ACC Rundown: Georgia Tech
The 2009-2010 basketball season is slowly drawing closer. Every Tuesday and Thursday this fall, Crazie Talk will preview each of the twelve ACC teams in order of conference standings – from the bottom up.
First up are the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
Photo courtesy of DukeBluePlanet.com
2008-2009 Record: 12-19 (2-14)
Postseason Record: (1-1 ACC Tournament, Did not qualify for NCAA Tournament)
Projected Starting Lineup: Moe Miller (Jr.), Iman Shumpert (Soph.), Zachary Peacock (Sr.), Gani Lawal (Soph.), Derrick Favors (Fr.)
Returning:
[TABLE=5]
Departing:
[TABLE=7]
Incoming:
[TABLE=6]
The Good: In the wake of a disastrous 2008-2009 season, Paul Hewitt somehow managed to bring in a masterful six man recruiting class in 2009. Surefire lottery pick Derrick Favors will dominate in the post, while fellow rookie Mfon Udofia can turn heads with his superior ability to get past defenders and equally ridiculous name. Throw in another rising star in sophomore Iman Shumpert, and this team has some serious potential.
The Bad: In the offseason, Georgia Tech lost their leading scorer in Lewis Clinch and veteran leadership in Alade Aminu to graduation. In August, four-star rookie Kammeon Holsey was lost for the season with an ACL tear. But that’s not the least of Paul Hewitt’s concerns going into the season. The Jackets gave up an average of 71.5 points per game last season – good for 10th in the ACC, only ahead of North Carolina and Virginia. If Hewitt and Tech plan on contending this year, they will need to step up their defense, especially on the interior, in what looks to be a frontcourt-dominated ACC in 2009-2010.
The Crazie: The most crucial part of this team? The coach. Paul Hewitt is a great recruiter, but the same can’t always be said about his game management. With as talented a squad as he’s had in recent years, all the pressure is on Hewitt not only to rebound from the atrocity that was last season but also return Tech some semblance of national prominence.
We Love To Hate…Iman Shumpert. While Favors may be the centerpiece of this team, Shumpert runs the show. He had flashes of brilliance last year as a highly touted freshman(remember Wake?). Look for Shumpert to hit his stride early and give opposing defenses fits come January (except for Duke, of course).
The Bottom Line: Don’t sleep on Georgia Tech. They are undoubtedly one of the most talented teams in the ACC and will most certainly recover from the cataclysm that was last season. But we don’t expect them to reach the upper echelon of the Atlantic Coast Conference just yet.
* * *
Crazie Talk’s ACC Rundowns:
Georgia Tech | Virginia | NC State | Virginia Tech | Miami (FL) | Maryland
Boston College | Clemson | Florida State | Wake Forest | North Carolina | Duke
Nice job of GA Tech. Also enjoyed the endorsement from Jason Williams who I refuse to call Jay.
A couple of things on GA Tech. Don;t be surprised to see their red-shirt D’Andre Bell who was out last year due to injury start at SF instead of Peacock who would then back up the big guys. He’s kind of a Marcus Ginyard type of player, more defense than offense.
GA Tech was a brutal ACC unbalanced schedule, second only to Clemson.
http://www.theacc.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/acc/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/model-three-years
The teams they have to play twice are 5 of the teams besides themselves who are possibly top half of ACC: Clemson, Duke, FSU, UNC and Wake in alpha order. I’m not as big on Wake though, perhaps MD or BC contend with GA Tech for second quadrant.
When I ranked ACC schedule in order of difficulty:
Strength of ACC Schedule
946 Clemson
936 GA Tech
926 MD
923 Wake
919 VA Tech
918 BC
910 Duke
894 FSU
887 NC ST
880 Miami
878 UNC
863 UVA
Thanks ACCBball fan. Not surprised to see UNC’s in-conference strength of schedule in the cellar…
D’Andre Bell is a solid player. Peacock showed flashes last year, but perhaps you’re right that Bell will get that starting job.
[...] Georgia Tech | Virginia | NC State | Virginia Tech | Miami (FL) | Maryland [...]
[...] Georgia Tech | Virginia | NC State | Virginia Tech | Miami (FL) | Maryland Boston College | Clemson | Florida State | Wake Forest | North Carolina | Duke [...]
[...] Georgia Tech | Virginia | NC State | Virginia Tech | Miami (FL) | Maryland Boston College | Clemson | Florida State | Wake Forest | North Carolina | Duke [...]
[...] Georgia Tech | Virginia | NC State | Virginia Tech | Miami (FL) | Maryland Boston College | Clemson | Florida State | Wake Forest | North Carolina | Duke [...]
[...] Georgia Tech | Virginia | NC State | Virginia Tech | Miami (FL) | Maryland Boston College | Clemson | Florida State | Wake Forest | North Carolina | Duke [...]
[...] Georgia Tech | Virginia | NC State | Virginia Tech | Miami (FL) | Maryland Boston College | Clemson | Florida State | Wake Forest | North Carolina | Duke [...]
[...] Georgia Tech | Virginia | NC State | Virginia Tech | Miami (FL) | Maryland Boston College | Clemson | Florida State | Wake Forest | North Carolina | Duke [...]
[...] Georgia Tech | Virginia | NC State | Virginia Tech | Miami (FL) | Maryland Boston College | Clemson | Florida State | Wake Forest | North Carolina | Duke [...]
[...] Georgia Tech | Virginia | NC State | Virginia Tech | Miami (FL) | Maryland Boston College | Clemson | Florida State | Wake Forest | North Carolina | Duke [...]
[...] Georgia Tech | Virginia | NC State | Virginia Tech | Miami (FL) | Maryland Boston College | Clemson | Florida State | Wake Forest | North Carolina | Duke [...]
[...] Georgia Tech | Virginia | NC State | Virginia Tech | Miami (FL) | Maryland Boston College | Clemson | Florida State | Wake Forest | North Carolina | Duke swfobject.embedSWF("http://www.youtube.com/v/izKfjwsm7LQ&rel=0&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=0", "vvq-2136-youtube-1", "425", "344", "9", vvqexpressinstall, vvqflashvars, vvqparams, vvqattributes); [...]
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