Golden Tornado

Podcast - The Birddog

2009-08-11T19:13:00.000-07:00

This is the first in what will hopefully be a series of podcasts with fellow bloggers, people in the sports media and other "characters of interest" if you will covering Georgia Tech sports specifically, and college sports in general.

Today is the first of these, and the guest is Mike from The Birddog - a Navy blog that many GT fans are already familiar with thanks to his excellent breakdowns of the "option based spread" offense and the history of Paul Johnson and modern option football. There isn't anyone you can find who's doing better work with regards to covering option football anywhere. He was gracious enough to spend nearly an hour with me discussing some history of the offense, specifics with regards to the play by play execution and a bunch of topics related to the option based spread, Paul Johnson and GT football.

edit - technical issues with hosting the podcast should be resolved now

Click here for MP3 file

Click here to subscribe to the podcast RSS feed

New Basketball Assistant Coach

2009-08-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

So, it's started to leak out that the new assistant coach to replace Charlton Young will be former GT guard and current ECU assistant coach Darryl Labarrie. This hasn't been officially confirmed by the GTAA, but I expect the announcment will be made any day now.

Darryl is considered to be a very promising rising star in the coaching community and Labarrie has strong ties to the Atlanta AAU scene and is an excellent recruiter. Since Young was the primary recruiter, especially for the key Atlanta area, Labarrie should slide in and take over many of those responsibilities immediately. I'm excited to see a GT guy do well, and Labarrie certainly has a strong resume already for a young coach.

This hire probably won't go over well with many who are frustrated with the current state of the program, and who would like to see another older experienced voice on the bench. In fact, I expect this hire to create quite a bit of negative backlash in certain parts of the GT fanbase. This hire wasn't for that though, this hire was to replace Coach Young, and to fill the hole of head recruiter and find someone with strong ties to the Atlanta Celtics and other AAU programs in the southeast. Under that list of requirements, Labarrie is probably the best hire that could have possibly been made - he's young, he has a history with GT, he's known as being a very hard worker and he's a terrific recruiter.

Much like a roster of players, a roster of coaches is built to meet a broad range of challenges and with skillsets that compliment each other. Just as a team of a dozen centers would be deficient in ball handling and outside shooting, a roster of coaches that all have the same strengths can be deficient in other areas. Labarrie seems from the outside to be yet another young coach known for being a strong recruiter, which is a very important skillset in college basketball, and he fits a the hole left by Coach Young.

If there's to be a critique of the current staff for a lack of experience or gravitas on the bench, it should be a critique of the members of the staff who are in those roles right now. Both coaches O'Connor and Zaharis are long time career assistant coaches with a depth of experience outside of GT's program and should have those roles covered. The role that Coach Young had was empty when he left for Georgia Southern, and Labarrie moves into that spot now. Having a program without a lead recruiter is just like having a team without a point guard ... and we all know how that story ends.

Why did this ever sound like a good idea to anyone?

2009-08-10T06:47:00.000-07:00

Look - I can understand (sort of) the thought process that led people to shirtless football players standing with hot cars like this and this. In the end, it wasn't a good idea ... but at least I can follow the thought process.

This though ... I don't know where to begin.

Podcast News

2009-08-06T13:32:00.001-07:00

One of the bigger focuses of this blog in this reincarnation is going to be podcasting. While I'm still trying to line up various guests ranging from other bloggers to "professional" media members to fans and friends - the first two podcasts are booked now.

In the next couple of days (pending technical issues) I'll have podcast #1 up with myself and a couple of friends discussing the ridiculously absurd ESPN 40 team draft and some general college football wide trends. In the middle of next week, Mike from the Navy blog The Birddog has graciously agreed to spend some time talking about Paul Johnson and the "spread option" offense. We'll cover some of the history of the offense as well as some of the more technical details.

The goal is for 1-2 podcasts a week of about 30 minutes each. We'll see how successful I am in keeping up that pace, but it should be entertaining.

I'm sorry, I think you left out some key points ...

2009-08-06T08:51:00.001-07:00

Calvin Johnson has a video up on Youtube teaching young WR's how to run a fade route, part of a series of instructional videos that Nike sponsored football players have participated in. It's actually a really good look at the technique required to get off the line cleanly and run an effective route (Calvin looks even bigger than he did at GT, if that's possible). And considering that CJ might be the best WR in terms of running the fade route I've ever seen (remember this catch against Auburn?, or this one against Clemson?, or this one against ND?), it's probably something that young WR's around the country should check out. Maybe someone should stick it on Stephen Hill's Facebook page, he should be watching it every night before he goes to bed.

All that being said, there were some important things he left out of the lesson. Calvin doesn't mention that growing to 6'4", working on your ability to verticle jump more than 3 feet and having gigantic soft hands are important prerequisites for this class (sounds familiar to some math classes I had where they conveniently forgot to tell you that a firm grasp of Bessel Functions was essential to even making it through the first day). The final line of the video is "more times than not, you'll be successful". Really? Somehow I just don't think that's true in my case, no matter how closely I follow Professor Calvin's instructions.

Check, check, check ... is this thing on?

2009-08-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

So - Golden Tornado is back.

A lot of things have changed since I first started writing this blog - I moved twice, took a different "real" job, wrote on the side for AOL's Fanhouse for a couple of years and a bunch of other good GT blogs sprouted up. It used to be this blog, Scott over at the GT Sports Blog (which appears to be on some sort of hiatus right now) and Goldtimer over at Wreck Ramblin (defunct since 2007). Now there's all sorts of options - the guys at From the Rumble Seat are doing an awesome job and Jacket Buzz has been making a strong start with excellent practice reports.

Those sites are based in Atlanta, and they have larger groups of writers - they will always do a better job than me of covering the day to day activities in the program. This blog will go back to being what it was before - some random combination of analysis, snarkiness and personal opinions and experiences. Expect to continue to see more hoops stuff here than most of the other GT sites on the net just like before. There will also be some form of a weekly podcast, still trying to work out the details but it should be entertaining.

It's funny to look back and see what I was writing on this blog in the fall of 2006. The excitement for the basketball programs seems just sad in hindsight, and the soul crushing losses to Georgia and Wake to end what had started as such a strong football season hadn't happened yet. Maybe it's fitting that I'm spinning this back up at what is probably the highest point of anticipation for both programs since that time.

Mmm, Cupcakes are Tasty!

2006-11-16T17:07:00.000-08:00

So the snacky beginning to GT's basketball schedule is now over, with the Yellow Jackets having consumed it without so much as a burp. What do four blowouts against lesser opposition have to show us?

Javaris Crittenton is everything we needed, and then possibly some more on top of that. He's long, smooth and looks completely in control. Unlike the two other hyped freshman PG's in this class (Sherron Collins at KU and Tywon Lawson at UNC) he looks steady and ready for the big time. This was my biggest fear, this very talented team could be destroyed by poor play from Crittenton and a slew of freshman errors - but he's been extremely good right out the door. 100+ in the past two games isn't a mistake when your point guard has 19 assists combined.

Lewis Clinch is more muscular, has improved his handle and is making "the leap" into a big time ACC scorer. He has the soul of an assassin and he's super smooth with what is turning into a lethal mid range game to go with his solid outside shooting. Anthony Morrow led the team in scoring and 3pt shooting last year, and yet Clinch is playing so well he's going to turn Morrow into a weapon off the bench. Plus, #0 as shooting guard is just sweet. Clinch has hit 21-29 shots in 3 games, scoring 50 total points - that's one impressive line.

Thad Young is really good. We already knew this, but he hasn't dissapointed in the least. His passing and defensive are possibly more impressive than his offensive skills - prodigious as they are. More about Thad in a couple of points.

Overall defense has been spectacular because of the ridiculous length of this team. Any time Crit, Thad and Faye are on the court at the same time there's more arms on the court than I've ever seen. Those three in particular are just everywhere and getting fingers on every pass. We extend the floor like the '04 team, forcing opponents to set up even farther away from the basket and creating easy scoring opportunities over turnovers. This is a fun, fun group to watch.

Interior defense is still a bit spotty, and I'm not sure it's going to get better. When your two best shotblockers appear to be wings (Faye and Thad) and your two "post" players are a bit undersized in one case and slow to move their feet in the other, you're going to have a soft spot there if people can beat the pressure on the wings and backcourt. This might just be an area that Hewitt has to scheme around to overcome, though I'm scared what Hansbrough might do to us.

This isn't the Hive, we have a #6 here - and it's Faye. He's been very impressive on the defensive end, and while he's a bit raw on the offensive end he's clearly got a large skillset and will only improve. Nice jumper, decent handles, good court awareness and a willingness to pass the basketball. It's on the other end where he's spectacular though, the guy is just everywhere and his hands seem to be on every ball. He goes from pressuring the PG on one possession to guarding the center the next under the hoop. He's going to play a ton because Hewitt loves defense and he's the best defender on the team.

The best lineup so far is Crittenton, Clinch, Thad, Faye and Dickey and it's not even close. So athletic, so long and so able to pressure on the perimeter. As long as Dickey exerts effort on the defensive end of the court, he's clearly our best post presense and I love Jeremis Smith but he's more limited in what he can do defensively than Faye. Smith seems to work better with the second unit, and will still be one of the team leaders in minutes - but the group I listed is so fast and fluid and will give people fits all season long.

This is the most talented Tech team I've ever seen 1 through 9, and while there will be growing pains (maybe as soon as Maui) there is enormous potential for the end of the season. The fact that Anthony Morrow isn't more prominently featured in this review says something ... the guy is still a heck of a player but he's no longer the "go to star" of this team, heck he's probably not even a starter even when healthy. That's ridiculous. Hewitt is slowly building a monster program in Atlanta.

Basketball ... Already?!?!

2006-10-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

While football season is going full speed over at the AOL Fanhouse, we can't forget that basketball practice has started around the country, and Tech's young team is gearing up for a run through the ACC in the very near future.

There's been a lot written about the pair of McDonald's All-American freshman that Paul Hewitt brought in this past off-season, but lets not forget about the guys who are already on the roster. Ra'Sean Dickey is still the man in the middle (and one of DraftExpress.com's 15 NBA draft prospects to watch in the ACC), Jeremis Smith is still the enforcer and fiery heart of the team and Anthony Morrow and Lewis Clinch are 25 point games waiting to happen. Throw in other proven performers like Mario West and you have a lot of talent on the roster with experience already - this isn't going to just be the Thad and Critty show like some in the media have been making it sound.

To get you at least a tiny bit excited about basketball (I know it's hard with the football team ranked #13 and heading to Death Valley this weekend), here's a couple of videos to remind of just how much fun this season is going to be in the Thriller Dome.

Jeremis Smith dunks all over Nelson of Duke as Dickie V goes nuts

Jeremis with another vicious dunk against BC

Montage of 4 dunks (including electric ones from Mario and Jeremis) against NC State

Oh yeah, that Thad guy is going to be really good too

The Ugly Side of Winning

2006-10-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

Dan wrote a great piece about GT fans earlier this month, and while it explains a lot - I'm not sure it even went far enough, as evidenced by the internet fan behavior of the past 24 hours. Since the moment GT went up 38-13 against VT and the game was basically over, there's been a sea change in the attitude of GT fans and it's very disturbing.

First, we've got "everybody back on board" effect. Sorry, you can't dedicate your existence to bad mouthing the coach, the program, the players, the quarterback, the OC, the stadium and the groundskeeper and then suddenly jump two feet on board the bandwagon when it's those same folks driving it. If you had a poll on your message board in the last two weeks seriously asking if the AD should fire the head coach in the middle of the season, you're off the bandwagon and not welcome back on. If you said you no longer consider yourself a GT fan, that's it - you're off. If you said you were cheering for ND in the opener because you openly hate our coach and want him gone, you're off. If you've mocked everyone who's said "you know, this offense isn't going to be half bad this year", don't come here now and start talking about ACC Championships with that very same offense you wasted so much time ripping.

Yes, I know fans are "fanatical" and do stupid stuff like this all the time, but come on. We claim to be a great educational institution, but I'd swear reading GT message boards and the AJC.com comment sections for the past several years that there's plenty of evidence that even absolute morons are capable of getting a GT degree. The constant backbiting and whining has given the entire program a sour note, and if you've dedicated your past several years to undermining anything good that GT accomplishes, you can keep right on doing that. Don't suddenly change your attitude because of one win by the EXACT SAME PEOPLE YOU HAVE SPENT 4 YEARS SPEWING VEMON AT. Georgia Tech won in Blacksburg because of Reggie Ball, Chan Gailey and Patrick Nix. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

It's one thing to raise legitimate complaints about performance and issues with the program. But it's a whole different ball game to openly root against "your" team, which a number of GT "fans" have done. I've been critical of individual items during Gailey's and Ball's tenure on this blog (after the Utah game, for example), but I've never gone even remotely close to the level of bile displayed by a disgracefully large portion of our fanbase. I have a pretty happy overall outlook about the program (basketball, baseball or football) because I want to enjoy cheering for sports, not spending my weekends making myself and everyone around me miserable. I can't imagine what it's like for guys like Ball, who I secretly hope takes in the applause on senior night after a great final year and just throws the bird to half the stands. If he doesn't, he's a bigger man than me. Heck, during Gailey's post game interview I'm surprised he didn't just say "this was for all the **** that kept calling for me to be fired".

Secondly, and maybe more disturbing - the trash talking element of GT fans is suddenly out in full force. Check out the Maryland board, there's a bunch of people "informing" UMD of just how badly they will be beaten this weekend in Atlanta. Of course, these guys are also the same folks claiming a couple of weeks ago that Chan should be fired because he "always loses to one inferior team" - so I'm not sure how that logic works in the first place (again with that morons graduating from Tech thing). We as Tech fans talk all the time about what unsportsmanlike boors Georgia fans are, but give us one tiny taste of success and it's the same crap. Seriously, stop freaking shaming the majority of us who have three brain cells to rub together and realize what jackasses you are making us look like. The VT win was the biggest of Chan's career, to be sure - AU x2 and UM were nice, but never put us in the ACC drivers seat or in contention for a BCS bowl - but it doesn't suddenly make this football team some sort of invincible force. This isn't mid-90's Nebraska here, and we're supposedly great fans who don't act like fools, so just keep your yapper shut for a few more weeks, ok? I love Tech sports, I'm ambivalent about Tech fans. The "little brother" phenomenom is just so tightly woven into the fabric of the average Yellow Jacket fan I'm afraid it's nearly impossible to remove, and it's an ugly, ugly sight when it gets into the light of day.

/rant off

(oh yeah - actual coverage and commentary on GT is over on AOL now, if you care to read it)

Avast Ye Lanlubbers!

2006-09-19T07:23:00.000-07:00

It's national "Talk Like a Pirate Day" again today, and in honor we have "Pee Dee" the ECU Mascot as the image of the day. Nothing says "Argggg, walk the plank you scumsucking bilge rat" quite like a pirate dressed in purple!

So crawl out of your bungholes you filthy maggots and spread some pirate cheer (or jeer) to your office today. And remember, real pirates don't care what they wear - because a big cutlass is a language of it's own.

"A source of harm or ruin"

2006-09-18T17:24:00.000-07:00

That's the American Heritage Dictionary definition for "nemsis" though they might as well have put it under "University of Virginia Cavaliers". For whatever reason, those blue and orange uniforms have been kryptonite to the white and gold over the past several years. Reggie Ball and Calvin Johnson haven't beaten them - as a matter of fact, GT has lost 3 straight and in mostly dominating fashion.

This year would appear to be different, as Virginia is in very poor shape right now and GT is playing well. Throw in what appears to be a young QB making his very first start on the road under the lights and you can hear Tenuta's maniacal laugh all the way here in New York. That being said, stranger things have happened in this series and there's nothing about Virginia week that makes me comfortable.

On the positive note, Tech's two best recent seasons have been propelled by wins over UVa (1990, 1998) - so maybe that's an omen for a season where Tech is suddenly looking like a solid threat to make a trip to Jacksonville. Ian Cohen of Sexy Results! fame and I will be engaging in some question and answer banter over on AOL this week leading up to the game - check it out and drop your comments in. This is a huge chance for GT to make a statement on national TV as a serious contender and get the league season off to a solid start.

Changes Coming

2006-09-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

As you might have noticed, I haven't covered the football season quite as actively on this blog as I did last year - and there's a couple of reasons for that. First off, moving and changing jobs (blah, blah, blah, nobody cares). Secondly, and more suprising - I have been invited to write for the new AOL Fanhouse, which is a collection of sportsbloggers which AOL has assembled to keep a touch on the pulse of the fans. I guess they've seen the explosion of the "blogosphere" in the past couple of years and with the popularity of Brian's BlogPoll and other sites - they wanted to get a piece of it.

So, while I will be writing a fair amount there (game previews and recaps each weekend, other items of note and editorial type pieces) - I will not completely abandon this blog. Expect random silly stuff like mascot reviews, YouTube videos, long rants about crappy bowl games and other content not neccessarily applicable for the AOL site to be here. The AOL site will be more regular and will feature more frequent updates than this site has in the past - getting paid to do it makes it a bit more like a "job" than this has ever been.

To read me on AOL (including my expectations for the upcoming Troy game) use [this link]. Thanks to everyone that's read my blog over the past year+, I started doing this just to keep out of my wife's hair and never had a clue that anyone beyond my immediate family would give any care about what I had to say.

Blog Poll Ballot - Week 3

2006-09-13T05:13:00.000-07:00

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	25
2	Notre Dame	24
3	Southern Cal	23
4	Auburn	22
5	Louisiana State	21
6	Florida	20
7	Georgia	19
8	Louisville	18
9	Michigan	17
10	Texas	16
11	Oregon	15
12	Tennessee	14
13	Florida State	13
14	West Virginia	12
15	Iowa	11
16	Oklahoma	10
17	Nebraska	9
18	Boston College	8
19	TCU	7
20	Georgia Tech	6
21	Arizona State	5
22	Rutgers	4
23	Boise State	3
24	Texas Tech	2
25	Missouri	1

Dropped Out:

How GT Lost

2006-09-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

It's a funny thing, the internet. There's a ton of commentary on Reggie Ball's performance, our lack of imaginative playcalling, not going to Calvin down the field enough, etc. Chan is an absolute idiot, Jon Tenuta is God and is currently standing on a lake somewhere preaching to his disciples of the almighty zone blitz - all of the above.

In reality, our offense did pretty well ... certainly well enough to win. Except in one key area, and the complete failure in this department lost the game. Short yardage situations continue to plague this team, and it's partly offensive line play, partly poor QB decision making, partly bizarre playcalling and partly just flat out poor play by the backs.

So lets look at how each drive ended (which is easy to do, we only had 9 drives all game) and something jumps off the page ... we just blew chance after chance to extend drives on short yardage plays and fell flat on our face. GT only had a single 3 and out the entire game, and yet came away with only 10 points. That's hard to do.

Drive #1 -

GT gets a first down by converting a 3rd and 1 with a Reggie run. This is a nice start to the opening drive, and a good sign for the rest of the night. Or not, as GT gets a 2nd and 1 and procedes to turn that into a 3rd and 4, which is an incomplete pass and GT punts. This goes down as a failed easy opportunity to keep a drive alive with a 1 yard gain.

Drive #2 -

GT gets a pair of first downs and then an incomplete pass and a short run lead to 3rd and 7. Another incomplete and a punt. 3rd and 7 is a tough situation to be in, but ND's secondary played well and this wasn't a "gimme" situation like the first drive.

Drive #3 -

Calvin is superhuman, GT scores a TD. Hidden in all of that though is a nice job on 2nd and 1 early in the drive at midfield where Choice picks up a big chunk of yards. Converting short yardage situations is a GOOD thing, who knew!

Drive #4 -

GT gets a first down (notice how many drives started this way, we were moving the football). On 2nd and 1 we have an incomplete pass. On 3rd and 1 we bring in Grant and lose 3 yards and punt. Huge blown opportunity here as the ball was near midfield and we had ND on their heels a bit. Having two cracks from 1 yard and getting nothing is just killer.

Drive #5 -

Field Goal. Drive was kept alive by a 3rd and 1 conversion by Choice near midfield.

Drive #6 -

Ball picked up a first down on a run, but then we got a grand total of nothing after that and punter. No short yardage situations on this drive.

Drive #7 -

2 first downs get us to midfield and then Choice gets stuffed on a 3rd and 1 on the ND side of the field. Huge blow here, we had a chance to get back momentum and pick up a score and got stoned. This is the 3rd just backbreaking failure to pick up 1 yard conversion.

Drive #8 -

The Calvin reviewed incompletion. It was on 3rd and 5, nothing else really going on this possession. This was the only 3 and out of the entire game for GT. That's it.

Drive #9 -

Bad shotgun snap at midfield dooms this drive after moving the football successfully to this point. This was the final time GT had the ball in the game.

So, to sum it up? GT had the football 9 times. We scored on 2 of those drives, and in both cases converted 1 yard opportunities for 1st downs. In 3 other cases GT simply had to gain 1 yard to keep a drive alive and failed. In all 3 of those drives, GT had been moving the football and was in good field position. If we convert and go on to score on any of those drives, this is a completely different ball game - one GT probably wins.

It is inexcusable with an offensive line as good as Tech's, a mobile QB and an experienced back like Choice behind a blocker like Cox for a team to not convert the vast majority of short yardage situations. Tech was just disastrous, only converting 2 of the 5 drives that had these situations. This has got to get fixed.

Also, quite frankly, the offense played pretty well. Ball had a solid game, and if he can give GT a 50% completion rate, no interceptions and 50+ yards rushing every game out - the Jackets are going to win a lot of ball games. That being said, all the offensive success in the world is pointless if you can't convert those final 3 feet. That's where GT lost the game.

Notre Dame Post Mortem

2006-09-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

First off, the NYC alumni group is a great crowd and I had a blast getting to watch the game with fellow Tech fans (and a prof). I got to sing I'm a Ramblin Wreck at the top of my lungs for the first time in a while, that made it all worth it.

I thought it was a great game, and I thought Tech played very well - and looked very well coached. It's not all sunshine and roses, but there was a heck of a lot of good in the game to work off for the rest of the season. For that reason, I'll break this up into two parts - the "good" part, and the "bad" part.

