Tech’s out of the Top 25, but it’s not yet on the bubble
Paul Hewitt to Iman Shumpert: "Please take me to the dance." (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
I keep hearing folks say Georgia Tech is in danger of missing of the NCAA tournament. It isn’t yet. Should the Jackets lose every game from here on, they won’t make it. But they won’t lose every game. (I feel very confident about this.)
Tech’s RPI is 29. If you’re a team from a major conference and you’re in the top 30, you’re a lock. (Yes, even if you go 7-9 in league play, which could happen. The Jackets are 5-6.) In his latest installment of Bracketology on ESPN.com, Joe Lunardi has Tech as a No. 9 seed, which isn’t bad for a team that has lost three of four.
Forget the Associated Press and coaches’ polls. They don’t register with the NCAA committee. (Good thing, since Tech just dropped out of both. In the former, it received only one 25th-place vote.) As esteemed former colleague Mark Schlabach notes in ESPN’s Bubble Watch :
“Tech seems to be in OK shape. The Jackets have five wins over RPI top-50 teams (Duke, Wake Forest, Siena, Clemson and Charlotte) and are 7-8 against RPI top-100 foes. But Tech can’t afford to lose the games it is supposed to win down the stretch, starting with Tuesday’s home game against defending national champion North Carolina. The Yellow Jackets play at Maryland on Saturday and play at Clemson on March 2. They could use another road victory before Selection Sunday.”
Tech could stand to win on the road, sure. It would also behoove the Jackets to win a game in the ACC tournament. But as long as they win their three home games — Carolina and Boston College are terrible, but Virginia Tech is playing well — they’ll make it. Since they don’t play anyone ranked ahead of them, their RPI doesn’t stand to rise or fall much from here.
But there is one major negative to all this. The lower your seed, the worse your chances. Back to Lunardi’s bracket: He has Tech meeting Illinois in Round 1, and Tech would beat the Illini on inside power alone. (Georgia upset both teams, as you probably know.) But look who would be waiting in Round 2.
Kansas. The best team in the country. In Oklahoma City.
It was six years ago that the Jackets beat KU in overtime in St. Louis to qualify for the Final Four. But that was then. (And the Jackets were a No. 3 seed to the Jayhawks’ No. 4.) If Tech plans to stay long in the Big Dance, it needs to work its way up to a No. 7 or even a No. 6 seed. Otherwise it’s looking at one win, max.
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170 comments Add your comment
Jackets2010
February 15th, 2010
3:21 pm
Jarvis Hayes was such a good player I even admired him and started to pull for Uga a little.
Ah but Adams panics when his hire gets in trouble and no post season.
Such a shame.
PMC
February 15th, 2010
3:24 pm
save us the trouble make them a 16 seed they can play a real team the first weekend like Kentucky or Kansas get blown off the court and then we can take up a collection.
Jackets2010
February 15th, 2010
3:28 pm
One good thing for Tech’s future.
DRAD is ten times more popular with us than Adams is with Dawg fans.
Jackets2010
February 15th, 2010
3:30 pm
Maybe guys we ought to chill and let the season play out and DRAD take care of it.
He has a handle of Tech’s finances that most of us can just guess at.
Tech in the Tournament?
February 15th, 2010
3:42 pm
Atlanta isn’t one of the hosting sites so Tech better learn to win on the road quickly
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
February 15th, 2010
3:43 pm
What do tech students use for Birth Control? Their personalities
Vince "The Crook" Dooley
February 15th, 2010
3:45 pm
FIRE PAUL HEWITT NOW!
Alabama Jack
February 15th, 2010
3:47 pm
Lock up your sheep. dawg fans in the area.
79
February 15th, 2010
3:51 pm
“..Lawal, Favors, Bell and Peacock — are gone…” MB
0-16 in ACC next year whether it’s Hewitt or John Wooden.
There won’t be 6,000 people at the UNC game
Yawn—Who cares?
T3
February 15th, 2010
3:51 pm
What ACTUALLY happens at practice ?? What do they work on ??
This team appears to PLAY UP OR DOWN to the level of competition.
We lose to uga. Then 4 days later, beat Duke by 4 in Game 1. Then lose to Duke by 19 in Game 2.
We lose to cellar-dweller Miami, and almost choke against co-cellar dweller NC State.
We pound Wake by 21 in Game 1, and get smoked by Wake by 11 in Game 2.
If CPH’s goal is to get to the NCAA with a #12 seed, it’s working.
Why such a wretched road record ??
79
February 15th, 2010
3:53 pm
Yawn—- Who cares?
