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IDEAL SCENARIO FOR THE NEXT WEEK:
Tuesday, Wake Forest beats Miami
Wednesday, Virginia beats UNC (yeah right)
Wednesday, NCST beats Maryland
Thursday, Duke beats VaTech (I know, root for Duke?)
Saturday, Clemson beats UNC (yeah right, they've lost 50 in a row at Chapell Hill - really)
Saturday, Virginia beats Maryland
Saturday, VaTech beats Miami
Sunday, GaTech beats FSU
Sunday, Wake Forest beats Duke (now we're talking).
If all this happened, GT would then then have sole possesion of 4th place in the ACC at 6-6, while Maryland, Miami, VaTech and UVA would be logjammed at 6-7. NCST would be 5-7 and FSU / Clemson bring up the rear. The key is we want Miami, Maryland and VaTech to lose. In particular MD and VT, since we lost our only game against each, so we lose the tie-breaker.
ELDER PROVES NO CURE-ALL FOR GT
PAUL HEWITT ACC PRESS CONFERENCE (AUDIO)
Highlights - he thinks 7 wins in the ACC gets you into the dance (or should)........Elder coming along, but still trying to get the feel. Didn't have a good shooting night, but getting there. Still working on conditioning with both he and J-Smith.
ACC HOOPS WEEKLY RELEASE
HOOPVILLE COMMENTS ON GT:
National Finalist in Trouble: Two ACC bubble teams battled as NC State beat Georgia Tech 53-51 on a Tony Bethel deuce with less than 10 seconds to play. The highlight of the game though came when the Yellow Jacket's Isma'il Muhammad leaped over a NC State defender and dunked the basketball a la Vince Carter in the 2000 Olympics. Unfortunately, it was the only Georgia Tech highlight as B.J. Elder missed a three as the buzzer sounded that would have won the game. The loss dropped the Yellow Jackets to 5-6 in ACC, 14-8 overall and seriously threatens the tournament chances of a team that made it all the way to the final game last season. Julius Hodge had 15 points for the Wolfpack who moved to 4-7 in the ACC and 14-10 overall.
By the way, Isma'il ended up with both the #2 and #1 Play-of-the-Day on Sportscenter.
WOLFPACK STUNS JACKETS IN ATL
IS PACK SEEING LIGHT AT END OF TUNNEL?
Funny, that's exactly what they were asking after they beat the Jackets the first time. It was proven that the light in the tunnel was actually a train.......... By the way, coaching move of the game - Sendek calls timeout after Bethel's layup to put the Pack ahead by 2. Brilliant move as it forced the Jackets into a halfcourt set, which we were clearly not geared for all game.
PATIENT PACK EXTENDS MASTERY OF JACKETS
I was not aware that Will Bynum had the flu the week before the game. Now we all know.
WOLFPACK STEALS ROAD WIN FROM JACKETS
Coach Hewitt with the understatement of the year:
"Fourteen wins is not going to be enough to get us into the tournament," Hewitt said grimly.
NCST EDGES OUT GT
PRETTY IS WASN'T, BUT PACK FENDS OFF JACKETS
WOLFPACK DEFENSE PRESSURE PROVES HUGE
PACK HANGS ON
BETHELS LATE SHOT DOOMS JACKETS
DOES GT DESERVE AN AT-LARGE BID?
Make sure to look at the comments posted on the college ball blog.
GARY HAHN SCOUTING REPORT: GT
COUNTDOWN TO MADNESS
ELDER'S RETURN A LONG ROAD BACK
HAMMONDS IV KEEPING TRADITION GOING
ELDER WORKS OUT KINKS
THIS SITE SAYS GT IS A LOCK FOR THE DANCE
Of course that was before the loss to NCST. And what does this site's opinion matter anyhow?
ACC—Five bids seem like locks, including Georgia Tech, which will get a pass from the committee for its inconsistent play because of the injury to B.J. Elder earlier this season. Miami has a better conference record than the Yellow Jackets, but probably still has a little more work to do. Projected bids: 6
Also interesting comments about RPI:
In the last 13 years just six teams with RPI ratings outside the top 50 earned at-large berths, and almost all of those were regular season conference champions that lost in their conference tournaments. The highest RPI to ever earn an at-large bid was New Mexico at 66th.
WANT TO PICK A CHAMPION - LOOK IN THE TOP 10
Hard to argue that the NCAA champion will come from the current top 10 in the polls. However, once again, the media gives GT a little pass with the injury to Elder:
With less than a month until Selection Sunday, there aren't many surprises left. The Boston Colleges — teams that come from nowhere to emerge as a contender — have established a presence, while the Texases — teams beset by injuries — have started to fade. (Georgia Tech is the exception because B.J. Elder is finally back from an injury.)
Well, if we don't start winning, the selection committee is going to start realizing that Elder really wasn't the difference.
ESPN BRACKETOLOGY - GT STILL LISTED AS AN 8-SEED
SI.COM BRACKETS - GT A 9-SEED BUBBLE TEAM
CAROLINA FANS DEBATE - IS PAUL HEWITT OVERRATED?
Interesting discussion and mostly fair and honest. The concensus is that they like the guy, he's classy, he inherited a declining program and has turned it around, but it's too early to label Hewitt a "great" coach in the ranks of Williams, K and Calhoun. Honestly, I cannot disagree with 75% of what I read......... However, I do disagree that people think our path to the Final Four was easy last season. We had the 2nd most difficult path that included Kansas in St.Louis, Ok.St and don't forget a Boston College team that has only lost once this season. So why do people think it was a cake-walk? Well, because our friends at Kentucky and Gonzaga decided to bow out early, leaving us with a "cleaner" path that had we faced every top seed along the way. But people forget that the same thing happened in almost every other bracket as well. GT had the 2nd toughest road to the Finals - period! Only Ok.St had it tougher.