Tech falls to KSU: The Wizard of Techwood dazzles us again
It's a brand new season, but it's the same old outcome. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
If Paul Hewitt isn’t the worst basketball coach in the country, it’s only because ours is a mighty big country. And now, having said that, I ask: At this late date, who needs convincing?
There are no real Hewitt defenders. There are a few excuse-makers, but nobody seriously believes this is a first-tier coach anymore. I could cite his record yet again, but here’s all anyone needs to know: In the spring of 2004 he won five NCAA tournament games in 15 days; in his other nine seasons at Georgia Tech combined, he has won two.
On Monday his Jackets took a ride up I-75 and showed us they aren’t even the best team in Metro Atlanta. They lost 80-63 to Kennesaw State, which has only recently become a fully vested member of the NCAA’s Division I. Tech never led. It trailed by 20 points after 15 1/2 minutes, by 15 points at the half. It was one of those games that was shocking and yet not surprising at all.
Afterward Hewitt was his usual serene self, noting that KSU “out-toughed us” and trotting out the boilerplate: “It’s just a matter of showing more maturity.” And thus did the Owls join the list of Hewitt conquerors, a n array that includes IUPUI, Winthrop, UNC Greensboro and Illinois-Chicago (twice).
Tech made nearly as many turnovers (19) as baskets (21) Monday. This from a team that essentially starts four guards. This from a team that lost two McDonald’s All-Americans to the NBA early but still boasts one more McDonald’s All-American than Kennesaw State will ever sign. (Although the Owls do employ what coach Tony Ingle called “our Wendy’s offense — get it to go, cheese on the fries, let it fly.”)
Afterward Ingle was asked if Tech had recruited any of his players. He said, “No.” But somehow the Owls, who were 13-20 last season when Tech was underachieving its way into the NCAA tournament, were much the better team. They didn’t have the better players, but they were the better team. Which is the story of post-2004 Georgia Tech basketball.
The biggest excuse for Hewitt — I heard it from longtime acquaintance Charles Barkley last spring — is that he’s always losing players early to the pros. And that’s true: S ix Jackets have left eligibility on the table to declare for the NBA draft, Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal most recently. But it’s not as if Hewitt has accomplished much with his one-and-dones: Chris Bosh, Thaddeus Young, Javaris Crittenton and Favors managed a total of one NCAA tournament victory.
And it’s not as if the guys who stay fare any better. Hewitt had Anthony Morrow for four seasons, after which Morrow wasn’t able to persuade an NBA team to risk even a second-round pick on him. He landed with Golden State as a free agent. This summer he signed a three-year contract with the Nets for $12 million.
This month Alex Raskin of the Wall Street Journal wondered if Morrow is the greatest shooter in NBA history. (Not just in the NBA now. In the NBA ever.) And here was a quote from Steve Kerr, the former Phoenix general manager whose status as the league’s all-time leading three-point shooter is being threatened by Morrow: “I saw him a couple of times in college and he didn’t really light it up. He got a little lost on his team. It just didn’t seem like he really blossomed there.”
Who does blossom under Hewitt? Bosh and Favors didn’t get the ball enough. Apart from Jarrett Jack, no point guard has ever really directed a Hewitt team. (Moe Miller, who saved last season after being relegated to the end of the bench, is again not starting.)
But enough. You know what’s going on. Hewitt is a lousy coach, but his golden contract makes him untouchable. Dan Radakovich, the Tech athletic director, sat behind the bench at the KSU Convocation Center last night and looked pained. The man with the $7 million buyout was losing to a school based in the county where Radakovich lives — by 17 points.
Oh, and if you haven’t seen my take on Kennesaw State and its coach … that post can be found here.
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496 comments Add your comment
David
November 16th, 2010
5:39 pm
Glory…Glory…What is the difference in a UGA loss and a TECH loss….Answer: Tech hasn’t been complaining all week that their WUSS QB can’t take a hit.
Bobby Knight
November 16th, 2010
5:40 pm
I’m still available (but Bradley doesn’t like me either).
