Gani Lawal comes back to Georgia Tech

One more year...

This weekend was a pretty big weekend for Georgia Tech as Gani made an unprecedented move and actually decided to come back for another year of college basketball.

Gani's return will likely raise the already above-average potential next year for the basketball team. He will certainly raise the expectations for Paul Hewitt solidifying 2009-2010 is a "Do or Die" season.

Post your thoughts in the comments!

No ACC/Big-10(11) Matchup for Jackets

The upcoming ACC/Big 10 Challenge will not include the Jackets.Why? Well, because the season just straight up sucked. Taking a year off might be what we need anyways as we've just been playing roughly .500 ball in the Challenge.

Paul Hewitt Nation New Year's Resolution

Paul, here's my GT Hoops New Year's Resolution. Let's beat uga mercilessly at home, go .500 in ACC play, land a middle seed in the ACCT, win 1-2 games in ACCT play, and take a spot in the NCAA's. I wouldn't mind a nice upset of University of No Chance. Paul, you've got their number. I don't know how but you do. Let's do this for the children. Let's do it for the GT children in 2009.

Do you still have faith in men's bball or have you bought women's season tickets and scalped the men's on ebay? Thoughts are welcome on the coming ACC season.

USC 76 Georgia Tech 57

(Takes head and bangs it against wall repeatedly)

In talking with a co-worker of mine I realized the season can be summed up by two words: "STUPID STUFF." Stupid passes, stupid shots, stupid decisions in general. We got beat down last night. What was up with the refs? Called everything against us when USC was playing just as physical as we were. We just seemed out-manned, out-hustled, and out-played.

I would almost say that Hewitt has up until next year to get the team turned around or that seat he's sitting on is gonna get very hot!

Lewis Clinch: Thank you for getting your grades up. You dropped 25 points last night and it is still obvious that you are just glad to be back on the court. Can you please get some of that fire into your teammates?

Click here for the box score

Iman ACC rookie of the week

Iman Shumpert was named ACC rookie of the week. Tech is 6-1 to start the season for the first time since 2006-2007 where another star freshman, Javaris Crittenton, led Tech to a 6-1 record. Let's compare the stats of these two freshmen point guards in their first seven games:

Critty = shooting 29-61 (47.5%), 3pt 5-11 (45.5%), a:to is 1.41, 96 total points
Iman = shooting 23-58 (39.7%), 3pt 6-20 (30.0%), a:to is 1.94, 76 total points

Looks like Crittenton was asked to go to the hole more while Iman has been leading us at point a lot more, which is definitely noticeable. The long ball is really pulling down Iman's shooting percentage. I like Iman's future at Tech and with Mo Miller in the backcourt, we will finally have depth at PG. Any thoughts on our season thus far?

FYI - Next game is UI-Chicago.

Jackets Fall to Penn State

In the land of the 2-point shot, the 3 point shooter shall rule the world.

That is what happened to us last night. Penn State actually seemed to have an off night from behind the arc in the fact that the only shot 42% from that distance. The problem is that we can't shoot 3's. We have big guys who can dominate the inside both offensively and defensively but when you shoot 3 of 16 (18%) for 3's. You aren't going to win the game.

Negatives from last night:

3-point shooting: Gross, just gross and disgusting.

Perimeter Defense: We seemed to be collapsing to the interior all game which left the perimeter wide open for the Nittany Lions to take all their shots.

Mo Miller: 26 minutes, 8 points, 2 Field Goals

Positives:
Gani Lawal and Iman Shumpert. There is a reason they were McDonald's All-Americans back in high school. Schumper has the the moves needed to allude the defense, passes coming from nowhere and not afraid to take a shot when the game was on the line. He impressed me quite a bit. I wish I could go back and see how many of Iman's 12 assists were to Gani who simply domintated. He put up 34 points and 10 rebounds in 38 minutes of play. You know the best thing about Gani last nigh? 4-5 from the Free Throw line!

Thought Process:
We currently have no depth. Who will step up? We must defend the 3-ball. That is how Mercer took it to us.

Next Game: This Saturday vs. Vanderbilt at 2:00 PM

What were your thoughts on last nights game? Post in the comments.

Tech takes care of business

GT Hoops took down Arkansas-Pine Bluff today with relative ease despite missing Mo Miller. I figured Mo had a concussion after he ran head first into the Mercer center on Saturday. He was down for too long and usually when a dude is sent to the back like that with no "physical ailments", it's safe to assume he's probably concussed.

I know a lot of people may be pissed at CPH for playing Mo later at Mercer (like he did with Causey last year) but with mild concussions a lot of dudes don't even realize it and basic tests won't detect them. From what I understand it takes a battery of tests to determine the severity of a concussion. And I totally believe the trainers wouldn't send Mo back on the court if they felt he was unfit to play.