The "Good":

#1 - The crowd, College Gameday and the national attention all weekend. What a tremendous showcase for a football program, overselling the stadium and the "bigtime" atmosphere that accompanied everything. The crowd was flatout nuts on TV, I can't remember a crowd like except for UGa games. You couldn't have asked for a better recruiting tool (for both players and fans) that what went on in Atlanta this weekend. Down to the final whistle, this was all good for Tech. And oh yeah - Calvin has been defeating Catholics since 1509.

#2 - The defense, and especially the young secondary. Yeah, the defensive line is frigging monsters, but we already knew that. We knew DRich (how good was it to watch him bulldozing through and then chasing Quinn around?) and Anoai were going to wreck people, and that Wheeler and K-Mike were big time behind them - but we didn't know what on earth the secondary would do. They made some young mistakes, but for the most part they played terrific. Pat Clark, in particular, looked pretty darn good in coverage, and he made a HUGE hit on Darius Walker that didn't look anything like a converted WR. Our secondary looked athletic and they tackled great, my biggest fear for the season seems unrealized.

#3 - Reggie. The playcalling was more bland than a bowl of cafeteria oatmeal, but Reggie showed off a strong arm and made good decisions with the football. He also ran the ball effectively out of the shotgun, something we hadn't seen before this year in large doses. Almost all his throws were still to the perimeter of the field, but he did a much better job of hitting Calvin in stride when the chance presented itself and I thought he made pretty solid decisions all night long. Reggie is never going to be a superstar, but if he can be a 50-55% passer and not throw INT's, we're going to win a lot of games. He did that Saturday night.

#4 - Special Teams are 1251934867% better than last year. We had a kickoff go into the endzone! We didn't give up huge punt returns!! We made a field goal!!! Yeah, kickoff coverage still sucks, but that's it to take away from the game. After last year's "special" teams unit that rode the shortbus to the game, Saturday was a breath of fresh air.

#5 - We held Notre Dame and their high flying offense and "sooper genius" coach to 14 points. 14. Brady Quinn in the first half looked like a boxer going into the 7th round after taking shot after shot, and his happy feet didn't stop for the whole game. That was an absolute clinic on how to disrupt an offense's timing and rythm. Tenuta's worth every single penny he's paid.

#6 - It goes without saying, but Calvin Johnson is ridiculous.

The "Bad":

#1 - The playcalling still leaves something to be desired. I understand playing conservatively, letting your defense win the game and trying not to screw it up for them - but we've taken it to a new extreme. GT's offense literally never takes a chance, on anything. Even with the biggest freak this side of the sword swallowing fat lady trapeze artist in the circus, we still almost never try to stretch the field. More vexing to me though was the bizarre short yardage plays we saw a couple of times which got stuffed and ended up forcing punts. We've got to keep our offense on the field more than we did in the second half, as tremendous as that defense is, they've got to get a break now and then. If we want to win 9 games instead of 7, we're going to have to open the playbook just a tiny bit more.

#2 - Keying off of #1, I was dissapointed in our running game. We couldn't convert short yardage situations (with our o-line and Cox in the backfield, that shouldn't be a problem) and it just seemed to be a bizarre mishmash of blocking schemes and playcalling. I love watching the spread offense, but when it's truly successful it entails a great running game. Right now, we look worse running the ball than we did last year - and that needs to get fixed. Our inability to convert 3rd downs cost us this game, and we can't keep having that.

On 2-1 - 1 for 4
On 3-1 - 2 for 4
On 4-1 - 0 for 1

Yeah, that's broken. No reason we can't just line up and push people 1 yard off the ball. We lost the game right here.

#3 - Throwing the water bottle at the ref. Seriously, that's freaking bush league "georgia fan" type stuff. Hopefully whoever that is got kicked out immediately. That has no place at a Tech game.

#4 - The personal foul call that kept ND's second drive alive. There is no "helmet to helmet" rule in college football, and that type of hit happens on nearly every running play. Wheeler didn't lead with his helmet in a spearing manner, and Quinn had both feet in bounds and was trying to fight for the first down. It was a clean play, and should have forced ND into a FG attempt right there. Just a terrible call.

#5 - Linebacker depth still worries me a bit, our first 3 are awesome, but I don't know about anything after that. They looked worn down a bit (K-Mike missed two tackles he normally makes in his sleep) and we've got to get them some help as the season goes along.

All in all, I came away more impressed with ND than with anything else from this game. I didn't think they could win a game where someone came out and just punched them straight in the mouth and physically dominated them. When Anoai went WWF on Quinn and flying boddy slammed him to the turf, I thought we had a real good shot to win. To ND's credit, they came back from 10-0 in an incredibly hostile environment against a top 10 defense and stole a game away. National Championship teams have to be able to do that. We're not quite at that level yet. We are nearly there talent wise (tell me with a straight face there's a huge difference between ND and GT right now on the talent scale), but coaching, experience and just plain swagger we don't have at that level. Hopefully that's something we can learn over the course of the next two years. I think we'll go 9-3 or 8-4 this year and contend for the Coastal division title, and if CJ stays for his senior year this team is shaping up to be a big time national force. There's plenty to work on, but we're a far cry from 51-7 just a few years ago. ND will get my vote for #1 in the next blogpoll outside of FSU or Miami just blowing the other one out, I think they proved a lot to me Saturday night. That will be one of their 2-3 toughest games of the year in the end.

(pictures from the always excellent Jeff Gooley)

The "other" Manhattan

2006-08-18T23:58:00.000-07:00

Forget speaches about burning ships and canibals. Forget running off 3 of your 5 scholarship QB's within a single offseason. Forget the new coach who's never seen a camera he won't talk too. Forget recruiting every 5'8" 150lb running back in the entire midwest. The most embarassing thing to come out of Manhattan, KS is [THIS] abomination.

"Yeah, Willie's gonna make it happen!"

The Only Analysis That Matters - SEC Part #2

2006-08-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

As promised, here's the rest of the SEC rankings - which will complete all the major conferences. I'll do a wrap up with some independant and small conference mascot in addition to announcing the conference OMG WINNAR!!111! in a soon to come final column on this subject.

Louisiana State Tiger

Strengths: He's a tiger. A fully grown tiger with fangs and all. The current "Mike" is only the fifth tiger that has represented LSU since 1936, which is very impressive when you think of it - they take good care of their tigers down in the bayou. Mike stalking in his enclosure on a sweaty deep black night in front of 90,000 drunken crazy cajuns in Death Valley is one of the premiere home field experiences in all of college football. Nobody other than cajuns would have a live 500lb+ predator on the sideline, but for some reason it seems a natural fit with LSU.

Weaknesses: None. Even the generic "Tigers" is excusable when you are named after a Civil War unit from New Orleans that wore uniforms like [this].

Rating: Not even possible of sucking. Mike the Tiger is the best mascot in all of college football.

Ole Miss Rebel

Strengths: Well, there isn't a mascot since Colonel Reb was banned from sporting events by the school. (you can read the whole saga [here])

Weaknesses: When you have 40,000 people qualified to vote for a new mascot and only 2,400 actually do ... either nobody cares, or you have terrible choices like [this] and [this].

Rating: Sucks beyond belief. Get with the program Ole Miss, with some of the best looking women on the planet - just get one in her Sunday best and make her the mascot. That would instantly vault you up the list.

Mississippi State Bulldog

Strengths: Again, another live bulldog. While Uga gets all the attention, it's hard to remember that there's another live bulldog in the same conference - and just as cool.

Weaknesses: Bully might be an even lamer and unimaginative name than Uga.

Rating: Very cool. Starkville might not have the same renown and name recognition that Oxford and the Grove have, but it's home to the best mascot in the state, that's for sure.

South Carolina Gamecock

Strengths: Besides being the stuff of Col. Sanders dreams? It's unique, and this rating system is skewed that way. I'm not aware of another Gamecock at any level of sports, so that's gotta be going for it. Violent mascots are always preferable to placid ones as well, and birds trained to kill each other with razors strapped to their legs are cool by me.

Weaknesses: Seriously, the costume sucks. It's a big bag/skirt thing with a goofy head, and a really unoriginal name - "Cocky".

Rating: I know it won a national mascot of the year competition recently, but it still sucks. The whole hoop skirt thing went out in the '80's. The 1880's. Cockabooses though? Those don't suck.

Tennessee Hound

Strengths: Since there's two bulldogs in the SEC alone, a bluetick hound gets the nod as the most unique live dog mascot I know of. "Smokey" makes a splendid sight in his checkered blanket and with his loud and dinstinctive howl is one of the reasons why gameday in Neyland is such a treat.

Weaknesses: Is surrounded by people from Tennessee, which frankly isn't the poor dogs fault.

Rating: Great mascot. A bit light on tradition compared to one like Mike the Tiger, but still in the upper tier of college mascots.

Vanderbilt Commodore

Strengths: Commodores is a cool name!

Weaknesses: Everything about this abortion of a costume from the creepy oversized head to the wierd angle the hat is at and the gloves and tuxedo pants that look like sweats. The "oversized head on a human body" mascot costume style is the one we dislike the most, and this is one of the worst offenders.

Rating: Unlike the school, this mascot really sucks.

Blogpoll, It's Back and Better Than Ever!

2006-08-14T18:16:00.000-07:00

Brian over at mgoblog did a fantastic job with the Blogpoll last year, and this year he's done yeoman's work in revamping the interface and adding features making it easier on us voters to, you know ... vote. What hasn't changed though is that crazy homerific bloggers with strong regional preferences are picking the top 25. Suprisingly, this makes us only half as biased as the professional sportswriters and coaches who contribute to the "real" polls.

So without further ado, here's my first ballot of the season. It's not due to be finalized until Wednesday - so if you think I'm a complete moron putting Navy and Arkansas in the top 25, feel free to tell me so, I'm willing to consider anyone for 20-25.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas	25
2	Ohio State	24
3	Southern Cal	23
4	Auburn	22
5	Notre Dame	21
6	Louisiana State	20
7	Florida	19
8	Florida State	18
9	Cal	17
10	West Virginia	16
11	Louisville	15
12	Miami (Florida)	14
13	Oklahoma	13
14	Virginia Tech	12
15	Clemson	11
16	Iowa	10
17	Penn State	9
18	Oregon	8
19	Michigan	7
20	Arizona State	6
21	Georgia	5
22	Boston College	4
23	Georgia Tech	3
24	Navy	2
25	Arkansas	1

Dropped Out:

It's the Awesomeist!

2006-08-13T17:17:00.000-07:00

Tell me you can watch this and resist not immediately sending an application letter in to Clemson:

There has to be a wiley Gamecock fan behind this - to whoever you are, well done.

The Only Analysis That Matters - SEC Part #1

2006-08-11T16:48:00.000-07:00

Yikes. Don't ever move to NYC from half way across the country under the following circumstances: You don't know anyone in the city to help you, your wife is out of the country and unable to assist, and you have exactly two days between the end of your job in KC and the start of your job in NYC. Trust me on this. Did I mention finding an apartment within walking distance of Columbia that isn't a student dump and/or isn't in the hood? When the first thing every broker says as you approach an apartment is "this area has become quite gentrified in the past couple of years, don't believe what you've heard about it" ... be afraid. Very afraid.

So anyways, I'm back blogging again. Thankfully all the havoc in my personal life happened during the summer, so I didn't really miss anything with my absence from the internet (withdrawl shakes not withstanding). Practice has started, guys are fighting and there's already a debate raging in Tech circles on how well the new offense is going to work and how well Reggie fits with it. My position? It can't be worse, so bring it on. The House Rock Built will have a piece I did for them previewing Tech and answering some offbeat questions about the school - you can check that out for more Tech related football stuff here in the near future.

Most importantly though, here's the long awaited first half of the SEC mascot review ... you wouldn't believe the amount of mail in my inbox about this. Seriously, I can't even comment on EDSBS.com without someone bringing it up. So, without futher ado ... here we go.

Alabama Elephant

Strengths: Well, he's an elephant, and that's pretty cool. Certainly unique as well. "Big Al" is a great name, and while the mascot costume is a bit cutie fruitie - it's also one that's certainly fun and family friendly.

Weaknesses: That trunk is pretty flimsy looking - seriously, it looks like a sock hung over one of those red plastic Solo cups on his face, and overall it's a bit too cute for my tastes

Rating: Doesn't suck

Arkansas Razorback

Strengths: I'll let this piece speak for itself, I can't sum it up any better

The live mascot tradition dates back to the 1960s. A number of hogs have proudly represented Arkansas through the years. In addition to their presence on the sidelines, some also gained a reputation for their activities off the field.

Big Red III, for instance, escaped from an animal exhibit near Eureka Springs in the summer of 1977 and ravaged the countryside before an irate farmer gunned him down. And Ragnar, a wild hog captured in south Arkansas by Leola farmer Bill Robinson, killed a coyote, a 450-pound domestic pig and seven rattlesnakes. Ragnar died in 1978 of unknown causes.

So um, yeah, Razorbacks are pretty badass. I'm trying to think of another school's mascot who had to be gunned down after leaving a swath of destruction and coming up with nothing.

Weaknesses: Arkansas can't leave well enough alone, and not only has a family of costumed mascots but also one of those gawdawful inflatable ones.

Rating: Doesn't suck, solely on the strength of the live one. The wretched costumed family (wtf - "pork chop" the kid?) and the even worse inflatable one nearly torpedoed this ranking, but the thought of a big raging pig on the warpath in the Arkansas countryside is too good to be ruined by those.

Auburn Tiger

Strengths: Had his tail ripped off by crazy GT freshman - "RATS on the field!" in his first appearance in Atlanta. While Aubie doesn't have much excitement in the costume or nickname, his antics and routine are pretty cool. Aubie has been nominated for the mascot hall of fame, as a member of the spirit squad he does a very good job.

Weaknesses: Pretty generic tiger costume. When you've got a common "every high school" mascot, you need a sweet costume (or live mascot) to push you over the top. Aubie doesn't bring that. I love Calvin and Hobbes, but I'm not sure I want a crazy kid's imaginary tiger as my mascot.

Rating: There would be no question about this if the eagles were in the rating (one of the best pregames in all of college football). Unfortunately, the school is very clear that the eagles are NOT the mascot ... and thus poor Aubie gets a suck rating.

Florida Gator

Strengths: Was the star character in one of the 5 best "This is SportsCenter" ads of all time. Again, much like "Big Al", "Albert" is a unique mascot with a cool name. The costume looks sort of like a giant stuffed animal, but when you are trying to make a costume out of an animal with 18" tall legs you get a bit of a pass if it looks a tiny bit goofy.

Weaknesses: Again, a bit too cutsie for me - and "Alberta"? The whole family of mascots things has to go, this is a trend that is threating college football all over the country and needs to be nipped in the bud.

Rating: Doesn't suck - though this would be clinched if "Albert" showed up to a game wearing a pair of jorts.

Georgia Bulldog

Strengths: Man, it kills me to say this but I like Uga. He's got tons of character, he waddles around like he owns the place (which he basically does) and he attacked an Auburn WR who had the audacity to score in his end zone. I'm a sucker for dogs and for live mascots, Uga is both of them.

Weaknesses: Uga is the best they could come up with for a name? Of course, this is Georgia we are talking about - so I guess they had to choose something easy to both remember and spell. Also, Uga has to share time with the horrendous "Hairy Dawg" costume, which should be burned. One of the worst costumes in college athletics. Uga is also responsible for legions of rednecks "barking" at each other in the state of Georgia, which is a crime against humanity.

Rating: Hairy Dawg sucks, sucks, sucks. Uga doesn't.

Kentucky Wildcat

Strengths: Um, the school logo with the wildcat is cool?

Weaknesses: This costume is straight from the corner costume store generic "wildcat, tiger, bearcat, puma, leopard" rack. This is beyond generic, he doesn't even have a name.

Rating: Sucks. A lot.

Part 2 of the SEC will be later this weekend, and then we'll unveil the best conference in America winner - and it's not like our criteria are any worse than whatever 90% of the writers in sports pages around the country are using right now.

I'm not dead, I swear!

2006-07-27T11:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks for 30 e-mails and comments I've received about where on earth I've gone - and no, I'm not dead and I haven't quit blogging ... I'm just in New York and getting moved in / internet /computer / new job / etc. is a big fat pain in the neck and enormously time consuming.

Anyways, the SEC mascot should be here shortly I promise (yeah, you've heard that one before) - and yes, I have a soft spot for Uga. I'm pretty sure I'm going to Tech hell for that one, but I love dogs and can't help it. Of course, that means I'll probably just skip him and rate "Hairy Dog" instead (who's absolutely terrible), so my soul will still be clean.

Where on Earth are the Posts?

2006-07-12T13:34:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of moving from Kansas to New York City (long story) and have very limited internet availability, if any at all. I apologize for the lack of updates on the site - ESPECIALLY THE SEC MASCOTS (yes, thanks for the 25 e-mails on this topic).

Golden Tornado will be back to a semi-regular posting schedule next week.

Portland Has a #1 PG

2006-06-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

Portland has officially traded Sebastian Telfair for the Boston Celtic's 1st round pick tonight (#7 overall) and Dan Dickau. This trade means that Portland and Nate McMillan feel that Jack is the PG of the future for them, and he will enter next year as the primary option in the backcourt for them. Along with Martell Webster he will form one of the larger and more physical backcourts in the NBA, and should fit well with McMillan's style of basketball. Congratulations to Jarrett.

The Only Analysis That Matters - Part 5

2006-06-28T12:24:00.000-07:00

If this is new to you, read [here], [here], [here] and [here] ... it won't make sense (nothing on this blog ever does), but at least you'll get a feel for what on earth is going on here. With that as the backdrop then, lets dive straight into the wild, wild west and examine the mascot worthiness of the PAC-10.

Arizona Wildcat

Strengths: My uncle is a U of A graduate, and still lives in Tuscon (which is a beautiful town with Mt. Lemmon right outside, etc). Outside of the family ties ... not much to go on here.

Weaknesses: The stuffed mascot exists because they killed the live one by leaving it tied to a tree where it fell and hung itself. Good work there. On that fact alone they deserve a "suck" rating, but it gets worse. Having a wildcat for a mascot in the first place? Lame. Naming your mascot "Wilbur" and then having it get married to "Wilma"? Lame. Big baggy costume that is pretty much interchangeable with any of 6 other mascots we've ranked so far? Lame.

Rating: It's probably karma from killing off the original (and very not suck) live mascot, but Wilbur and Wilma suck.

Arizona State Sun Devil

Strengths: He's a flaming devil, and following the basic rule of "if it's evil it's always cooler" that earns bonus points. The fact that the original flaming imp Sun Devil logo was supposedly drawn to resemble Walt Disney because the artist had been fired by him certainly has to add to it's cache.

Weaknesses: Pretty weak costume here, just a head and what looks like some extra padded sweatpants with flames on them. "Sparky" isn't the strongest name either, but nothing here is really too big of a violation of the mascot suck standards.

Rating: Pretty cool, and certainly doesn't suck.

California Bear

Strengths: It's a hippy mascot for a hippy campus, with sort of a dorky "cool" that fits Berkeley. Also, as the flagship university of the state of California, it's fitting for the bear to be used since it is such a longstanding image of the state. "Oski" is a pretty cool name as well, derived from a turn of the century cheer.

Weaknesses: Oski wears jeans. No mascot should wear jeans, ever. He's also got a permanently dopey look (much like many students at Berkeley come to think of it) that makes you think he's been dipping in the chemistry lab's stock on a regular basis.

Rating: Sucks. This is a tough one, because if I went to Cal I'd probably love Oski for being quirky and different - and normally in these ratings quirky and different has been held up as not sucking. But jeans and that dopey look? That's something only an alumni could love.

Oregon Duck

Strengths: It's a green version of Donald Duck.

Weaknesses: It doesn't just look like Donald Duck, it IS Donald Duck. Really going out on a limb there (what's with the PAC-10 and Walt Disney by the way?). Worse, Nike recently sponsored a newer mascot costume that looks like Roboduck and is worse than the football uniforms.

Rating: Sucks. Get your own mascot and logo, don't leech off of an American icon.

Oregon State Beaver

Strengths: It's better than the other mascots in OSU's bizarre mascot history. A coyote? A bulldog? Some guy who used to throw his hat in a river? The beaver is better than all of those combined.

Weaknesses: There used to be a married couple of mascots (Benny and Bernice) but that has thankfully been done away with. Also, the current mascot costume has only been in use since 1999, when the older "cuter" costume was put to rest. Any time your new mascot is referred to as the "Angry" one because it's looks edgier ... that's not good. Stop playing with tradition.

Rating: Sucks for getting rid of the old cute one that sort of looked like the Minnesota gopher. That one didn't suck.

Stanford Tree

Strengths: Uniqueness has been rewarded to this point - and the tree is unique, there's no doubt about that. The tradition of each student making their own tree costume lends itself to all sorts of interpretation, and while some are just awful ... some others are really good. Also, the tree recently was cited for public intoxication while performing at a basketball game. Wearing a giant costume and having to put up with pawing children would drive us to drink as well, so we fully understand.

Weaknesses: Well, it's a freaking tree for one - and some people just can't get over that fact. Also, some trees have made terrible costumes for themselves, which we simply cannot defend.

Rating: Doesn't suck. I love the unique tradition of making your own costume, I love the randomness of picking a tree as a mascot to begin with and I love the goofball looking costumes that come out each year. I know a lot of readers won't agree with this one, but tough luck - on our rating scale, the tree doesn't suck at all.

UCLA Bruins

Strengths: They're bears, and the general bears in California rule that applied to the Oski also applies here.

Weaknesses: Can we please stop with the couples mascots? Is this something endemic to the west coast? The costumes are too cute, the whole "couple" thing is too cute, everything is just sugary and cute about the Bruins. Combined with gold and light blue uniforms ... lets just say it isn't exactly the sort of thing that brings football to mind. I know it's L.A and sunny southern California and things just aren't the same there ... but come on.

Rating: Sucks.

USC Trojan on Horseback

Strengths: Hangs out with the Trojan cheerleaders and their ridiculous sweaters. That alone makes him the coolest mascot out there in our opinion. The mascot is actually the horse, named Traveler - which means there's big white horse rounding the stadium with a fully dressed Trojan on his back? Sign us up right now. Throw in the fact that Traveler's first game was the home opener against Georgia Tech in 1961 (remember, GT used to be a huge name ... throw us in the wayback machine and we're in love) and it's tough to top.

