Theyyyyyyy're Baaaaaackkk......

Georgia Tech loses today to Duke, on the road, by a final score of 71-62. Am I being too hard on this team by thinking that the "old" squad is back? Probably. It was a valiant but never serious threat to get back in the game and win after falling behind due to a lackluster first half. They never 100% let us believe it was over at the end, but they never really made that key play down the stretch to turn the tide. While there was an overall strong physical effort made by the team, they just plain lacked fundamentals and basically wilted under the very tough Duke pressure. It was not a complete departure, but enough of the "bad Tech" play showed up today to make you wonder where this team really is mentally.

Paul Hewitt said it best:

"If it were a fight, it would have been called in the 1st half" - Paul Hewitt

PLAYING FROM BEHIND
What is it about this team that they play from behind so often. Ok, so it's a road game. So it's Dook. So what. It's just dang hard to win on the road when you're trailing by double digits. Tech never led today...It's also personally frustrating for me............ and that should count for something.

THE BIG FUNDAMENTAL
How do you win with 22 turnovers?
How do you win when your oppoent scores 35 pts off your 22 to's?
How do you win when you only score 10 pts off your opponents 18 to's?
How do you win when you cannot inbound the ball?
When you have to call 2 timeouts because of the inbounding issue?
When your team cannot handle the defensive overplay on the perimeter?
When your PG dribbles about 35 feet from the basket for most of the shot clock?
When your team's lack of communication results in 2 different guys getting leveled from picks at halfcourt?
When your team cannot score with numbers on the break?
When your team cannot rebound a missed free throw by the opponent?

In a word, you don't win......... you lose. More than anything I was just frustrated at the missing fundamentals........ However, before the bash Hewitt crowd starts piping up about how Hewitt teams always have trouble with inbounding, don't forget the last 4 games. It's been there and it came back ok in the 2nd half. Mostly it was a result of focus, concentration and effort.

BABY STEPS
Ok, we lost. We played terrible in the first half. We settled down and played better the rest of the way out. Unfortunately we dug a hole they couldn't get out of against a tough opponent. It happens. It doesn't help that Duke is in game 2 of their patented late season surge. You knew it was coming. There is still plenty of time to make good things happen in the remainder of the season - but make no mistake - there is still work to be done.



GO JACKETS!!!!