Daily Swarm

RE-SEED THE FINAL FOUR
NO WAY I say!!! The popular opinion is that GT is the worst of the four. Vegas has GT with the worst odds to win the whole shooting match (6-1). Are people forgetting that GT has beaten both Dook AND UConn?? Come on, get with it media........... For more on the lack of respect for GT and particularly for Coach Hewitt, see this article on the "forgotten coach" of the Final Four............ In fact, you could probably call this the "Final Three" based on the media. When speaking of re-seeding, who do they say it undercuts - Ok.St - no mention of GT, even though we have already beaten two of these losers............. Can the ACC represent and get two teams to the finals? (story here). Even Duke is considered an underdog to UConn.............. Here is a little love, but it comes from our local guy, Bark Madley. (story here)................... Here's more love for the Jackets.

Now here is some props for GT and Ok.St. (story here) - "THE Georgia Tech story is just as intriguing. The consensus was that the Yellow Jackets' season walked out the door after Chris Bosh, Tech's 7-footer, left for the National Basketball Association last summer after one season. Then Tech's best sophomore, Ed Nelson, had a better idea and transferred to — where else? — UConn. Recruiting services did not rank Tech's incoming group of players among the nation's top 200 classes. The average ranking of coach Paul Hewitt's first three recruiting classes: 56th in the nation. If you understand how that translates into a Final Four team that beat UConn on its way to winning the preseason National Invitation Tournament and beat Duke at Duke, please e-mail your explanation as quickly as possible. Until then, I'm going to respect the presence of Duke and UConn in the Final Four but admire the good work delivered by Oklahoma State and Georgia Tech."

More game notes, particularly about how the ACC is what prepares ACC teams for the dance.

HEROES WELCOME
The team was swarmed when they returned to campus. Some reports had over 1000+ people welcoming the Jackets back (AJC story here). That's great for the team and the campus. 1990 was magic and the magic is back........... Even Reggie Ball was there to greet the team, and evidently Dook didn't get much of a reception from their fans (story here). A little easy to take winning for granted I guess.

COACH HEWITT GETS PROPS AFTERALL
This from the ESPN site and Jay Bilas - "Paul Hewitt, Georgia Tech: Paul Hewitt is a wonderful teacher of the game, and he has fought the established powers of the ACC to bring Tech up into the upper division of the league. He can X-and-O, and teach the game with anyone in the business. But I think his greatest strength is the belief he has in his players. The Yellow Jackets feed off of his confidence, and play at a higher level because of it. Who wouldn't want to play for a coach that believes in you like Hewitt does?"

Check out this article, which looks at Coach Hewitt's background and even mentions that he talked to Coach Cremins this week, who thanked him for bringing his last recruiting class to the Final Four.

GUARD PLAY WILL BE KEY
No doubt about this (story here). Is it just me, or could they please find another picture of J.Jack that does not make it look like he just got done inhaling some of the whacky tobaccy.............. Here's more on J.Jack and the high-flying Jackets.

INJURIES WILL PLAY A FACTOR
With BJ's ankle, Okafor's back and Duhon's rib, there is a subplot here. Although I have to admit - I am getting sick of hearing about how "couragous" Duhon is for his play. His rib has gotten more PR than John Kerry. In fact, I posted a rumor on the the Hive that I heard Duhon's rib was getting his own situation comedy. The guys over at the Maryland board have taken the story to a new level............. Here's another story on inuries.

FORMER JACKETS JUMP ON THE WAGON
Looks like some former Jackets will be involved with the team. Dennis Scott was on 790theZone yesterday and evidently has been asked to talk to the team by Coach Hewitt. He also made a strong play for R.Morris coming to GT............ John Salley, on BDSSP, wore his Spider Salley throwback jersey and said Coach Hewitt called him with a ticket to SA. He will be there this weekend. My guess is that other players will be involved as well.

OK.ST. PRACTICED IN SHOULDER PADS AND HELMETS
...earlier in the season when Coach Sutton didn't think they were tough enough (story here). They act like his philosophy is so old-school that nobody else has it. Yes, we have the ESPN Human Highlight Isma'il, but the reason we win is fundamental - team defense, rebounding, etc.