Weaknesses: None. Along with Renegade at Florida State, Mike the tiger at LSU, Ralphie at Colorado and maybe a select couple of others, this is one of the best mascots in college athletics.

Rating: Incapable of sucking.

Washington Husky

Strengths: Washington has had a live husky or malamute on the sidelines since the 1920's, and despite the recent addition of a costumed mascot (who most certainly sucks), the dog continues to be the star of the show. We love live mascots, and Prince Redoubt is a gorgeous dog.

Weaknesses: Has to share the stage with this terrible excuse for a costume.

Rating: Doesn't suck.

Washington State Cougar

Strengths: Long standing tradition of live cougars as mascots was finally ended in 1978 in Pullman, and while we love live mascots - keeping a live predator as a safe mascot at sporting events has to be tough, so I understand the move to a costume. "Butch" is pretty safe as mascots go, nothing edgy or too exciting, but nothing terrible either.

Weaknesses: It's a "safe" costume ... aka "boring". It's pretty generic, and without the very cool WSU logo on it could be mistaken for any number of regional high schools or small colleges with big cat mascots.

Rating: Doesn't suck, but not particularly memorable either.

So the Pac-10 registers a respectable 50% suck percentage, bouyed by a couple of unique and/or live mascots and without any true stinkers like some of the other conferences have had. All in all, a showing that would make our friends over at Heisman Pundit happy, but they are unfortunately unable to overcome the lead that the Big XII has built. It's up to the SEC to try and topple them next.

The Great Ones

2006-06-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo are the two greatest soccer players of my generation, guys who made the remarkable normal and each one capable of taking a team on their back and winning the biggest of competitions. Both had a definitive moment in a World Cup final where they basically willed their teams to win (Ronaldo in '02, Zidane in '98) and won countless times in their domestic leagues. They are older now, and certainly not as good as they used to be, but both today showed they still have flashes left in them as they are on their way out - it was great to watch them shine for what might be the last time on the world stage. They are the only two men to ever win three seperate FIFA World Player of the Year awards and are always going to be tied together in my memory.

It's hard to remember now, nearly 10-12 years later, the young explosive Ronaldo, the one with the speed, balance and power combination that would have made him one of the greatest running backs of all time if he had grown up in the United States. In the mid-90's with Barcelona and Inter Milan, he was the best player on the planet and maybe the best pure goal scorer who had ever lived. He would emberass multiple defenders with a bewildering array of moves, and had that heartless finishing ability that never left a chance wanting. 47 goals in 49 games in his last campaign with Barcelona is simply remarkable, a testament to his unwavering nose for the goal. As he has aged (and put on quite a bit of weight) that pure explosive speed that always seems to remind me of Gale Sayers has left him, but the quick feet and eyes in the back of his head for oncoming defenders is still there. Watching today's goal where he deftly stepped around the keeper and slotted it home with the opposite foot he made the move with was vintage Ronaldo - you could almost see him at his prime in a Barca shirt leaving the keeper sprawling in the dust without the ball in sight. Ronaldo was O Fenômeno (The Phenomenom) at 17, and it hasn't quite faded out yet.

Zidane, the one who looked like he was 40 at 20 because of the bald pate and the ever present 5 o'clock shadow. The one who held the keys to the engine of France's golden generation and brought the first ever Cup home to Paris after a scintilating performance in the '98 final where the distributor took on a new role putting two balls in the net to secure the title for France. If Ronaldo would have been a running back, Zidane would have been a quarterback - with the awareness to always hold off the defense around him while picking out his teammates with pinpoint accuracy. Zidane's teams always won, that was a common theme. Players made entire careers out of finishing chances generated out of the midfield by him - and then when it was needed most he could come up huge himself (the full volley winner in the '02 Champion's League Final was just ridiculous). Zidane is possibly the most clutch athlete I have ever seen in any sport, he was just spectacular on the largest of stages. Watching him today running the French attack and holding off his retirement for at least one more match, including scoring a terrific goal in stoppage time was vintage.

Enough soccer, I promise - the PAC-10 mascot rankings tommorow!

Albiceleste!

2006-06-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

Two things have slowed down the posting regularity here on Golden Tornado - a move in progress to NYC and the fact I've been glued to the TV watching the World Cup. A number of better college football bloggers than myself have been providing commentary on the spectacle in Germany, but after this weekend's terrific Argentina v. Mexico matchup in the first knockout round of the tournament I've finally got to add my piece.

I'll preface my comments by admiting I'm an Argentina fan, dating to my college days when a suitemate was an Argentinian national and got me watching every one of their matches (including the epic England showdown) in the '98 Cup. After the disaster that was the '02 Cup for the light blues, this year's team has a lot to prove and a number of young stars looking to make their mark after the generation of Veron and Batistuta has finally moved (or in Veron's case - shoved) on.

What makes college football special to me is the passion and the pageantry, the rabid fans and the uniqueness of each game's atmostphere. In many ways, soccer mirrors this. College football is strongly regional, with many of the residents of each state identifying more with the football team bearing the same name than with anything else. There's a sense of community and "ownership" that all but the smallest of professional teams seems incapable of duplicating. When you think about it, most of the nations in the World Cup are of similar size to US states (Texas has 20 million people, the Netherlands has 16 million) and the deep rooted identification with the local team lends to the same type of passion and energy in the fans and the games. Add in strong nationalistic feelings in many of those countries and give them an excuse to wave flags and get hammered and you have one heck of a loud, exciting and sometimes rowdy crowd.

As the Mexico v. Argentina match drew on towards the end of regulation tied 1-1, you could feel the pulse of the stadium through the TV, and see it on the faces of the players. Many on both sides were completely spent, but they were still playing at an exceptional level. As overtime began, you knew that people around the world were glued to their TV's regardless of rooting interest just enjoying the performance being put on. When Maxi Rodriguez thundered home a goal on a supreme individual effort in the 98th minute it was the only fitting way to end one of the best matches of the past several Cups, anything less would have cheated everyone involved.

Make no mistake, in the grand scheme of sport - that was a tremendous goal. I'm sure thousands of words will be written about it far more eloquently than what I can say (most of them in Spanish), but for the stage and setting you will be hard pressed to find a better performance. It was overtime of a knockout match in the World Cup, an event that only comes along every four years, and involved two soccer mad countries who's national worth is in some ways measured by the performance of their teams in this tournament. Add to it the technical dificulty and asthetic beauty of the strike, and you have a permanent member of every highlight reel for the next decade.

Even if you're not a soccer fan, the chances are that if you are reading this blog you are a fan of sports in general. You owe it to yourself to at least give the Cup a shot - while the rules, players and teams might not be known to you,the passion, pageantry and the pure enjoyment of world class athletes performing on the biggest stage shouldn't be.

Snapshots of Omaha

2006-06-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

I haven't had time to finish my full commentary on my trip to Omaha, but here's a few pictures to try and capture the feel of the event. For those of you who have never gone, it's a terrific sporting event - one of the best I've ever been to. My wife and I had an absolute blast, and will certainly be back (click on the pictures for larger versions).

View from our seats in the right field bleachers in the first game

The infamous "Pauli's" at night

View from the press box at Nebraska's Memorial Stadium (side trip on Saturday)

Going to Omaha?

2006-06-14T12:36:00.000-07:00

If you are going to be in Omaha this weekend for the opening games on Friday and Sunday - shoot me an e-mail or if you have a facebook account you can send me a message here. I'm going to try and say high to some folks and have a blast for the weekend. I've never been to the CWS, and it's only a 2.5 hour drive from me now - I have no excuse not to be there.

The Only Analysis That Matters - Part 4

2006-06-14T07:19:00.000-07:00

(EDIT 6/19/06 - Thank you Kansas State fans for your profane tirades, it's obvious that any attempt at humor completey skipped the Little Apple. I've deleted several comments that were way out of line for this blog and will continue to do so. There's an e-mail link at the bottom of the page, you can flame me with that if you absolutely have the need too).

This whole College World Series business and then that World Cup thingy sort of interfered with the important task or rating mascots, and for that I apologize. So after a several day hiatus, we're back with the Big XII and it's collection of live animals roaming the sidelines. Something about the wideopen spaces of the midwest must cater to having a 2000 lb. live animal wreaking havoc on opposing marching bands - but we're not going to complain. If you just stumbled into this, the introduction and ACC are [HERE], the Big East is [HERE] and the Big 10 is [HERE]. Without futher ado - on to the Big XII.

Baylor Bears

Strengths: They could rip your head off? The fact that the Baylor bears (there are several at any point in time) are all named "Judge" after one of the long term mascots in the '60s is a neat tradition as well. Baylor really supports the bear program, there's an entire staff at the school dedicated to the bears, and they each have their own individual Bear Trainer.

Weaknesses: None. They are real live bears, claws and all.

Rating: Baylor gets the Big XII off to a great start without a hint of suck.

Colorado Buffalo

Strengths: It's a huge full grown buffalo, the symbol of the American west and possibly the largest mascot in all of college sports. When Ralphie comes running out before the games, you can be darn sure nobody is trying to get in her way.

Weaknesses: They didn't know it was a male or female for a while (at that size, it's not like you need a microscope to figure it out) - but that's not Ralphie's fault.

Rating: No suck in sight, simply one of the best mascots in college sports.

Iowa State Cyclone

Strengths: Pretty much nothing - though I guess the costume is baggy enough it could be a good sleeping bag if neccessary.

Weakness: There's no shape to the costume, it's just a fuzzy red bag. The head looks bad, and the mesh grill in between the beak is lame (yes, we know the human inside has to see - just don't keep reminding us of it with the costume design). Of all the "dressed up human" type costumes, this is one of the worst. Oh yeah, it has nothing to do with "Cyclones" either. Miami couldn't make a hurricane costume, but they still got something somewhat related. CARDINALS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH CYCLONES.

Rating: Sucks, sucks, sucks. Still not even the worst mascot in the conference though.

Kansas Jayhawk

Strengths: Extremely unique and with a strong historic background. The Civil War began on the Kansas / Missouri border in the late 1850's, and the free state ruffians from Kansas were named "jayhawkers". While the actual bird is an early 20th century creation and has gone through several variations, the roots are very much from the Civil War era (Lawrence was burned and sacked and massacred by Missouri raiders - there's a reason the rivalry is so bitter).

Weaknesses: Some say it looks a bit like a Toucan or some other common cartoon birds. This is pretty weaksauce as complaints go.

Rating: Unique with Civil War roots? No suck here.

Kansas State Wildcat

Strengths: It's just a head, so you can be a basketball player, a football player or even ride a Harley with ease.

Weaknesses: Everything. This is the worst mascot in all of college sports. It's just a head, which is lame in and of itself. The "Powercat" logo that it's derived from is recent, and was a dead copy by coach Snyder of the Iowa Hawkeye logo (where he had been previously). Oh yeah, "Wildcat"? Which local high school did that come from?

Rating: It's purple. It's unoriginal. It's a lame generic nickname. The mascot's name "Willie" isn't even unique (Northwestern's has the same name). AND IT'S ONLY A HEAD. Quite simply, the worst mascot in major Division 1 sports.

Missouri Tiger

Strengths: "Truman" is named for President Truman, a Missouri native and the nickname comes from another Civil War era unit (similar to the Jayhawks) and dates from around 1890 - so I can't be too harsh on the generic nickname and mascot choice.

Weaknesses: The costume is way too cartoony if you are going with the "ferocious wild animal" theme, and there's is no excuse to ever be photographed pulling a Travolta from Saturday Night Fever.

Rating: Sucks. There's only one school that pulls off "Tigers" well, and this isn't the one.

Nebraska Cornhusker

Strengths: Looks like a farmer husking corn (at least the regular one - the inflatable one is just downright frightening).

Weaknesses: Just a boring and generic mascot, it's a guy wearing a red costume. Quite honestly, with the simple and elegant "N" helmets and classic red and white uniforms - shouldn't NU just go with the Michigan or Indiana model and skip having a mascot? Unfortunately, NU has gone for not one but two mascots, and neither are anything exciting.

Rating: Sucks. Nebraska might just be better off without a mascot at all.

Oklahoma Sooner Schooner

Strengths: Pretty funny that a school coached by Switzer and on the NCAA's permanent watch list is nicknamed after a bunch of cheaters - it's quite fitting. The actual Sooner Schooner rumbling around the field is certainly different from anything else in college sports (closest thing I can think of is GT's Ramblin' Wreck). While it's not a true "mascot" it works for the purposes of this competition.

Weaknesses: At it's core it's a wagon that dragged families around, which couldn't have been that exciting.

Rating: Doesn't suck - I love the tradition.

Oklahoma State Cowboy

Strengths: "Pistol Pete" is named in honor of former US Marshall Frank Eaton, who was a guy you'd rather have on your side than against you. Back when the law was more of a moving target in that part of the country, he was the law:

Frank then set out on the trail of his father's killers. First was Shannon Campsey, Frank killed him on his own front porch. Doc Ferber was next, he was shot off of his horse with "two forty-five slugs through his breast". John Ferber would have been next, but the day before Frank caught up with him, he was shot for cheating at cards. Frank went to his funeral just to make sure he was dead. At John Ferber's funeral, Frank met a Deputy United States Marshal who was on the trail of the same men. After talking about the men, Frank was offered, and accepted a commission.

The costume itself is pretty gritty, and the unshaven whiskers are a nice touch and you can sort of smell the whiskey on the mascot's breath just looking at it. Oh yeah, Golden Tornado got our photos next to the official Pistol Pete statue with (surprisingly similar to the mascot) Eddie Sutton himself, so that's got to count for something.

Weaknesses: It's really just a plastic head on a human body, but the costume is so solid the rest of the way around we're cutting it some slack.

Rating: We're afraid if we gave it a grade of "suck", Frank Eaton would come from the grave with a Winchester after us. Doesn't suck for sure!

Texas Longhorn

Strengths: Animals the size of family cars are impressive enough, but when you tack on horns wider than I am tall you get a truly great mascot. Combined one of the best logos in all of sports, the longhorn steer on the sideline is a 1-2 punch that is hard to beat.

Weakness: Can you imagine having to clean up after Bevo? That's a job that can't be popular.
Rating: No suck at all, great mascot, great tradition and great cheerleaders (had to mention those).

Texas A&M Collie

Strengths: Live mascots are always a bonus, and Reveille is a great name that fits with the tradition of the school, along with being a gorgeous dog.

Weaknesses: Did you know A&M had a live mascot? Somehow Reveille flies under the radar.

Rating: Texas A&M has one of the best fanbases and gameday experiences in the country. There is nothing associated with it that sucks, and Reveille is no different.

Texas Tech Red Raider

Strengths: Looks like Yosemite Sam, one of the more underated cartoon characters of all time. There is also an extremely cool Masked Rider that has only been at home games since 1971 because of rules surrounding live animals at away venues.

Weaknesses: This guy has an important part to play along with the mascots in gameday celebration.

Rating: Doesn't suck. We really like the Masked Rider tradition, and as far as "stuffed mascot" types go, the Red Raider costume isn't bad either.

The Big XII only has 4 mascots that suck out out 12 schools, for a very strong 33% suck ratio that vaults them clearly into first place and might prove to be insurmountable by the Pac-10 and SEC (edit - I had originally written this with only 3 mascots that sucked, and upon further review we decided that a 4th should join that list. Of course, I need an editor badly and forgot to change the percentage in the final paragraph before I posted. If you see a comment below related to this there's your explanation). The combination of clever mascots with strong history (KU and OSU) and the best collection of live animals on the sidelines in all of college football is a very strong effort by the middle of the country.

Tom Zbikowski's Bout at MSG

2006-06-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

A story of some note has been that Notre Dame's star safety Tom Zbikowski was going to fight a professional heavyweight fight in Madison Square Garden this offseason. Zbikowski has been fighting amatuer fights for some time as part of the Golden Gloves program, and obviously is a terrific athlete. The video of the (very short) fight is here - and Zbikowski just destroys his opponent in a very one sided first round, taking him from the opening bell.

Unfortunately for Zbikowski, I don't think this guy is going to prove to be such a tomato can.

OMAHA!

2006-06-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

The GT baseball team will be here ... along with the 7 other best teams in college baseball. Congratulations to a terrific season for Coach "Fire" Danny Hall and his team.

I'm going to be there with liveblogging and photos, it's a short trip from the Kansas City area. If you are going - email me from the link at the very bottom of the page. What a great weekend (and hopefully Trap isn't seriously hurt).

TV Overload

2006-06-09T06:55:00.000-07:00

Georgia Tech kicks off the Atlanta Super Regional at 12 noon EST on ESPN, and Germany and Costa Rica kick off the World Cup at the same time on ESPN2 - my TiVO is going to be working overtime. If you are in the Atlanta area, head on down to the Rusty C, the weather hurt the attendance for the regional, and then the early start time today isn't going to help pad the post season coffers. College of Charleston is a very good team with a stud pitcher (Nick Chigges) who can easily win this series on the back of their pitching. I've got a pretty solid vested interest beyond just the GT fan connection, I live only a couple of hours from Omaha and will be up there if GT advances (I might go anyways, but it'll be much more fun with GT there).

If you are looking for the mascot ratings for the Big XII, SEC and Pac-10, I'll be back with the next installment on Monday - it's GT baseball here for the weekend.

The Only Analysis That Matters - Part 3

2006-06-07T06:08:00.000-07:00

If you want to know what on earth is going on, read [HERE]. We've already covered the ACC [HERE] and the Big East [HERE] - so up today is the Big 10. The Big 10 gave me some problems, because I had to figure out what to do with Michigan and Indiana, two schools without mascots (and if Michigan had a live wolverine on the sideline, the Big 10 would have been the automatic champions). In the end I decided to take the cowards way out and just give them "Incomplete" ratings and calculate the standings without those mascots in consideration. So on to the Big 10.

Illinois Chief Illinwek

Strengths: Terrific costume (love the bare feet) and tradition. Illinois as a state is named after an Indian tribe, and as the flagship university for the state the name and mascot seem to fit.

Weaknesses: Embroiled in a nasty controversy over racial insensitivity, and currently the NCAA has banned Illinois from hosting any postseason events - already forcing the tennis team to travel instead of hosting as it had the right to this year.

Rating: Doesn't suck - I really like the mascot and the NCAA needs to get it's grubby PC nose out of the situation.

Indiana (Nothing)

Strengths: Can't suck if you don't have one

Weaknesses: Complete lack of a mascot?

Rating: Incomplete

Iowa Hawkeye

Strengths: Cool and original mascot (derived from a character in "Last of the Mohicans") with strong history and tradition in the state.

Weaknesses: Absolutely terrible costume. If there's one thing we absolutely do not like, it's mascots that are basically nothing but a big head (Kansas State is the worst offender here, but that's in a couple of days). "Herky the Hawk" is really nothing more than a plastic head and somebody wearing a football/basketball uniform. This always ends up looking dorky, like some mutant bobble head doll.

Rating: Sucks

Michigan (Nothing)

Strengths: A Wolverine would be cool - if they had a mascot.

Weaknesses: Again, not having one?

Rating: Incomplete

Michigan State Spartan

Strengths: Spartans were some tough jokers, and anyone wanting to emmulate them gets my respect. We liked the Rutgers mascot - and Sparty the Spartan is really the grandaddy of that look. One of the most detailed costumes in the college ranks, down to the bulging forearm muscles and straps on the sandles.

Weaknesses: He's named "Sparty". That's lame (naming your mascot an abbreviated or modified version of itself is an automatic weakness in the competition, see: Ramses the ram). Also, Spartans isn't quite to the level of "wildcats, panthers, bulldogs, tigers" in the generic naming race - but I'm pretty sure everyone can name a local school with that nickname as well.

Rating: Doesn't suck, the costume is cool enough to overcome "Sparty" and the fairly commonplace school nickname.

Minnesota Golden Gopher

Strengths: High marks for originality and costume cuteness here, you're not going to mistake it for anyone's elses, that's for sure. Goldy has adorable puffy cheeks you just want to grab and go "goochee-goochee-goo!" like your grandmother used to do.

Weaknesses: Goldy? Come on - that's right there with "Sparty" in the "we really couldn't come up with anything interesting for our mascot's name" competition.

Rating: Doesn't suck - but the name is terrible.

Northwestern Wildcat

Strengths: Has a full body costume, unlike the other "Willie Wildcat" who also wears purple.

Weaknesses: Can't catch Jerry, and if a "wildcat" can't catch a stinking mouse it's far from "wild" and far from intimidating on the field (coincidently, sort of like Northwestern Football).

Rating: Sucks. Not as bad as the other Willie Wildcat, but that's not saying much.

Ohio State Buckeye

Strengths: First off, props are due for actually making a mascot out of a nut in any way, shape or form (the first efforts weren't so good though). Managing to make him look kind of like Bomberman is only an added bonus.

Weaknesses: As with Herky the Hawk, it's just a head and a guy wearing a rugby shirt and sweatpants. That's not going to cut it here, where a bit more overall costume effort is required.

Rating: Sucks - the rule of thumb here is that mascots that are just a head suck. Even if they are nuts.

Penn State Nittany Lion

Strengths: Original name, even if it's just another way to say "panther". Sort of off the direct topic of the mascot itself, the "WE ARE! PENN STATE!" chant that he helps getting everyone into is one of the best in college sports and sends chills down our spines.

Weaknesses: The costume flat out bites. It's from the same rack as the generic bag shaped messes that Pittsburgh, UCONN and others wear. JoePa has donated a ton of his own money to the school for educational purposes and construction, maybe he needs to chip in for a suit that doesn't look like it cost $89.99 on sale at the local variety store.

Rating: Sucks, the costume is lamer than lame and "Nittany Lion" isn't enough to save it.

Purdue Boilermaker

Strengths: He carries around a big hammer, making him one of the very few mascots we wouldn't mess with (and you don't want Tech students messing with a mascot - ask Aubie).

Weaknesses: Of all the Big Ten's "just a head" mascots, Purdue Pete is the worst. A giant plastic gourd with creepy looking eyes and a skinny dude wearing a football uniform does not make a mascot - it makes a freak show.

Rating: Sucks. Stop scaring the kids.

Wisconsin Badger

Strengths: Actually looks like a badger, while still remaining clever and "mascotty". One of our favorite mascots in the country, the badger is epitome of what a college mascot should be. Fun, cute enough that kids love it while still remaining an obvious symbol of the university.

