Sunday, June 26, 2005

Fox Sports has a Q&A on the Jackets Hoops team......

I'd like your thoughts on the Georgia Tech basketball program. Last year the team was decimated by injuries and still had a good season. Next year, though, things already look bleak.


Jarrett Jack stayed in the draft. In addition, the Jackets lose B.J. Elder, Anthony McHenry, Will Bynum, Luke Schenscher and Ismail Muhammad. That's the entire starting lineup and the best bench player. One of Tech's top recruits, Austin Jackson, was picked in the MLB draft in the eighth round by the Yankees and is signing for first-round money.


I have a great deal of respect for Paul Hewitt and believe he is a good enough coach to get his players ready for ACC competition, but are these losses too much to overcome in one offseason?


-- Richard Klareich


Atlanta


Richard: Honestly, yes.


The good news is that a lot of programs will be rebuilding this season — even the defending national champions. The bad news is that not a lot of those rebuilding programs are in the ACC.


The Big East is full of young teams. But the ACC has such veteran teams as Duke, Boston College, Maryland, Miami, Clemson and Florida State. Georgia Tech will need to schedule carefully, and its fans will need to be patient.


Finding a replacement for Jack is the most important ingredient, and keeping Zam Frederick in the program was a step toward that goal. Frederick came close to transferring earlier this offseason but decided to stay. Tech also can try recruit Austin Jackson.


I like the Jackets' young talent, especially Anthony Morrow and Ra'Sean Dickey, but this could be a challenging season.


Here's another follow-up to the Austin Jackson story...........