Georgia Tech

[Eagledom]

Georgia Tech is a perfect example of how BC never gets any respect in hoops and football as far as pre-season expectations. BC returns all but one player from an NCAA team that was 9-7 in the ACC and starts the year unranked. Georgia Tech, coming off a 2-14 year in the ACC starts the season ranked 19.

[claver2010]

It's teh recruiting starzzz!!!11!!

[BCMurt09]

its teh retarded preseason rankings!!!111!!!1

[jrlbc06]

Georgia Tech must be in the cabal of big-gums.

[EagleDave]

To be fair...Tech did have a monster recruiting class...and they almost never have seasons like last year. They've earned that respect. By the same token, you would think BC has as well...though only one of us has been to a national title game in this decade.

[Whitechapel]

Tech's problem this season will be finding enough surehanded guards to seal games down the stretch. This failing is what caused them to blow the Dayton game today (7 point lead with 4 minutes left -- lost by 4). Paul Hewitt, even in his days at Siena, favored small lineups and still relies on a strong corps of guards to make his schemes work. He's a three-guard coach trying to flood the floor with big men (Peacock, Lawal, Favors, etc). Not really his comfort zone.

Back in '04 he had Bynum, Jack and Elder -- all three of whom could handle it and shoot from deep (Elder was an outright terror). They had just enough strength in the paint to keep opponent's honest and they rode that formula all the way to the precipice. Who does GT have on their team now that compares to that trio they had back in '04? I've been largely unimpressed with Shumpert. His ballhandling is especially spotty and his shooting is streaky at best. Udofia is a freshman and still has a lot to learn before he can contribute as much as they need him to (only one assist today). And who knows what you're going to get from Miller or Bell from one game to the next?

Today, they had 26 turnovers and only 7 -- SEVEN! -- assists as a team. In 2004, with the guard talent they had, those numbers would have been nearly reversed.

[pick6pedro]

and they almost never have seasons like last year. They've earned that respect. By the same token, you would think BC has as well...though only one of us has been to a national title game in this decade.

Not so sure about that...
#1 They already lost to Dayton.
#2 They had a losing season in 07-08 at 15-17.
#3 11-17 (4-12) in 05-06.
#4 They have exactly one season with an over .500 conference record since 1996-97
#5 They have a 38% ACC win pct over that time

No, they don't have years like that all the time, but they're not some elite program. Where have they earned that respect? Because they were national runner up 7 years ago? Hewitt hasn't shown much coaching ability other than that run to the final. Hewitt's totals are 155-130 and 60-84 at GT. Ugh.