Weaknesses: Bucky? Gah.

Rating: Absolutely no hint of suck to be found here. Feel free to Jump Around in celebration.

Due to the fact that the Big 10 seems to be in love with "just the head" mascots, only 4 of the 9 eligible mascots earn Doesn't Suck rating, giving the Big 10 a 55% suck percentage - currently good for second place behind the Big East but ahead of the ACC. Up next, the Big XII and the largest collection of live mascots in the country, along with a couple of the absolute worst.

The Only Analysis That Matters - Part 2

2006-06-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

Alright, if you have no idea what is going on - or if you want to read the first conference review (the ACC) then click [HERE]. Otherwise, we're diving right into the Big East.

Cincinnatti Bearcat

Strengths: It's not a bear and it's not a cat - it's BOTH! Originality (sort of), instead of sticking with one of the standard 8 mascots, they brilliantly combined two of them!

Weaknesses: What sound would a bearcat make? GRRRR-MEOW? And that cat half, what kind of cat is it? A grumpy siamese or a kick butt leopard? Looking at the mascot, you can't really tell - meaning it's probably just a stock issue tabby.

Rating: Sucks

Louisville Cardinal

Strengths: It's a bird with teeth, which is pretty darn cool. Making cardinal chomp faces with your teeth exposed on the side of your mouth is fun (try it, seriously). The Cardinal is the state bird of Kentucky, which is a mitigating factor for the "generic mascot 101" choice.

Weaknesses: In a league of unoriginal mascots, this one still manages to be represented in two seperate professional leagues as well as countless high schools and other colleges. Outside of the whole teeth bit, there isn't anything here you can't find in a bunch other places.

Rating: Doesn't Suck - the teeth and the fact that it's the state bird save it.

Pittsburgh Panther

Strengths: Wannstedt looks like he has a Panther attached to his upper lip - which earns style points for coach and mascot coordination. Supposedly Pitt was the first college to use "panthers" as a nickname, but we find that hard to believe.

Weaknesses: Again, the "generic high school" naming syndrom is in full effect here. The Big East has a serious problem in this area, and the Panther is a pretty egregious offender. Rule of thumb - if you are going to have a generic nickname, have a cool (preferably live) mascot. Unfortunately for Pitt, that's not the case. Furthermore, could you pick between the Panther and the Nittany Lion if you met them in the street? Do they save money at the schools by sharing the same costume?

Rating: Continues the Big East suck parade.

Rutgers Scarlet Knight

Strengths: It's a red knight, except it sounds even cooler and more sophisticated with the "scarlet" designation. Brings to mind Sir Launcelot searching for adventure in the forests of midieval England, saving desperate damsels from the clutches of evil wizards. And who doesn't love damsels?

Weaknesses: Sadly, the mascot looks way less cool than he sounds. A nice suit of armor would really go well here. Also, this is a fairly new mascot ... the original Rutgers mascot was the Chanticleer, which was darn cool in and of itself.

Rating: Doesn't Suck - though it could be an elite level mascot with a better costume.

South Florida Golden Bull

Strengths: It's a bull, and more specifically a Brahman Bull, and that's about as strong as it gets. Definitely more original than most of the rest of this conference's dismal collection of retreads, and Florida even has a bit of a cattle indrustry to fit with it.

Weaknesses: Brahmans are known as extremely docile creatures for their size, not exactly a terribly threatening presence.

Rating: Doesn't Suck

Syracuse Orange

Strengths: Goes well with bacon and pancakes.

Weaknesses: Does it comes complete with an Omega 4000? Seriously though, Syracuse's mascot history is an absolute disaster after they decided to get rid of the human Indian mascot in 1978. A Roman gladiator? Egnaro the Troll?!? (Seriously, a troll?). This went on for over 15 years until the school just settled on a big orange bag with a baseball cap on top. I guess if you've gone 15 years without a real mascot, a blob is better than nothing.

Rating: Sucks, sucks, sucks. One of the 5 worst mascots in college sports. And it's named "Otto".

UCONN Husky

Strengths: Fairly original, and husky's are awesome dogs. The Iditarod is one of the great American events, especially because of the history behind it and this mascot reminds me of that.

Weaknesses: Last time I checked the Iditarod was in Alaska, and not Connecticut. Also, the costume is pretty bland - almost as if you just ordered the generic white "bear/lion/panther/dog" costume in white from the mail order Costumes-R-Us catalog.

Rating: Doesn't suck, but it's awfully darn close.

West Virginia Mountaineer

Strengths: Looks like Davey Crockett, and every little boy wants to be him. Gets to wear a coonskin cap and carry around a rifle. Wears a fringed jacket. Gets to skip shaving regularly for the benefit of the costume.

Weaknesses: Has to put up with WVU fans, and the gunpowder for that rifle might not be safe around burning couches.

Rating: Most definitely does not suck.

The Big East did better than I thought they would, with only 3 "sucks" for a pedestrian 38% suck percentage - far better than the ACC, who had the unfortunate mishap of getting two of the Big East's worst mascots recently. This places the Big East in first for "my conference is better than yours" bragging rights at the moment, but there are still 4 more to go.

The Only Analysis that Matters

2006-06-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

You know it's the offseason when people are starting up the "my conference is better than yours" rants using whatever form of "analysis" they can mangle to make the evidence fit the already arrived at conclusion (seriously HP, offensive diversity?). Of course, there's the required retorts - both serious [HERE] and not so serious [HERE]. Honestly though, that bickering could go on for ages - similar to the epic arguments in the sandbox we used to have about which Tonka was better.

(the front end loader - alpha male of the sandbox)

Here at Golden Tornado, we have an engineering and mathematics background and prefer empirical evidence which can be carefully examined and compared on a level playing field. Unfortunately, most college football statistics do not bear up under this scrutiny - but I have found one variable which we can use. Mascots. Each school has one, and each one can be rated according to it's strengths and weaknesses on a clear scale of "sucks" or "doesn't suck". When added up by conference, a clear leader should emerge.

Of the BCS conferences, the ACC comes first alphabetically (and first in your programs and hearts) and so we'll cover them right now. Over the next couple of days make sure to check in as we get each conference and then unveil "OMG TEH WINNER" of the best conference in America.

Boston College Eagle

Strengths: The Bald Eagle is an American icon, associated with power, grace and freedom from the constraints of Tom O'Brien's offense. When in doubt, a bird of prey is always a safe bet.

Weakness: Everybody grew up in a town with a high school (or four) named the Eagles. No originality and even worse the mascot was a live Golden Eagle for many years until they kept dying, and suddenly the human mascot became a Bald Eagle. Way to keep that tradition going.

Rating: Sucks

Clemson Tiger

Strengths: It's a tiger, which is scary and stuff. Takes chunks out of Las Vegas performers who attempt to tame it.

Weakness: As with the Eagle ... everybody knew a high school with this mascot, and there's about 35 other colleges with it as well. Seriously, when the school was trying to come up with a name, did they reach into the hat with Lions, Tigers and Eagles on slips of paper and come out with one? I'm pretty sure I could find a second grader to come up with something slightly more interesting. If you are going to do this for a mascot, at least have a live one (LSU and Auburn do this the right way). Oh, and he wears overalls.

Rating: Sucks on the grounds of lack of creativity.

Duke Blue Devil

Strengths: Um, carries a pitchfork?

Weaknesses: Everything. First off, gets it's name from a French Army unit which alone is worthy of a "suck" rating. Adds to the misery with a brutal blue costume with some freakish head that looks like it was stolen from Madame Tussaud's future exihibit featuring Coach K, right down to the giant nose and then multiplies the suck by tacking on a hideous goatee.

Rating: Beyond Suck

Florida State Seminole

Strengths: Rides out onto the field in full regalia and throws a flaming spear into the ground. Seriously, a flaming spear. Also pisses off the political correctness police, which is an added bonus.

Weaknesses: The thomahawk chop is getting pretty lame and played out, but that's not really the mascot's fault (and yes, as a Braves fan I can say that).

Rating: Not even the slightest bit of suck

Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket

Strengths: Original, and with a cool backstory (the original fans in the early years wore yellow jackets to games). Rides around in a pimp car. Won a mascot national championship a couple of years ago.

Weaknesses: Eyeballs have no pupils, which has always kind of freaked me out.

Rating: Best Mascot Ever OMGZ!

Maryland Terrapin

Strengths: Scores high on originality, and "fear the turtle!" is fun to say. Testudo is a cool nickname, bringing to mind images of Roman legions rampaging through Gaul with ruthless efficiency.

Weaknesses: Well, it's a turtle. And frankly, I've never heard of a turtle hurting people - unless you count ancillary damage to cars that run them over.

Rating: Doesn't suck - but only barely. The Romans save it.

Miami Ibis

Strengths: Enormously clever and original. The ibis is the first bird to show back up after a hurricane, leading to a cool story as well. Combined with a very cool abstract logo and color scheme gives "The U" high marks from the marketing department and rappers everywhere. Has been flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct during both an Orange and Sugar Bowl, truly fitting with the team.

Weaknesses: Looks a bit like Donald Duck, who most definitely is not an Ibis. Also, Sebastian sounds like the name of a Upper East Side hairdresser ... not the mascot of a national championship team.

Rating: Doesn't Suck

North Carolina Ram

Strengths: Again, it's certainly original (unless you count the Navy Goat, but that's another story) - though there's no good reason for it to be a Ram, and it has nothing to do with the team nickname.

Weaknesses: It's named Ramses. For a school so proud of it's academics, you'd have thought some Morehead Scholar would have been able to come up with something better than this. It's not as bad as Columbia naming their lion mascot "Roar-EE" (honestly, Columbia alumni voted for that - doesn't it make you question the quality of education?), but it's close. Also, the live version is an easy target for having it's horns painted by Duke fans after wins because of it's pacificity (notice nobody paints the LSU Tiger). Totally non-threatening.

Rating: Sucks

North Carolina State Wolf

Strengths: It's a wolf, known to eat small children and terrorize the Siberian countryside. Also can blow a house down from time to time. Considering the rabid and irrational behavior of the fanbase from time to time, it describes them perfectly as they size up the next coach to devour.

Weaknesses: Unable to dispose of Amato the Clown, unfortunately - which brings into question it's true ability to intimidate. There's a female wolf mascot as well, and they appear as a pair from time to time named Mr. and Mrs. Wuf ... which is frankly not a noise that wolves make, and it totally unfrigtening and dorky.

Rating: Sucks. It shouldn't, but the female version and the lame name push it down the ladder.

Virginia Cavalier

Strengths: Unique, nobody else would dare to have some fruity french guy with a sword except the snobs in Charlottesville. Brings back memories of the 1948 classic "The Three Musketeers" with Lana Turner and Gene Kelly which was a staple of our growing up experience (along with "The Longest Day" and Rocky and Bullwinkle shorts).

Weakness: French. Also reminds us of the truly horrible "The Musketeer", which is unfortunate.

Rating: Doesn't suck - mostly because of Lana Turner.

Virginia Tech Hokie (Turkey, Gobbler, or whatever)

Strengths: Not as trashy as the VT fans and associated with "Beamer Ball" which is frightening enough in it's own right.

Weaknesses: If it's a "Hokie" then why does it look like a turkey? Worse, it looks like the cartoon graphic that Fox always has running around the scoreboard during Thanksgiving day games (with the equally bad gobbling sound effect), which is enough to have us running for the nearest carving knife to stab ourselves - WITHOUT even briging up the fact it then brings to mind John Madden and "Turduckens". Also, he hangs out with Hokie Man - who's a complete loser.

Rating: Sucks, not even Beamer can save this one.

Wake Forest Demon Deacon

Strengths: Scores high on originality and it's nice to see a religious school with the term "Demon" in the title. Turning a deacon into a mascot is a pretty tall task (most deacons I know are just average joes like me), but they make the best of it.

Weaknesses: Tie Die t-shirts, staged props and Zombie Nation. I know those are mostly basketball things and aren't really within the mascot's control, but the stink stays with him permanently.

Rating: Sucks, though to be fair that's partly because he participates in such a cheesey fan section.

So where do we stand after reviewing the ACC? We've got 5 "Doesn't Sucks" and 7 "Sucks" for a very poor 58% suck level. I imagine this will do poorly as move through the competition, with the Big East coming up next. Stay tuned for the end result and send your hate mail to "ihaveastickwayupthere@nosenseofhumor.com".

Baseball Advances

2006-06-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

The GT baseball team cruised through their regional this weekend with 3 fairly easy (certainly by postseason standards) wins over Stetson and Vanderbilt, and will now face College of Charleston in a Super Regional next weekend at Russ Chandler Stadium. Beesball.com has all the details and coverage - hop on over and baseball Richard has you covered.

More pertinent to this blog, what about Matt Wieters? He's slowly morphing into Mark Teixeira 2.0, absolutely crushing the ball. Wieters was named regional MVP after reaching base in 14 of his 15 plate appearances, including 3 homers, 5 singles and 8 walks. I saw Big Tex play in person a number of times while in college, and it was his plate discipline more than anything else that I remember. To an analogy from Moneyball, it was like he was picking through fruit and only taking the ones that looked the ripest. Wieters is the same way - he simply doesn't swing at anything that isn't a ball ... and when he finally finds that ripe one, he absolutely doesn't miss (that homer to dead center in the ACC Tournament against Clemson was just crushed - 420ft to the wall and it was way over).

(Remember this guy? He was pretty good. - augustasports.com)

I haven't seen a Wieters at bat in a long time where he looks like the underdog, it's almost to the point where he appears to be toying with pitchers at times - just daring them to throw him a strike, or just accept walking him. He hasn't quite reached the same utterly dominant level that Tex did in 2000 (where he looked like one of those kids with a mustache and a fake birth certificate in little league), but with one more year left at least - he's going to leave Tech as one of the greatest players to ever play on The Flats, and that's a heck of an elite list to join.

On to the Supers next weekend - and if Tech makes the CWS I'll be driving up from the Kansas City area and providing daily coverage and photos (I've never been to the CWS, living so close I'd have no excuse if I didn't go).

Tailgating? Who needs that?

2006-06-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

As many (mostly Georgia fans) have brought to our attention, "Tailgating" at Tech football games often consists of hanging out at the "V" and stuffing down dogs, rings and FO's before walking accross the bridge into Bobby Dodd. While this isn't traditional "tailgating" in the truest sense, it's such an integral part of GT football that I can't imagine gameday without it.

Well, it turns out there's a good reason for this. New York Times food critic Frank Bruni has been on a nationwide search for the 10 best fast food menu items in the country ... and two from the "V" made the list [LINK - registration required].

Chili slaw dog from the Varsity (Atlanta, Ga.)

Cole slaw atop chili turns out to be a bold idea, cooling and adding texture to it. And the dog beneath the condiments had a meaty, smoky appeal.

Onion rings from the Varsity.

Steakhouse quality, with pleasantly greasy - but also thin and crunchy - shells that slipped off to reveal real, thick onion slices that weren’t overcooked.

He doesn't cover drinks in this column, but you have to assume that an F.O to chase those down would have made such a list if he had. Maybe "tailgating" is overated when you have some of the best greasy fare in the country right there - and supporting an institution started by a Tech student can't ever be bad, can it? Chili Slaw Dawg, Rings and an F.O on a saturday afternoon? Football can't get here fast enough.

p.s - as our friend PWD is sure to be thrilled ... the "Classic chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A: A simple, unadorned creation, but everything about this - the breast fillet, the pillowy bun - tasted fresh and true. That’s huge." also made the list. No mention of how they lace those filets with crack to keep you coming back, but you know that's gotta be how they do it. 3 of the 10 items from Atlanta fast food establishments ... maybe time for a new slogan: "ATL - Fast Food capital of the US".

Criminoles

2006-05-31T14:59:00.000-07:00

Former Seminole player Fred Rouse has been arrested and charged with three felonies: burglary of a dwelling, grand theft and unrelated possessions of a controlled substance without a prescription, which was ecstasy. Former Seminole and current Bengal A.J Nicholson is also wanted for the same events, and has a warrant out for his arrest on felony charges of burglary of a dwelling, grand theft and misdemeanor criminal mischief. [LINK]

"Allegedly" the two broke into current FSU player Lorenzo Booker's room and stole $1,700 in electronic equipment. The kicker? A.J Nicholson was Booker's former roommate.

So to get the details in order we have this: An NFL player and a former 5* recruit break into the room of a teammate and former roomate and steal $1,700 in electronic equipment. Considering that the list of stolen items was "two portable stereos, a DVD player and a pair of headphones" and worth such a smallish sum, it's not like they were exactly after the big haul to strike it rich. Besides being doped out of their minds, what on earth could that pair have been thinking - especially Nicholson?

To summarize, A.J Nicholson has now been charged with sexual assault, DUI, resisting arrest, grand theft and burglary. Not a bad years work for one of Saint Bowden's pupils. No word yet on Fulmer Cup points for this escapade, but the fact that it involves a former teammate and roommate definitely deserves at small bonus.

The Trainwreck in Raleigh

2006-05-31T13:10:00.000-07:00

I'm a native of Fayetteville, NC (or Fayettenam, if you prefer) - so unfortunately I check the Fayetteville News and Observer from time to time. Imagine my surprise when I actually read something interesting there today:

Asked why Davis decided not to stick with N.C. State, Oliva said, “I don’t really know … I can only guess. You want me to guess?
“Well, they (N.C. State) took two months to name a coach, and then, when they did, they named a guy who can’t coach.

“That is about the stupidest thing I ever heard of.” [LINK]

That's 6-4 guard Larry Davis' coach discussing the reasoning behind Davis decommitting from NCSU and heading to Seton Hall. Less, than flattering ... to say the least. When Sidney Lowe was finally hired as the head coach at NCSU, most thought that the public relations disaster was finally going to end after two excruciating months for the Wolfpack. Instead, the other shoe was yet to drop.

Hidden in the noise surrounding UNC, GT's and Duke terrific recruiting classes this year (each with multiple McDonald's All-Americans) was the fact that the Wolfpack and the Demon Deacons also pulled in very solid classes over the next two years. With the bungled firing / running off of Herb Sendek and the delayed hiring of Lowe, the solid '06 and '07 classes for NCSU are in total shambles now. Just a quick review of each prospect from those classes:

Class of '06:

Larry Davis (3* G) - once committed to NCSU, now going to Seton Hall and his coach has just bombed the Lowe hiring in the press.

Dan Werner (4* PF) - once committed to NCSU, now only a "soft verbal" and considering other options including Kentucky and Notre Dame.

Dennis Horner (3* SF) - still committed to NCSU, WOOHOO!!

Class of '07

Chris Wright (5* G) - probable McDonald's All-American who was once committed to NCSU, but has reopened his recruitment and is involved with a number of other ACC and Big East schools.

Evan Turner (4* SF) - said that he planned to commit to NCSU on his official visit, but now list Illinois, Ohio State, Iowa, Wake and Wisconsin as "high" interest. NCSU no longer makes that cut.

In short, NCSU had a solid recruiting class for '06 already in the books and had made a huge head start at a top 10 class for '07. You know ... that sort of UNC/Duke talent that fans in Raleigh have been clammoring for. By railroading Herb Sendek out of town, State looks to have thrown out the baby with the bathwater. There is virtually nobody left on the board for '06, and with the departure of Cedric Simmons to the NBA is appears the Wolfpack will have a very depleted roster. There is also virtually no chance at replacing the '07 class with anyone near the quality that Sendek had lined up, so State is looking at two below average or worse recruiting classes in back to back years - and that's going to leave a mark. I'm not sure Lowe is a great coach, but he's going to almost have to be to even sniff the NCAA tournament in the next couple of years. T

Why Do Blogs Exist?

2006-05-31T09:20:00.000-07:00

Clearly it's for articles such as this one: "The 15 Worst White NBA Ballers of the Last Twenty Years". There's a John Salley mention, so yes - it's GT related.

Also, keep track of the GT Men's Golf Team in the NCAA Championships here [LINK]. As with baseball this is one of the better sports teams on campus, and yet receives very little coverage.

Chris Rix Sr. Pops Off

2006-05-30T14:44:00.000-07:00

Look, Chris Rix Sr. has a reputation - and it's not a good one, unfortunately. He has a history of substance abuse and of rambling into the FSU athletic department blowing up at staffers. He has a history of going off in the press. He has a history of blaming Bobby Bowden for ruining his son's career as a Seminole. In short, he's a monster emberassment to his son (who for all his struggles has carried himself with class and while not a terrific quarterback seems to be a solid human being in the end).

So today in the AJC, Tony Barnhart writes a completely sappy and fairly worthless (surprise!) piece on the legacy of Bowden and Paterno. It's a totally forgettable column until you get to the comments section ... where one Chris Rix Sr. raises his head again and just blows up Bowden (and yes, it likely is Rix Sr. Moderators from Warchant.com confirm it's similar in style and substance to what he's said before, and it matches with personality).

Back away from the buffet table, Tony, and put down the Kool-Aid! Keep swallowing marshmellows and pretty soon you’ll wind up with a bad case of Lyme Disease. Coaches cutting academic corners? Let me tell you a story. In Dec. of 2003, I found my son was lagging in some of his courses. I talked to the Academic Athletic Support Director at FSU, the President, the AD, the Compliance guy, and then made an appointment with Coach Bowden’s secretary to see him one hour after I talked to the Compliance guy. I got to his office because I was not to pleased when the Academic guy says: “I failed your son, Chris”. While I’m cooling my heels, two FSU police show up carrying automatics, and, catch this, say they are here to “escort me from the building”, as “per Bob Minnix (the compliance guy I just talked to”, due to Coach Bowden’s “bowl preparations”. and Bowden calls you guys (journalists) cowards? In bed pulling for our boys overseas. What a load of crap. What battle has Bowden won that somebody else didn’t fight for him. Big Patton buff. Ever read the story about his hare-brained scheme to send 300 men 60 miles into enemy-territory to rescue his son-in-law at a POW camp? Great read. Oh, about 25 men get killed, and his son-in-law gets shot in the butt, but hey, nobody questions Patton. Sounds like the “Chris Rix be the scapegoat” story until my son gets his coaching training wheels off? Big talk about God, but breaks the 1st Commandment by having a great big statue of himself sitting outside his temple. One version of being a Christian: lay your Son’s life down for everybody else. Bobby’s version? Lay others lives down for my son. Iknow, I watched it personnally. House at the beach? Sure, isn’t that what it’s all about? Got one for Tommy, when he dumped FSU’s title hopes to save his son’s job, IN MY OPINION. Just check his axles for the blood and guts of others. As far as I’m concerned, Barkhart, the right question is “What the hell are people like you doing to the game?”

