.)
Neither team looked March-ready. Or even January-ready. But only one made plays to win the game, and it wasn’t the Jackets.
Georgia coach Mark Fox wasn’t thrilled with his team’s performance but said: “We feel like we’re leaving here with a good win.”
That’s more than Paul Hewitt could say. Of Oliver’s pass, he said: “Just a [bad] read. The next time he’s in that situation, he’ll make a good decision.”
But an impatient fan base isn’t allowing Hewitt much room for error. This was only the second time in 16 years since the Tech-Georgia game was shifted back on campus that the home team lost. Both times, the Dogs have won at Alexander. The last time: 10 years ago in Hewitt’s first season.
The masses aren’t happy on North Avenue. That’s when there are masses. It doesn’t speak well for the feeling around the program when there are 2,000 empty seats in a 9,000-seat arena.
But before the game, Tech athletic director Dan Radakovich stood up for Hewitt.
“We went to the finals of the ACC tournament last year,” Radakovich said. “We went to the second round of the NCAA tournament. That wasn’t a bad year.”
So you’re satisfied?
“You’re never satisfied unless you win it all,” he said. “But there was significant progress over the previous couple of years. I feel like we’re going in the right direction.”
He said he’s aware of the concern over the direction of the program, adding: “I’m not oblivious to it. But Paul and I talk an awful lot about where the program’s going the next couple of years, bringing in some players that we think will [not leave early]. One-and-dones aren’t bad if you understand them from the beginning. It’s the ones who leave when you don’t expect it that really put the program behind the eight ball.”
Three weeks ago the Jackets lost at Kennesaw State. That left the impression the program was under the eight ball, not behind it. (If the loss wasn’t humiliating enough, consider that the Owls are 0-5 since.)
Radakovich, with a slight smile: “Yeah, we hit a bump at Kennesaw State.”
A bump?
“OK, a pothole. A crevice. An iceberg.”
It pays sometime to have a sense of humor when the barbarians are at the gate. But this end-of-game fizzle won’t help Hewitt’s cause.
The teams shot a combined 25-for-62 in the first half. Georgia at least had an excuse. Leslie sat for most of the half with two early fouls. When he returned in the second half, so did some semblance of flow to the Dogs’ offense.
They made five consecutive three-pointers in one stretch. They finally took their first lead at 48-47 on a three-point shot by Sherrard Brantley with 11:36 remaining. The Jackets fought back. Effort wasn’t the issue, execution was. But that has become a familiar sight.
– By Jeff Schultz
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489 comments Add your comment
Paul Hewitt
December 8th, 2010
9:59 am
Rad: I need a raise.
dave
December 8th, 2010
9:59 am
But remember, the reason Tech doesn’t make any money is because ALL your graduates take jobs all over the world and very little live within driving distance to Atlanta…. ::wink:: ::wink::
ljsldkfjjlkjsdf
December 8th, 2010
10:00 am
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RAMBLINWRECK
December 8th, 2010
10:00 am
dawginlex
Another classy post my friend. I see you post at times on GT blogs and i don’t mind because you don’t bash our program and usually offer something positive instead of a negative. I hear what you are saying about drad using “coach speak” but he needs to be in the corner of the fan base because WE pay for everything! We are so tired with this product on the court and most GT fans have banded together as you can tell and are saying FIRE HIM or we will NEVER come back to support or pay 1 penny to this program. Plain and simple really.
I think fox will do well at georgia. We have a coach who is 30 games under .500 for gods sake lex. We are the laughing stock in the ACC really. An average road game in the ACC for us means getting blown out the gym by 20 +. Just go back and look if you don’t believe me. On a night when UGA didn’t really impress, we STILL MANAGE TO LOSE. No time outs at the end of the game as always for coach paul GUMP! I’m done and i sent drad an email that he needs to EARN HIS PAYCHECK AND FIRE THIS LOSER! GET HIM OUT OF HERE AND LET THE DOOR SLAP HIM IN HIS ASS ON THE WAY OUT! We actually pay this man for all of his terrible work. I wish i could make millions and be 30 games under .500!! DRAD, will you hire me to be a loser for 7 years and pay me hewitt’s contract? I can do what he does too!!!!!! With the best of them! Fire this man or drad should be fired himself is the way i see it. Enough is enough!
author
December 8th, 2010
10:01 am
Enter your comments here
GTFan
December 8th, 2010
10:04 am
As a GT alum, I am tired of losing sporting events to UGA. Aside from one or two baseball games, has Tech beaten UGA in any sport in the last two years? The athletic administration needs to examine where we are in relation to other programs in the state and Southeast and what a proper position should be. I recall a statement about lowered expectations from either this AD or the previous one. That has certainly been the hallmark in the recent past. We may not be able to compete in football with the big boys because of academic requirements. That is not true for basketball. Duke seems to be capable of outstanding basketball on an annual basis. The same is true for Stanford. Tech academics are on a plane with those two schools yet they routinely outperform Tech in many sports. There is a reason for that and it rests in the caliber of coaching and administrative personnel in the athletic department. It is folly to build a new basketball facility when the institution does not have the talent to fill it up.
