Daily Swarm

HEAR RANDOLPH MORRIS AT 6:30 TONIGHT
Morris makes an appearance of Fox Sport South's "Countdown to Signing Day". Most people are not expecting any decision on a school, but should be interesting to hear him answer questions. Once that is over, switch over to the Dook game at 7:00pm. All the KY "insiders" think they have Morris wrapped up with a bow. We will see. Here is a link to the Fox Sports South program - looks like Bobby Cremins will be there also - come on Bobby - nudge old Randolph our way. Put that legendary recruiting hat on again for GT tonight. They will also profile the GT recruiting class signed in November.

CRUSH THE DOOKIES
So can we snap our 15 game losing streak to Dook - at Cameron?? I say YES!! Why not? Even though Dook has the nation's longest home winning streak at 41 games. Time for J.Jack to send his 2nd cousin (Duhon) home on a losing note. Here is a game preview. It will take a masterful performance, solid games from BOTH Elder AND Lewis. Here's a story on BJ's aggressivness. It will take Moore hitting at least one 3-pointer. It will take Looookkkee getting 10 boards. It will take Jack dishing out at least 7 assists. It will take holding Reddick below 15 points, keeping Williams out of the lane and keeping Deng from taking over. But it CAN be done. I give us about a 40% chance to win this game. My prediction - GT 70 Dook 67. Here's another preview.

COACH KRUSHCKCCKSKSISKDKSKKDKEIII TALKS ABOUT BJ ELDER
In the recent ACC coaches teleconference this is what he had to say - "I think B.J.'s really good. He's an explosive scorer. He's very difficult to defend because he can get his shot off quickly, but he can also use the dribble to get it off and he can post. So he can score from a number of different positions and he can really put on streaks, which carry his team. He's one of the better players in the league. He's an outstanding player."

Here is what Coach K had to say about Paul Hewitt and the program - "Well, Paul has built this program very well. I think all of us, just in this league, are going to go through things where we lose kids, going early especially. That's just something that all of us have to adjust to. What Paul's done is he's built a program. He has his kids; they've played hard for him. He has a 20-win season now. He's going to be a fairly high seed in the NCAA Tournament. I've never heard him make excuses or anything like that. He's been solid, and he's got a good program going there. They'll be a tough game for us on Wednesday and they'll be a tough game for anybody in the NCAA, I'll tell you that."

UGAg IN EVEN MORE TROUBLE IN HOOPS
In UGAg's official response to the NCAA over their 4 cited violations, UGAg actually responded by citing even more violations (story here). However, they do ask that the NCAA not place further restrictions on the program and Coach Felton. Here's my take - UGAg and the Herrick's must have done a LOT more than they are letting on. Sounds like an interesting tactic to respond to violations by showing even more that were committed. But could it be a ploy to convince the NCAA that they have delved into this matter in incredible detail and "here it all is"? Could it throw the NCAA off the trail of even worse violations? Any way you cut it, it stinks........... Lastly if you would like to see how you measure up on an ACTUAL test given in Jim Herrick Jr's hoops class at UGAg, click here.

LUNCH BUNCH REPORT - DEAN KEENER
Good report from JezebelJacket at the Hive (thread here).

MORE ON OUR HOOPS RECRUITS
Here is another article on Buck Fredrick and his recent playoff game. Ra'Sean Dickey's season is now over as his Marlboro team lost Goose Creek, who spread the floor and hit 3 pointers all game. Dickey had 23 points, 9 boards and 4 blocks. Meanwhile, Jeremis Smith has entered his last online journal, paying homage to his hs coach and legend who is retiring after this year.

BEESBALL TEAM DROPS 4TH IN A ROW
This time to #9 ranked Auburn 6-2. Looks like the bats are taking a break. The Jackets are 1-31 with runners in scoring position with 17 strike-outs in their last 32 ab's. Ouch. In other bad news, starting outfielder Jeremy Slayden will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery. This is a huge loss for the Jackets.

ATTEND A TAPING OF THE PAUL HEWITT SHOW
If you are in the ATL, stop by and attend a taping.

JONATHAN SMITH DOES NOT IMPRESS AT THE COMBINE
In terms of raw stats, he ran the 40 twice - ran a 4.81 and 4.81, slow by NFL scout standards. Also came in at 5'10" 194 with 10.2% body fat, not great for wide receiver stats. However, we all know that pure speed is not always the name of the game, but the NFL places huge emphasis on these numbers, relavent or not. Hopefully "Fred" will get his shot at the bigtime - he can make a difference for a team.

COACH GAILEY IS A CAMPUS CLOSER
Last football recruiting season, the Jackets brought 34 players for weekend football visits. Of that 34, 23 of them signed 'ships for the upcoming season, a closing rate of 68%. That is astounding and shows Coach Gailey and his staff's ability to make a personal impact during a visit. It makes you wonder how a potential NCAA rule change limiting the number of paid recruiting visits to 3 (currently is 5) will impact the Jackets. After all the controversy over recruiting the NCAA is weighing some serious changes to the way the whole process works. Seems that reducing the number of paid visits to 3 could really hurt the Jackets. You never know, as some players make their decision early and go ahead and take advantage of the free trips,etc. But Gailey's ability to close during a visit means that the more opportunity we have for players to visit Hotlanta, the better. Stay tuned.

FORGET THE NERD IMAGE
This guy speaks from first-hand experience - "I've never seen a group of cooler, not-nerdy-in-any-way students at a sporting event than I did last week at Georgia Tech." Hey, people that are not that smart like to lash out at those who are - a protection mechanism. It is understandable, but there are nerds everywhere, cool people everywhere. Can't we all just get along?

SO WHO IS IN BUBBLE-LAND NOW?
Things are getting interesting as UVA knocks off Wake Forest last night.
DOOK.......12-2
NC ST.......10-4
WF............9-6
UNC..........8-7
GT.............7-7
FSU...........6-9
UVA...........6-9
MD............5-9
Clemson...3-13

Sorry, but my guess is that you need minimum 7 wins in the ACC to get your ticket. Locks are Dook, NCST, WF, UNC, GT. FSU gets in if they beat us. UVA gets in if they beat MD. MD has to beat both NCST and UVA to get their ticket. Now if FSU, MD and UVA all end with 6 wins, my guess is that NONE of them get in, although Maryland can probably make the strongest case. We will see.