Concerning the game, Gani and Alade had big games and should be our staple point scorers for the rest of the season. I am very confident in Iman as well.

Looking ahead we've got five more home games before heading to Cali for a pair of road games:

1. The first is against former Tech Assistant Cliff Warren's Jacksonville Dolphins. A lot of GT fans attribute the great guard play we had in '03-'05 to this guy. Let's pay him back by beating his team mercilessly.

2. And the annual ACC-Big 10 beatdown brings Penn State to ATL next. Tech is 4-5 all time in the Challenge while Penn State is a mighty 2-5.

3. Vandy is the first of three SEC teams on our schedule. After UK's home opener loss and Florida's loss to the 'Cuse Orangemen, I think we may see a BIG time down year for the SEC. So let's lay the wood on Vandy.

4. UI-Chicago returns to ATL after beating up on the '05 Zam Experience. We scheduled this series originally so Will Bynum could play in front of his family in '04.

5. Georgia State. These scrappy little bastards tried to Mercer us last year. At home, we better beat these guys down. It's 8 days before Christmas so we won't have many students in attendance. However, I don't see many GSU hipsters coming to the game.

Escapin' Macon

Tech won in an OT thriller against the Mercer Bears and we (Winfield/Dane/myself) were there to observe one of the most frustrating regulation periods since the Zam Experience. I've seen a few OT's against Wake, ugag, etc. but this one was the weirdest. GT never led in regulation. In fact, at 12:01 to go in the second half, Tech trailed by 18.

A GT fan next to me said, "They just want to go back to ATL." I didn't necessarily believe in this Negative Nancy's comment but I figured we'd need a Hell of a turnaround to pull it out of our ass. Then, Hotel Hewitt ceased. The signature full court press was unleashed. GT crawled back into it. 33 seconds left and Zach Peacock ties us up with two free throws.

OT was over before it started. The once loud crowd of 3,300 orange and black was deflated. The Bears were flat and GT finished the game with a 42-18 run capped by 11 points in OT to the Bears 5.

Final analysis: I think we're gonna be leaning more on Iman and our front court then I had previously thought. We were out hustled by the Mercer guards and lucky Mercer's got no depth. However, a win's a win. I think Paul learned a lot about our team on Saturday and I see us only improving our early game scoring here on out.

Not gonna let 'em catch the MARTA rider...

Looking ahead this week past football to our cagers, we see an unusual road trip to instate Mercer University. The Mercer Bears are a firey little squad in the heartland of the state set right at the birthplace of the Allman Brothers - Macon, GA. The Bears are 16-25 all-time against Tech and have a 7-9 record in Macon against the Jackets. The two teams have not met since 1999.

Mercer is headlined by James Florence, the 6'1" giant killer that led the Bears in minutes, shots, and points per game last season. Florence scored 30 in Mercer's upset of USC last year and 23 in the win against Alabama this year. He will be the primary focus of CPH's defense. If we can shut him down, the game will be cake.

Did I mention my little brother goes to Mercer and we need to beat them to display my superiority over him?

Prediction: Mercer plays tough but loses in the 2nd half. Tech played at GSU close in '07 but this year's Tech team is stronger and has more continuity (a phrase I will repeat many more times). Tech 90 - Mercer 65.

GT Volleybal and Basketball

Clearly, our minds have been fixed on football these past few months. But did you know that Georgia Tech has other sports as well!? Here are some brief notes:

Volleyball

The Georgia Tech Volleyball team wraps up their season in the next few weeks and with a win-out and some lucky spikes could take ACC conference championship and earn a berth into the NCCA Tournament. Their next home games are November 21 and 22 vs. Boston College and Maryland and finally November 28th against Clemson is the final home game. Below are the current standings:

One game separates us from the mess on top. The loss on Saturday against the Dookies hurt us (if only The Legacy showed up 15 minutes earlier!) Tech has to win out and Duke and UNC both need to lose twice for the Jackets to make the NCAA tournament.

Senior night is the 22nd against the Terps. Yes, earlier that day is Georgia Tech vs. Mercer basketball. Our suggestion to you is to drive to Macon, go to the game, come back up to Atlanta and cheer on volleyball. If The Legacy Crew does it, you have no excuse.

Basketball

The basketball regular season starts this Friday against Winston-Salem State at 8:30 PM. The disappointing news of the season so far involves Lewis Clinch, who is academically ineligible (again) for the rest of the Fall Semester, and D’Andre Bell, who is out for the season because of spinal stenosis. Clinch can regain his eligibility after December 12th. As we get to the end of football season, look for deeper entries for the basketball team.

Players to Watch: McDonald’s All-American Iman Schumpert, a 6’ 5” guard out of Oak Park, IL. Can we keep him more than one year? Only time will tell that one. Also, watch Lance Storrs. He showed some positive things last year and with Clinch out for the time being he will have a lot more responsibility on his shoulders.