Pie in the Sky
February 15th, 2010
4:06 pm
I must be delusional, eternally optimistic or a sadist because I’m going to watch the game tomorrow night. I’d liked to see us play a good game and win but it’s like watching NASCAR and waiting for the crashes. If we can make free throws and cut down on the sloppy passes which lead to turnovers and rebound offensively and defend the inbound pass and . . . Man, there seems to be long list of needed improvements for half way thru February. Oh well, at least it’s a late game so my wife will be asleep and not have to listen to me after the game.
homer
February 15th, 2010
4:06 pm
Like most people here I agree that Hewitt has done a poor job but I also think a big part of the GT poor season (or fan disappointment) stems from the performances of some very over-rated players. Examples: Who decided Lawal is NBA material? This guy has no jump shot from as close as 8 feet and struggles to get the ball and do anything in the post. He is a disaster when he tries to put the ball on the floor. For these reasons, he totally disappears in some games even against mediocre competition. If he makes an NBA roster (after another year at Tech) he may sit on someone’s bench for a year or two. Derrick Favors is a great example of the poor job recruiting services do in evaluating players. Maybe some NBA team wants to draft him for a “future” project since big guys are scarce. His post “moves” usually include a dribble turnover, or a travel as he tries to figure out some way to throw up a shot. He should stay in college at least two more years and hope he can develop some kind of game. The other “walking turnover machine” on this team is Shumpert. He has had one good game in 2 years at Tech, so I guess you could call that luck. This guy is not a player. It’s nice of Hewitt to play Bell since he came back after the back problem, but both Rice and Oliver are better players, and should be in more than Bell. Moe Miller is also under utilized. Udofia can become a good player but should have played less this year rather than play a lot and lose confidence.
These guys are quite a burden for a team to try and overcome and play with any consistency.It may be that Hewitt’s biggest failing is in not recognizing the shortcomings of his so-called “stars”, and thus not getting his best line-up on the court for most of the game. If you define “talent” as looking good getting off the bus or in warm-ups, you can call Tech a “talented” team. I think, in fact, their “talent” is greatly over-rated, and their record is just about what you should expect from this bunch. Just my opinion.
nolarw
February 15th, 2010
4:07 pm
Tech has not played “tough” this year.
Favors has not played up to expectations. Gets in foul trouble easily, and doesn’t appear to play with much enthusiasm.
Nonstop substitutions does not lead to any cohesiveness. Often in close games the best players are on the bench. Peacock and Oliver ought to be starting.
Can’t make free throws.
Turnover City.
Intimidate easy. An opposing team can press, and Tech wilts. Can’t get the ball in bounds. Call a time out and run the same in bounds play continually.
Play to the level of competition. Play well against good teams and lose the games they are supposed to win.
Don’t play well down the stretch. Don’t know how to finish games.
Hewetts job security.
No Confidence
February 15th, 2010
4:13 pm
I hereby request a vote of no confidence in Blewitt. Maybe the supreme chancellor “D-RAD” can coach them for a few years until Mr. Contract is paid off.
Bob in SF
February 15th, 2010
4:24 pm
As usual Hewitt will have a just good enough season to keep his job, then stink next year while somehow managing pull in yet another good recruiting class of “one and done” prospects leaving GT basketball mired in perpetual mediocrity.
His teams play with no offensive cohesiveness or apparent planning and continually make mistakes of inexperience and poor coaching.
Mr. Radakovich, you decided break even was not enough in the football program, please make the same decision for basketball soon.
Dawglasville
February 15th, 2010
4:24 pm
Jackets2010- The “DRAD” thing is a little creepy. We will lose Fox too because we refuse to show a commitment to the program.
Alabama Jack- Stop being paranoid. Just because you spent Valentine’s with your sister doesn’t mean your sheep will be unfaithful.
Angus
February 15th, 2010
4:36 pm
Lunardi’s got Tech beating out Virginia for the last of 7 ACC slots. That’s not so improbable – Virginia has 7 left (4 away and Duke, FSU, & Maryland at home). If they both finish 7-9, Tech will get in first. However, I’m not sure the ACC gets 7 this year.
Tuesday night at home vs UNC appears to be a must-win for Tech.
GT
February 15th, 2010
4:37 pm
Hewitt is like Gailey all over again, except I think Gailey could coach he just took early retirement on us collecting checks and mailing it in, Hewitt can recruit but he must promise everybody so much playing time. You get the feeling as long as these kids get to play they don’t care how the game itself turns out, it is all calculated for them to audition for the next level. At Carolina or even Duke you see a pride in the college on their jerseys, players return, there is a love for the place. It use to be that way with Cremins. When he thought of going to South Carolina there was a table full of ex players in town, I saw them at Houston’s on West Paces Ferry that night, all back in town to talk Bobby into staying with Tech. You think you will see that with Hewitt?
