Tech leaves us wondering how much it might have done
D'Andre Bell's postmortem on his Yellow Jackets : "We were just inconsistent." (AP photo)
Milwaukee – Elbows on knees, a scowling Iman Shumpert bent forward in his chair. Someone asked if Ohio State was better than Georgia Tech. “Not at all,” Shumpert said.
So: Was Tech better than Ohio State? Said Shumpert, almost spitting the words: “A lot better.”
Judge these teams 1-10 and there’s no comparison. Brad Sheehan, Tech’s 10th man, was pressed into service Sunday and contributed a three-point play. Ohio State deployed only seven men, and its two reserves worked a total of 13 minutes. (Brian Oliver, Tech’s eighth man, played 16.) But college basketball isn’t a draft lottery, and it isn’t a beauty contest. It’s a matter of what coach can take talent and mold it into a team.
Paul Hewitt spoke this season of his Jackets having a “high ceiling.” They altered our perception of them as rank underachievers with a stirring run in the ACC tournament and a Round 1 NCAA dismissal of Oklahoma State, but in the end that ceiling remained untouched. This team took Hewitt back to the Big Dance for the first time since 2007, but with three McDonald’s All-Americans was that the ultimate goal? Just to make an appearance?
Said D’Andre Bell: “We were inconsistent. At certain points we showed how great we can be.”
A great team would have beaten Ohio State on Sunday. As strange as it sounds, there was a clear imbalance of talent between the No. 2 seed and the No. 10. Tech had the three best big men this day, and yet Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors got called for the fouls that changed the game. Jacket fans will complain forever about the officiating, but here’s the thing: With no Ohio State post presence to defend, Tech’s post players still fouled. How? Why?
The Buckeyes left the door open almost all game: They fell eight points behind early and gave back 11 points off a 15-point lead late, and they missed six free throws and made 18 turnovers (to Tech’s 21). Evan Turner scored 24 points but needed 19 shots to do it, and his nine rebounds and nine assists were undercut by nine turnovers.
But Tech didn’t lead over the final 22 1/2 minutes because it could never punish the Buckeyes, who essentially start four guards, and when the Jackets’ offense crumbled the game became a flurry of Ohio State fast breaks and transition treys. If it wasn’t easy for the Buckeyes, it was never as hard as it coulda/shoulda been.
So much awaited Tech if it could have upset Ohio State. The Midwest Regional would then have been without its No. 1, 2 and 3 seeds, and nobody in St. Louis — not even Michigan State — would have matched the Jackets on manpower. Asked if Tech could have reached the Final Four, Derrick Favors said: “I think we could have. But we ended up losing this game.”
Loading ...Thus do we take our leave of the most gifted team in Institute annals. If its legacy won’t be of utter failure — it did reach the ACC finals and win a game in the Big Dance, both accomplishments Tech hadn’t managed since 2005 — neither did it approach its potential. It finished seventh in a diluted ACC, seventh with a losing conference record. It lost to Georgia. It made the NCAA as a 10th seed and was gone on the first weekend.
Said Hewitt: “We got to the [NCAA] tournament, and that’s a really major accomplishment. I think our guys played really hard and were really unlucky at times, but their effort never wavered. We had a great year.”
Then, perhaps realizing he’d oversold his case, Hewitt said: “A very good year.”
Actually, it was neither. It was a B-minus season. If losing 13 games with Favors and Lawal and Shumpert is a “great” — or a “very good” — year, standards need to be recalibrated. Hewitt can and will endeavor to put the sunniest of faces on this season, but the empty looks in his locker room Sunday told a different story.
The Jackets knew how much they had and how far they might have gone. Sad to say, this team of vast promise was done playing before it really got going.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
481 comments Add your comment
GTman:
March 21st, 2010
7:33 pm
RomeDawg; Again your team looked awesome today as they gave each thers BJ’s, coz UGAG suxs so bad you weren’t even invited to the NCAA’s or the crappy NIT. Last in the SEC! Get a life and go to the varisty for a real dog, if you can get yours outta your mouth. THWG!
DCDUKE FAN
March 21st, 2010
7:34 pm
STOP IT! Every article about Tech is how great their talent is and how they are sooooooo much better than every team they lose to. You write that article once and its Ok. You write it after two loses it becomes a bit specious. You write it three times, you begin to look like an unrepetant homer. You write it four, five, six, seven times you just look like you arent paying attention.
Talent does NOT equal potential or athleticism. Talent has to do with who plays basketball–a team game, its worth noting–better. For that word to mean anything (and for “better team” to mean anything) it has to be tied to results, which is the one thing this amazing, stupendous, world-beating Tech team hasnt achieved.
Several times this year you wrote that, despite Tech losing 2 of 3 to Duke and finishing six games behind Duke and Maryland in the ACC regular season, Tech would get further in the tourney. Do you have to give your salary back for the many, many days you wrote those words?