I'm sorry for Rix Jr. after reading that. When that's your dad, you aren't exactly off to a fast start in life. And while Rix did receive his fair share of criticism from FSU fans and the media, you can't blame Bowden for that ... if anything he stuck by him too much and kept running Rix out as the starting QB when he was clearly struggling to get it done on the field.

Memo to Rix Sr:

Bowden didn't make your son park in handicap spaces. He didn't make him oversleep and miss class. He didn't make him throw all those boneheaded interceptions. He didn't make him lose to Miami five times in a row (granted, that's not entirely his fault - but he shares a large burden of the blame).

Your son seems like a fine person overall. He wasn't a terrific quarterback, but that's not a great crime against humanity. While he didn't deserve all the flack he got from fans, he certainly did a portion of it - that's the nature of being the highest profile athlete in a state rabid for college football. All in all though, Chris can hold his head high and move on with his life knowing he gave it his best shot and it just didn't work out.

You on the other hand are a drunken, overbearing lout and need to stop carrying this "cross" for your son. Your escapades in the press, the FSU athletic department offices and wherever else you decide to shoot off your mouth don't do anything but emberrass yourself and your son. For the benefit of all of us, go drink your Beast Light from a can in the swamp and stick to shaking your fist in anger at the blue hair vacationers driving south. The less the rest of us have to hear from you, the better off we will be.

-nathan

NBA Draft Rumor

2006-05-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

There's a rumor that has been bouncing around the internet for a couple of days now, and it's not going away. In the supposed scenario, Portland and Toronto would trade picks and players:

The Raptors see Bargnani, like Charlie Villanueva, being able to play the 3, 4 and 5 spots in the NBA, with Chris Bosh manning the 4/5. The only question now is whether the Raptors will draft him at #1, or will attempt to trade down a few spots (possibly to Portland for the #4 pick in a package with Chris Bosh’s good friend and ex-teammate Jarrett Jack) to pick up a valuable asset along the way. [DraftExpress.com]

Needless to say, if this happens - I'll be the biggest Toronto fan on the planet. A lineup of Jack, Peterson, Bargnani, Villenueva and Bosh would be a potent offensive lineup to say the least. I doubt Portland goes through with this though, they seem very high on Jack and their fans don't seem to like the idea at all.

Beesball

2006-05-29T11:20:00.000-07:00

I don't often write about the Georgia Tech baseball team on this blog, even though they are the best all around athletic team on campus - and have been for a number of years. Part of the reason for this is because it's much more difficult to follow baseball from 1500 miles away because of the lack of TV coverage and the other part is that Beesball.com does such a fantastic job I'm not sure what else I could offer.

That being said, with the NCAA field of 64 set today, GT is again a top 8 national seed and will host all the way to the College World Series. This is the 4th season in a row that GT has been a top 8 national seed, and while many of those tournament runs have ended in dissapointment that is still an incredible accomplishment. Unfortunately, with the currently state of the roster's health (Danny Payne is probably done for the season, Wes Hodges can barely run, etc) I'm not so sure this year will end any different than the previous ones, which is a shame.

This weekend Tech and Clemson continued our season long war, with Clemson getting the edge in the final inning of the final game for a 16-11 win to advance to the ACC title game. That leaves us 3-3 on the season with the Tiggers, and 94-94-3 all time (if I am counting correctly). Doesn't get more even than that. Clemson is the #1 overall seed in the tournament, and if GT advances to the CWS would be our likely openining opponent in that tournament as well. 7 times in one year? Nowhere does it say that the NCAA likes to break up conference rivals (Texas and Nebraska will likely face each other again as well. Good work, committee).

If you live in the Atlanta area, get out to Russ Chandler and support this team for the regional and the supers. It's impossible to not like this group - it's a gritty bunch that might lack the star power of the previous Teixeira or Varitek/Nomar led teams, but they play their tails and have an outside shot at the school record for wins (52) if they can keep advancing.

2006 Football Rule Changes

2006-05-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

The latest issue of Referee Magazine is out, and supposedly it contains a number of rule changes for NCAA football for the 2006 season. These changes are not on the NCAA website yet, but I assume they will be shortly. The rumored changes are:

The game clock now starts on a change of possession at the same time the play clock does, instead of starting when the ball is snapped. Supposedly this will save 5 minutes per game.

Player's visors will now have to be clear, no more black, reflective gold or smoke colored ones.

Kicking tees will have a maximum height of only 1 inch above the ground to reduce kickoff length and increase the number of returns.

"Firmly" has been added to several definitions regarding what is or is not a "catch". For example a player who leaves his feet to catch a ball must now have the ball "firmly" in his possession when he lands.

There are a number of other very minor changes evidently, including one regarding "crowd noise" that didn't make a lot of sense to me when my referee friend was trying to explain it to me. As for opinions on the rule changes? I like starting the game clock on change of possession, college games last too long already and anything to speed up the game a bit I'm all for. I think the rule regarding visor colors is dumb, and can't think of a single reason why it should be in place. I like the rule regarding kicking tees ... it's going to really put an emphasis on kick coverage and kick return teams (unfortunately, both areas we've been terrible at recently). Finally, I'm not really sure what to say about the catch definitions, but if they want to move it more towards the NFL style rules then I'm all for it. Heck, if they want to require two feet inbounds I'd be for that as well.

I'll try to get a copy of the magazine and confirm the exact details of each of these rule changes (this was passed on to me by a referee friend) - but I thought people would be interested to see what we will have to get used to next year.

Don't expect to see the entire defense in black visors again, unfortunately (thegooley.com)

The Ohio State University

2006-05-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

Evidently you can get a boy out of C-Bus, but you can't get the C-Bus out of the boy. Former Buckeye and now Pittsburgh Steeler Santonio Holmes was arrested last night in Miami [LINK].

No word yet on whether or not Maurice Clarett was in attendence, but Tressel has already announced that Holmes will be suspended for a whopping 2 plays during his first alumni game.

Lawal Invited to US Trials

2006-05-25T12:31:00.000-07:00

Gani Lawal was invited to try out for the US Basketball Under-18 National Team 2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship. The tryouts are June 16-18 in San Antonio, and if Lawal makes the team he will then play in the FIBA tournament June 28 - July 2, also in San Antonio [LINK].

This is a nice recognition for Lawal, and an confirmation that the improvements he has made in his overall game in the past year have continued to keep him as one of the elite high school basketball players in the country. The other post players invited include Michael Beasley, Cole Aldrich, Spencer Hawes and Julian Vaughn - so Lawal will get several days of competition against the very best in the world at his age group. Even if he doesn't make the team (it's going to be tough, that's a very good collection of talent) the experience will be well worth it.

Good luck to Gani in the tryouts, and it's an honor to have any future, present or past Yellow Jacket represent the United States in international competition.

Tech Hall of Famer

2006-05-25T06:57:00.000-07:00

There's a new blog for ACC football, following Florida State. Garnet and Great has an interesting new twist as well ... they are providing an audio archive with interviews and clips with former players and staff on a regular basis.

One of the first posts they had is an interview with Georgia Tech Hall of Famer Coleman Rudolph about the infamous 1992 game at Grant Field where Charlie Ward and the "fast break" offense announced themselves to the country. The interview is a little over 7 minutes long, and well worth the listen. Go check it out.

How Quickly it Can Change

2006-05-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

It's funny to laugh about Marcus Vick ... but he's with the Dolphins right now, so I guess his legal situations haven't totally ruined his life yet. For others, it doesn't always work out so well.

Keith Brumbaugh was a stud wing forward from Deland, FL who was ranked #11 in the '05 class (RSCI). He declared for the NBA draft, but ended up withdrawing and signing a scholarship with Oklahoma State. After an injury, elgibility questions and a shoplifting incident he left Oklahoma State in December of last year after never playing a minute for OSU.

It's just gone downhill from there, ending yesterday with an arrest for "fleeing and eluding an officer, which is a felony, and resisting arrest without violence, a misdemeanor" (LINK). In the car Brumbaugh had been driving it became more interesting:

In their abandoned car was a Bushmaster brand automatic rifle with about 56 rounds in the magazine, according to the sheriff's report. Volusia County deputies said they also found an electric weapon, a knife and several hundred rounds of ammunition.
Also in the car was a black shirt with the word "Police" on it, as well as a silver badge sporting the words: "Private Investigator."

Now, most people don't drive around with this in their backseat loaded with 50+ live rounds and clothing to impersonate police officers with ... but I guess it could be one heck of a costume party he was headed to.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal has this timeline of Brumbaugh's descent from his senior season of high school, and it isn't pretty.

Keith Brumbaugh Timeline:

FEB. 18, 2005: Plays in his final high school game for DeLand.
APRIL 8, 2005: Receives the Dairy Farmers Mr. Basketball award.
APRIL 16, 2005: Plays in the Michael Jordan Classic in Madison Square Garden, New York.
MAY 12, 2005: Announces he'll enter NBA Draft.
June 20, 2005: Withdraws name from consideration for NBA Draft.
JULY 20, 2005: Announces he will play at Oklahoma State.
Aug. 20, 2005: Charged with shoplifting at a Stillwater, Okla., Wal-Mart.
NOVEMBER 2005: NCAA requires Brumbaugh to retake the ACT; he does not get a high enough score to be eligible.
DECEMBER 2005: Withdraws from Oklahoma State without ever stepping on the court.
MAY 20, 2006: Is charged by Volusia County Sheriffs Office with fleeing and eluding officers and resisting arrest without violence.

It's amazing how poor judgement at such a young age can ruin a promising future, and lets hope that Brumbaugh puts his life back together and earns a second chance to utilize his talent - but right now he's managed to put himself as far behind as he possibly could.

Bosh's New Teammate

2006-05-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

The Toronto Raptors "won" the NBA Draft lottery yesterday evening and will have the #1 overall pick in the 2006 draft. There are two needs on the Raptors they will try to address in the draft - small forward and point guard. Unfortunately there are no PG's deserving of the top pick, but there is a small forward with superstar potential waiting. Andrea Bargnani is a 7'0 225lb forward who plays for Benneton Treviso in the Euroleague. Unlike many European prospects who enter the NBA Draft, Bargnani is already playing key minutes in Euroleague games and not in a lower or Junior league, and he's playing very well in those opportunities. During the Euroleague regular season he averaged 10.6ppg on 60% shooting and 47% from 3pt range. Once he entered the playoff stage (in the Euroleague it's a round robin group event) he upped his scoring to 11.5ppg and still shot 50% from the floor [LINK to stats]. The Euroleague is a step above NCAA competition and somewhere below the NBA - but make no mistake, for a 20 year old to contribute and play that well for a Super 16 team in the Euroleague is a huge accomplishment.

Bargnani is very fluid and an exceptional ball handler for someone his size - very similar to Dirk Nowitski. When he played in an exhibition game against the Raptors before this season, he was beating Bosh off the dribble - something you don't expect to see from a man his size. With a potent 3 point stroke and a his ball handling, Bargnani is going to score points in the NBA. Whether he can defend adequately is questionable, and he's going to have to put on some weight and get better on the glass - but he could form a very potent and agile frontcourt with Bosh and Villenueva. With the dearth of true physical centers in the NBA the defensive weakness of that lineup might not be as scary as it looks on paper ... and there's 3 guys capable of 30 point games anytime out.

Bargnani has made it clear that he would like to play for Toronto, Collangelo has been to Italy recently to see him play and came away very impressed and Toronto has recently hired Benneton Treviso GM Maurizio Gherardini as an assistant. All of those signs point to Bargnani being the #1 overall pick and joining Bosh as his newest running mate in Toronto. I think it would be a fine pick, Bargnani is the only person in the draft with "superstar" potential and his skillset as a dangerous wing shooter matches with Bosh.

Here are three videos of Bargnani in action ... and remember, these are against quality competition equivalent to top conference NCAA basketball or better. The guy can flatout play basketball.

New Name for Hoops

2006-05-23T14:29:00.000-07:00

Former Maryland '07 commit, Pennsylvania guard Jeff Jones has reopened his recruitment. It seems that he was very close to assistant coach Moxley who had recruited him to the Terrapins, and with his move to Charlotte he is now no longer interested in being a turtle.

With the complete disaster that Maryland recruiting is turning into, TerpTown.com is in complete meltdown. Jones is a very good player who can play multiple spots in the backcourt, is an above average scorer and athlete and had Georgia Tech and Villanova as his leaders as recently as last fall. It is very possible that he will be back in the mix for the final '07 scholarship, along with Tyrel Reed and Maurice Miller.

NCSU in the News Again

2006-05-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

Arrest of illegal aliens halts construction on Carter-Finley Stadium.

Construction work at North Carolina State's football stadium stopped today when officials arrested several undocumented workers [...] The workers at Carter-Finley Stadium were hired by the Miller and Long construction company for a $19 million upgrade that will add end zone seating.

Everytime you feel bad about your own school, NCSU goes and does something that makes you realise you aren't as bumbling and inept as they seem to be. Seriously, can someone please remind me of the last time NCSU was mentioned in a positive light in the national media? While this is more humorous than harmful (it sounds like nobody was hurt in the accident that sparked this whole routine), it's just part of a continual stream of negative news.

We Should Cheer for UGa

2006-05-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

About half of my regular readers just removed this site from their RSS feeds after reading that title, but let me explain for those of you still interested in reading. I have a THWG sticker on the back of my car. I don't own anything red, really (maybe a maroon shirt or two). I cheered my brains out for West Virginia in the Sugar Bowl - because watching sad rednecks in the stands warmed my cold, bitter little heart. I'm pretty sure I'd cheer for the University of Sheol coached by Lucifer if they played Georgia. I don't like Bulldog sports, at all.

That being said, outside of athletics Tech needs UGa to be a strong school. Since both are part of the University of Georgia system, we are tied together financially and academically in way that cannot severed, and each school is dependent on the other schools in the system for at least some portion of the success of the individual institution. UGa is the flagship school of the state, and the heart and soul of much of the government and legal structure of the state of Georgia (the percentage of Georgia politicians and lawyers from UGa is extremely high). Georgia Tech is the muscle that drives the Georgia economic engine, producing skilled engineers, managers and the research backbone for the state's industrial and technical firms and factories. Each of these schools (and Emory) plays a key role in the state's economy.

The key natural resource of Georgia is not peaches or peanuts or grits, it's a huge crop of well educated young people for employers to tap into. Between the Hope scholarship and the University of Georgia system (along with the fine collection of private schools in the Atlanta area) Georgia is one of the top 5 states in the nation for it's depth and breadth of quality secondary educational institutions. Three of the top 75 national universities in the country are within 100 miles of each other, along with several of the best regional schools and the top traditionally african-american schools as well. There's a reason that the two areas of the south experiencing the strongest economic growth are Atlanta and the Research Triangle Park near Raleigh-Durham/Chapel Hill ... they have some of the best collections of universities in the world.

Where am I going with this? Paul Westerdawg and Kyle King have been on the warpath against Michael Adams for some time - his litany of offenses against the UGa fanbase and athletic department being the easiest targets - but PWD touched on something today that hits at the core of a problem the University of Georgia system faces. Adams can't raise money. The University of Georgia's endowment is only a paltry $500mil and is well behind the academic powerhouses Arkansas and Kentucky. Look, I think it's funny that Adams continually pees in UGa fans' Cheerios, that the whole ugly Harrick situation sits squarely on his lap and that he wants to change the name of the Cocktail Party while his athletic department is basically supported in it's totality by a liquor distributor. That stuff makes me laugh. The fact that he's pile driving the state's flagship university into the financial dumpster? That's not funny.

Because of the importance of their two schools to the state's economy and it's future well being, Clough and Adams are two of the key employees of the state of Georgia and should be held accountable for how they do - not on the playing fields, but in their true job of education and advancing the state's workforce. Clough has excelled in this area, raising the profile of the Institute, continuing to develop the enormously successfull Georgia Tech Research Institute (which had a staggering $135mil in contracts and grants last year and total research has doubled under his tenure to $425mil), overseen over $1bil in construction and while he's had his faults he's been a very good president for GT. Adams? I'm not sure, he seems to be more crony than leader and his failures to raise money have a direct impact on the ability of UGa to advance. Money is the lifeblood of academia, and it's no mistake that the top universities in the country are also the richest universities. Endowments pay for top notch professors, scholarships to attract the best students and campus environments and technology that improve the quality of the educational experience - and in the end Georgia continuing to improve in those areas indirectly helps both Georgia Tech and the state of Georgia as a whole.

In this instance, we should be cheering for UGa ... and if Michael Adams isn't getting done, it might be time to step outside the "good ol' boy network" and get a president in Athens who'll drive the economic and fund raising engine the way other schools in the university system have.

And the Final Word Is ...

2006-05-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

The NCAA released it's final findings after Georgia Tech's appeal [LINK] and all the big penalties stand, unfortunately. The key sections are here:

In its written report, the Infractions Appeals Committee upheld findings II-A-1-c; II-A-1-f; II-A-2-f; and II-A-3-b without further review stating that Georgia Tech had failed to raise the statute of limitations issue during the Committee on Infractions hearing. The Infractions Appeals Committee determined that any statute of limitations issue must be raised in a manner, and at a time, sufficient to provide the Committee on Infractions with a reasonable opportunity to consider the matter.

(in other words - we did a crappy job from the beginning with this. Big surprise, and nice work by the administrative staff)

and here:

Regarding the penalty for grants-in-aid limitations [III-C], the Infractions Appeals Committee found no basis to conclude that the penalty was excessive or inappropriate. Georgia Tech originally self imposed penalties to reduce the number of initial counters by six for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 academic years. The Committee on Infractions imposed an additional penalty limiting the university to 79 overall counters for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 academic years. The Infractions Appeals Committee determined that such a penalty is not inappropriate because it is provided for in Bylaw 19.5.2.1-(e). The Infractions Appeals Committee found further that there was no basis on which to conclude that the penalty was excessive.

The good news though:

Regarding the penalties related to the vacation of football team records for all contests during the seasons in which ineligible student-athletes competed [III-F, III-H], the Infractions Appeals Committee determined that the Committee on Infractions’ decision was excessive in that the penalty was inconsistent with the Infractions Appeals Committee’s action in similar cases. Thus, the Infractions Appeals Committee reversed penalties III-F and III-H which related to the vacation of Georgia Tech's football team records.

Which means ... yes, Bulldogs - this really DID happen after all:

Heff Should Stick to Women

2006-05-18T07:21:00.000-07:00

The 2006 Playboy All-America team has been announced - with Calvin Johnson inexplicably not making the list, and Joel Filani from Texas Tech making it instead. Filani had a solid year last year in Texas Tech's gimmicky offense, but with a long catch for his career of only 26 yards - he's far from the game breaking type of player you'd expect to be named All-America. Jeff Samardjiza? I could have seen that. Sydney Rice? He's a fine player as well. But Filani?

What makes this even odder is that the NFL.com article brags about the fact that the "Playboy gathering gives glimpse into 2007 draft" - which would imply that they would be picking players likely to be high draft choices in the upcoming draft. Well, Calvin is a virtual lock to a be a top 5 overall pick ... and Filani might go on the second day. That doesn't add up, to say the least.

Smelly Little Leprechauns

2006-05-16T14:17:00.000-07:00

Notre Dame and Georgia Tech will kickoff ABC's new Saturday night prime time coverage with an 8pm EST time kickoff on September 2nd [official story here]. This is huge for national coverage and is almost certainly a result of GT's excellent prime time showing last year with wins over Auburn and Miami in evening games. With the national spotlight firmly on Tech to begin the season (this will be the kickoff for college football as a whole, basically) it's an excellent chance to further impress the above average group of recruits that GT is getting attention from already this year - and no small factor that ND is a team that we seem to be up against almost constantly for recruits.

Georgia Tech's large number of evening games in recent years has been the butt of some good natured jokes [link], but ESPN/ABC love the atmosphere of the night games in Atlanta and it has become one of their favorite venues for broadcasting. It will be interesting to see where the Gameday crew sets up on campus, last time they were in Atlanta it wasn't exactly the best way to show off the school - hopefully Rad can get it worked out in a better location (yes, we know - urban campuses don't always have great options for this kind of thing).

(www.johnnyroadtrip.com)

Of even more interest, looking at ABC's prime time schedule for the rest of the season, one other date stands out:

• Nov. 11, 8 p.m. ET: ACC, Big 12 or BIG EAST (12-day selection)

GT will be visiting UNC at Keenan Stadium that day (a veritable house of horrors, unfortunately) and depending on both team's performance up to that point will be a candidate to be featured again in prime time. The other games for that day from the three conferences are:

Iowa St. @ Colorado
Wake Forest @ Florida St.
Syracuse @ USF
Duke @ BC
Miami @ Maryland
Baylor @ Ok St.
Texas Tech @ Oklahoma
NCSU @ Clemson
Nebraska@ TAMU
Cincinnati @ WVU
Texas @ Kansas St.
Pitt @ UConn

Of those, the only ones that look likely to be candidates for a prime time game will be Miami at Maryland, Texas Tech at Oklahoma and Nebraska at Texas A&M. In favor of a GT at UNC matchup would be the fact that UNC is going to be a solid team and will be playing a fairly weak early schedule - if they can beat VT at home they would probably be 6-2 and ranked in the top 20 the week before the @ND game (when the 12 day window will be used). That 12 day window also comes up right after Tech's homecoming game against Miami, and if Tech can pull off wins at home over ND and Miami we will be a fairly hot national name at that point (and yes, that's asking a lot).

My guess would be that this game is TT at Oklahoma, with Miami at Maryland right behind it - but keep an eye open for UNC and cheer for them to do well early in the year, national prime time games are absolutely huge for recruiting and name recognition.

TSN's Preseason All-ACC

2006-05-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

Calvin Johnson is the preseason ACC Offensive Player of the Year and is joined by two fellow Yellow Jackets in The Sporting News preseason All-ACC first team. Johnson, Kenny Scott and KaMichael Hall are all first team at their positions, and Andrew Gardner is on the second team.

The complete team can be seen HERE[link].

Academics?

