Live from the Stegasaurus: Hewitt looks to break a drought
Paul Hewitt just can't understand what happens in Athens. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
Athens — Paul Hewitt has beaten Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. (Once, but it was a big “once.” In 2004.) He has beaten No. 1 UConn in Madison Square Garden. He has beaten a North Carolina team that would win the 2005 NCAA championship in the ACC tournament. He has taken Georgia Tech to the national championship game. But there’s one thing he hasn’t yet managed.
He hasn’t beaten Georgia at the Stegasaurus.
Which makes no sense. The Jackets who beat Duke at Duke and who played for the NCAA title came here in January 2004 and lost in overtime to a band of Bulldogs that didn’t qualify for the Big Dance. (Tech fans maintain to this day that the refs won — or lost — that game.) Three other times Hewitt has come to Stegeman Coliseum and left a loser.
He’s 4-1 against Georgia at home, but that doesn’t say much since Georgia has been in flux for more than a decade. (Mark Fox is the Bulldogs’ sixth coach — seventh if you count interim man Pete Herrmann — since Hugh Durham was fired in 1995.)
Having seen both sides in person — having seen Tech lose to Florida State and Georgia beat Illinois — I can imagine no way the drought doesn’t end tonight. Georgia has one player (Trey Thompkins) who would crack Tech’s 10-man rotation. Tech might well be the most gifted team in the ACC, which means you’re by definition among the most gifted teams in the land. But the Jackets, as we know, can do some strange things.
And now, a metaphysical question: If a drought is broken and nobody’s watching, does it count? I’m guessing 99 percent of Hewitt’s target audience will be watching another game — Thrashers at Penguins — tonight. (Kidding about Thrashers-Penguins, don’t you know.) And I figure Tech winning here won’t matter much to Jacket fans if the football team doesn’t do likewise at Land Shark Stadium.
But they’re going to play this one nonetheless, and I’ll be here to watch, report and converse with anyone who cares deeply about the lost art of repartee. Join me between Orange Bowl commercials, won’t you? Please?
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500 comments Add your comment
bjfussell
January 5th, 2010
9:21 pm
i bet russ was in the building
ICMIII
January 5th, 2010
9:22 pm
Gonna lose the Orange Bowl too. What a great showing from our friends on The Flats.
thunderstruck
January 5th, 2010
9:22 pm
73-66 hahahahahaha
BravesFan79
January 5th, 2010
9:23 pm
Anyone else tired of all these black players who are “all americans” but cant cant SHOOT , or DRIBBLE, and have TERRIBLE Basketball IQ?? You should not be “all american” anything just because u can jump high and dunk. I respect that UGA actually has some white players on their team who they give a chance. That white dude killed us at the end. Hey…. Hewitt… u need some SHOOTERS… everyone knows white pple can shoot better and are more clutch!! The Duke game might get embarassing they have so many white dudes that can shoot the 3.
That said, i still believe GT will get to the tourney. Im starting to loose all faith in Hewitt tho. He should of swallowed his pride, and brought in some TOP named assistants over the summer!
Floundering Fox Hounds Batman!
January 5th, 2010
9:23 pm
Iowa is blowing Tech off the line of scrimmage
Jeckyll Island
January 5th, 2010
9:23 pm
73-66!!!!
73-66!!!!
73-66!!!!
73-66!!!!
73-66!!!!
73-66!!!!
73-66!!!!
73-66!!!!
The Georgia Bulldogs whipped GA Tech in basketball!!!!
30-24!!!!
30-24!!!!
30-24!!!!
30-24!!!!
30-24!!!!
The Dawgs also whipped GA Tech in football!
It looks like the Georgia Bulldogs are GA Tech’s DADDY!!!!!
Read it and weep termites!
30-24!!!!
BoatRacer
January 5th, 2010
9:23 pm
Well, so much for the vaunted recruits at Tech. Either they can’t play or Hewitt can’t coach. Maybe it’s both. Tonights game was pitiful.