Coach Hewitt...
December 8th, 2010
10:04 am
You don’t wanna buy me out….
Think about this… my buyout equals the gate receipts for our home games for the next 3 years “ASSUMING” that we are sold out… 5 years at 60% capacity…
Keep me around….LMMFAO…I Run This School….$7.1 million or STFU… Dave Braine said hello…Paul.
1eyedJack
December 8th, 2010
10:05 am
Ya’ll signed this guy for 7 years? Really?
Then I guess Radakovich would be the cheaper option to be fired.
Tech is Young
December 8th, 2010
10:07 am
Tech’s a very young team and can’t be expected to beat a very experienced team like UGA. In a few years, Hewitt will build the talent level back up and be able to beat UGA.
Tech sports is a joke
December 8th, 2010
10:07 am
Hey tech fans dont feel so bad because when it comes to getting robbed on campus you are still number one! See you guys arent complete losers after all! Lol lol lol thwgt
Tommy C.
December 8th, 2010
10:08 am
Another gift to the G heads. Can we get Whack Hyder back? Tech basketball once was exiting, now it is just watching poor play after poor play and turnover after turnover. No discipline equals many losses.
UGA=YAWN
December 8th, 2010
10:09 am
What would we expect Dan R to say? The Denver Broncos GM was in McDaniels’ court last week then fired him this week. Hewitt needs to be fired now – not when his contract expires. He is doing irreversible damage with every game. The longer he is here – the longer it will take us to dig out of this awful hole.
KSU best in State?
December 8th, 2010
10:11 am
So UGA barely beat a Tech team that KSU whipped…Doesn’t that make us the Basketball champs of Georgia this year with no name players!!!!?
Also, obvious that Radakovich supports Hewitt. He does not have 7,000,000 dollars to show his non-support. The few Tech folks I know want him gone but say nobody has the funds to end the brilliant contract he has. UGA in similar position with Mark Richt????
RambleOn84
December 8th, 2010
10:15 am
There used to be a thing called pride…real men, like the ones you can read about in old encyclopedias, used to only take as much as they earned.
Lyman Bostock, a former baseball player, was one baseball’s first big-money free agents. In 1978, He started off his season very poorly, hitting only about .150 for the month of April. he attempted to return his salary to his boss. Wonder how much Hewitt’s performance dictates he should return to Tech’s Athletic Department.
Ted M
December 8th, 2010
10:18 am
“not when his contract expires” Hewitt’s contract never expires literally!
UGA=YAWN
December 8th, 2010
10:18 am
The fact that there were 6700 people at the game is lost on me. Until Jacket fans stop spending their money on this program – nothing will ever change. Do me a favor Jacket fans – when they open the new arena in two years – DON’T GO!!! maybe that is what it will take to get through to DRAD.
BreakingNews
December 8th, 2010
10:18 am
Dear Techies:
Kennesaw State
UGA
maybe you guys should go for the clean sweep and play Georgia State this year too
schmeckdawg
December 8th, 2010
10:19 am
We Run AND Bounce This State!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!
Buzz
December 8th, 2010
10:19 am
:TECH IS YOUNG” are you serious!!! I can’t hear any more EXCUSES for this HORRIBLE coach!!! If RAD doesn’t FIRE him then RAD should be fired!!!!!! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!! It’s not fair to the players to have to be coached by such a BAFOON!!!!!!!!! FIRE CPH!!! FIRE CPH!!!!!! TODAY!!!!!!!
Ted M
December 8th, 2010
10:19 am
Do college BB coaches EVER get fired mid-season? I’d really like to know.
jim 70
December 8th, 2010
10:20 am
I finally understand DRad’s basketball plans. Since we need a place to play the next two years, he is keeping PH in order to reduce the attendance at our games so that he can play bball in OKeefe gym (I guess the old court at the Naval Armory is closed!) and not have to worry about having enough seats. Two hundred or less will probably be the attendance.
It seems like every game this year has had an opponent shoot a career high in three pointers. I could understand (maybe) if we had Favors/Lawal/Peacock sitting in the paint, but this year we are suppose to be small and quick. I agree with small, but quick? Especially with a coach who has been touted as being a defensive coach – because defense never has an off night!
As I have stated previously and GTBob also says – FIRE DRAD! I will predict that we will go 3-13 in the ACC if we are lucky. We haven’t done better than that other GREAT BBall school,, the other Tech. OH, I forgot, they aren’t a bball school. Then with PH, neither are we, but somehow VT can win.