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 16th, 2010
5:45 pm
It looked to me like the Tech players’ tattoos were superior to the Kennesaw State players, so we do have that going for us.
tee
November 16th, 2010
5:45 pm
MBradley, why are u so negative? Everytime I look in the sports section, its always something about your column that say negativity. Who are u trying to be “Terrance Moore”. According to You, if anybody having a bad year (Mark Richt)- now its Paul H (first game of the year) its time to get rid of them. Come on man! Its ok to shut the hell up or just write a story where your local area fans would be fully appreciative instead of trying to provoke hysteria
about Hewitt
November 16th, 2010
5:47 pm
GT made a mistake. Thye gave CPH the keys to the city when he took them to the championship game a stroke of luck and now they are tied into him. He has proven that to be a fluke and with the amount of talent he has received at GT has done very little. I am afraid GT basketball will not recover as long as CPH is at Tech. Hope you can prove me wrong coach.
wild bill
November 16th, 2010
5:47 pm
I am looking forward to poor ole UGA, with all their players that couldn’t make the Tech team, putting a good old-fashioned butt kicking on you losers…….again!! With all his five-star players and All-Americans, Hewitt has a LOSING record against the Dawgs! Enough said ! That’s after Murray and Green light you up like a Christmas tree in Sanford Stadium soon. Dawgs rule the Peach State and always will…….
Glory Glory
November 16th, 2010
5:48 pm
There’s nothing dumber than a Georgia Bulldog fan. Everyone knows it and I can prove it on this blog.
UGA Blows
November 16th, 2010
5:50 pm
Glory Glory
Hey Glory Glory Ole Garbage. Where was your team last year in basketaball while ours was in the NCAA’s. Also, your team isn’t much better and barley hung on to beat Miss Valley State. Your football team suxs and your players have 11 arrests. You may want to look in the mirror at your garbage program before putting down the Jackets. Congrats on a year of controversy, and embarrassment. I would rather lose to Kennesaw State in basketaball than be surrounded by all the crapola that happended in your crappy old city of Athens. See ya after Turkey day for another loss for your mutts.
UGA Blows
November 16th, 2010
5:51 pm
wild bill
See the comment above Mr. bill. UGAG blows
dave
November 16th, 2010
5:52 pm
@GloryGlory: If it hasn’t already been mentioned, that “itty-bitty school from Kennesaw” is about twice the size of Tech. Just sayin’.
TechAllMighty,III
November 16th, 2010
5:53 pm
EINSTEINDAWG!!!! With the misspelling, wouldn’t that be an OXYMORON? Oops! My mistake, It’s really just a MORON!
UGA = Panty Waste
November 16th, 2010
5:53 pm
Hey UGA! Break out the panties and start passing them around again. maybe, Murray the midget should wear them for the GT game. Actually, I bet he wears red panties anyway.
Sourgrapes
November 16th, 2010
5:53 pm
If he was recruiting nothing but 4 year players, pushing up the graduation rate, and had semi-respectable ACC records, I’d be just fine with Hewitt. I’m sick of him bringing in the one and ones, and I’m tired of great talent getting coached down.
If I won the lottery, this would be on my list.
Einsteindawg
November 16th, 2010
5:54 pm
What do UGA and GA Tech have in common? They both have football coaches and a basketball coach that the game has either passed them by or they just don’t care. And, they both have fans that are tired of footing the bill for mediocrity.
Sourgrapes
November 16th, 2010
5:56 pm
Einsteindawg – I was sitting here doing just that, drawing parallels between Hewitt and Richt.
Paul in RDU
November 16th, 2010
5:56 pm
Einsteindawg – I think Richt has done a better job than Hewitt. He has won a conference championship and his APR is respectable.
Einsteindawg
November 16th, 2010
5:57 pm
TexhAlmighty, III…WTH are you talking about, boy!
yearofthedawg
November 16th, 2010
5:57 pm
I swear I don’t know how Bradley keeps his job. Shame on you AJC.
Robin Cook
November 16th, 2010
6:00 pm
Hewitt is an example of why Tech will always be crap. Hewitt and Paul Johnson are stubborn and do not adjust. Tech is not elite enough to be arrogant like Hewitt and Johnson. We are in for several years of pain. Fire Hewitt now and take our lumps. Johnson will be gone in three years when we reach absolute bottom.
No more contributions from this sad soul, cannot handle a football coach that states beating Georgia does not define our season. He is nuts, that is when I lost all respect for Mister arrogant Johnson!
Stuart
November 16th, 2010
6:00 pm
Is Mark Bradley worth keeping? He can’t seem to write about anything except evaluating the performance of other people. Maybe Kennasaw State has a pretty good team with all the junior college players. Yes Georgia lost to a Colorado team that it shouldn’t have but overall Georgia played some very competitive teams in the toughest conference there is.