Technophobia
March 21st, 2010
7:35 pm
So what will the expectations be for next year? What would you all consider a good year considering the talent level we will have next year?
Blewitt strikes again
March 21st, 2010
7:35 pm
Really enjoyed this group of players…. the effort the latter part of the year was never in question, and the returning freshman showed some promise (although next year will probably be rough). The coaching is just horrible – how can Hewitt claim they were victims of chance? Where is the accountability? For this team to not advance to the Sweet Sixteen gives another year of underachievement. For this team to receive no better than a 10 seed in the tourney is a travesty. Unless Hewitt wants out and goes to St. John’s, we’re stuck with another tepid year.
Thanks and best wishes to DFav, Gani, Peacock, and Bell!
GTman:
March 21st, 2010
7:36 pm
I love all the UGAG fans on here posting comments. WTF is up with that? Let’s talk about baseball for a minute. GT beat you 6-5 and you lost to lowly Kennesae State. Not only do you suck in baseball, but basketball was a joke, your football team is overated every year. At least you can be proud that you can be a true UGA loser. By the way, what mutt are you guys on UGA XXXX, coz all the other wons suck azz too! LMFAO! THWG! Woof WOOF Sickem!
Benjamin
March 21st, 2010
7:36 pm
Tech fans should not hang their heads. The regular season may have been a little disappointing, but I really didn’t see this team accomplishments as being significantly less than what I thought they would be initially.
Kay
March 21st, 2010
7:37 pm
Good analysis, Mark Bradley.
Ray
March 21st, 2010
7:38 pm
Shumpert is a moron to say they were better when you got beat badly. I ‘ll be glad when this bozo is gone.
GTman:
March 21st, 2010
7:39 pm
Herschel Talker: Once again, another UGAG loser. You guys blow at everything and probably each other, as the last 20 days you have had nothing better to do, but be blow hards. Hey, good luck with your football team next year. I see you are playing powerhouses in Idaho State, Colorado, Vandy, KY and some other school, like the Academy of the Blind. That’s ok, you will still lose some games and the GATORS own you. You all suck and always will. THWG!
BigFish
March 21st, 2010
7:39 pm
Has Hewitt ever recruited a white player ?
GT fans blewitt
March 21st, 2010
7:42 pm
GT “fans” certainly aren’t a very loyal, respectful, understanding, or supportful bunch. They act like they care about their teams, but never fill the stands. Hipocrites.
Message to Paul Hewitt
March 21st, 2010
7:42 pm
If you aren’t swayed by other available positions, please be, let me give you some off season advice. You know that game, “keep away “you play in grade school. You need to incorporate that into your practices ASAP. Better yet tell your players they need to play keep away with one another every day from March-November. Get 5 of the returning players and 3 of them try and keep the ball away from 2. The one who turns it over is then one of the 2 trying to fetch! Okay. Can you do this Paul. It would help next year to learn something a 8 year old learns how to do. Obviosuly the players you recruit never got to play keep away when they were kids. This simple fun game will improve your players tremendously next season.
Your welcome
Loyal GT fan
Message to Paul Hewitt
March 21st, 2010
7:44 pm
Paul I almost forgot here is a link to the instructions so you can explain it to your dumb players.
Keep Away, also called Monkey in the Middle, Piggy in the Middle, Pickle in a Dish, or Pickle in the Middle, is a children’s game in which two or more players must pass a ball to one another, while a player in the middle attempts to intercept it. The game could be considered a reverse form of dodgeball, because instead of trying to hit people in the middle with the ball, players attempt to keep the ball away from them.
Contents [hide]
1 Rules
2 Variations
3 Naming
4 Other meanings
5 See also
[edit] Rules
The basic game is played by drawing a circle on the ground about ten feet in diameter. One person stands in the centre (and is called it, the piggy or the pickle) and the rest stand outside the circle. A player outside the circle must then throw the ball through the circle to another person outside the circle with the goal being to prevent the person who is it from getting to the ball. This continues until the person who is it catches the ball or otherwise gains possession due to a failed catch, deflection, etc. Whoever threw the ball last then becomes it (unless the person who is supposed to catch the ball misses it after the ball touches any part of their body) and replaces the person in the middle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Away
Poindexter Jugdish
March 21st, 2010
7:46 pm
Don’t even ask for a Slurpee refill.
crabapplejoe
March 21st, 2010
7:48 pm
@BigFish: White players are no longer recruited at GT. They have to go to places like Duke, Cornell, St.Marys, Purdue….you know, teams that are still in the tournament…LOL
DUKE62
March 21st, 2010
7:49 pm
Keep coach Hewitt. He’s a nice guy and very smart, and he recruits well. And he can’t beat Duke (consistently). Many happy returns ………
BrokeBackJacket
March 21st, 2010
7:53 pm
@ GT man: dumb arse…UGA never claimed to be worth a crap in BB…BUT..we were good enough to beat Tech! Suck on that! Football….DITTO..we were awful this year…yet better than Tech!
