Daily Swarm

MORRIS ON COUNTDOWN TO SIGNING DAY
Well you didn't miss much if you didn't watch Wed. night. Turns out Morris was not interviewed - was just a profile on him. They went through his stats (16 boards and 6.5 blocks per game), his 3.7 GPA and great touch around the basket. After saying that UK and GT were in the running along with the NBA, Cremins said "I'll stay out of this one". Then Cremins said "What I'm hearing is that Dwight Howard is a sure top 5 pick and that Morris is probably a top 20 pick. In my opinion I would like to see him play a year of college ball. Look at what one year of school did for Chris Bosh - one year and a top 5 pick" (nice plug Mr.Cremins!!). That was it................ Here's an MSNBC story on Dwight Howard as this year's "Lebron" without all the hype. It does mention Morris.

COMMENTS ON GT'S VICTORY FROM AROUND THE ACC
The entire ACC (sans Dook) were happy to see the Devils go down at home. From a Tarheel fan "On this night, we are all YellowJackets". From a WF fan - "GT beating Dook shows everything that is right about the ACC". An NCST fan said "Congrats to GT. Glad someone broke their precious at-home winning streak". This insight from a UNC fan - "Tech's play last night brought back memories of our old ways of calmly going about picking someone apart - a quality from the days of yore that we have talked about around here lately. There is something to even keeled persistance in hoops. Coach Smith knew it well. It is an excellent antidote to the idiots in camoron.". Here's a comment from the UVA board - "Did anybody notice how cool the GT staff and team acted after the buzzer went off last night? They had just drilled Puke at Puke, and they just lined up, shook hands, and walked off the floor. As one poster said below, Hewitt is just like Shaft - totally cool. Meanwhile the camera catches K dropping one last "F" bom at the refs - AFTER the buzzer goes off. hewitt is my coach of the year. he's gotten the most mileage, esp after losing bosh & nelson. I think he came from Sienna and I had huge doubts about him succeeding in the ACC. That GT team is awesome. The won at Duke. Anyone that can do that gets a lot of respect from me." ...................Having said all this, I have to say the Dook board was very classy in their comments, giving major props to GT, congratulating them (example here). They took defeat well, unlike some other boards that would completely melt down.

FROM THE MEDIA ON THE GAME
A lot of stories have been written about the game. I'll try to give you a flavor. From the Charlotte News & Observer - "On Wednesday night, Duke played basketball. Georgia Tech played something else. Maybe Ron Francis, the Carolina Hurricanes captain who sat behind the Duke bench, recognized it. Tech's guards and forwards moved like skaters, except they made the surface look like a trampoline. Georgia Tech's game is very fast and goes very high. On Wednesday, it was faster and higher and better than the best Duke could do............. Early in the ACC season, they looked like a team of great athletes, but vulnerable to a team of great players. On Wednesday they met one of the most talented teams in the game. And they performed like great athletes and great players."........... Here is one from the Herald-Sun. And here's another one from the same paper.............. Here's a recap from a Winston-Salem paper........... This from the Fayetville Online......... This from FoxSports.com........... This from the Dook perspective of what went right, wrong, etc............. Here are all the quotes from Coach K and his players...... This from the Dook school paper.

TEAM GREETED BY 250-300 FANS / STUDENTS
In a moment that really brings me back to my days at GT, our final four year, the team was met when they returned to campus last night by fans/students and were mobbed when the got off the bus. There are more pictures coming, but theGooley showed up to document the hysteria. Here are some preliminary shots - more to come over at www.theGooley.com. No sooner do I post that then theGooley has ALL the photos on his site now - check it out.......... In a strange parallel universe story, the Cameron Crazies will pummell themselves with pillows................. Here is a nice story about C-Moore and his thankfulness of coming back this season so he could experience this. Notice the comments about a players only meeting and calling one another out for playing hard. We will lose a major leader on the team with C-Moore next year.

