Live from the ACC: I say again, Tech’s going on a run!
Standing between Tech and the Big Dance is a bad Carolina team. (Photo by M. Bradley)
Greensboro, N.C. — When I was covering Kentucky for the Lexington Herald-Leader back in 1982, a UK assistant coach named Bob Chambers used to kid me about how I kept raving about the job Don DeVoe was doing with Tennessee. (This was when Dale Ellis, the pride of Marietta High, was the Vols’ best player.) DeVoe and Ellis, Ellis and DeVoe … I admit I became a bit of a bore on the topic.
Finally Coach Chambers — a very nice man — could take no more. “Mark,” he said, “we’re going to be headed for New Orleans [site of the 1982 Final Four] and you’re going to be running behind the bus yelling, ‘What about DeVoe?’ ”
I mention this because I realize I’ve become rather repetitive on the subject of Georgia Tech’s potential. After a regular season in which the Jackets finished under .500 against ACC competition and managed one road victory in the conference, I can still – still — see Tech playing in the ACC tournament semis on Saturday. Heck, I could see the Jackets playing for the title on Sunday.
About now, you’re saying, “Are you nuts? There’s no guarantee the Jackets win tonight!” And there isn’t. But I think they do. I think they win handily. North Carolina is terrible. I know the game is in Greensboro, which is a Tar Heel city, but from what I’ve seen a lot of baby blue backers have given up on this team, and for good reason.
Me, I haven’t given up on the Jackets. They haven’t won three consecutive games since 2009 turned to 2010, but they could manage it here. They can beat Carolina — they’ve done it twice — and they nearly beat Maryland in College Park. (Tech would play the Terps on Friday if it wins tonight.) And then they could get Florida State in the semis, and the Jackets are way past due to beat the Seminoles.
Look at it this way: We all know Tech hasn’t played its best basketball to date, but we’ve seen enough glimpses to know there’s sufficient talent on this roster to get it right. And if you’re going to make a three-day run to the ACC championship game, you have to be deep. And this team is.
And with that, I’m going to go lie down on someone’s couch and have my head examined. I’ve seen the Jackets play five times in person, and only twice have they won. And still I keep waiting for this team to figure it out. It makes no sense, but there it is. I’m a nonsensical guy.
And now the floor is open for our usual live chat. I’ll be here until the game ends – I call it Tech 73, Carolina 57 — and I hope you’ll join me for all the color and pageantry of the only conference tournament that matters. (Except for the Big East. That one’s going great, huh?) I’d consider it a honor and a privilege if you’d join me.
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473 comments Add your comment
Joe
March 11th, 2010
7:39 pm
Yeah right. I picked UNC in this game. I think that I will be right.
Jacket13
March 11th, 2010
7:39 pm
Carolina wants it more! Shumphert is the worse Mcdonalds All American I have ever seen in the history of the game! He cant pass, shoot, dribble, he must have played in a church league in high school!
mmgtfan
March 11th, 2010
7:39 pm
what the hell is that
louisville slugger
March 11th, 2010
7:39 pm
This team looks %$#@$%%ing LOST on the court….
NoCoach Blewitt
March 11th, 2010
7:39 pm
So is Blewey fired during the weekend or does DRAD wait til Monday?
Scott
March 11th, 2010
7:40 pm
Fire hewitt. How about ANYONE. I’ll take a high school over this moron.
TED DOVE
March 11th, 2010
7:41 pm
on a run, out of town, out of ncaa, nit? no
NoCoach Blewitt
March 11th, 2010
7:41 pm
Phil ….. ANYBODY is a viable candidate over Blewey
mmgtfan
March 11th, 2010
7:41 pm
YOU ARE GOD AWFUL SHUMPERT!!!!!!!
Mark Bradley
March 11th, 2010
7:41 pm
Tech down 13. To a team that lost to Duke by 32 points Saturday.
Paul in RDU
March 11th, 2010
7:41 pm
Has GT made a jump shot tonight?
NoCoach Blewitt
March 11th, 2010
7:42 pm
Hell ANYTHING …… Donkey, cat, fish, parakeet it doesnt matter
GTPhenom
March 11th, 2010
7:42 pm
Hey, guess what, why is Favors getting the ball only once every 5 minutes when he has scored more than half our teams freaking points!!!!! Oh, and still, guess what? WHY CAN’T ANYONE HIT A FREAKING JUMP SHOT. Just some small points I thought I would make.
I'am sorry
March 11th, 2010
7:42 pm
but Hewitt is ^&*(& terrible. It is brutal to watch Tech BB.
Mark Bradley
March 11th, 2010
7:42 pm
Tech has not made a jump shots. Hasn’t made many shots of any sort.