2006-05-15T13:07:00.000-07:00

Somehow this is becoming more of a basketball blog than any other sport (despite Little Joe in the header) - I think living in Lawrence is rubbing off on me. I've certainly got more e-mails about basketball than any other sport, probably because most people haven't been used to following basketball recruiting as intently in recent years.

Georgia Tech actually got into the picture with Thad Young fairly late in the game, and so a lot of information about him came and went without really being exposed to GT fans (UNC fans lapped up every bit though). Here's an excellent news piece about his focus on academics(!) and some nice highlights of his skills. I'm as excited about Thad as I can ever remember being for any GT recruit - even Calvin Johnson. One guy can have such an impact in basketball, and his all around game and attitude seem so polished that it will be a huge dissapointment if he isn't an impact player from the start.

Gold Shoes?

2006-05-14T17:16:00.000-07:00

There's a post over on The Hive about the women's tennis team spray painting their shoes gold for the NCAA tournament, and being The Hive - it quickly turns to the availability of gold accessories (in this case shoes) in the proper shade of "old gold".

(click for larger picture)

My wife odered a pair of old gold and white Nike Huarache 2K4 basketball shoes (very similar to the pair that Lewis Clinch and other players wore last year) from Nike.com through their "ID" program for my birthday this year. The shoes were shipped to me direct from the factory in Guangzhou, China with a faux suede bag and lined storage box and are absolutely the perfect shade and size. I would strongly suggest it as a gift idea for a Tech fan (or just a fan of unique kicks), as long as you know the right size for them. I'm certainly the only guy in any gym I go into with white and gold shoes, and they look terrific.

Jayhawk Invitational (Championships)

2006-05-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the final day of the Jayhawk Invitational, and was fairly anti-climactic. Cole Aldrich was in street clothes fighting his bum wheel (and sporting the worst pair of jean shorts I've seen outside of Gainesville). Jon Leur finally seemed to hit the wall as well, and the Magic Elite didn't even make the finals.

KC Pump N' Run struggled a bit in the championship game with some sloppy play and their total lack of a real interior game seemed to be catching up with them, but Tyrel Reed poured in 20 on 8-15 shooting, and Conner Teahan was bombing away as well and they held on for the tournament championship. Reed was spectactular the whole weekend, controlling the pace of games, playing both PG and SG as needed and finishing tough around the rim. I'll be thrilled if he chooses to come to Atlanta, he's going to be a very solid college point guard.

Overall most impressive players of the weekend:

Tyrel Reed

The best overall player in any age bracket, he's not a jaw dropping athlete but he's tough and very skilled and has a very smooth stroke from deep. The best player on the best team in the tournament.

Jon Leur

Totally off the recruiting radar before this weekend, he played extremely well (even got at Dave Telep article on himself) and will be someone to watch. Tall and an excellent shooter, he also put the ball on the floor well and showed solid athleticism.

Xavier Henry

The younger brother of C.J Henry (former high major prospect and now Austin Jackson's teammate in the Yankee organization), Henry is a 6'8" wing playing 15U, and dominated his opponents to the point of looking bored at times. While his Athletes First team lost badly in the 15U final, he had an awesome weekend - including a 30 point effort in the opener Friday night.

Conner Teahan

Gunner. His shot was falling all weekend and with Reed and the rest of the solid Pump N' Run backcourt setting him up he looked like J.J Redick at times. I'd wonder how well he could get his own shot at the next level, but he can shoot and he can score and he's going to be either a very good mid-major player or a solid contributor for a high major (football might have something to say about that however).

Alex English

Only a freshman, but at 6'5" he's already a big solid wing. Much more skilled than you would think for someone his age and strong as an ox with the ball around the hoop. His KC Cowboys team game a couple of more highly regarded teams a run for their money, and his play in the 17U group as the youngest guy on the floor most games had a large part to do with that

Unfortunately Cole Aldrich was fighting injury, Travis Releford was just coming off his own injury and Blake Griffin didn't even make the trip because he's banged up - so I didn't get to see the best of those 3, otherwise they'd almost certainly be on that list. Still a very fun weekend as I got to pop in and out and see a number of quality games.

Jayhawk Invitational (Pool Play)

2006-05-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Jayhawk Invitational is wrapping up pool play this afternoon, and most of the major prospects have completed their opening games, so I thought I'd put up an update to this point. With two courts set up in Allen Field House, additional games in other facilities on campus and almost all of the best high school players in the midwest here, it's been a hoophead's dream so far.

PG/SG Tyrel Reed (Scout.com #14 PG - '07):

Tyrel Reed is one of two major targets for the GT staff to fill the final scholarship for the '07 class. On the Hive and elsewhere, I've been a bit skittish about Reed because I've only seen him play against his very weak Kansas 3A highschool competition - so I was very interested to see how he would do facing the top AAU opponents in this tournament.

The main draw for Friday night was Reed's KC Pump N' Run team facing the Minnesota Magic Elite team with Kansas commit Cole Aldrich (Scout.com #1 C - '07). There were several other high major players on both teams, including Reed's opposite number at PG for the Magic Elite, the extremely quick Minnesota commit Al Nolen. I'll have some more to say about a couple of other players in this game a bit later, but for now Reed was my focus.

(Reed bringing the ball up against Nolen's pressure)

Reed was extremely good, to sum it up succintly. He was in complete control with the ball in his hands, with a strong heads up dribbling style that allowed him to pick out open teammates. He finished in traffic well, and showed off his nice shooting stroke by hitting 4/8 from 3. While he's a good shooter, he never looks to force his own shot and was quite willing to get into traffic and set other guys up. Pump N' Run opened up a quick 11-0 run on their Magic Elite opponents and never really let it get close, as Reed and his fellow backcourt mates controlled the tempo and basically reduced Aldrich to a non-factor in a very impressive easy win.

(Reed matches up Nolen on an inbounds play)

Reed continued his stellar play in the second game I watched earlier today as Pump N' Run had a laugher against an outmatched opponent. Reed again controlled the tempo and play from the start, hitting open jumpers and feeding his fellow running mates for easy baskets. So far to this point in the tourney, Reed has been the most impressive player I've seen. I'm not sure I like the Kirk Hinrich comparisons (Hinrich was a better athlete, Reed is probably a better shooter) - I would compare him more to Tony Akins with a bit better shot, a tough nosed PG with strong leadership abilities. You can quickly see in this type of setting why Hewitt offered Reed a scholarship.

(Reed peeved at bad foul by a teammate)

C Cole Aldrich (Scout.com #1 C - '07)

Aldrich is coming off a stress fracture in his leg during the high school season, and has a bit of a dinged up ankle/foot as well - and when you are as big as he is, conditioning is the first thing to go. It was very obvious in both games I've seen of his, that he just is struggling with his fitness level and can't play more than 15-20 minutes before becoming severely winded. This also reduced his effectiveness in the post area, because he was tired and unable to work as hard in the paint as you would expect. KC Pump N' Run basically removed him from the game completely in his first game, and while he faired better in another game I saw it was one of his teammates in the frontcourt that really stood out (more on that later).

(Aldrich about to tip off - he's the man mountain on the left)

When talking about Aldrich, you have to start with his size. He's huge. Aldrich is around 6'10" / 240lbs. and could carry more on his frame. He's wide, with big trunk like legs and broad shoulders. In some ways though, his body and athleticism are farther ahead than his basketball skills at this point. While he's a good or even very good passer, his offensive game is basically 4 feet and in, and when he's not attacking the rim hard (like this weekend) he can really dissapear on that end for long stretches.

Aldrich got ripped pretty good on Phog.net after his very poor game in the opener against KC Pump N' Run, but most of it is undeserved. He's coming off an injury, and KC's backcourt really did a nice job pressuring he Magic Elite and never letting them get easy entries to Aldrich either. He's going to be a very good player for the Jayhawks and his blend of size and athleticism is something you just can't teach. It is clear though that he's not at the same level as this year's #1 center (Greg Oden) and I wouldn't be surprised to see him slip down the rankings some until he gets back into shape and polishes his overall game some.

SG Conner Teahan

In the deep KC Pump N' Run backcourt, Teahan is the "scorer". The Gatorade POY for '05 in the state of Missouri and also the starting QB for the KC powerhouse Rockhurst High, Teahan continues to impress on the basketball court.

(Teahan boxes out)

From his floppy soccer boy haircut to his deadly 3 point shot, Teahan just screams out "future mid-major guy who's going to score 30 in a NCAA tournament upset". We were joking that he wears the #12 because that's the seed he's going to be when he guns down some team come tourney time. In actuality though, as well as he keeps playing he could end up picking up several high major offers. Teahan doesn't have supreme basketball athleticism, but he's a tough nosed scorer and he can really shoot it.

SG Travis Releford (Scout.com #2 SG - '08)

Friday night was the first game back from a dislocated ankle (read that without wincing) for Travis Releford, the best player in Kansas and one of the top 5 players in the '08 class nationwide. Releford just oozes talent and athleticism (throwing down a couple of nasty break away dunks), but was obviously rusty. With a couple of turnovers and some sloppy ballhandling, Releford at times looked like he was just taking it easy - of course, coming off the bench into games which were out of hand also had to have something to do with that. Releford is going to be special, heck - he already is.

(Releford goes up for a huge double pump jam)

PF Jon Leur

After Tyrel Reed, the best player I've seen this weekend has been 6'9" PF Jon Leur from Minnesota. He's so far off the recruiting radar that Scout.com doesn't even have a profile for him, but it's hard to imagine that's going to continue with the way he's been playing.

(Leur running the break smoothly)

Leur has as pure a shooting stroke as you'll find at this level, and while his release might be a tad slow he's so tall that he can get his shot off almost whenever he wants. With a long thin frame that resembles Nick Fazekas, he's going to need to put on weight and strength to keep from getting pushed around on the blocks. All in all though, Leur is the kind of sleeper player that can land at a mid-major and make a huge splash. With a pure scoring touch, the ability to put the ball on the floor in traffic and run the open court - he has skills you can't fake for just one hot weekend.

More tommorow from the knockout rounds - all the key players will be there, and some commentary on the U15 studs here, specifically Xavier Henry.

Barkley on SEC "Ethics"

2006-05-10T07:11:00.000-07:00

On TNT last night during their NBA coverage, Charles Barkley (Auburn alumn) interviewed Dirk Nowitski and then had this exchange:

Charles Barkley: "I took some good players over to Europe to play, and he dropped 50 on us.... so I ask him 'How old are you' and he says '19' so I tell him 'I'll give you any amount of money in the world if you go to Auburn"

Kenny Smith: "Isn't that cheating?"

Charles Barkley: "We're in the SEC, if you aren't cheatin, you ain't tryin. We got Alabama, Georgia, Florida"

I love Charles, he's one of the best commentators in all of sports television right now - and I doubt he really offered a bunch of cash to Nowitski, but can you even imagine that joke working with any conference other than the SEC? It's almost like it's a badge of pride that so much cash has changed so many hands over the years.

Basketball Recruits in Action

2006-05-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

All of GT's key basketball recruits from the '07 class, and several from the '08 class will be in action this weekend at various AAU events - with most of them playing in the Wallace Prather Memorial Classic on the Georgia Tech campus. That tournament is named in honor of Wallace Prather Sr. - the founder of the powerhouse Atlanta Celtics (who will be the "host" team for the tournament). The other major AAU tournament this weekend is the Jayhawk Invitational on the University of Kansas campus, which will feature most of the key AAU teams from the midwest.

Players (and their AAU team affiliations) to keep an eye on if you choose to attend either event this weekend.

'07 Recruits

(PG) Tyrel Reed, KC Pump 'N' Run U17 - Jayhawk Invitational
(PF) Gani Lawal, Georgia Stars U17 - W. Prather Memorial
(SG) Lance Storrs, Georgia Stars U17 - W. Prather Memorial
(PG) Maurice Miller, Team Memphis U17 - W. Prather Memorial

'08 Recruits

(PF) Howard Thompkins, Atlanta Celtics U16 - W. Prather Memorial
(SF) Chris Singleton, Atlanta Celtics U16 - W. Prather Memorial
(C) Xavier Gibson, Georgia Blazers Black U17 - W. Prather Memorial
(PF/C) Al-Farouq Aminu, Georgia Stars U16 - W. Prather Memorial (uncertain)

RamblinRed over at The Hive has more details for the Wallace Prather Memorial and since it's on the Tech campus it should be fairly accessible to local GT fans who want to see the future of Tech hoops. I will be in attendence in Allen Field House for the Jayhawk Invitational and will have pictures, possibly video and a full write up after the weekend - particularly focused on Tyrel Reed who (along with Maurice Miller) is the probable final piece to the '07 class for GT hoops.

Eric Henderson a steal?

2006-05-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

Todd McShay (Link - ESPN Insider) has listed the top 10 undrafted free agent signings, and Eric Henderson is #3.

3. Eric Henderson, DE, Georgia Tech -- Cincinnati Bengals
Injuries hampered Henderson throughout his collegiate career and caused him to go undrafted. He also lacks ideal height and has room to improve in terms of his lower body strength and ability to anchor versus the run. However, Henderson's outstanding athletic ability, instincts, upper-body power and motor make him an intriguing free agent to monitor in training camp this summer. If Henderson can kick the injury bug and reach his full potential, the Bengals could be rewarded.

I think Henderson can have an impact in the NFL, where the ability to rush the pasher will always get someone a look or two or five. He has to have some good luck and finally stay healthy though, and that's just a huge question mark for him unfortunately. James Butler has made it work for him, and Henderson looked like an NFL player when he was able to take the field - so I won't be surprised at all to see him doing well for the Bengals in camp and making the 53 man roster.

You want big hits?

2006-05-05T14:44:00.000-07:00

Orson Swindle over at Every Day Should be Saturday put up a hit from Purdue safety Bernard "Bonecrusher" Pollard today to tide people over for the weekend. It's a nice hit, no doubt about it - but I mean, if you want hits ...

Quentin Coryatt back in his "Wrecking Crew" days simply wrecks a wideout. That guy is lucky to still be a functioning member of society.

Quinton Moore from Oklahoma State decleats and dehelmets someone. One of the most wicked shots in recent memory.

Dwayne Slay in a hit last year simply blows up KSU's defenseless QB.

I watched this game and thought Reggie Brown was dead. Dead. The way he lay facedown on the ground for seemingly ever - only time I've ever thought that watching a football game.

And finally - send this kid a scholarship offer, STAT!

Who needs fancy playbooks?

2006-05-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

Look, I know that every other blog under the sun has covered this - NCAA '07 looks awesome. I'm not breaking any new ground here by bringing that to your attention. It's going to be sweet and I'm going to be in the doghouse with the mistress of the house for playing it religiously every night after work.

That being said, this artice has some interesting information that hasn't been covered before - or at least that I haven't seen:

But if you're looking for maybe the biggest change in the series, all you need to do is open the playbooks. I'm talking about the biggest playbook overhaul in the history of the series. Tiburon hired two offensive gurus who watched at least three games of every team, then went in and personalized each and every playbook. There are 102 new formations in the game (86 on offense, 16 on defense), including the spread offense that includes option runs to the WR, the double slant and go, the post stop, the Nevada Pistol formation (QB stands 3 yards deep with a RB directly behind him)…there are so many new plays, it's almost overwhelming (to the point you'll get called for delay of game while cycling through all the new hotness). There is also greater variety in the formations you already know. Just because USC and Texas both have I formations, that doesn't mean they both run the same plays out of the I. Now USC's I looks more like a pro setup, while Texas uses the I to run more options.

Reading that brings to mind the question of "what exactly will be in the Tech playbook" and I'd like to suggest a few plays they probably will want include to assure an accurate Tech offensive experience:

17 variations of a deep fade to the sideline with the receiver forced to catch the throw out of bounds

0 plays utilizing the tight end as a receiver - playbook simply shows two RT's lined up side by side

0 plays utilizing the fullback as a receiver - playbook shows a LG lined up in the backfield

6 different QB draws out of the shotgun

2 crossing routes. Total. Neither features an o-line scheme designed to create a passing lane

24 different "stop" or "comeback" routes, only 2 "fly" or "seam" routes where the receiver runs after the catch

5 different buttons matched to throwing the ball away out of bounds

And last, but certainly not least:

As the game winds down your offensive co-ordinator keeps changing the the down number on the board so you can't keep track of when to spike the ball or not.

I can't wait, it should be a blast.

79-228

2006-05-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

79-228, that's the career head coaching record of new North Carolina State head coach Sidney Lowe. Remember when State was going to get Barnes or Calipari and make a huge headline grabbing hire that would reconfirm them as one of the top 10 college basketball programs? Uh yeah, that turned out well.

Lowe may, or may not, turn out to be a good hire - but he's certainly not the "splash" NCSU wanted to make. I also thought they'd end up best by hiring an up and coming midmajor coach like Tech did with Hewitt and Duke did with Coach K ... but an NBA washout was the direction they went. Just an all around bewildering process.

March 5, 1932 - May 3, 2006

2006-05-03T13:03:00.000-07:00

Earl Woods

One day when I'm older and hopefully far wiser, I hope that my relationship with my son or daughter is as strong and meaningful as Earl's was with Tiger. I truly believe one of the reasons that Tiger is so popular is because so many of us can look at him and his father and see ourselves and our dads walking down fairways together, placing telephone calls to celebrate life events together and always aspiring to live up to the example they set. The world is a slighly lesser place without Earl Woods after today.

On a Serious Note

2006-05-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

PWD has a story up on the Georgia Sports Blog about Mark Richt's wife and her battle with cervical cancer, something that touches very close to home with me.

When I was 16 my mother lost an 8 year off and on battle with breast cancer and passed away at the far too early age of 40. She was young, fit, intelligent and in the prime of her life (only a couple of years older than my wife is now) when she was first informed that little lump was the last 6 letters you ever want to hear: c-a-n-c-e-r. Unlike many other diseases, cancer is an indescriminate killer who cares not if you are young or old, fit or lazy, useful to society or a leach. There is nothing you do to "deserve" it, and unfortunately very little you can do to avoid it either. It picked my mother, it picked Kathryn Richt and it can pick your friend or family member just as easily.

For one Saturday a year I strongly dislike Coach Richt, and I hope he loses miserably each matchup. Outside of that he seems like one of the best young coaches in college football and has a terrific future ahead of him. His wife seems to be genuinely nice and together they are something of an "ideal" couple. Thankfully it apears that she will make a full recovery and will be able to live a normal life despite the scare of the original diagnosis. Coach Richt has said this episode has given him motivation to be more active in promoting cancer awareness, a worthy goal and one which cannot be stressed enough.

Get yearly checkups (both men and women) and pay attention to any abnormalities. The hastle of having your doctor give you a clean bill of health once a year beats the alternative of finding out too late that you have what would have been a treatable problem. Nobody is above the reach of this disease unfortunately, but hopefully a higher degree of awareness will help more people be in Kathryn Richt's position where it is only a scare and not something far more serious.

Watch out Atlanta!

2006-05-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

Look, everybody knows Georgia Tech has our fair share of nerds, dorks, science geeks and assorted forms of people you are proud to point to for academic accomplishments, but wouldn't neccessarily be your first choice to party down with. Tailgating at Tech covers a wide variety of options from the V parking lot to the Physics lot (seriously, could that sound any worse? Where's your tailgate? Oh, in the physics lot - it's a "blast"!). In other words, we're not neccessarily the right crowd to be mocking anyone for their lack of proper tailgate etiquette.

That being said, this group of ND MBA students is way, way, way past the line where I've ever seen even GT tailgates go (EDSBS.com). Orson does a great job putting them in their place (and the comments are just as good), but if this is what we have to look forward too this fall in Atlanta ... well, hide the women and children. The worst part is that not only is it so bad, but that they actually video taped it, then rewatched it multiple times while editing it and still thought this was a good idea. The lack of judgement is just staggering, and seriously begins to call into the question the quality of a Notre Dame education.

ACC / Big 10 Challenge Schedule

2006-05-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

The Matchups for '06 ACC/Big Ten Challenge were released today (LINK) and there are a couple of interesting games on the docket. The marquee game will no doubt be a heavily hyped matchup between Ohio State and North Carolina at the Dean Dome, a game that will pair the top 2 recruiting classes in the country and will feature something like 7-8 future NBA players on the floor.

Of more interest to GT fans, Tech's game will be against woeful Penn State at the Thriller Dome ... and worse, since it's such an unintersting matchup, it will only be televised on ESPNU. Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech are the only two ACC teams to have games from the challenge on ESPNU. I understand VT getting the shaft, but GT has a solid chance at being a top 25 team and top 3 in the ACC next year, how about Wisconsin and FSU getting the ESPNU game at that timeslot?

2006 ACC/Big Ten Challenge Schedule (All Times ET)
Monday, Nov. 27
7 p.m.	ESPN2	Michigan at N.C. State
Tuesday, Nov. 28
7 p.m.	ESPN	Maryland at Illinois
7:30 p.m.	ESPN2	Florida State at Wisconsin
8 p.m.	ESPNU	Penn State at Georgia Tech
9 p.m.	ESPN	Indiana at Duke
9:30 p.m.	ESPN2	Miami at Northwestern
Wednesday, Nov. 29
7 p.m.	ESPN	Michigan State at Boston College
7:30 p.m.	ESPN2	Virginia at Purdue
8 p.m.	ESPNU	Iowa at Virginia Tech
9 p.m.	ESPN	Ohio State at North Carolina
9:30 p.m.	ESPN2	Clemson at Minnesota

Looking at that list - it wouldn't surprise me if the ACC goes 7-4 or even 8-3 in the 11 games. The ACC has won the first 7 of these challenges, mostly because the bottom of the Big Ten is very bad year in and year out, and it would be a huge shocker for the Big Ten to "win" this one. Also of note is that the first team from the ACC to sit out the "Challenge" is Wake Forest, one of the founding members of the conference. They did finish at the bottom last year, and that has to be the reasoning, but it just portends how long of a season and how minimal the exposure will be for Wake in '06-'07. Finishing 12th out of 12 is going to hurt much worse than 9th out of 9 did.

Calvin Johnson - "The Catch"

2006-05-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

Per a Hive request for more videos - Calvin Johnson's ridiculous one handed catch in the fourth quarter against NCSU as a freshman. This is almost certainly the best catch of his career, and one that Mel Kiper will show 904759813 times next year leading up to the draft. Each time I watch it, I just try to pretend that I'm not watching Reggie throw the ball 10 feet behind him.

