Monday, March 22, 2004

Daily Swarm

COACH HEWITT ON 790THEZONE THIS MORNING
Coach was on the radio this morning. Thanks to "HaitianBuzz" at the Hive for this update"
"Coach talked about Jarret's decision to go for the dunk, and said in retrospect that it was the right choice. He initially signalled JJ to get a timeout, but JJ did the right thing. He gave a little flack to ESPN's Chris Fowler for saying that Jack had a Brain Lock all in the highlights on ESPN Said he's seen Nevada play before when he was scouting UConn, their game style should match with what we like to do. Coach also mentioned that the team had SI writers follow them around Milwaukee, so we should see a piece on them sometime soon. The guys asked coach if he hears about the St. Johns and Georgetown rumors. He said he doesn't get it, he's flattered, but it is a non-issue. They also mentioned a niece piece in the NY Times this weekend, where Cremins had a lot of good things to say about the team, and it was an overall positive article. Coach mentioned the team will have to stay focused this week, and he anticipates they should be able to. This will be the first dome game for most of our guys except Marvin and Robert who played during the ACC tournament in the GA Dome 4 years ago. The Mayhem guys made the point to say that every time Hewitt talks he makes GT look good."

On top of that, the 2LiveStews were going nuts for GT on their radio show today (listened at lunch on the internet). Played the fight song about 50 times and made some funny comments. At one point he starts talking about how "Paul Hewitt the negro, has taken us to the sweet 16." Obviously you had to hear it in the context of the show, but these guys are pretty funny. Kudos to Coach Hewitt - he really is rebuilding this program, he represents the school well every time he opens his mouth.

CONFERENCE TALK HEATS UP
Obviously as the tourney progresses there will be more talk about if the ACC lived up to the hype. So far the ACC is 9-3 which is very respectable. We have not steam-rolled opponents, but then not many teams are. NCST gave away their game and UNC and MD could have won at the buzzer. This article says the ACC should have had a better weekend............. This story looks at the winners and losers between the BigEast and ACC after the conference switching.................. This story looks at which teams are left and why. Note the quote from Isma'il M - "We play 16 games like this in the ACC," Georgia Tech junior Isma'il Muhammad said Sunday after his team's 57-54 gut-check victory over Boston College. "After you go through an ACC season, an NCAA game doesn't seem that tough."

ELDER / JACK NAMED TO ALL-POD TEAM
Nice props to these guys (story here).

WANT TO SEE PICTURES OF THE WELCOME BACK FOR THE TEAM??
Check out theGooley.com, always great for nice pics............ Speaking of fan support, this story talks to some GT fans about the hoops team.

MORE ON THIS PAST WEEKEND
Story focusing on the turnovers in the game. Coach Hewitt quote - "'I'm sure it wasn't the prettiest game to watch,'' Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. ''It was more like an old-fashioned Big East game. Not pretty.''................. Here's another look at our game against BC from a Dallas/Forthworth paper............... The win against BC can be credited to defense, particularly on their top 2 guys - Craig Smith and Agbai. Smith took the loss particularly hard and took the blame (story here) - "It was a nasty feeling. I felt we should've won and I put it on myself because I played terrible." You have to respect a kid saying something like that. Leaders take the blame when things don't go well........... Is J.Jack getting comfortable with the hero role? Well, not exactly (story here). From Coach Hewitt - "I think he's starting to live for moments like this," . J.Jack's response - "I don't think so," Jack said. "I'd have a short life span if that's the case."

HEWITT RESTORES TECH'S PRESTIGE
I am sure we will see more articles like this if we keep winning - nice props for what Coach Hewitt has accomplished from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

JEREMIS SMITH EARNS ALL-STATE TEXAS HONORS
Jeremis was named to the 4A all-state team - congrats!!!!

WANT TO SIMULATE SOME GAMES???
Check out this site and click on "SimMatchup" - you can put any of this year's teams against one another, or even put past year's teams (like our 1990 squad) up against other teams. I won't have a chance to play with it but looks cool. Thanks to GoldSox at the Hive for the tip.

ESPN'S TOP 100 FOOTBALL PLAYERS - HENDERSON / DANIELS MAKE LIST
They have named their early "Hot 100" players for next football season. Here were the entries:

63. Eric Henderson, Georgia Tech, DE: Led the ACC with 11 sacks and was second with 24 tackles for loss, a Tech single-season record.

99. P.J. Daniels, Georgia Tech, RB: Former walk-on battled his way to 1,447 rushing yards, including an NCAA bowl-game record 307 yards versus Tulsa in the Humanitarian Bowl.