GeorgePBurdell NE
December 8th, 2010
10:20 am
Send GRad and Hewitt out together!!!!
Ted M
December 8th, 2010
10:25 am
OK I googled it. The answer is yes.
By Gary Parrish
CBSSports.com Senior Writer
“Midseason firings in college basketball should only bother you if you’re a college coach or someone who still believes in a world that hasn’t existed in a long time (and perhaps never existed at all). Many still like to think of college coaches as “educators” who help “mold young men” into “student-athletes” so that they can “graduate” and “contribute to society” via a “productive life after basketball.” There are some coaches like that, I guess. God bless them. But all that stuff is secondary to recruiting high-level prospects and winning games with them, and if you don’t do that you won’t last long regardless of how many young men you graduate.’
Saint Simon
December 8th, 2010
10:28 am
UGA 42 – GT 34!!!!
UGA 73 – GT 72!!!
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHA!!!!!
WE RUN THIS STATE!!!!!
Coach Hewitt...
December 8th, 2010
10:30 am
Felton at UGA was fired mid-season & Pete Hermman finished the season in’08-’09
UGAX
December 8th, 2010
10:32 am
GT basketball is a tough gig. They play basketball in the toughest conference in the land, continuously lose players to the NBA, and have a coach that either can’t game plan or could care less because he has 7 million reasons not to care. It’s kind of like UGA football in the SEC. Toughest in the land, players leaving for the draft or jail, and a coach (who’s a good man) but seems to be more interested in other worthwhile activities outside of coaching football. GT basketball will return to its glory days when Hewitt is gone and a new coach with a little more fire comes to town.
BTW- I’m a huge UGA fan but the UGA fan base needs to lose the whole “We Run This State” comment- it’s getting old and has lost its originality. Here lately, Florida, Alabama, and Auburn have been running this state!!
Ted M
December 8th, 2010
10:33 am
Oh yeah that’s right. How could I forget that? It happened in my own back yard.
GTBob
December 8th, 2010
10:33 am
The bad news is that Hewitt will probably survive after this season just because of our weak OOC schedule. The only tough team we play OOC all year is Syracuse who we lost to. It’s very conceivable that we could win all 7 of our remaining OOC games, go 6-10 (i am being optimistic) in the ACC and finish the season with a 17-14 record. We will go to the NIT. Get beat by some other terrible team and DRad will spin it as a successful season. Then we can all come back here next year and continue the fire Hewitt campaign. Or possibly start the Fire DRad campaign.
Ted M
December 8th, 2010
10:34 am
Thanks Coach Hewitt…thought I’d never say that. lol
superDawg
December 8th, 2010
10:37 am
Tek give your tickets to the homeless so they will have a place to stay warm even for one night a week.PH can supply the food and at least do something good for society.He could be good for something.
DDog10
December 8th, 2010
10:38 am
Dan R Statement- Tech is heading in the right direction. If 2000 empty seats for at GA – GA Tech game is heading in the right direction, why waste time and money renovating the EX Thriller Dome. I was at the Tech Albany game. The cheerleaders had problems finding fans to throw tee shirts to. I figured Tech did even cover the cost of the Tee Shirts that night. Automatic rollover what a joke.
michael
December 8th, 2010
10:44 am
get rid of hewitt PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! i live on st. simons and when we tech people lose we brood at the beach with a rich old lady.
Ted M
December 8th, 2010
10:46 am
At tip-off there were only 2000 seats occupied.
UGA=YAWN
December 8th, 2010
10:46 am
Thank you UGAX for your comments. I logged on here to read all the vents from GT fans and the first 50 on the first page were ‘we run this state’ or the score. How grade school. I am glad to see you separate yourself from the 14 year olds that come in here and post that silly garbage. Their futures do not look too bright.
UGA=YAWN
December 8th, 2010
10:48 am
The box score showed 6700 for attendance. I always wondered if that was paid attendance or the actual fans that showed up?
TomB
December 8th, 2010
10:50 am
Hewitt has lost the support of GT fans and supporters. DRAD probably recognized this last season, but wasn’t in a position financially to cut ties with the coach. Cash flow is the issue, I believe. Tech will owe Hewitt around $8 million over six years if they fire him, and they are still paying Chan 1 million annually. But, things are looking better: Tech will see more money annually from the new TV contract(5-7 million annually I think), and Gailey’s contract runs out this year, so the cash flow situation is improving. DRAD will be in a better position this year to make a change.
