Saturday, January 22, 2005

Everybody's Nightmare....

...Down 1 point with Isma'il Muhammad on the free throw line..........and we never woke up. The way we're playing the nightmare will continue Jan 27 when Wake Forest comes to town. The Jackets lose to VaTech, the Hokies, AT HOME, by a final score of 70-69. Don't talk to me about heart, about tenacity of coming back. I don't want to hear it. This was embarrasing. I am not going to break this game down. It was clear to see what happened. I will make one comment:


1. The ACC is the best conference in college hoops, but it is WAY overrated. Miami and VaTech now stand at 3-2 and in the upper echelon of the conference. Slightly embarrasing if you ask me.


2. So is this a case of ACC teams "not as good as advertised"? Or is it a case of teams "not playing well"? For Georgia Tech it is a combination of both. Injuries, poor half-court execution and defensive lapses have taken their toll in the win/loss column. In addition, the Jackets have been given way too much credit based on the run last season.


3. Maybe this will be the wake-up call the team needs. Get it - "Wake" up call? Yeah, funny, I know. We lose to WF and we are staring down 2-4 in the ACC. Ouch.


4. I said earlier in the year that we would lose a game because of free throws. Well, it happened today. Of course what kind of revalation was that?


5. I am to the point that I really HOPE that our problem really is BJ Elder. At least that is fixable - just get him healthy. But I don't believe the answer is so simple. Guess we'll find out...... at some point.


6. Once again the magic number is 70. We have yet to lose when we give up less than 70 and we have yet to win giving up 70 or more.


7. Ummmm.....where did all the post players go? I didn't realize Luke was injured. What, he's not? You say he played? I'll have to go back and review the tape.


8. I'll leave you with this, defensive intensity. I didn't see it for LONG stretches of the game today. How many wide open shots and easy layups can a team get? Well, evidently a lot. This team needs to pick up the passion, the intensity, whatever you want to call it. As BB King used to say - "the thrill is gone". Oh wait, the "Thrill" was the only one who showed up today with bigtime emotion and passion. So Will Bynum's best two scoring games are losses by the Jackets. Are we seeing a trend here with our guards? Same with Jack....


9. One last thing to the fans. Don't get too emotional. This game sucks, but it will only matter if we cannot right the ship and end up on the bubble.