Daily Swarm

BASKETBALL
The Jackets look to gain one of those elusive road wins against MD tonight (story here). Personally, I think they can do it.... and I think they WILL do it. GT 77 MD 72. However, did you know that we have not won at MD since 1995?............ Here is a look at the game from Brian Murphy at the Macon Telegraph........... Here is a look at the up-and-down MD Twerps........ Here is a story on Gary Williams and how he gets the most from him players. Did you know he was a soccer head coach for 6 years?............ Are fans out of control, storming the courts after wins? IMO, the best way to stop this is actually to have a more successful program. When you win consistently, victories are not often "shockers". I mean how often do you see FSU football fans or Dook hoops fans storming the court. Just win baby and people will behave. However, UGAg may be an exception as they find a way to do obnoxious things even when they are winning like peeing on fans at games. But hey, what's a little urine amongst friendly rivalries, right? (yeah right!).................. For more ACC notes, see here, including more discussion of 7 in the dance......... Here are more random notes on the ACC, including R.McCants bid for 1st team ACC........ Looks like Hotlanta is getting another pro-hoops team - ABA this time, in the Gwinnett area. Guess who is being mentioned as a possible head coach - our old friend Mark Price. Also being mentioned with a possible roster spot is former GT player Jason Collier, who is currently in the NBA dev. league................ In ladyhoops, Shantrell Moss is headed to GT on a track 'ship, but happens to excel on the hardcourt, averaging about 32 points a game (story here).................... Looks like John Salley was on the O'Reilly show dropping hints that he may have been involved in recruiting parties when he was getting recruited at GT. (see this thread for re-cap of his interview)......... Want your head to spin, thinking about the Morris UK/GT recruiting situation? Read this thread about UK's 'ship story and be totally confused. One very strong comment from a UK insider about Morris cutting ties with GT. As usual, take all this with a grain of salt.

FOOTBALL
UCF President has written an article / letter to people outlining their goals for the UCF athetic programs, including why the hiring of George O'Leary (story here). Here are excerpts on O'Leary - "The recent hiring of George O'Leary as UCF's head football coach and his appointment of an outstanding staff of assistant coaches have focused attention on the investment UCF is making in its football program. The rationale for our decision is simple: We mean to have a Top-10 football program. To accomplish that goal we need a head coach who is a proven winner at the highest levels of Division I-A. We have that person in George O'Leary. As Georgia Tech's head coach, O'Leary received the Bobby Dodd Award as Division I-A National Coach of the Year, and he was twice named the ACC Coach of the Year. He sets high standards for his players, and they achieve on the football field. But, equally important, he sets high academic standards, and they achieve in the classroom. The 21 recruits he signed on Feb. 4 have an average high-school grade-point average of 3.02 and an average SAT score of 950. That's a good beginning. Questions have been raised about the salaries of our new coaches. Coach O'Leary's salary is, in fact, about average for Division I-A head football coaches. Considering his coaching accomplishments, UCF is getting a great value. His assistants are a talented group, most recruited from nationally prominent programs. Their salaries are commensurate with Coach O'Leary's high performance standards."..................... CBSSportswatch.com has written about 32 kids to look out for in the NFL draft. One of them is Daryl Smith. Here are the comments - "29. Daryl Smith, LB, Georgia Tech: Stock has gone up a bunch in the past month. He played well in the all-star games and could be a late first-round selection. At 6-2, 235, he has the power and speed to play middle linebacker. Keep an eye on him moving on up."............. Meanwhile, Hugh Reilly is working out at CES to prepare for the NFL combines......... Here are the NFL pre-combine offensive draft rankings - notice no Nat Dorsey on the O-Line. Here are the Defensive rankings - notice K-Fox and D-Smith on the linebackers list. Notice that on the entire O / D list, only one UGAg player shows up - tight-end Ben Watson. I don't want to hear from UGAg fans about how much better equipped UGAg is at getting players to the NFL................ Want to check out the entire ACC football schedule for 2004 - click here.

BEESBALL
The Jackets moved to 3-0 by beating Savannah St 13-4. Micah Owings paced the team with his first HR of the season, a 3-run shot. Freshman Wes Hodges also got another RBI with a triple. He has RBI's in all games so far............. Here is brief mention of Tyler Greene as the top pro prospect in his class.

GOLF
Bryce Molder leads the Canadian Tours Qualifying School tourney going into today (story here).