GTMAN:k,
February 15th, 2010
4:41 pm
Hey Mar
GTMAN:k,
February 15th, 2010
4:41 pm
Hey Mar
RAMBLE ON!!!
February 15th, 2010
4:42 pm
OK, think about this. There has to be one coach in Men and Women Sports who is the worst in the NCAA.
I submitt, Paul Hewitt.
One and done is this teams future.
Gordon
February 15th, 2010
4:42 pm
That Kansas win 6 years ago was the most expensive in Tech history. A great party that came with a 6 year hangover.
GTMAN:
February 15th, 2010
4:43 pm
Sorry Mark, as I can’t type. I am like most UGA grads. Anyway, is UGA going to make it into the NCAA’s? I mean they are 11-11 and last in the SEC, that ought to get them in. LOL> THWG!
Supersize that order, mutt
February 15th, 2010
4:46 pm
What good would fast breaks do us? Instead of driving the lane for a layup, they pull up and hoist a brick. First few minutes of the Duke game in Atlanta, the Jackets had 4 fast breaks and came away with one point. They don’t know how to make layup shots. In short, they just suck, and I am almost to the point of hoping we lose out and end the misery.
Buzz Buzz
February 15th, 2010
4:50 pm
At least we used to be able to say we were a basketball school when we got trounced during football season.
Now we can’t, thanks to loser CPH.
I guess we’ll have to tout our superiority at dungeons and dragons and forget about athletics altogether.
Scoreboard
February 15th, 2010
4:52 pm
7
3
t
o
6
6
Technophobia
February 15th, 2010
4:53 pm
Mark, how confident are you that both Favors and Lawal will go next year. Yeah, Favors is a lottery pick but all the “mock drafts” I have seen show Lawal as going in the low 20’s. If he stayed he’d be “the man” down low with plenty of shooters to kick out to or draw pressure off of him. Probably wishful thinking but if one of them stayed we’d have a pretty balanced and experienced team.
Tony
February 15th, 2010
4:53 pm
Not on the bubble yet, but suds are rising! I have been a Tech fan in all sports for as long as I can remember. First of all, this is not the most talented team in Institute history. Maybe the article was written to generate a lot of feedback, but this team doesnt even compare to those which had future NBA point guards at the helm…and to boot, the likes of Ferrell, Scott, Hammonds, Salley, Joseph, B. Oliver, Harpring, the Barry’s, Dalrymple, Neal…etc. Should I say more. As they say on ESPN, “come on man!” What is lacking with the Yellow Jackets is consistency and that competitive fire that only can be generated from coaches. I like Coach Hewitt, but has he become complacent? The Jackets have a great team, and should not be outplayed and coached by Georgia, FSU (2), Miami, Wake Forest, and Virginia. Tech is much better than these teams. They desperately need a season sweep headed into the ACC tourney, and subsequent NCAA’s. A poor showing in the ACC tourney would indicate a sincere look at a coaching change. May I suggest Mike Anderson (long overdue for a big time team). Otherwise, Tech is in jeopardy once again of losing some key players in the off season, and then right back to square one. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. Coach Hewitt, I am pulling for you to regain that competitive fire of old!
GT Fan
February 15th, 2010
4:56 pm
Fire Paul Hewitt asp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
T3
February 15th, 2010
5:09 pm
I wonder if CPH is the only D-1 B-Ball HC that has an automatic roll-over in his contract.
If so, if would have to make Dave “Sh** for Braines”, the stupidest AD in history.
Jeff
February 15th, 2010
5:10 pm
Hewitt needs to bring in an assistant who can install the Princeton. One and dones will avoid Tech like the plague and bring some form of consistency to the overall program. Shooters will be attracted and actually improve in all areas if taught correctly. Similar to what the football program has done, gimmicky yes, but if taught and installed correctly, difficult to prepare for. Translated, wins. Go get Kevin Carroll from the Air Force Academy.
protest
February 15th, 2010
5:17 pm
@jeffc 2:49 How DARE you slam Jarret Jack by comparing Udofia and Shumpert to him!
techster
February 15th, 2010
5:30 pm
I do not have it in me to care about this mess much longer to even be encouraged enough to comment but instead of the would of..could of..should of..articles, Mark, why do you not sit down with DRAD and get the real scoop of what in God’s name is going on
GIVE ME A BREAK
February 15th, 2010
5:33 pm
Good point about recruiting damage. Why go to GT only to be coached down. Sounds like what Richt is doing at UGA. What a shame.
neil marlowe
February 15th, 2010
6:09 pm
I’ve seen three games on TV and have yet to see Favors get the ball 12-15 feet out and make a move to the basket. All he does is hit layups on the front end of a fast break. I don’t think I have ever seen a tech recruit fail to live up to expectations as Favors. And how can we forget the
Wake game – four points!! Are you kidding me?!?!? This years tech team is a bunch of overrated kids with a poor coach.