Undrafted Free Agents

2006-05-01T06:23:00.000-07:00

Last year it was James Butler who went undrafted, signed with the NY Giants and ended up the incoming starter at free safety this year for them. Around 75-150 undrafted free agents end up sticking in the NFL each year (some on practice squads, some on active rosters) and even more play in NFL Europe waiting for their chances. From news reports so far, here's where Tech's undrafted players ended up:

Eric Henderson - Cincinatti Bengals
Chris Reis - Atlanta Falcons
Damarius Bilbo - Arizona Cardinals
Gavin Tarquinio - Atlanta Falcons

Of those guys, I bet Henderson and Tarquino have the best shots of sticking. Henderson because he can rush the pasher, one of the most valuable skills in the NFL (obviously, if he gets hurt again in camp that's another story) and Tarquino because he's a long snapper and those guys are always floating around the league. Good luck to all them, and hopefully they find their niche in the league and go on to successful careers - either in football, or in their lives after footaball.

Dawan Landry joins P.J

2006-04-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

Man, I'm going to have to start cheering for Baltimore ... ugh. Former Yellow Jacket safety Dawan Landry was selected in the 5th round (#146 overall) by the Ravens, joining earlier Ravens pick P.J Daniels as '05 Jackets on the Ravens roster.

P.J to the Ravens

2006-04-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

Former walk-on, 7th stringer and then ACC single season rushing leader (that's an interesting combination) - P.J Daniels was drafted this afternoon in the 4th round (#132 overall) by the Baltimore Ravens.

As an interesting side note to this, it is very likely that P.J will take former Bulldog Musa Smith's spot on the Baltimore roster, and we all know that a Yellow Jacket will be an automatic upgrade on a 'dawg. P.J has been one of my favorite players throughout his career, it's hard to not get drawn into his story and his heart and effort. He turned himself from an afterthought into a team leader and now an NFL player. Congratulations to P.J - he's earned every bit of it the hard way.

Gerris to the Giants

2006-04-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

Georgia Tech alumn Gerris Wilkinson was drafted today by the New York Giants in the 3rd round (96th overall). Wilkinson will rejoin fellow Yellow Jacket James Butler on the Giants defensive unit.

What's interesting is that many teams felt Wilkinson was a better fit in a 3-4 defense because of his experience at OLB and DE in his career at GT, but it looks likely he'll be playing ILB for the Giants like he did at the end of his Tech career. Tech has had a ton of success producing NFL linebackers recently (Smith, Fox, Brooking, etc) and Wilkinson with his work ethic, leadership and broad skillset should make a fine addition to that list.

Kenny Scott!

2006-04-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

YouTube.com (the best site on the planet) has totally redone their interface and player, taking an already excellent site and improving on it even more. Since I'm already getting worked up for football season, this is a great excuse for me to go through my video collection and upload more of them as I can.

One of the keys for next year's defense is going to be the play of Kenny Scott, who's going to have the unenviable task of matching up against everybody's #1 WR ... and with our lack of depth and experience anywhere else in the secondary he's going to get very little help. Scott has more than lived up to his big time reputation coming out of high school, and hopefully his senior year he can truly step and show off his leadership ability to go with his ridiculous athletic ability. Scott can play himself into a early first day draft pick with another solid year, and if so - he'll be a huge reason why this should easily be the best Chan Gailey coached Tech team.

Scott made a couple of terrific plays last year, and I figure they are worth rewatching to get the blood flowing for the season to kick off. First was the interception return for a TD against UCONN where he stepped in front of a (telegraphed) pass and jetted down the sideling, capping it off with a front flip into the endzone.

This second play was one of the biggest of the season, a key 4th and 7 stop late in the Clemson game that sealed the win. He absolutely stoned his man, and refused to give up any ground with a terrific hit (watch him square his body and drive through the hit - somewhere his high school coach is smiling at the technique). Big play by a big time player.

Could this happen to us?

2006-04-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

Dan had to weigh in on the NCSU coaching hire and whether or not a potential replacement for Gailey would put GT in the same boat - I guess one column a week isn't enough to cover everything for him. (For the record, I think NCSU's coaching search debacle says a lot more about the quality of job that Lee Fowler is doing as their AD than anything about their fans or the job in general - so I do agree with Dan on this one).

One of these things is not like the other.

Everyone is getting a great laugh in the ACC, and probably across the nation, out of NC State’s trials and tribulations in finding a new men’s basketball coach. Hell, I rank among them since I absolutely cannot stand NC State in any way, shape, or form. However, I still think they were at a dead-end with Sendek. He’s a good guy and a solid coach, though not as super genius as people were trying to give him credit for. Let’s be honest the Flex offense is like blackjack strategy. You do the same things over and over again based on the given situation. You might have at most three choices to make in said situation and the best choice is usually heavily weighted against the other two unless you’re willing to gamble a bit. Everyone out there calling him some X’s and O’s genius doesn’t seem to realize that it’s just a system that you drill over and over again. It’s great for under talented schools like Air Force and Princeton in that it enables them to compete with other more talented programs, but its weaknesses mean the odds are very long of it carrying you to a national championship.

But I’m not here to get into basketball minutiae; this post is about the aftermath of Sendek’s departure and what’s being said about it in GT circles. Right now NC State is struggling to find a replacement HC and Chan Gailey supporters have taken this as gospel testament that if you let a winning coach go that it will be impossible to replace him. I was a firm believer in this argument when people were saying to get rid of Chan in years 1 and 2 of his service (full disclosure: I didn’t like him back then either, but I knew that firing a coach after two years of winning seasons would be a disaster in finding a replacement). For this argument to hold now the following statements would have to be true; as I will show they are most certainly not.

Herb’s record is similar to Chan’s in the W-L column

In the last 5 years Herb Sendek has won 20+ games in 4 of them and had 18 wins in the one year that he was under 20. Comparing this to the 7-6, 7-6, 7-5, and 7-5 campaigns under the Gailey era is just not being realistic about what a 20 win season in basketball means. Even with the increased amount of patsy non-conference scheduling in basketball you have to have a very successful conference campaign and likely a small run in post season play to achieve 20 wins in men’s basketball. This is why it’s considered such a high water market for a program to hit 20 wins in a season. Football on the other hand basically starts with 6 wins being a requirement for bowl eligibility with 7 wins being the standard for a moderately successful season. To even compare multiple 7 win (two of which came in 13 game seasons) to multiple 20+ win seasons in basketball is ludicrous.

Herb’s post season exploits are similar to Chan’s

I’m working on not swearing in articles for this blog so I’ll blank it out, but this is about the ****ing stupidest thing I have ever heard. Comparing the Silicon Valley, Humanitarian, Champ Sports, and Emerald Bowls to 5 consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament is ridiculous. At best you could compare that to 4 trips to the NIT and I’m not certain that’s even fair considering the supply/demand ratio for post season basketball play is much higher than that for post season football play. Let’s just move on before I start throwing things.

NC State’s coaching search is being conducted in the exact same manner GT would conduct its coaching search

I defended the feeling of the Pack with regards to Sendek up above. Wanting him gone was still not a mistake in my mind, but the aftermath of his departure has been an absolute cluster****. The State faithful seem to believe that a 20-year-old national title puts them in position to be an elite b-ball program. In this regard they are no different than your average Tech fan talking about 4 MNC’s in football. The difference here is that the NC State administration seems to have bought into the hype and feel like they offer a program that can attract away a happy coach from a current or rising national basketball power. This same train of thought just isn’t going to happen within the Tech administration as shown by the Gailey hiring. We set very realistic expectations during that hiring (in my opinion they haven’t worked out or I’m very frightened if they have) and I see no reason why the new AD wouldn’t follow suit.

The truth is that all of the pieces are in place for Chan Gailey to prove me wrong this year. Studly offensive line, future top 5 draft pick at WR, “veteran” starting QB, and a front 7 on defense that would willingly sack your grandmother and then spit on her. There can be no excuses this year, because we look pretty damn stacked. I was close to believing last year with how the season started out, but eventually I came to see the same old things that I’d always seen from Gailey teams. Stunningly brilliant play in one game (Miami) followed by mind numbing ineptness in another (Utah). I am locked into one more year of potential heart attack inducing inconsistency from game to game (yet there is amazing consistency come end of the season.) I would LOVE to be proven wrong about my suspicions. Unlike your average Tech fan I don’t think being wrong is the worst thing ever in the world, but I don’t have any faith that he will prove me wrong and NC State’s post Sendek search doesn’t have me quaking in my boots about us finding a new coach if I’m right

-JacketDan

Like a Crack Addict

2006-04-26T07:40:00.000-07:00

youtube.com and video.google.com are seriously the two greatest inventions in modern man's recent history. Now pathetic shaking addicts like myself can satiate our desires for college football year round. I'm honestly not sure how I made my way through previous offseasons without these wonderful sites to get me over the hump.

One of the best hits from last year was Miami linebacker Jon Beason absolutely destroying Colorado QB Joel Klatt on a block as Klatt was attempting (with no chance) to stop a defensive TD. Beason was actually flagged for unneccessary roughness on the play, which was basically the referee ruling that a hit so vicious couldn't possibly be clean no matter what it looked like. When the QB flies 5 yards in the air, it's gotta be a flag somewhere - at least that had to be the line of reasoning.

Most underated part of the scene though? Backup defensive tackle Kareem Brown (#99) making the "U" sign to the crowd and strutting around ... while his teammate is still 25 yards from the end zone. Nice hustle to keep up with the play there big boy.

Shockers (and I don't mean WSU)

2006-04-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

So, there's a lot of pictures of basketball recruits going around the net - and it looks like being a bit time baller has it's privledges. Check out Greg Oden, for example. (by the way, where on earth is he? That house looks like something out of Napoleon Dynamite).

But Greg Oden is, well, Greg Oden. He's not a big white stiff who's going to spend his ACC career getting postered and clogging the lane. I mean, Serge Zwikker wasn't pulling that kind of action in high school, or it certainly wasn't getting out much. Not to mention, Zwik (or Nick Smith, or any of a litany of other 7 foot big slow white guys) wasn't going to a school currently under the cloud of a sexual assault investigation involving athletes. You know, one of those situations that would probably have you keeping a low profile for a little while, regardless of the perceived guilt or innocence of the involved individuals.

All of that brings us to Brian Zoubek. Zoubek is a 7'+ center from Jersey who is going to Duke next year, and he's currently pretty much a big slow fouling machine with some potential but certainly not a lock for any sort of greatness. What pops up on the internet though? Zoubs throwing the shocker to a couple of high school girls at what appears to be his prom. Niiiiiiiiiice. I'm sure Duke loved to see that right now.

(click for bigger version)

By the way Brian, you might want to stick with the blonde on your left - the brunette is a bit "Jersey" if you catch my drift. Of course, going to Duke ... maybe that's your style. Stay classy.

(p.s - I'm very glad the whole digital camera / myspace.com / facebook.com stage came after I left high school)

Dan weighs in on Zam

2006-04-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

As has become common knowledge, Zam “Buck” Frederick has decided to transfer from Georgia Tech and conclude his basketball career someplace else. I’m personally pretty conflicted about this. On one hand nobody on this year’s team made me throw things quite like Zam did during games. Poor decisions with the ball, poor shot selection at times, and obvious conditioning issues. On the other hand he played hard every game, maybe not smart, but hard and he was willing to give it a shot playing out of position. Although by the end of the season we had to move him back to his SG spot for the most part. I give him credit for trying to prove that he deserved that starting spot for this year and even next. He failed, but you can’t succeed if you aren’t willing to risk failure. With all of that in mind, I would like to bid him a hearty good luck. This is really the best thing for him and team in the long run.

So let’s look at some of the concerns floating around out there. with your average Tech fan all this really means is furthered opportunities for worry in

Dickey is Zam’s BFF and will leave with him – Really pretty silly, but then again so are most Tech fans. For one thing he didn’t look to transfer last year when we went through this with Zam then. Secondly, he’s a guaranteed starter and probably will be on several pundits’ pre-season ACC players to watch lists. Third, they aren’t married and the advent of the cell phone and the Internet make staying friends not that difficult. Considering Dickey is apparently one of our smartest students I just don’t think he’d be this dumb.

Who’s going to be our backup PG . . . WHO!?!?!?!? – The guy that finished the season as the starting PG actually. Folks seem to be forgetting that for most of the last run of the season Mario started at PG with Zam coming first at SG and then rotating over to PG for brief minutes. Is Mario West an ACC caliber starting PG? Of course he isn’t, but next year nobody is going to ask him to be. He can rotate between the 1 and the 2 to spell guys and give us a spark of energy as well as a solid defensive stopper in the backcourt when dealing with some of the nasty talent floating around in the ACC. At best Zam was going to be the 3rd option at the 1 and the 2 with Paco possibly stealing his thunder, as he’s longer and less of a defensive liability than Zam.

But, but, but what if Critty or Mario gets hurt? – What if Thad gets hurt? What if Dickey gets hurt? What if we decide to make Chan Gailey the basketball coach a well? What if there’s a plague of locusts contained solely within the Thrillerdome and we have to play every game over Peter’s Parking deck. You have to plan for the things you expect to happen and that’s it. The truth is that we’re stacked at the 2 which is Zam’s natural position and I think De’Andre Bell, Paco, and Mario were better PG’s than Zam for the few minutes we’re spelling Crittendon. As somebody on the Hive pointed out, even Thad’s got a better handle. We can have him bring the ball up the court like Bosh did at times. We’re okay on depth at the PG barring a season ending injury and well you can’t prep for those.

In terms of the positives for Tech in the long term there are many, but let’s hit some of the bright spots.

This freed up the scholarship for Faye (big guy goes about 8’ 455 lbs from what I heard) next year and Lance Storrs the year after that. Everybody was wondering where this scholarship was going to come from within the Lance Storrs class and now we know. Of course if Thad stays another year we still have a problem, but that’s a bridge that I would happily cross if we came to it.

Hewitt’s hotel is a little easier to manage. I love Paul Hewitt as a coach, recruiter, and human being. All of that said, he has an almost pathological need to get his older scholarship players some minutes. One less cooperative cog in the machine makes next year’s rotations much easier to set.

An obviously unhappy player is off of the team. I said a lot of good things about Zam and I personally don’t have a problem with him, but unhappiness can be infectious in a locker room. With the way our backcourt got thrown under the bus last year it was a tough year for Zam and that makes it a tough year for the team. You really only can go two ways with the unhappy player, a) you end up hating his guts which distracts you in game and effects team chemistry or b) you worry about trying to make him happy which distracts you in game and effect team chemistry. If the unhappy guy can’t get happy, then it’s best for everyone that he finds a place where he can be.

So there we are, it’s a tough situation to be in emotionally, but logically and logistically it’s the best thing for the program in the long run and by far the best thing for Zam in the long run. Especially once you considering that we’ve got another top notch PG coming in ’07 in the form of Tyrel Reed, Maurice Miller or Chris Wright. It’s looking like a good time to be a GT basketball even in light of this last season.

Thad Young shines in the Big Apple

2006-04-24T17:03:00.000-07:00

Thaddeus Young was the MVP of the 2006 Jordan Classic with a dominating performance of 28 points and 13 rebounds. The 28 points was the second most in the history of the event, and Young is one of only 8 players to ever have a double double in the Capital / Jordan Classic.

What has struck me more than anything watching Thad each time I see him is the fact he truly seems to enjoy playing basketball, he has a smile and attitude that are infectious. Every time to you see him he's smiling, hanging his tongue out, goofing off with other players on the floor and looking like he's having a blast. Young doesn't seem intimidated in the least by the national stage, taking over Madison Square Garden for his personal showtime and he's going to be a huge fan favorite for his attitude and exuberance.

Oh yeah, he's a heck of a player too. In the Jordan game, Young had 10 offensive rebounds and capped several of them with huge dunks in the lane. He reminds me a lot of Antawn Jamison or Drew Gooden in the low block area - guys who could get off the floor seemingly faster than everyone around them. Actually, Thad's game in general reminds me a lot of the NBA version of Antawn, with the nifty footwork and finishing around the hoop combined with a smooth jumper and ability to handle the ball on the perimeter. Watch the highlight package (I apologize for the horrible Jay Williams commentary, I didn't edit the audio track) and get excited for basketball next year.

I'm not dead ...

2006-04-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

Yikes, the last month has been beyond hectic. I've had a monster project at work (yada, yada, we're all engineers nobody wants to hear it), and my wife got accepted to Columbia University for her M.A - so planning a move to Manhattan at the same time has pretty much eaten my time. Added to the fact that the end of the basketball season basically sucked the excitement out of me for a while and you get a month in between updates.

On the bright side, GT athletics has been quite busy over the last month and heck ... today alone was better than most program's years. There was a TV replay of Thad Young's monster MVP performance in the Jordan Classic, the men's golf team tied for the ACC Championship with Cameron Tringale winning the individual title, baseball finished off a sweep of FSU in Tallanasty and the women's tennis team won the ACC title as well. That's a pretty solid day for the GT athletic department, to say the least.

JacketDan from What's the Good Word is going to start writing somewhat regularly on this site as well - we both have real jobs and this is just for entertainment, but it will be easier to have more content on the site with multiple writers participating. He has an article on Zam Fredrick's transfer that I'll put up tommorow morning. I also have a highlight collection of Thad Young's Jordan Classic appearance that will be going up tonight or tommorrow (basically, when I finish it and stop watching the NBA playoffs). In other words, it's safe to actually check back in here - there will be new content for the first time in forever.

Oh, and if anyone is a GT fan from the NYC area - I'm all ears if you know a bar that caters to Yellow Jackets ... football season is going to be killer stuck in the northeast.

Greg Paulus

2006-03-17T09:25:00.000-08:00

Nice line last night against the #16 seeded Southern Jaguars. 2 points, 8 assists and 7 turnovers while playing the worst defense on the floor isn't exactly going to keep you on Dickie V's "Diaper Dandies" list for long.

(credit to grappa over on Phog.net for the excellent photoshop)

Arguing with the refs ...

2006-03-16T15:30:00.000-08:00

Arguing with the refs takes on a whole new meaning after this clip. Wow.

Best Weekend of the Year (Thursday Edition)

2006-03-16T08:32:00.000-08:00

10:31am - I'm #5,512 in the VIP line for CBSSportsline.com's March Madness on Demand. Hopefully they don't totally choke the feed out, I paid for it last year and it was well worth it. God Bless the internet.

I also finished picking my brackets for our family pool ... and I'm already regretting picking Iowa for the Final Four. My bracket will be on fire on my porch in about 4 hours. I should have put paint on my dog's paws and let him walk around it like my first plan.

O/U on first taunting phone call to friends stuck at work? 37 minutes.

10:55am - Drew Nicholas just ran down the tunnel again on SportsCenter. It's still funny every time I see that shot, of course I'm also not a UNC-W alumn. Oh, and big suprise on the #1 buzzer beater - Bryce Drew the coaches sun. Games can't start fast enough, I'm getting the shakes and I'm starting to drive my dog nuts.

10:59am - I just noticed the "Boss Button" on the March Madness on Demand video player. I've never been so proud to be an American.

11:10am - What on earth is Clark Kellog saying? He makes absolutely no sense. Someone sedate him and put Jay Bilas in the booth as an intelligent replacement. Thank you.

11:20am - Wichita State and Seton Hall tip off the tournament. I see a lot of MVC games out here in the KC area, and I'm not very impressed with most of the teams. That being said, I think WSU pulls this one off. Emergency Taco Bell run might in order right here, or it could be hours before food.

11:34am - Taunting phone calls to JW and Phil complete with Wichita State and UW-M both out to early leads. Gotta love the mid majors! UW-M is extremely athletic by the way, and they just ran an excellent alley-oop that left a guy making a chin-up on the rim.

12:07pm - WSU is just blowing out Big East powerhouse Seton Hall. Somewhere Billy Packer is quivering in a corner screaming "noooooooooo" like Hayden Christiansen at the end of Star Wars Ep. 3

12:23pm - I just realised that every member of BC is wearing headbands. I could not hate them more, I even caught myself cheering for Duke in the ACC title game. I think it's Dudley and Marshall that I especially dislike, or maybe the fact they are just northern thugs as a group - I can't tell.

12:36pm - San Diego State's arena is emptied out while they examine a "suspicious package". I sincerely hope this is being over careful and not a true threat to a sporting venue. What a down note to hit during the first halftime break.

On an another note - I forgot about the Master's commercials all during the tournament. I love this time of year.

12:51pm - Nothing says "March Madness" quite like back to back commercials featuring Coach K and then Dick Vitale.

12:59pm - Taj Gray just blocked a shot by putting his arm through the rim and rocked the whole goal to boot. No goaltending call, Billy Packer must have been one of the officials. Doesn't matter, UW-M is up by 9 and seems to be in control of the game from the tip today.

1:06pm - Just got my first - "I should have just donated my money to a charity instead" phone call.

1:23pm - Seton Hall hasn't even attempted to make a comeback, they are down by 18 with 3:44 left and are absolutely toast. Scratch one Big East team. Of course, they lost to Rutgers (TWICE!) so maybe we should have seen this coming.

1:26pm - Speaking of comebacks, Terrell Everett is trying to will OU back into this against UW-M ... but Taj Gray just fouled out. I don't think OU has it in them, but this has the potential to be the first great finish of the tournament.

1:38pm - WSU polished off Seton Hall by 20, and UW-M is taking care of business down the stretch against OU. Billy Packer is now officially in the fetal position. Boston College is fighting for their lives against Pacific, only interesting game on right now.

1:47pm - BC and Pacific just ran the two worst end of game plays in the history of the tournament on back to back possessions to end the game. You can't tell me Skinner seriously drew up a play in the time out for Craig Smith to dribble the ball up the court under pressure. Or maybe he did, who knows. Overtime coming up.

2:06pm - Craig Smith is an absolute man, only BC player I can stand. If Jeremis Smith can become Craig Smith Lite by the time he's a senior I'll be ecstatic. He just canned two free throws with under 5 seconds left to send their game against Pacific to Double OT. Heck of a start to the tournament. I also have BC going to the Elite 8, so this is basically my bracket's life hanging by a thread right now.

2:11pm - Shawne Williams with the dunk of the tournament so far. He left from waaaay back in the lane to throw that down on the break. Looks like the wheels are starting to fall off for Pacific.

