Daily Swarm

TEAM GETS A WARM RECEPTION
Nice story on the reception the team got yesterday at AMC.

A BIT SNIPPY FROM THE MACON TELEGRAPH
A little edgy on the comments about Coach Hewitt, but overall he makes good points about the game. (story here)......... More on Hewitt from the Richmond-Times Dispatch........... Here is an article playing "what-if" scenarios, like what if Hewitt had actually been the Miami hoops coach when they hired Perry Clark 4 years ago (story here).

ELDER "DEFINITELY" GOING TO BE BACK
From the Macon Telegraph.

THE LATEST IN THE MORRIS SAGA
Well, the crazies over at the UK boards are now worried again that Morris's favor has swung back to GT. Who really knows for sure? We will just have to be patient until probably later this month to see what Randolph has decided. Honestly he cannot go wrong either way........... Should Morris chose UK, Coach Hewitt is working on a back-up plan. He is recruiting a JUCO transfer named Aaron Pettway, a 6'10" athlete. Interesting story, as RamblinRed has provided on some of the boards. He did not play high school hoops and spent 4 years in the Air Force, so this kid is about 23/24 years old, not a youngster. Here is his profile. His rep. is a strong rebounder, shot-blocker and a very good athlete. Not as polished as Morris on the offensive end, but probably a more conditioned athlete. He is being looked at by other big schools including Ok.St, MD, UGAg, Alabama and some others not on the radar like UNC. He will be taking 2 official visits in the coming weeks, one to GT and one to Ok.St. Word is that his offer is conditional on Morris's decision and has been on the table since January. Only one more 'ship is available between the two. The real question is if Pettway is willing to wait around long enough for Morris to make his decision. Just depends on how bad he might want to go to GT I guess. One last difference between the two - Pettway is very likely a 2-year guy wherever he goes, while Morris could end up one-and-done. Either of thse guys would be a fantastic fit into Coach Hewitt's system and Coach has proven his ability to develop bigmen. So stay tuned as the recruiting season winds down, hopefully with a bang for GT!!!!

THINGS COULD BE SCARY IN 2005/2006
Yes, P.Hewitt is loading up on talent. But let's think about what season after next brings:
- lose Elder
- lose Isma'il
- lose McHenry
- lose Luke
- lose Bynum
- likely lose Jack to the NBA
- if Morris comes to GT and is one-and-done, lose him too

That could mean 7 empty spots vacated in one year!!! Ok, the guys Hewitt is bringing in this season are really looked at as back-ups for the soon-to-be seniors. And the recruiting class for next season will be a big one also (probably 4-5 kids). But season after next, we become a young team again.

What this really means is that 2004/2005 is GT's best shot to go all the way in a LONG time!!! We will NOT be a secret next year.

BRAVES AND GT "ALL CLASS"
Nice article on GT linking it to throwing out the first pitch, which has been re-scheduled to Sat. night.

SO HOW VALID ARE PRE-SEASON POLLS?
The "experts" picked UConn in the pre-season and that came true. However there were 67 different schools that received votes in either the AP or the Coaches pre-season poll - while Georgia Tech was NOT one of the them. Believe it or not, Akron and N.Illinois received votes, as well as Arizona St., who finished last in the PAC-10. Throw in UCLA, who finished 11-17.

CALHOUN SCARED OF TOO MUCH COMPETITION
Check out this story - and this quote - "Calhoun, in fact, recalled an observation once made by John Thompson. The former Georgetown coach had his own idea of the perfect league, and he said it included "five really good teams." Then he said we need about four guys we can beat up on all the time so we can have two or three top-10 teams to make our league look good," Calhoun added. "(But) with the new teams coming in, not only will we have a lot of equal teams, they'll be equal at an exceptionally high level. "That concerns me greatly."

SPEAKING OF STRONG CONFERENCES
Here is an article from a Duke paper about the ACC future strength. The writer thinks Jack will use the NCAA tourney run to propel himself into the draft. While that is possible, I do not think it will happen.......... Here is a snippet on one of the strong Clemson recruits coming in next season, with a 7'1" wingspan.

YOU NEED EXPERIENCE TO WIN
Article form MSNBC.com on junior / senior leadership in the dance coming through.

LEARNING HOW TO GEL IN HALF A SEASON
Interesting comments from Coach Hewitt on not having the time to build a cohesive unit anymore, and trying to develop chemistry in much shorter time spans. Of course, everyone has the same problem.

JUST FOR YOU RONNIE
A salute to the Jackets from your hometown paper, the Gainesville Times.

WOW, IS ST.JOHN'S DELUSIONAL OR WHAT
Ok, we have made fun of their fans for being delusional. But it appears that even the selection committee has that problem. Even after Coach Hewitt called them to tell them he was not interested and would decline if offered, they still wasted time thinking they could get him. - "But there's no way to know for sure what's going on," the person said. "They were so intent on going after [Georgia Tech coach Paul] Hewitt that they didn't talk to anyone else. They could have been interviewing all along."

FOOTBALL: LOOKS LIKE CHRIS REIS HAS BEEN WORKING OUT
Dang, check out the guns on this guy. Someone has been eating their wheaties.


pic from the Hive

JAMES BUTLER ON COVER OF SPRING MEDIA GUIDE
Link here for story.