ESPN/USAToday Pre-Season Hoops Poll is Out

...and GT comes in at #4 in the country. But that's only good enough for 3rd in the ACC. How's that for brutal? Link here. GT gets one 1st-place vote.

KENTUCKY COLLEGE LIFE LEAVES MORRIS WITH NO REGRETS
Well, the story covers all the reasons he chose KY, except that he was intimidated by the academic challenges of GT. He said it himself. I am glad he's happy at KY. Things work out for a reason. I wish him the best.

DOYEL EXPLAINS BLACKBALLING LUKE FROM LIST
Well, sort of. Doyel left Luke off his list of top 10 centers in the country. Here was the "explanation".

From: Showboat2nd
What kept Georgia Tech's Luke Schenscher out of your center ranking?

Doyel: I'm an Aussist.

LOSING TO GT IS MOTIVATION FOR A LOT OF TEAMS
This time it is Boston College's Craig Smith. I've seen similar comments from Kansas, Ok.St as well.

LOSING TO GT - PART II - OK.ST
Speaking of Ok.St:

Q. John, how do you look back on that Final Four game? Good memory? Painful memory? Does that motivate you personally?
JOHN LUCAS: It motivates me a lot. I watched that game at least 30 times over the summer. You know, it motivated me just to step up more on D because I did lose containment of my man. I want to get back to there. It was a good feeling, but I also left a bad taste in my mouth after the game was over with.

Q. Joey, last year John tried to take a lot of the blame in the Final Four loss, but that's not really being fair to himself. Obviously, you guys wouldn't have gotten in the Final Four without Johnnie. What is your opinion on that?
JOEY GRAHAM: We all play a part in the loss at Georgia Tech. After the game we sat together and reviewed the film. We pretty much just tried to regroup and learn from the mistakes that we did last year and tried to use them as a tool for this year.

Q. Joey, how much are you guys using that game as a motivation to try to get back?
JOEY GRAHAM: Like John said, he has watched it 30 times. I have watched the game multiple times. I am pretty sure the coaches do as well. We do use it as a motivational tool. We have a great team this year and know we can get back to the Final Four. Hopefully, we can come back with a national championship this year. We have this game as a learning experience and just try to use that as motivation for us every day in practice.