Call me Isma'il

I watched 80 minutes of incredible Georgia Tech Basketball and I couldn't be happier about the way the team played. Needless to say, Isma'il is still the spark plug on the team--I really feel that we owe this guy for at least 3 of our 5 wins. A couple of theories have been expounded recently on the board that are interesting ones that bear repeating:

1) Luke doesn't matter. We (I) have spent a lot of time talking about how badly Luke has looked in some of the early contests, and there's no way to refute that--although he is improving. Quick--name our center on the Final Four team in 1990? Case in point...are we witnessing another frontcourt that makes us forget about poor Johnny McNeil???

2) Isma'il and Jack are better off without Bosh and Nelson. Len Elmore announcing for ESPN said this during tonight's game as well and it's a tough argument to make. Still, did Bosh demand so much of the offense that these guys never had a chance to take over as they have so far this year? Better yet--is the TEAM better without two stars?

3) This team doesn't cruise when ahead by ten. An excellent observation that bears repeating...we didn't do it against ULL and we didn't do it against UConn or Bobby Knight's team. Quick...name a Cremins coached Georgia Tech team that did that--do the Richmond spiders ring a bell? I still think we'll get ambushed this year a few times (FSU maybe?) but so far they've shown that they will not drop the defensive intensity when up by significant leads.

Scott, the biggest thing that you missed tonight was a TENACIOUS defense that was as good as any I've seen in 20+ years of watching Tech hoops. Isma'il Muhammad would have made Karl "the defensive specialist" Brown proud tonight the way he stuck on defenders like glue. Plus the 360-dunk didn't hurt his image any.

We're beginning to get press on ESPN, etc. At another point during the broadcast tonight, Len Elmore said that we're the "most underrated team in college basketball" but that's not saying alot since people thought we'd basically suck. Will the team keep the pressure on? We have an Ohio State team that is beaten down and hungry coming up in Columbus...keep the good work up, Jackets!!! You gotta feel good with contests against OSU, Tenn. St., and then the Billikens up in St. Louis coming up. Oh, you better believe that we'll have a witness in the crowd there, baby...