NoCoach Blewitt
March 11th, 2010
7:42 pm
Yes this could not be going any better …. Pull the trigger tonight DRAD
Jacket13
March 11th, 2010
7:42 pm
Lawal is getting killed on the boards and he wants to play in the NBA………… LOL WHat a joke of a team! I so hope they miss the NCAA tourney so Hewitt can be out on his ass! I am tired of him getting a pass! He needs to be fired after this game its over Tech dosent have the heart to come back. They look soft and uninterested!
Carolina Blue
March 11th, 2010
7:43 pm
Going on a run? Bradley, the only run Tech is going on is the one out the door…..what a dope!
Mark Bradley
March 11th, 2010
7:43 pm
But the Heels aren’t making jump shots themselves. They’re working inside.
Scott
March 11th, 2010
7:43 pm
Anyone who thinks this is an ncaa team is and has been a moron for the past month. They have done NOTHING to show they belong. In fact they have shown they DON’T belong. I won’t be going to anymore tech games until Hewitt is gone.
groundfog
March 11th, 2010
7:43 pm
Pathetic embarrasment of a coach and team.
Todd
March 11th, 2010
7:44 pm
Right Mark. Unc is bad and they are blowing us out. What does that say. Wasn’t tech up 13-7?
mmgtfan
March 11th, 2010
7:44 pm
A 21-2 run
Business as Usual
March 11th, 2010
7:44 pm
Tech on the road in the ACC = losing
GTPhenom
March 11th, 2010
7:44 pm
This is terrible. Why is it that this team has no passion to win a game? They started hot, and since then, have done NOTHING> Oh, and those stats that the tube is showing is just so revealing about what is going on . . .
NoCoach Blewitt
March 11th, 2010
7:44 pm
Lets end the misery tonight DRAD …. in 2 hours
GT Fan
March 11th, 2010
7:44 pm
Mark’s 12 year old has more smarts than Hewitt…………….she picked if I remember correct about 85 % right last year in tourn.
Technophobia
March 11th, 2010
7:44 pm
They’re beating us on the boards and we can’t hit anything!
Murfreesboro Jacket
March 11th, 2010
7:44 pm
Mark, is there ANY effort by Tech on the boards?
JD
March 11th, 2010
7:44 pm
Carolina on a 17-0 run is what I heard
louisville slugger
March 11th, 2010
7:44 pm
To me, it’s simple; if your team looks lost on the court, it’s coaching. Period. I don’t give a rat’s ____ if you’re a great recruiter if you can’t coach. In this day and age, decent players will come to an ACC school. But you gotta be able to coach them. Coach Hewitt cannot.
mmgtfan
March 11th, 2010
7:45 pm
It barely went in
GTPhenom
March 11th, 2010
7:45 pm
Wait, what, did someone on our team just hit a jump shot?!? No freaking way!!!!
Todd
March 11th, 2010
7:45 pm
Way to follow your shot price. Saw the same thing against VT
Sam
March 11th, 2010
7:46 pm
No fundamentals at ALL with this IDIOT coach
Murfreesboro Jacket
March 11th, 2010
7:46 pm
No hustle.
Technophobia
March 11th, 2010
7:46 pm
Where did the D go?
GTPhenom
March 11th, 2010
7:46 pm
God, maybe they will make a comeback . . . nope, they just allow freaking fast break points every time we get any points.
Sam
March 11th, 2010
7:47 pm
Right on slugger. You nailed it. hewitt is the worst coach I have ever seen at a major college. And he has a 7 million payout. Unreal. The guy basically won the lottery cause he’s done nothing to deserve this kind of money.
groundfog
March 11th, 2010
7:48 pm
Gutless team with no heart,no character
Biff Pocoroba
March 11th, 2010
7:48 pm
I’m glad that Paul brought his wife and kids to watch him coach his last game. As long as Shump keeps shooting we wil be down 20 by the half.
Dawn
March 11th, 2010
7:48 pm
Wow we are getting killed by a 16-15 team?
GTPhenom
March 11th, 2010
7:48 pm
Hey Mark, just curious if you know what our shooting percentage is right now, seeings as we cant hit anything . . .
Tron5000
March 11th, 2010
7:49 pm
Fire Hewitt. Hire David Boyd from Milton.
NoCoach Blewitt
March 11th, 2010
7:49 pm
testing testing 1 2 1 2
Mark Bradley
March 11th, 2010
7:49 pm
Tech’s starting to play again, folks. Don’t give up on these guys.
GT Fan
March 11th, 2010
7:49 pm
Maybe the players will just do it on there own. Get mad and kick ass.
GTPhenom
March 11th, 2010
7:49 pm
So, why exactly is Mo Miller not a starter over Shumpert? That guy knows how to spread the ball around. Shumpert just takes air balls.
Technophobia
March 11th, 2010
7:50 pm
We’re an NCAA team for about 15 minutes every game. The other 25 we stink.
Innocent Bystander
March 11th, 2010
7:51 pm
I dunno, Mark. Tech is looking sloppy again. Amazing that these guys beat Duke.