Bride of Chucky Knapp
January 5th, 2010
9:24 pm
Seriously though, Tech is more of a football school.
bjfussell
January 5th, 2010
9:24 pm
whens baseball start
Floundering Fox Hounds Batman!
January 5th, 2010
9:24 pm
Sack by Tech
midtown
January 5th, 2010
9:24 pm
Well the genius at the Coliseum on 10th street has struck again.
Folks we have problems and with his contact he is ours for as long as HE
wants to be. HE must go. Please look at the differences in talent and tell
me this guy can coach.HELP,HELP,HELP!!!!!!!!
BE#3
January 5th, 2010
9:24 pm
Just like football…………
Floundering Fox Hounds Batman!
January 5th, 2010
9:25 pm
Iowa shooting itself in ther foot
JM
January 5th, 2010
9:25 pm
Georgia finally has a real coach, boys. Let the good times roll.
Sick
January 5th, 2010
9:25 pm
Fire Hewitt tonight. I am a season ticket holder and sick of this crap. I have sold the rest of my tickets Drad. Not renewing next year.
WSP Dawg
January 5th, 2010
9:25 pm
ROFL
bjfussell
January 5th, 2010
9:25 pm
mark are you in shock
Clay
January 5th, 2010
9:25 pm
What sport would you like to try next, GA Tech? UGA runs this state!
boots
January 5th, 2010
9:26 pm
BravesFan79. I am guessing you are 79 years old with this kind of crap post. We lost the war, and your ideas are one step out of the Klan. I’m pretty sure your own intelligence is on the lower end of things. Not sure if you were trying to be funny or just an idiot.
Fan Of Larry Bird
January 5th, 2010
9:26 pm
Congrats to UGA….This Fox looks like he can coach….Tech gets to regroup against Duke….It is a bad sign when a team with so many future NBA players (Lawal, Favors, Shumpert and probably others) can’t rise to the occasion against its in-state rival…Mark, do you still see Tech making The Dance and making a deep run? Hard to see it at this point.
Clay
January 5th, 2010
9:27 pm
Come on, Iowa, let’s make the Joke by Coke 0-2 tonight!
BravesFan79
January 5th, 2010
9:28 pm
Bradley, why did Hewitt not try and bring Keener back? or that other assistant they lost after 2004/5. Hewitt reminds me of a football coach who has great offensive/ defensive coordinators…. and then looses them and gets exposed as a poor coach who is 2 proud to bring in real help.
CulaDawg
January 5th, 2010
9:28 pm
HA HA Tech will be 2 time losers tonight!!
Go Dawgs
leedawg
January 5th, 2010
9:29 pm
“I can’t imagine Tech losing to this Georgia team, Coach Willie.” Guess you better put your imagination back to work, Bradley. I’m guessing Yech fans will be calling for Hewitt’s head now. Go Dawgs!!
ryc30078
January 5th, 2010
9:30 pm
Whats the excuse now Paul Hewatt? You have the #1 class in America develop an offsensive strategy you idiot!! what do Derrick Favors do in practice? He has no offensive game besides dunking the ball. As usual Tech has no clue what ot do on offensive; two supposedly 1st rounders in the post; yet the offensive doesn’t go to the low post!! Will tech ever force the tempo against any oppoenent? This team reminds of the Chris Bosh led team that went nowehere because of subpar coaching!
Bradley's Brain
January 5th, 2010
9:30 pm
Make that 0-4. LMAO! Go Dawgs. Only thing more pathetic than Tech’s basketball and football programs are the bush league journalists who overtly opine for elusive wins over Georgia. Too funny.
Bride of Chucky Knapp
January 5th, 2010
9:31 pm
Now we’ll definitely land Kirby Smart!
Floundering Fox Hounds Batman!
January 5th, 2010
9:32 pm
Tech punts for the 5th time only 1 first down
Pi$$onaNerd
January 5th, 2010
9:32 pm
Hi. How is everyone on this cool night?
