Tuesday, December 30, 2003

A Daily Dose

FOOTBALL
Interesting article about the H-Bowl, attendence and the requirements for it to exist in the future................................... Here is more on Taylor Bennett the QB now committed (for the 2nd time) to GT. Story also mentions a beef-eating contest in Boise between GT/Tulsa that may get cancelled due to mad cow. Come on, why let a little fatal disease get in the way of some good clean gluttony.......................... Tulsa's HC says their team is ready for GT. Meanwhile do you get the feeling that Tulsa's story is sort of the feelgood story of our bowl. Team turns around with new coach after years of not going to a bowl. Their coach is a finalist for the Bear Bryant Award. Funny that Tommy Bowden is also a finalist............... The state of Georgia North/South all-star game will kick-off today. Interesting notes - Drew Hill will be announcing the game. Also did you know that Bobby Dodd coached the first NS game ever in 1938? Just a bit of trivia for you...................... Here is SI.com's latest update on the top 10 football recruits, including Brandon Miller, who GT fans hope will join us in Hotlanta........................... Speaking of Hotlanta, former GT assistant Romeo Crennel looks like he will get an interview with the Falcons. I also think he got an interview for the NY Giants job............................ Here is an interesting take on the Bowl games. Basically bowls are exhibition games and that's why so many of them have trouble drawing fans. The argument is that if they were part of a playoff system, then people would come. "Build a playoff and they will come".....................

BASKETBALL
Some decent updates on the recruiting front. Both Zam "Buck" Fredrick and Randolph Morris's teams won in separate games (both in OT) on Monday at the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach SC. Zam scored 36 points (14-25), including 7-15 from 3pt range. Zam also had 4 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 to's. Here is the re-cap. Here is another write-up on Zam's game. Morris's team won and Randolph had 22 points (10-17), 10 boards, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 5 to's. He also appeared to have fouled out for the 2nd game in a row....................... For an update on how a lot of the ACC recruits are faring in their senior year, click here.................................. Here is a short mention of Randolph Morris............................... Here is an article mentioning Ra'Sean Dickey and his junior teammate (who we are also recruiting) Caseen Breeden. Quote from the article - "Georgia Tech is one of the hardest-playing teams in America. Having said that, Ra’Sean Dickey’s biggest challenge next season will be raising his intensity level to meet that of the Yellow Jackets. He and junior forward Cassan Breeden combined for just 3 points and 8 rebounds in the first half." Here is another quote - "Ra’Sean Dickey, PF, Marlboro County: Things didn’t begin well for Dickey as he scored just 2 points to go with 4 boards in the first half. He put it together in the second half and finished with 16 and 11 but MC fell to St. Augustine. There’s so much talent there but all the pieces just haven’t come together yet." Here are some more junior recruits Hewitt seems to be looking at, including Brian Grimes and David Huertas. Lastly on the recruiting side, Jeremis Smith's team won 75-58. Smith scored 27 points, "almost half of them on thunderous dunks", as reported by the local paper............................... Hey did you know the Bulldogs are now in the AP top 25, coming in at #24? Oh wait, that's the Miss.St. Bulldogs. My bad. How could I make such a mistake?....................... Meanwhile Jay Bilas weighs in on his opinion of GT - "What's your impression of Georgia Tech? They've gotten the most out of their personnel and ability level of any team I've seen. They've got to be the biggest surprise. Not that they're good, but that they're so good early. But I question whether we would be so high on them if Connecticut had made their free throws and Emeka Okafor wasn't hurt. That zero in the right hand [loss] column tends to seduce people. I think Georgia Tech is very good, but I don't think they're the best team in the ACC." So who does he put at the top of the ACC? He says Duke, WF and UNC are together. You know what? I can't argue too much with him. We don't know quite yet what we really have. What we have is fantastic and beyond our expectations. But is it truly top 5? I am not convinced yet. Watching the last 4-5 games my main concern is our half-court offense. Defense is solid, transition game is solid. Half-court sets and free throws still need work. But that's why we play the games................................