BUZZ ME
November 16th, 2010
6:02 pm
Keep the thriller Dome for a while and get rid of Hewitt NOW!!!!!!!!!
Having a new Arena with the same coach + no one goes anyway.
Give Mark Price a Chance or Kenny Anderson or Scott…all right here in town
Old Fashioned
November 16th, 2010
6:05 pm
Anybody but CPH! Find an up-and-coming bright young assistant coach in the Bobby Knight mold,who will coach for lower pay until we payoff CPH. Fans will support players who will hustle and are serious students,unlike the one-and-doners who pull down our academic reputation by taking Mickey Mouse during Fall then don’t bother to even attend Spring classes.
My memory may be failing,but I think we had a team in the 1950s that only won two games—but both against Kentucky,at a time KY was #1—only losses KY had that year. Only two wins but a team with HEART!
about Hewitt
November 16th, 2010
6:08 pm
Was Tech better off with Cremmins or now with Hewitt? Lots of pressure pushed Cremmins away from program.
GT81Lawyer
November 16th, 2010
6:14 pm
I can’t imagine a whole season on this type of madness. I can’t recall a Div 1 school changing coaches after 2 games, but let’s do it. It’d be crazy. Ask Mark Price to fill in. Something. Anything. Please.
ThUGA
November 16th, 2010
6:16 pm
Looks like Tech was robbed!
GT FAN
November 16th, 2010
6:17 pm
HE SHOULD LEAVE, 2005 WAS A WHILE AGO.
marcus
November 16th, 2010
6:18 pm
he brings in the talent, he even went to a final four championship game, he’s a good family man (i guess?) and he seems like a nice guy. but jeez! georgia tech sits in the middle of an abundance of basketball talent; the number one boy’s b-ball team in the country is in atlanta, to the south of us is florida and mississippi and south and north carolina are right up the road. the man has connections in the northeast and i understand that the majority of the quality academic qualifiers are marinating in jersey and if louisville, villanova, kentucky, duke or unc don’t get them i am sure he could have his pick of the litter after them. so what’s the problem? atlanta is a great city. what big time high school b-ball player would not want to come here. the city, the women, the academics, the chance to workout with pros in an area notoriously populated with current and ex- nba players. tech should be a power. period! the reason why is obvious, coach hewitt for all his likeablity is not a very good game coach. he can recruit his butt off but he can’t coach. tech should never lose to a kennesaw state. i know why hewitt stayed, atlanta “is” a great city and if i had my druthers i would not move my family back to new york neither. for all it’s crime and “new york city envy.” the atl is the place to be. coach should access the situation and maybe wait out georgia state’s current situation with barnes. he probably could coach on that level and barnes is not doing enough there either. so, it’s a “win-win” for everyone, hewitt moves over to gsu next year and gets to stay here and we get a coach who can get it done.
Sanity Check
November 16th, 2010
6:24 pm
One more time……why isn’t Mark Price the head coach at GT?
Marietta Resident
November 16th, 2010
6:25 pm
Sounds like the junior program at Lassiter. What a joke. How many times do you support a losing program…ask me. I don’t support them nor should anyone at Tech who thinks he should go. Unfortunately that means the players bear the brunt of your unhappiness but rest assured, someone will step up this year and say enough is enough. And I mean at Tech, not at Lassiter. They are screwed!
yjackets2001
November 16th, 2010
6:33 pm
Hewitt is great! Signed all ACC BB coaches.
wild bill
November 16th, 2010
6:33 pm
Hey UGA BLOWS…..Yes, we barely beat MVS…..but we DID beat them. Can you say the same about Kennesaw State? And we will beat the North Avenue Trade School AGAIN! By the way, don’t they teach you to spell down there? It is ‘barely’, not ‘barley’. Barley is used to brew adult beverages, which you peckerwoods couldn’t handle. In closing, let me say that it is about time that the great state of Georgia will be getting an engineering school that all citizens can be proud of……..Only thing is, it will be Athens, the Classic City Of The South!!
BW
November 16th, 2010
6:34 pm
Mark
In short…the time has come…even if we are financially hurt a few years it will be a better situation.
brokeback jacket
November 16th, 2010
6:43 pm
Can the tech virgins afford not one, but two empty and butt ugly arenas? Those Cokes and hotdogs aren’t going to give themselves away, and Dragon Con comes but once a year. Just close that school down and sell it to Southern Polytechnic, which is basically the same as tech, but without the bums.