@ Technophobia…on your A, B, C, D grading system you gave example….you assigned 2.0 on your five grades….yet equated that to a B-? Real math whiz there buddy!
p
March 21st, 2010
7:53 pm
Gee, Mark. Didn’t you have Tech in the FInal Four a few hours ago? This is a badly coached team. Period.
chas
March 21st, 2010
7:53 pm
This team really did have potential if it learned to control, break the press, inbound the ball, bounce pass it into the low post, pick and roll, etc. Why they had so much problem with these things is beyond me, but it is always a little bit of the players and a little bit of the coach. I noticed that the team would set picks, but would rarely pass the ball to the person who did the picking and rolling.
I think I only saw 1 attempt at a backdoor pass during their touney run. Much left to be desired on the offense end.
dagnabit
March 21st, 2010
7:55 pm
In Hewitt; Tech has nothing.
Technophobia
March 21st, 2010
7:55 pm
Crabapplejoe and bigfish, you ever heard of Sheehan? How about Daniel Miller, he’ll be starting at center next year.
Gordon
March 21st, 2010
7:56 pm
The problem with Paul Hewitt is that he cannot see what everyone else sees around him, even his own players. Although what happened the last 2 weeks was exciting, it was the worst thing that could have happened to GT basketball. We all know that Tech will never excel under Paul Hewitt, but he bought himself another year by turning the sesaon grade from an F into a C.
At least I won’t be wasting my money on this next year. I will be back when Hewitt is gone, and not before.
Thanks to all the players, especially the seniors, for their efforts this year. You are a wonderful group of young men.
TechFan
March 21st, 2010
7:57 pm
This Georgia Tech basketball season was a joke the team was so inconsistent they were lucky to win the games they won. Yes they beat UNC three times but UNC wasn’t UNC this year they are in rebuilding mode. Derrick Favors was a disappointment his situation remind me of when Chris Bosh was at Tech he stayed one season but after he left Tech he got better even if it was the NBA. D. Favors needs to leave Tech cause I don’t see him getting any better played under Paul Hewitt. Paul Hewitt teams always seem to lack discipline they seem confused on the court all the time I really think if Derrick Favors would have went to Georgetown and played alongside Greg Monroe his game would have evolved alot more.
Steve Brown
March 21st, 2010
8:02 pm
If Hewitt thought he had the better team he should not have gambled on Lawal picking up his 3rd foul in the first half. Come to think of it he shouldn’t have made that gamble period.
Technophobia
March 21st, 2010
8:03 pm
Brokeback, check your own math there buddy, 3 C’s a B, a D and an A is not 2.0, it’s a 2.8. But I really wasn’t attempting an official formal grade dude. Sheesh and you guys call us nerds.
Biff Pocoroba
March 21st, 2010
8:03 pm
The women’s team looks even worse than the men right now. No outside shooting and a ton of turnovers.
Tech Man
March 21st, 2010
8:03 pm
Tech basketball will get better when the coach develops a measure of self awareness. Until then, underachievement will be the norm.
SlimG
March 21st, 2010
8:07 pm
U idiots wouldn’t know basketball if feed from your own mother. Tech had no point guard and no three point shooters. This was and is a very young team so give the kids and the coach a break. As Drad said, support your team.
Now we all know Favors is better than most freshmen, but no nba ready ballplayer. He can’t shoot from outside the paint and can’t pass out of the double team. Let the coach bring in a few more players and then make something happen. He took an undermanned team to the finals, how soon u idiots forget.
Poindexter Jugdish
March 21st, 2010
8:08 pm
Biff
Are you saying that our women’s team is uglier than our men’s team?
My goodness,,,that is terrible!!
John
March 21st, 2010
8:10 pm
Man techno your math is pretty bad.
1-5 scale
A=5
F=1
3 c’s = Three 3’s
b=4
a=5
d=2
divide the total by 6. you get 3.3 which would be a C minus.
Dawgs2010
March 21st, 2010
8:11 pm
They laid an EGG!!! HAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAAH
Ohio State is a joke. A might ACC team should beat a Big 10 team any time or any place.
What a bunch of losers!!!!!!
Technophobia
March 21st, 2010
8:13 pm
Since when is an A a 5? Did you even go to school? It’s a 4 point scale. A is 4, B is 3, C is 2, D is 1.
Holy Smoke
March 21st, 2010
8:16 pm
wELL ALL YOU DAWGIE FANS…WHERE WERE YOU PLaying today?????????????