Gold Jacket
February 15th, 2010
6:32 pm
Favors… someone needs to get the kid about 5 redbulls. I think we will be better next year…
I hope.
Old School
February 15th, 2010
7:03 pm
I ridiculed the Dawg fans this past fall for all their vitriol spewed at Mark Richt. Considering his record year in and year out in the toughest football conference in the US of A, I could not believe some of the derogatory comments made by many UGA fans.
And then….I, a Tech fan for more than 50 years, have found myself writing even worse diatribes against Paul Hewitt. Is there a difference? I think so. Richt has averaged 10 wins a year since he came to Athens, won the schools’s first SEC title in more than 20 years and consistently been ranked among the nation’s top teams. What has Hewitt done? Taken one team to the Final Four and then absolutely zilch with more than decent talent for six conseutive seasons!
And this year is the nadir of all the last six seasons! Hewitt has taken arguably the best talent he has had during his entire tenure at Tech and in the weakest top to bottom ACC in years he is going to floor what will undoubtedly be a sub.500 team in conference play, and in all probability be a “one and done” in the ACC Tournament.
And the prospects for 2010-2011? If Hewitt can’t win with these players— although I don’t think they are nearly as good as Mark Bradley continues to espouse– what is he going to do next year with all these so-called studs gone!?!?!
Even if Tech does get a shot in the Big Dance, Radokovich still needs to get rid of Paul Hewitt. If Hewitt is given yet another roll-over year after this season’s mess, then what will it take for the Powers-that-Be at Georgia Tech to say “enough is enough.” Like the old saying: the definition of insanity (fiscal or competitive) is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
It’s getting old folks.
Dan
February 15th, 2010
7:51 pm
Still going with Tech outlasting Duke in the NCAAs?.
Mark Bradley
February 15th, 2010
8:03 pm
Yes, Dan. Thanks for asking.
louisville slugger
February 15th, 2010
8:06 pm
Hewitt is a great recruiter, but that’s it. He is lousy at teaching fundamentals, lousy at X’s and O’s, and lousy as a game coach. Call me old school (with apologies to Old School), but I’d rather root for a team without the McD All-Americans who play as a team and are fundamentally sound. In other words, it’s time to seriously consider a coaching change.
MB, you’ll be glad to know that Oldham County got 6-8 inches of snow today, don’t you miss Louisville??
J
February 15th, 2010
8:11 pm
From a UGA perspective….Recently, I attended the GT vs UGA Basketball game. As the game unfolded, I was shocked at how poorly-coached GT looked. As I was watching the game I had to remind myself that GT had all McDonald’s All-Americans while we had one go-to guy with a collection of roster players? Months later, Coach Fox looks like a steal while CPH looks like his best days are behind him.
louisville slugger
February 15th, 2010
8:18 pm
J, I agree, I think UGA did well with Coach Fox. That’s my point precisely, UGA has been more fun to watch this year than GT (and you have no idea how painful that is for me to say…).
RussThePaintedMascot
February 15th, 2010
8:24 pm
Hewitt has us sitting on the bubble in porcupine pants. We must assume he is already history, and it’s time to start scoping out possible replacements.
Paul Hewitt's Wife
February 15th, 2010
8:30 pm
pay my Hubby the money, and we will gladly leave…..and also take the money as a token of our appreciation………….
Phil The Cucumber
February 15th, 2010
8:36 pm
Don’t even want to win any more games this year. Anything that gives the AD hope or encouragement is not in the program’s long-term interests.
GT/Falcons fan
February 15th, 2010
9:06 pm
Where u think CPH ends up after this year…im thinkin hes done unless he wins ACC tourney and makes Sweet 16. there are now NO supporters of PEEEHUWET on the blogs anymore D Rad has to know….Im thinkin Ga State or maybe even Albany State
RAMBLE ON!!!
February 15th, 2010
9:09 pm
UNC will have the home court advantage tomorrow night.
Phewitt will scratch his head and wonder way (like last year).
messin with sasquatch
February 15th, 2010
9:09 pm
mark, you gotta be lovin this. as for me and my tech fund money, think it’s going to the fox theater til order is restored.
Jo Bling
February 15th, 2010
9:11 pm
I’m just completely blown away by the argument posed in this blog post by Mark Bradley. Tech’s not on the bubble? Oh, really?
Last time I checked, Tech was in eighth position in the ACC. I can’t see any circumstance under which eight ACC teams are going to be invited to the Dance. So, even if we accept your dubious premise that they’ll somehow improve their position, by what reasoning does that not make them on the bubble now? RPI doesn’t make a bit of difference when you are in eighth place!