UGA Rap Sheet
November 16th, 2010
6:51 pm
I look forward to Wild Bill driving over a bridge designed by a UGA engineer…
Bob
November 16th, 2010
6:52 pm
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA !!!!!!!!WHAT A JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!! PJ IS ANOTHER IDIOT!!!!!!!HA HA HA HA HA HA !!!!!!!!!!!!GREAT JOB TECH!!!!!!!HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA !!!!!!!!!!!THIS OUGHT TO BE A SKIT ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE!!!!!!!!!!
GA Southern
November 16th, 2010
6:53 pm
With Hewitt’s lack of success at Tech is what makes me skeptical of CY Young at GA Southern. Obviously this is somewhat unrelated, but both have been given the label of great recruiters as both of them are if you look at the players CY has brought into GA Southern and who Hewitt has brought into Tech, yet neither team has a clue on offense if it even is an offense. You might can pull in great All-American talent, but you gotta know what to with them once they get there. I dont see any difference in the offenses Tech and GA Southern run from any PE class pick up game.
Hornet
November 16th, 2010
6:59 pm
I agree with you Glory Glory, but for the record, Kennesaw State is not itty bitty in numbers in fact the school has over 19000 students which is bigger than Ga Tech
Gunter
November 16th, 2010
7:04 pm
Bradley, give us a break. I am not a Tech fan by any stretch but all you do is bash coaches. Geez the season just started ! You’re a struggling Bradley………………go write a human interest story about a Ga or Ga Tech athelete that’s doing great things off the field
rusty
November 16th, 2010
7:05 pm
as we all know one game doesn’t make a season especially a non conference game..who were the losses to in 2004? I am not on either side just saying
rusty
November 16th, 2010
7:07 pm
I also wish brokeback jacket would change his name, that movie made me sick, why that is something you think honors GT is beyond me, why don’t you call yourself brokebackdog
rj
November 16th, 2010
7:09 pm
Not this year, not last year and not in a long time. Maybe someone will take him and Paul Johnson in a package deal. Both are adept in snatching defeat out of the mouth of victory
Keno
November 16th, 2010
7:16 pm
Kennesaw State needs a blog of its own. Tony Ingle is a great coach and always has been, from Cherokee High coach to Kennesaw coach and stops in between. He also used to teach fundamentals to the rookie big guys in the Hawks camp under Mike Fratello. We’re just lucky to have him at Kennesaw and hope he’ll be there a long, long time.
Rodney Dangerfield
November 16th, 2010
7:17 pm
To be honest, I stopped caring about Tech basketball about three years ago. I was tried of the dissapointment and excuses. Another season, same old excuses. Do people still attend the games?
AJC Editor
November 16th, 2010
7:17 pm
KSU can have its own blog when the Thrashers and Hawks get their own Vents. Any day now.
"Chef" Tim Dix
November 16th, 2010
7:20 pm
Lousy = bulleye.
Run him Mark.
Bulldog Drummond
November 16th, 2010
7:26 pm
Hewitt Fan, you need to go smoke a couple more joints because you clearly are not thinking straight. Also, if other teams want him so much then why don’t they make the offers, put their money on the table and get him out of the “worst sports city in America.”
Sautee Dawg
November 16th, 2010
7:26 pm
Bradley is there a coach of any sport in the state of Georgia that you like or approve of?
Every day is coach bashing day for you.
Just curious.
Paul in RDU
November 16th, 2010
7:27 pm
@rusty
In 2003-04 GT lost 2 games out of conference. They lost to UGA on the road in double OT and they lost in the NC game to UConn. GT won the preseason NIT that year, beating #1 ranked UConn in the final.
GTBob
November 16th, 2010
7:28 pm
rusty, in 2004 we started 12-0 including beating the number 1 team in the country and winning the preseason NIT. Our worst loss of the year was to UGA. The only other non conference game we lost was the national championship. We also blew out all of the weaker teams we played. For some reason, I don’t think this team is going to do the same. Call it a hunch.
"Chef" Tim Dix
November 16th, 2010
7:31 pm
What Coach Fox gets and Hewitt doesn’t is that Georgia IS a basketball state…
Oh, and how to coach.