RATFACE AND THE OFFICIALS
Fans weren't the only ones to see the ridiculous whining/crying/babbling by Coach K. The papers have picked it up as well. Here, the News-Record asks - Do refs look the other way with Coach K. Some priceless quotes there and some guts to call out K. Most of the media just panders to him................. Here is another one from the same paper.......... Here is a priceless article from MSNBC writer Michael Ventre on why he hates Dook.............

ISMA'IL MAKES THE ESPN TOP 10 AGAIN
This time a more modest showing at #10 with his breakaway dunk from the side. The comment from Linda Cohn - "For the love of elevation".

BEESBALL RECRUIT EXCELS ON THE MOUND AND BEHIND THE PLATE
Now if he was only fast enough to catch himself. Story here on Matt Wieters at bottom.

LITTLE JOE HAMILTON WINS ROOKIE OF THE MONTH HONORS
Joe finished February by completing 65-102 passes (63.7%), passing for 753 yards, 15 TD's, zero INT's. He also rushed 5 times for 13 yards and 2 TD's.

CONGRATS TO FALLON STOKES
The lady hoopster makes 2nd team all-ACC.

IS ST.JOHN'S IN EVEN MORE TROUBLE???
Check out this story from the NY Daily News about a player who claims to have received monthly payments from St.John's. We'll see if it is true - but I hope St.John's fans REALLY start thinking about lowering their standards on a new coach.

WHO IS ALL-ACC AND ACC-POY?
Lots of questions about who should be all-ACC and the POY in the ACC. The top candidates for POY are probably Hodge, McCants, Duhon and Picket, which of course means they are all probably on the 1st team all-ACC. Elder deserves consideration as does WF's Justin Gray. Here's one writer's look.

GT REMOVING "DUPREE" FROM NAME OF COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT
Story here. Don't pony up the dough and you can't have your name in lights.

A LOOK AT NFL LINEBACKER PROSPECTS IN THE DRAFT - INCLUDING D-SMITH AND K-FOX
A quick look at the top linebacker prospects in the draft - Daryl Smith should go in the late 1st round or early 2nd round.

TWO FORMER GT GRIDIRON STARS ON BALLOT FOR COLLEGE FB HALL-OF-FAME
Lucious Stanford (linebacker 74-77) and Don Stephenson (center/linebacker 55-57) are on the ballot for the 2004 College Football Hall-of-fame. Here are the bios:

Lucius Sanford, Georgia Tech-Linebacker-Named First Team All-America in 1977. Selected First Team All-Conference (1975-77). Led Georgia Tech in tackles in 1975 (121) and 1976 (117). Member of the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame and was named to their All-Time team in 1991.

Don Stephenson, Georgia Tech-Center-Two-time First Team All-America selection (1956-57). Two-time First Team All-Conference pick. Led the team in tackles for two years. Member of the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame. Played in the Hula Bowl.

Congrats to those guys - hopefully they get in - a well-deserved honor!!

WE BETTER BEE READY FOR FSU
They NEED this game for a secure tourney bid (story here). They will be hungry. Luke is going to have his hands full with Alexander Johnson (story here). Here's an AJC article on the Jackets not letting down their guard.

WHERE WILL THE BUBBLE BURST
The stories are starting to be written more often - who is on the bubble (story here). The ACC now has 5 locks and then 3 teams with 6 ACC wins (MD, FSU, UVA). GT plays FSU Sat. FSU wins they are in. UVA / MD play in their finale. The winner of that game is probably in. Of course the ACC tourney could have some bearing if someone goes on a run. Looks like the ACC will probably get 6 teams in, with about a 25% chance of 7 (imo). Here is another story about the top-to-bottom strength of the ACC...... Here is a very good analysis (complicated) and look at the possibility of the ACC getting 8 teams in the dance. Sorry - not going to happen. Everyone outside the ACC would go nuts. Even 7 is a real stretch in my book, although many people think it will happen.