Hewitt thinks he can change things and turn the program around, but I think he will find that it is too late. The fans have already stopped showing up(look at last night’s attendance), and supporters are screaming at DRAD every chance they get. This will eventually filter down to Hewitt’s players. They like the man, but they start to see the situation(They can read, and can see the half empty coliseum), and with every loss, they start to doubt their coach’s abilities. The result is probably a long losing stretch this year with no recovery as confidence wanes. The only way Hewitt can change things is to coach a team of lesser talent up and have a great season, but I doubt this will happen.
Everyone speaks of Hewitt as a great recruiter and how Tech will miss this if they let him go. But, I couldn’t disagree more. GT’s biggest weakness has been recruiting the one and done player without having the talent behind this player when he leaves. And, as bad as this is, the biggest weakness on the team has been the lack of recruiting a quality point since Jarrett Jack, arguably the most important position on the court. So, I disagree completely with Hewitt being the great recruiter angle on these blogs.
typical Tech fan
December 8th, 2010
10:58 am
Who cares about football and basketball anyway!!! Our R-E-A-L sport is baseball!!!!
hahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 8th, 2010
10:59 am
I hope Yech gives Hewitt and Johnson long-term extensions!!!
Coach Hewitt...
December 8th, 2010
11:11 am
GT basketball year 2050…
I can see it now, y’all gonna be sitting at home, watching (or not watching due to a broken tv) GT play basketball, thinking to yourselves, man is this Hewitt fella ever gonna leave? Guess when they said infinite contract, they meant “infinite” contract. Oh well, back to watching Fast & Furious 50, Flying car racers. LMMFAO….Paul..
Blue Fox
December 8th, 2010
11:12 am
DRad should be more concerned with the 2000 empty seats than the loss, plus ~30% of the seats that were occupied had red-clad bodies sitting in them. The team did not have a clue on how to close out the game last night, and Hewitt has lost the fan base. So if we’re legally beholden to him for the $7.1M buy-out, whether we have to scrape it up after this season or five years from now, then pull the plug before another slew of season ticket holders are lost.
Coach Hewitt...
December 8th, 2010
11:12 am
I can hear ya now….
We were young in 2049 and just needed one more year…. $7.1 million or STFU…Paul.
St. Simons in SHREVEPORT
December 8th, 2010
11:13 am
S
H
R
E
V
E
P
O
R
T
42-34
73-72
UGA runs the insect swatter in this STATE.
DScottGT91
December 8th, 2010
11:13 am
Fellow alums,
We all know about the contract, and how intractable it makes the situation. The only thing we can do is ….. not go to the games. It will be very painful to eat $7M we don’t have in the Athletic budget. If we as a fan base really want a change, we have to make the alternative to that scenario even worse. the only thing that comes to mind is having DRad look at a half-full thrillerdome for most of the season.
Coach Hewitt...
December 8th, 2010
11:16 am
The Ramblin’ Wreck Report with Coach Hewitt on WREK (91.1FM) will be airing tomorrow 6-7pm. I’ll be there but…I won’t be accepting call-in’s this week.
Can You Dig It
December 8th, 2010
11:16 am
If I were a Tech fan I’d point fingers at myself before pointing them at the coach or team….Come on man…6700 in attendance in a building that holds 10,000 agaist your in-state rival ! If you can’t even support your team at your own place for an important game what’s that say about your program…Same thing in football….the majority of the fans that fill Grant field for the UGA-Tech game are Dawg fans…its a fact. All those Tech alum in Atlanta and they won’t even show up to support thier teams…..Let’s face it Tech will always be a second tier sports school because thier fans (not the students with no money to spend) won’t even come to thier games…I’d be embarrassed if I were a Tech athlete. High school athlete’s take note….why go to a school where your own alum doesn’t even care…..Can You Dig It!
Ted M
December 8th, 2010
11:17 am
They have to pay that $7.1 mil anyway. The only thing GT has to eat is the cost of a new coach.
Paul Hewitt
December 8th, 2010
11:21 am
Xs and Os are for chumps. I am one heckuva an AAU coach!
Coach Hewitt...
December 8th, 2010
11:21 am
In case you forgot….
The agent that negotiated my contract was Mark Carmony. UGA Law 1991.
I’ve gotta remember to thank him again for his sheer brilliance. Took a lot of skill to pull it off but Mark & Dave Braine got it done for me….LMMFAO
BreakingNews
December 8th, 2010
11:21 am
Heard a caller on talk radio in Athens say he got UGA/Tech tickets last Monday and was able to get seats on the 10th row. Seriously Tech? You’re supposed to be basketball powerhouse of the state and opposing fans can get tickets on the 10th row a week before the game? You guys like slam UGA basketball and our facilities, but at least we have sold out season tickets in the lower levels. You guys truly are the joke by Coke.
juvenal
December 8th, 2010
11:22 am
chan’$ still the problem……..