Ozzy
January 5th, 2010
9:32 pm
Paul Hewitt is the best coach I’ve ever seen.
bjfussell
January 5th, 2010
9:32 pm
Enter your comments here
jp
January 5th, 2010
9:33 pm
once again proves no one at the AJC sports section should have a job. The talent at AJC is sub par at best. I could have predicted that this would be at least a close game and Georgia should have upper hand playing at home. Mark Bradley should be working for the Augusta Chronicle and not the Atlanta Journal.
Ozzy
January 5th, 2010
9:33 pm
Just kidding.
Phew is 4-6 against Georgia. Georgia for God’s sake.
Fire him tonight Dan. Good Lord!
bjfussell
January 5th, 2010
9:35 pm
73-66!!!!!!!!!
Floundering Fox Hounds Batman!
January 5th, 2010
9:35 pm
Willie where are you ?
The Dude
January 5th, 2010
9:35 pm
Mark,
You haven’t eaten so many words tonight you shouldn’t have an appetite for a week. When you are going to learn to stop speaking in absolutes? Never under estimate the DAWGS when they play Tech….in anything. We simply show up any time we play them. Be it basketball, football, baseball…even chess if we have a team.
Amazing that that they even let you in the Steg.
Ozzy
January 5th, 2010
9:36 pm
Trade you Hewitt for Fox and we’ll throw in a first round draft pick.
UGADawg
January 5th, 2010
9:36 pm
I am glad to finally have a real basketball coach. It is obvious that this team is constantly improving and should be able to do a little damage in the SEC this year. I look forward to the time when UGA has a basketball program to match the football program. Go Dawgs!
LJ of UGA
January 5th, 2010
9:37 pm
Mark Bradley
January 5th, 2010
7:01 pm
I can’t imagine Tech losing to this Georgia team, Coach Willie.
HEY, MARK, CAN YOU IMAGINE IT NOW??
Frank
January 5th, 2010
9:37 pm
Fox can coach. No doubt about it. Unfortunately for the Techies, Hewitt is one of the worst coaches in college basketball. It’s mind-blowing how awful he is at everything except recruiting and suit selection.. Even this freshman class fails to make him look good. But hey, at least Hewitt’s contract doesn’t roll over every year….oh, wait, it does. Ouch.
Lewis
January 5th, 2010
9:37 pm
Mark, you sure are prophetic. You could not have been more wrong. An undermanned Dawgs team prevails against, and I will use your words,”the most talented team in the ACC.”
To Hell with Tech and everything associated with that University.
Thanks, Lewis Grizzard
UGADawg
January 5th, 2010
9:39 pm
Go away BravesFan79
Floundering Fox Hounds Batman!
January 5th, 2010
9:41 pm
Tech punts for the 6 th time
boots
January 5th, 2010
9:43 pm
BravesFan79, what the hell are you talking about? This is a blog about college basketball, not African genocide. I’m hardly a liberal political correctness nut, but I’m not like you either. I don’t think evil is particular to any one race. Now, just shut up and let me enjoy the Dawgs win.
DawgNationRules
January 5th, 2010
9:45 pm
Amen, boots. BravesFan, you are a moron. Go back to the skinhead blogs.
Ted Striker
January 5th, 2010
9:47 pm
BravesFan79 @ 9:23 p.m. — A basketball doesn’t know the skin color of the fellow dribbling and shooting it. It bounces the same for everyone. Your racial comments are off-base and you should be ashamed.
Good job, coach.....
January 5th, 2010
9:56 pm
now make many Tech fans happy and just stay in Athens….
Brunswick-Tech
January 5th, 2010
10:03 pm
Ga Tech needs a new coach…..thats all there is to it. FIRE HIM NOW!!!!!!!!!!!! no matter what it cost
Sick
January 5th, 2010
10:09 pm
PJ will adjust in the 2nd half. Hewitt has not adjusted in 9 years. Fire him now.
Dave Braine
January 6th, 2010
9:05 pm
Fire Paul Hewitt