For a good overview of Ok.St, click here. Provides stats, record by game, etc.

CHICAGO IS REPRESENTING STRONG
No doubt Chicago is represented well in this Final Four - "The Chicago Public League will be well-represented at the Final Four in San Antonio this weekend. Each of the four teams boasts a former Public League star: Tony Allen (Crane) at Oklahoma State, Will Bynum (Crane) at Georgia Tech, Sean Dockery (Julian) at Duke and Marcus White (Young) at Connecticut."........... In fact, Bynum has already talked to his buddy over at Ok.St. and the smack talk started. This from PG Tony Allen - "I talked to him (on Monday) and told him I'm not even worried about them, that I'm already working on a scouting report for UConn," Allen said. "He laughed. But we're going to teach him a lesson that he should have come to Oklahoma State.". This is a really good article on the two guys............... Here's more mention of Bynum and how proud his mom was for him hitting those big shots in the last two games............. Here is more mention of the Bynum / Allen connection, among other things............ Here's more on the Chicago public league and Bynum.

Did you know that Will "the Thrill" Bynum had another nickname in high school - "The Blur"............. Here is a very interesting article on Will Bynum from the perspective of Arizona Wildcats - the team he came from.

GT TO PLAY KANSAS AGAIN NEXT YEAR
As reported earlier, GT will play Kansas AT Kansas next year sometime in December probably. (story here)............. The issue of the foul on Langford comes up again in questions to Coach Self - "Langford's foul: Self was asked about an offensive foul call on Keith Langford early in overtime of Sunday's loss. It appeared questionable at best. Langford fouled out on the pushing off call with 3:44 left in OT and expressed anger at the call after the game. "I've not watched the tape. It's better served I watch the tape before I make any comments," Self said. "Now matter how I feel, officials are human just like players are human. Players don't make every shot. Officials get the majority of them right. Certainly the call on Keith was a tough call. I will say this ... the way you feel immediately after a game, you say things out of frustration that maybe shouldn't be said. Even though at the time I thought they may have not been good calls, we had plenty of opportunities to make our free throws, plenty of opportunities to get defensive rebounds and plenty of opportunities to get stops. That one thing did not cost us whether it was good or bad. We just didn't make enough plays to win the game."

A LOOK TO OUR HOOPS FUTURE - BUCK FREDRICK
Nice article on Buck. Check out the line his senior year - "He averaged 34 points, 8.5 rebounds, five assists and 3.5 steals this season, while shooting 52 percent from the floor and 79 percent from the foul line. He made 42 percent of his 3-point attempts". Not only that, he carries a 4.5 GPA and scored 1200 on his SAT - the real deal. It is great to see him looking forward to playing at GT - can you imagine the excitement that he and the other 3 guys that have signed must be going through watching the tourney? Hopefully it can help swing a certain 7-footer as well.

WHAT DO G.O'LEARY, MIKE PRICE AND L.EUSTACHY HAVE IN COMMON
All these guys made foolish mistakes, but didn't pay players, fix grades or hire strippers........... and all are getting a 2nd chance.

BEESBALL TEAM LOOKS TO CONTINUE HOT STREAK
Time to crush Auburn at home. They have 6 of their last 8 games. (story here). They've beat us once already - time for payback.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW - DAVID DUVAL
He has withdrawn his name from the Masters, saying he needs more time with his new family and to work on his game.

COULD B.GONZALEZ HEAD TO MIAMI
Now it looks like St.John's might lose their latest top candidate - Manhatten Coach Bobby G., to Miami, as they enter the ACC. Now, wouldn't that be sweet? I don't know why I have grown to dislike St.John's..... well actually, I do know. Their fans are not humble. By the time they do hire a new coach, they will have gone through a humbling of major proportions. Maybe I'll actually feel sorry for them by then.

CLEMSON REPORTS 11 RECRUITING VIOLATIONS
Good job gomers - on one board, someone said IPTAY stood for "It's probation time again ya'll". IPTAY is of course the name of their alumni ass. For the story, see here.. Way to represent the ACC - NOT!!!