Friday, January 09, 2004

A Daily Dose

BASKETBALL
GT Women lost to #1 Duke 77-45............... From the Sun Times on Will Bynum - "*Former Crane star Will Bynum is playing at Georgia Tech after transferring from Arizona a year ago. "He's really coming along," coach Paul Hewitt said of the 6-foot junior, who has appeared in six games. "The first couple games, he looked a little rusty, but now he's playing very well. He's starting to get the feel and flow of what we do offensively. Defensively, he still has some work to do."................... From the Louisville Courrier Journal this blurb on Randolph Morris - "Recruit again says it's UK or Georgia Tech - One of the two most important recruits on UK's radar for the spring signing period, 6-foot-11 center Randolph Morris, reiterated this week that he's considering only the Cats and Georgia Tech. While Morris consistently has said he's not going to pursue professional basketball after his senior year at Landmark Christian Academy, located just outside Atlanta, the questions keep coming about a possible leap to the National Basketball Association. "I think maturity plays a big factor, and looking at basketball as an occupation, I'm not really ready for that," he told Rivals.com, a recruiting Web site. "I think I have to develop a mindset that basketball from now on until the NBA will be a job. And I don't think I'm that mature yet." Morris added that he plans to make his decision after the high school season. UK's other prime target, guard Joe Crawford, remains undecided between the Cats and Michigan." ......................... Here is a GREAT article on Paul Hewitt from a NY paper. Nice quotes from BJ, Isma'il about his philosophy, system, etc. Well done....................... Here is another good article on Hewitt. One good quote - "It's the start of the 2nd season". Ain't that the truth....................... Here, an Athens reporter pontificates about hoops and football, mentioning GT..................... Interesting story about the 5/8 rule in hoops. Note the comment about GT - "The Atlantic Coast Conference sponsored Proposal 76 to eliminate the rule, in part because Georgia Tech didn't receive scholarship relief when Michael Isenhour left the team before his senior year in 2001 with what turned out to be a fatal case of leukemia.".................... See this Q&A from SI.com, where someone asks "Last Saturday three SEC teams played three ACC teams. The result was three wins for the SEC teams. Kentucky over UNC and Florida over Florida State shouldn't be surprises, but how about Georgia knocking off Georgia Tech? Do you think it was just one of those strange rivalry results or is Tech a bit overrated? -Greg, Lexington, Ky.............The answer - "Greg, my man, you forgot to mention one important factor: all three of those games were played on the SEC teams' home courts. To draw any larger conclusions about the supremacy of the SEC from those games would be ludicrous. To answer your question, I don't think Georgia Tech is overrated, but rather it is one of several Top 25 teams this year that thrives on team play instead of relying on individual stars (see also Stanford, Kentucky and Gonzaga). Georgia, too, is a better team than most people expected (though everyone knew that Dennis Felton is a stud coach). At this point, I would regard the Dawgs' 20-point home loss to Winthrop as an aberration.".......................... A columnist for NC St has give his "mid-term grades" for each ACC team - GT gets an "A" - click here for the write-up............... On the recruiting trail, guess who go head-2-head Saturday - Randolph Morris and Dwight Howard. That should be very interesting. Think about this. Everyone sees Howard as a lock for the NBA, most pegging him as the #1 pick. Morris has said publicly that he is not ready for the NBA (see above). So if Morris has a great game against Howard, will he start to think otherwise. We will see. Morris and Howard will play against each other again on Jan 30, in a match-up that will be televised on ESPN. More details will come. Stay tuned........


FOOTBALL
On the recruiting trial, Darius Walker is a stud. No doubt about it. The guy has 'ship offers from more than HALF of the Div I-A schools in the nation. He broke Hershal Walker's high school TD record (46 in a season), and that was when he wasn't playing in the second half of a lot of his games when they were blowing out the opposition. He has garnered all kinds of offensive player awards and has his pick of schools. He has chosen to take visits to Stanford, Ohio St, Notre Dame, Southern Cal. His 5th visit is undecided but should come down to Alabama, Arkansas or Georgia Tech. We are on the outside looking in, but don't count GT out of the running. Never say never. Here is a story about him, which should get your salivary glands flowing......................... And if it doesn't get you hyped, then look at this big recruiting battle - Calvin Johnson. This guy is the best receiver in the state of GA, is 6'5" 220 and is a stud also. He has narrowed his choices down to UGAy and GT. Says he is interested in engineering. The speculators have said if he were choosing today he would pick GT. However, he has his official visit to UGAy this weekend. It is probably UGAy's biggest recruiting weekend, and I would expect a decision from Calvin very soon after this visit. Keep you fingers crossed and say your prayers. We all know what a future a talented wide receiver would have at GT with Reggie Ball - fantastic! We know who wins the battle of academic standards. We also know that either school has the same ability to put this young man in the NFL, so that is a wash. Stay tuned...................... Well, at least one UCF player is already on the O'Leary bandwagon................ Did you know that the co-author of Pete Rose's new book, Rick Hill, was a GT football player. Check it out.