Daily Swarm

THE POLLS ARE OUT
We finish #3 in the ESPN / USAToday Coaches poll, behind UConn and Duke. In fact we were only 1 vote behind Duke (722 to 721). Congrats to the Jackets!!!.......... Something else to consider. We beat the top 3 teams in the country this year.

KENNY ANDERSON A COLUMNIST
Kenny has written about the Jacket team - here is the column. My question - does GT require a degree to have a player's number retired???

SALLEY GIVES US PROPS ON BDSHP
First his co-stars ripped him for his locker-room speech to the team telling them to be "aggresive". They even showed the Howard Dean speech and said it reminded them of it. But then he talked about the team. He said he was incredibly proud of them. Said he reached the elite 8, but never got that far. And they did it without a go-to guy - they just had 10 guys that wanted to win.......... they also did a skit on "things you wouldn't want to say to John Salley" - One was "Tech fans have suffered enough. After all, they had to watch you in those short shorts for 4 years.".

TURNS OUT THE AMAZING KRESKIN PICKED UCONN
So we were doomed from the start (start here). However, the real question - where did he pick Tech???

1000+ TURN OUT FOR TEAM RALLY AT AMC
Coach Hewitt pulled out the Jacket (story here). Personally, I think he is WRONG!! You can wear the jacket ANYTIME you want. For pictures, head here............. Here ://www.topfivephotos.com/media/2004.04.05.basketball-Coliseum_Watch_Party/">are more pictures...........

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME A RATINGS LOSER FOR CBS
Even though touney ratings were up 24% (of course last year coverage was interupted by Iraq coverage), the championship game was the lowest rated since 1982. (story here).

HOOPS RECRUIT ON THE RADAR - RICHARD HENDRIX
Alabama and UNC lead for this 6'9" hoops star, but GT is in the mix (story here).

PLEASE DO NOT USE THE PHRASE "OUTCLASSED"
There were plenty of catchy headlines about the game last night. However, one word I saw used over and over was "outclassed". I am sorry, but we were "out-played", not out-classed. This GT team has shown nothing but class all year and showed nothing less than class in the final game. Oh, we got our behinds handed to us, but we were classy, we were respectful, we were humble. Sorry to get on the soap box, but I hate seeing that term thrown around without much thought. Compare the GT post-game conference with this from Calhoun (story here). Now tell me about class.

WINNING A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IS A TWO STEP PROCESS
... based on this story. First you have to get there, then you lose, then you understand what it takes to win. Could this be a positive omen for GT? Time will tell, but the future is bright.

TED VALENTINE STRIKES AGAIN
Interesting USAToday story on the officiating in the dance. Also includes one version of the details of the Texas/Xavier game, where Barnes was tossed by Valentine.

IS THE BEESBALL TEAM USING UP ALL THEIR HITS??
First they couldn't find the bats. Now they cannot shut them up. They CRUSHED Auburn after scoring 20, win one of three from top 5 Miami, and now they score 25 against GaSt. (story here).