With yourselves!!!!!!!!!!!
GoDOGS1
March 21st, 2010
8:16 pm
GTman….get a grip will you? There is a reason GT and UGA are considered arch rivals. Did you ever stop and think this bickering has gone on for 100 years, goes on today, and will go on for the next 100? We are just grains of sand in this clean old fashioned hate. It is our duty to give you crap, and likewise, it is your duty to give it to us. You made the big dance, and we did not. Just realish in that fact, and don’t take things so personal. Tech has a good BB team that came up a little short, and we are here to happily remind you of that.
Holy Smoke
March 21st, 2010
8:17 pm
Did St Richt and Matt Bozo get married today?????
Blewitt Must Go
March 21st, 2010
8:17 pm
In Hewitt We Rust
Holy Smoke
March 21st, 2010
8:18 pm
Did Herschel go gay????
Great year Hewitt
March 21st, 2010
8:19 pm
I bet Bobby Cremins would not have went to the Tournament with this team…How many ACC titiles did he win? First of all, the acc is only allowed to be won by NC and Duke.The refs will not have it any other way….check out the free throw stats in the acc….Mark Bradley made all you idiots believe that we had an all star team but really we had 1 nba starter and we were very young in the backcourt.3 mc donalds all americans? Hell NC had 7 ….And on top of that, GT got no respect from the refs all year….Hewitt should leave for St Johns, Atlantans dont deserve a class act like paul Hewitt….you turned your backs on all your teams when they lose…thats why no team from GA will ever win annything….Recruits read these dumb a@@ comments u leave on here..i know one who is at South Atlanta right now and will be the highest rated player in the state and he reads this and has already seen how u dummies have treated Favors…Bashing him when he wasnt dominating.. he will not be attending tech…Even if Favors and lawai leave we will be even better because we will have expierenced guards and wings…..
I believe alot of this is because he is black…just being honest….we all know how southern people think….
Live from SAN JUAN PUERTO RICO
PEACE
white & old gold
March 21st, 2010
8:19 pm
why were expectations so high? sure, a talented bunch, but still the same bunch for the most part as last years 2-14 acc team. freshmen helped us get more wins this year but they are freshmen, notice that please. losing lewis clinch was a huge loss. the freshmen were big gains, but putting it into perspective, they are still freshmen. not a modest success, nor a great success, but somewhere in between. a solid success
John
March 21st, 2010
8:20 pm
It’s still a C minus moron. For a tech fan your math is terrible.
mimi
March 21st, 2010
8:23 pm
WHY WOULD YOU GO AND SIGN HEWITT FOR ANOTHER 6 ADDITIONAL YEARS? The contract issue could not wait until after the NCAA playoffs, really brilliant………….
Ed
March 21st, 2010
8:23 pm
great year
80% of the sweet 16 teams have no players that will play in the nba next season you dumass. It was a horrible year. Tech is the only team besides kansas and kentucky that have 2 players that will be drafted in the first round this year. No one on here bashed Favors. He was the lone shining light on this team. Hewitt nearly wrecked his lottery status though. It’s been dropping since the start of the season just like lawal.
German Jacket
March 21st, 2010
8:24 pm
Mark, Unfortunately, The standards for Hewitt were set by the incredibly incompetent Dave Braine. As much as he’d like to make changes, DRad doesn’t have the leverage (read $) to raise the bar…
Jackets2010
March 21st, 2010
8:25 pm
The deserving team won.
What happened to the defense?
Unlike the prior game, we left guys wide open to take threes the whole game.
Favors equals Crittendon.
So worried about the pros that neither could play decent in the Big Dance.
Tech vs. Round 2
March 21st, 2010
8:27 pm
Tech women’s team also having a hard time of it with the 11 seed.
Larry
March 21st, 2010
8:28 pm
The most talented team didn’t win; the most well coached team did!
Hayseed Dixie
March 21st, 2010
8:28 pm
You’re right white & old gold-
Anytime Hewitt is near a team, expectations should be lowered.
Please, stop the bleeding and fire this farce of a coach.
Dawgs2010
March 21st, 2010
8:28 pm
Maybe the Jackets should play like the little white boys from Northern Iowa. It is called playing smart and with passion.
Buckeye Fan
March 21st, 2010
8:28 pm
Funny article….no make that hilarious! Tech is better? No way…and for sure not today. Looking forward to our game against Tennessee. I expect a great game with them as they have a deep bench. Terrible article.
A Buckeye in Acc-Sec land
March 21st, 2010
8:29 pm
It is so hard being a Buckeye alum in the south. You totally disrespected Thee Ohio State University basketball program. Just as an fyi, Evan Turner is up the Naismith award. Face it, Tech was beat by a better team. Psst..Notice the number 2 seeding of OSU. Oh, they won their conference as well.. Just so that you know…