2:18pm - The sigh of relief from every office park in America was heard on the moon I think. Boston College saved approximately 16,293 brackets by pulling out that win in Double OT (surprisingly enough, they also managed to cover the spread which was a hefty +7.5).

2:55pm - I am watching Alabama and Marquette solely because Jay Bilas is calling the game. I actually learn something about basketball when I listen to him call games.

Winthrop was a sexy pick to pull off the first round upset, looks good for them right now. They are giving Tennessee everything they want. My tournament rule of "never pick more than one SEC team for the Sweet 16" is looking alright at the moment.

3:25pm - It's not a fall Saturday, and as such there is no reason for Alabama, Florida and Tennessee to be on TV all at the same time. No surprise that both Tenn and UF are struggling, it's the wrong sport on the wrong day of the week.

3:29pm - Right as I type this, Watson picks up his 4th for Tennesse with 16 minutes left, and Winthrop takes the lead. Go SEC basketball!

3:47pm - Underated 5-12 upset possibility ... Montana over Nevada. Montana is up 40-33, and I honestly can't name a single player on their team.

Winthrop just hit a huge putback and has tied Tenn. again. This game is going to be right down to the wire. I can't believe any human in their right mind gave the 'Vols a #2 seed. What was the committee thinking?

3:56pm - "Buzzed Driving IS Drunk Driving" ... Ok, what about "Tipsy Driving", or maybe "Feeling Good Driving". What about "High Driving". Seriously, can we stop with the PSA's trying to be cool and hip and using slang from 5 years ago?

Oh yeah, Winthrop is up by two now. I can't believe my wife picked this and I didn't have the guts to. She got 31-32 right on the first weekend last year, I should know better.

4:11pm - Nice airballed free throw UT, you guys really deserved that #2 seed. Just lose and get this farce over with. Of course, you'll blow up my bracket if you do - but that's life, and I'll gladly trade $5 for a Vol disaster.

4:21pm - And that's why this is the best sporting event in the world. Holy crap James Lofton off balance from the corner with half a second left. ONIONS!!

4:57pm - And the afternoon session ends with the SEC the most bogus 3-0 ever. A big screw you to Nevada for laying a fat turd against Montana (SERIOUSLY, MONTANA?) and my Sweet 16 sleeper getting bounced early. Oh well, off to the local sports and drinking establishment for the evening haul. Good times.

Madness!

2006-03-16T07:50:00.000-08:00

I got a number of e-mails from people wondering if I was alright after the tornados last weekend in the midwest - and yes, I seem to be in one piece and nothing substantial we owned was damaged, so that was good. We didn't have power for a while and that forced a thawing of our freezer (which was no fun), but other than that nothing too serious. I did get to watch a several ton construction dumpster being lifted into the air though, and that was entertaining to a point - as was the car sitting on it's owners roof(!). Lawrence only got hit with "micro-bursts" which are like baby tornados, the storm got much worse as it moved east and spawned full blown twisters all over Missouri which we thankfully escaped - what we got was enough, thank you very much. Thank you for everyone that wrote me concerned after the pictures I posted or who had seen the twisters on the news, it made for an interesting weekend and early week but that was about it.

March Madness begins today, and I have the next two off of work. I'll have updates all day long as I sit firmly on my couch with the remote.

Finally, just as a random comment not sports related at all - My college memories include linear algebra finals, eating at the V, driving I-75 from Chattanooga to Atlanta and back ... and getting rocked by Sevendust at every tiny venue in Atlanta. I saw them again last night here in KC, and while everyone is 6-7 years older than the last time I saw them they still put on a tremendous live show. I've never been a huge fan of their albums (something just doesn't carry over to recordings for them), but their live shows are absolutely tremendous. For those of you in your mid-20's reading this who went to school about the same time as I did ... you probably know what I'm talking about.

Games tip in 1 hour and 20 minutes. I can't wait - the single best sporting weekend of the year, no contest.

The Tornado part isn't supposed to be taken literally ...

2006-03-13T09:30:00.000-08:00

After yesterday morning, I can officially say "I've lived in Kansas" ... my power just came back on (12,000 homes in Lawrence lost power) - I didn't know those thick power poles could be snapped like toothpicks.

(Photos from the Lawrence Journal-World)

Hey Marketing, here's an idea

2006-03-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

You know, this has been nagging me for a while ... GT is located in the very heart of Atlanta and has yet to use the resources in one of the fastest growing and most marketable cities in the world to it's advantage. Heck, there's a move title "ATL" starring two Atlanta rappers (Big Boi and T.I) in it coming out this summer. There's countless references to Atlanta or Atlanta based musicians on the radio daily everywhere in the U.S. Atlanta (or The ATL) has become a brand in and of itself, and GT should be using that to help market the athletics programs. There's no reason that the football stadium should only be 2/3rds full most of the year - and that I blame on us for not creating any sort of a "buzz" around Tech.

Oh, and there's no reason that UNLV should have beaten us to marketing campaigns like this one (watch the video below). My father-in-law lives in Vegas and has been a Rebel supporter for years and brought my wife into that a bit as well, but this is certainly aimed at the younger generation flooding Vegas and not the older crowd of the previous generation. Would it hurt us so bad to market to someone under the age of 40? Seriously?

More Recapping

2006-03-10T16:42:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago I broke down the freshman, their performances this year and what to expect from them next year. Today we're going to look at the rest of the team ... or as I like to call them "the sophmores". There will be 4 returning players for next season who played as sophmores this year and one who played as a junior, and they will form the core of the '06-'07 team along with Crittenton, Young and Clinch. The progression of this group was somewhat fitful, and a bit spotty. There were bright spots, especially on the offensive end (this group shoots the ball very well) but there were huge lapses in basketball IQ and defensive play as well as overall effort level.

Ra'Sean Dickey - 27.5mpg, 13.2ppg, 6.5rpg, 59.7% FG%

Dickey is the best returning player on GT's roster, and will be one of the best big men in the ACC next year. My, how strange it feels to type that, because in December he was just playing out the string, exhibiting very little effort on either end of the floor and having 5 point performances against UGa's decidedly below average front line. Sometime around 1/4 of the way through the conference season Hewitt finally got through to him, and he's been a monster since that point - easily the most encouraging sign for next year.

Next year? Well, Dickey is extremely polished on the offensive end of the court. He's got the size, the soft hands and the athleticism to go with a smooth jumper and a plethora of post moves; you will be hard pressed to find another post player in the country with more raw offensive skill than Dickey has. With the added dribble penetration of Critty and Young, and with the outside shooting of Clinch and Morrow to keep people honest, Dickey should have plenty of chances to work one on one in the post and get a number of easy scoring opportunities. I'm not sure there will be enough shots to greatly increase Dickey's scoring average ... but 15ppg on 55% shooting sounds about right, and that's a heck of a player.

There's another end of the court though, and Dickey absolutely has to improve his play on that end. We gave up countless easy buckets in the paint this year, and a lot of them are because Dickey doesn't work hard enough to keep his man from posting him up right under the basket. He's a big strong guy, and his man shouldn't be catching the ball on a regular basis with both feet in the paint. It wouldn't hurt anything if Dickey stepped up his shotblocking a bit from the weakside as well. Luke Schenscher was a very underated defender, and his post defense helped anchor the terrific teams of the two previous years - Dickey needs to step into that role for this group to reach their potential.

Anthony Morrow - 32.2mpg, 16.0ppg, 4.5rpg, 42.9% 3P%

Quick question - who led the ACC in 3P% this year? Nope, not J.J Redick ... it was Anthony Morrow. Morrow led GT in minutes and points per game, hit 78 3 point baskets and was named Honorable Mention All-ACC. Not a bad sophmore year for a kid who wasn't that highly regarded coming out of high school in North Carolina, mostly because he played for a tiny school against questionable competition. Morrow accepted the challenge of being the focal point of the offense - and conversely, the other teams defense - for most of the season, and while he wore down towards the end of the year it was unquestionably a successful year for him.

It's strange though, I'm not sure where Morrow fits in next year - or even if he'll be a starter by the end of the year. Shooting guard is the one spot where GT has tons of quality depth, and with Lewis Clinch stepping up his game at the end of the year to go along with Thad at small forward, Morrow will probably see his minutes decrease. With his quick release and ridiculously deep range, he's going to be on the court though - you can't keep a shooter of his quality off the court for too long. Morrow also proved in games like Michigan State and Wake Forest that he is totally unafraid to take big shots in the last few minutes of games, heartlessly draining 3 after 3 in eventually futile combacks in both those games. With more dribble penetration and the offensive weapons on the court to spread the floor, Morrow shouldn't face the continual double teams he saw this year, and his shooting percentage might even be a bit higher next year than this - 14-15ppg on 40+% from 3, to go along with underated rebounding and Morrow will be in contention for All-ACC mention again.

Morrow has some holes in his game, specifically ball handling and defense (recurring themes?). He is a bit turnover prone for an ACC guard, and his handles limit his ability to score inside the 3 point arc, which is a shame because once he gets the ball inside he's very effective. It's this weakness that may end up with Clinch starting over Morrow at some point, he simply is going to have to develop like Redick did into a player who can put the ball down on the floor with some regularity to become the big time scorer his shot says he should be. On the defense end he's long and fairly athletic, but seems to get lost behind screens at times and can be beat off the dribble. The skills are there to be a solid defender, but the production just isn't there right now and that's more an effort issue than anything else. I hope to see a teamwide improvement in that area when we tip off the season in Maui.

Jeremis Smith - 28mpg, 11ppg, 8.2rpg, 49% FG%

Jeremis Smith recovered from last year's dislocated kneecap very nicely, only to end the season fighting back spasms this year, and that's a shame because his game is based on his athleticism more than anything else. Jeremis still finished 4th in the league in rebounding despite playing 7-8mpg less than the other guys on the leaders list. Because of his physical playing style and ridiculous strength, Smith finished 11th in the country in free throw rate (kenpom.com) - but unfortunately shot very poorly at the free throw line and didn't quite capitalize on that skill as much as he could. Smith is that "dirty work" guy that every team needs, a relentless rebounder and a solid body you can't keep off the offensive glass. He's going to be the starting power forward for the rest of his career at Tech, and while he's probably never going to be a superstar, his hustle play and thunderous dunks will keep him a crowd favorite.

For next year? Smith is going to start every game at power forward, and play around 25-30mpg just like this year. Actually, I'd be surprised if there was a huge difference in his production, except his rebounding numbers might go up. If Smith were to add even a 10' jumper to his arsenal, he'd average 15+ per game, but I just don't see if happening. The most painful part of the season was probably the end of the Duke game when they kept leaving Smith open at the FT line and forcing him to shoot those jumpers ... it was just brutal to watch. With the depth of offensive talent around, Smith's weaknesses shooting the ball shouldn't be too obvious, he'll be able to focus on the dirty work around the hoop that he does so well, as well as the 5-6 ridiculous dunks per season he's good for. Demarcus Nelson is still looking for the number of the truck that facialed him early this year.

Smith is the best post defender GT had this year, and his hustle and effort made him a leader on the court that I expect him to keep growing into. He needs to improve his decision making with the basketball and hopefully find some semblance of a jump shot, but I really think Smith's game is what we're going to get. Any improvement from this point will be imcremental. Hopefully he cuts down on the number of fouls as he matures a bit, but with his intense nature and style of play I'm not sure that's going to change much.

Mario West - 22.1mpg, 5.2ppg, 2.05spg

West played out of position, in a role he isn't fit for in the least and yet every night brought his lunch pail and played his butt off. The one guy on the team who I never ever questioned the effort out of, or the defensive intensity and the best perimeter defender on the team - West finished 4th in the ACC in steals per game, just another symptom of his excellent defensive play. As the only junior on the team, he will be the lone senior next year and while his role may decrease with the newcomers, his impact on the team will hopefully extend well past the the court floor.

West is one of the premier perimeter defenders and wing athletes in the ACC and has given Hewitt an excellent option off the bench for the past two years when he needs a lock down defensive performance. West really is much more suited to the SF/SG spot that he played last year than the PG spot he was forced into this year, but no matter where he plays his limited offensive game beyond dunks and putbacks limits him. I expect Mario to play a larger number of minutes early in the year, before gradually giving way to the youngsters as their play increases. He will still be on the court for his energy and defense - but if GT has to depend on him for 20mpg and to help run the offense like this year, we'll be in trouble.

As a kid who came in on an academic scholarship, and will be back on one next year while in graduate school - I hope West gets a huge ovation on senior night, he represents everything that is right in college athletics. If he had gone to a smaller league, he could have been a star with his explosive athleticism, but that's a level he'll probably never reach at GT. That doesn't mean he isn't a good player (he is), or that he can't have a huge impact at this level (his defense alone guarentees that). He's the kind of guy you're glad to point to and say "he went to my school".

Zam Fredrick - 28.8ppg, 10.5ppg, 3.9apg

Zam was stuck in a tough position this year, having to play out of his true position and replace one of the best players in school history at the same time. Some nights he handled it well, and some others he did not. Fredrick had an extremely erratic season, and only truly looked comfortable when Hewitt moved him off the ball to SG and had West run the point. There's been a lot of talk about Zam's body language, his somewhat strange transfer attempt in the offseason and his future role on this team - but in between all that he did show flashes of talent that could make a valuable piece if he stays in Atlanta.

Zam's strength is certainly as a "scorer" ... he was the only player on the roster this year consitently able to beat his man off the dribble, and his midrange game is quite tough. While a decent shooter, he's not in the class of either Clinch or Morrow, but he doesn't lean on that to score. Most of Zam's points came from 15' or in, often off a pull-up or floater. Zam also showed that at the end of games, he wanted the ball ... hitting the game winners against both BC and NCSU. That confidence isn't something you can teach, and it was something that the team as a whole was sorely lacking this year.

On the negative side, Zam's body language and attitude fluctuates wildly while he's on the court. When it's going good, he's bright and playing well. When it starts to fall apart, he really begins struggling and it just seems to mushroom. I bet if you mapped Zam's TO's this year, they would happen in streaks, 3 or 4 closely bunched together - his decision making would just dissapear once something went wrong. Between that and his seeming lack of physical conditioning, a lot of people got down on Zam - including myself. He's not an ACC PG, and we desperately needed one this year - he's a backup SG at this level, and much of people's frustration with this season was dumped on Zam simply because he was the unlucky one who had this role shoved on him. I like him, I hope he stays in Atlanta and improves his approach to the game. I truly believe he has a lot to offer, but it needs to be in a role he's comfortable with. Unfortunately, I think the recent scholarship offer to Lance Storrs is the writing on the wall, and would not be surprised in the least to see Zam at USC-East next year. If he leaves, I'm going to miss him - but at the same time he unfortunately doesn't have a skillset that is irreplaceable at this point.

(all pictures by Chris Gooley)

I just dropped it like it's hot

2006-03-10T12:39:00.000-08:00

Vee Dub holding it down on the engineering tip, jaaaaa

The new Volkswagon "Unpimp My Ride" ads are even creepier than the Burger King "King" ads. I cannot believe I'm going to spend the next 3 weeks watching some mentally unstable german guy (from the Big Lebowski, by the way) throw VW gang signs at me while I'm just trying to watch basketball. I've already got the shakes. Honestly, these are even worse than the "My Fast" VW ads which are currently on the air as well. Ugh.

If you haven't seen these ads yet, you can watch them here and be equally creeped out. Ad #1, Ad #2, Ad #3

Well, at least it's over

2006-03-10T07:02:00.000-08:00

And so the most forgettable season since the end of the Bobby Cremins era has finally wrapped up, and frankly ... I'm just glad it's done. I watched my DVD of the 2004 Final Four game against OSU and pretended it was this year, it was a heck of a lot more fun than watching us throw up airballs against Maryland. I had planned today to do a review of the sophmores on the team, but I figured a few comments about the season as a whole were more fitting - we got the whole offseason now to break down players.

The season has been a disaster from top to bottom. As soon as JJ left for the draft, the writing was on the wall - he was the only sure fire future NBA player on the roster, the only ACC caliber upperclassman and the only PG. That's a lot to replace just on the pure talent perspective alone, let alone the much more difficult to quantify "leadership" portion. Austin Jackson could have helped with the talent portion to an extent, but he could not have filled the leadership role. However, losing him to the Yankees left us with nothing talentwise at the PG spot and that doubly complicated the matter. There's a reason GT was picked to finish 11th - that's the quality of talent and experience we had coming into the season.

College basketball is about two things, experience and talent. If you have enough of one, you can somewhat overcome a lack of the other (i.e - Syracuse in 2004, Maryland in 2002) but that's difficult to do. And if you think talent is something you can coach, remember that '02 Maryland is the only team since the McD's All-Star Game began play that won a national championship without a burger boy. That's staggering, but it clearly shows the role that recruiting plays in basketball success. Nobody would mistake Cremins for the best X and O coach in history, but the guy won a ton of games by bringing in top flite talent to Atlanta. Since Cremins left, Hewitt has had a couple of terrific seasons where he had slightly below top level talent, but they were very experienced.

Earlier this year I did a detailed review of Hewitt's recruiting since he showed up, but with a focus on what the roster will look like in the next two years. What I could have also shown was the 3 year gap in recruiting between the Jack and Bosh class and the Thad and Crittenton class that is coming in next year. In the past 3 years, GT has brought in 9 players. Here's how they break down.

Top 25 players:

Lewis Clinch (RSCI #25) - '05

Top 50 Players:

None

Top 100 Players:

Will Bynum (RSCI #51) - '03
Ra'Sean Dickey (RSCI #51) - '04
Jeremis Smith (RSCI #74) - '04
Zam Fredrick (RSCI #85) - '04
Anthony Morrow (RSCI #91) - '04

Unraked Players:

Alade Aminu (RSCI - #UR) - '05
D'Andre Bell (RSCI - #UR) - '05
Paco Diaw (RSCI - #UR) - '05

That's not a pretty picture. You aren't going to win a lot of ACC games with only a single top 50 player on the roster (also, notice how the quality of the player lines up pretty darn closely with their high school ranking - they are much more accurate than football rankings). That isn't to say there aren't guys on that list who can play - because it's obviously there are guys who are good. They aren't good enough to carry an ACC caliber team as freshman and sophmores though, and that's what you saw this year.

If you took the team we have right now, and brought in two more classes of players ranked in the top 50-150, the ceiling is somewhere around ... the Maryland team we just lost to. There's enough talent to be a middle of the pack ACC team with some experience, and an NCAA bubble team. Those are quality players, but not the requisite "star power" for a top finish in the ACC and a high NCAA seed. So why am I optimistic about the next two years? Because we have had 3 top 15 players in the past 6 years ... and are bringing in 3 more in the next 2 seasons. There's a huge difference when you begin to recruit that level of talent, and it should be very obvious next year.

There's a lot that still needs to be fixed, and the current players on the roster will need to step it up from this year's dismal performance, but they shouldn't have to carry the team by the time the conference season rolls around. I think people are going to be surprised at just how good Thad and Critty (and Lawal in the near future) are and will be for us, and the huge impact they will have on the play of the guys already on the roster.

Basketball Season Recap

2006-03-08T09:39:00.000-08:00

One post in the last week - I'm slacking. If you've noticed that most of the really heavily updated blogs have more than one regular contributor, it's because it's darn hard to crank out 2-3 items a day unless it's a fulltime job. Anyways, wah wah wah ... time to take a look back on the basketball season that was - today I want to cover the freshman class for this year and how they did, and I've got an e-mail exchange with RamblinRed about next year that will be going up as well in the near future as well as some discussion of GT players currently in the NBA as well (Luuuuuuuuuke!).

Hewitt brought in 4 freshmen this year, with varying amounts of hype and expectation attached to them. Lewis Clinch, Alade Aminu, D'Andre Bell and Paco Diaw all saw "above walk-on level" playing time this year, enough that we can get a feel for their potential while in Atlanta. Considering that this class contains GT's best athletes at the shooting guard and post positions, the impact expected for next year from this group will be fairly high.

Lewis Clinch - 23.9mpg, 9.1ppg, 2.8rpg, 43% 3pt%

Clinch entered the year as by far the highest regarded of GT's recruits, struggled out of the gate and then missed 5 games due to injury. At one point early in the season many people were down on his overall game and openly wondering why Clinch was recruited over players like Mike Mercer. Once Clinch got healthy and his sea legs under him in GT's offense, he immediately began to show the terrific scoring touch that he had flashed in high school. Clinch shot over 50% from the 3pt line in ACC play, and was the second leading scorer among ACC freshman (behind some guy who looks like a salamander). You could make a solid argument that Clinch was the second best freshman in the ACC, and certainly ahead of fellow class of '05 shooting guards Danny Green, Marcus Ginyard, Courtney Fells, Brian Asbury and Martynas Pocius.

What does Clinch bring to the table for next year? He can really shoot the basketball, and that appears to be his strongest trait right now. During the ACC season it was impressive to watch him on the offensive end, he has little to no hesitation in his shot and a very quick release to go along with the athletic ability to put the ball on the floor and adjust for an oncoming defender. Honestly, I was expecting him to be able to dribble penetrate and score in the lane more than he did, he had shown a lot of that in AAU play but that portion of his game was rarely on display in his freshman season. Part of his issues seem to be with a slighly erratic handle, and like almost everyone on the GT squad he needs to work all summer on his ball handling and decision making.

All in all, Clinch had a very good freshman year. He wasn't a magician who suddenly turned Tech into a powerhouse, but he was also a long way from a bust. Clinch showed that he was highly regarded out of high school for a reason and that he will be a key contributor for next year's team. I'm not sure if he'll be a starter or not in '06-'07, GT is just so deep at the SG spot and Anthony Morrow had a heck of a year and will be hard to beat out - but I do expect Clinch to continue to get 20+ mpg, and probably raise his scoring into the 12-14ppg range on around 45% fg / 40% 3pt shooting. That's a very valuable player to have on your roster, and Clinch has the potential to be an All-ACC caliber player in his career.

D'Andre Bell - 18.4mpg, 3.9ppg, 2.0rpg, 36% FG%

Bell was injured a large part of the end of his high school career, and came into GT a bit under the radar but contributed right out of the gate for GT. He started more games than any other freshman (11) mostly because he was capable of playing 20 minutes without severely screwing anything up and he hustled and played solid defense. As the ACC season wore on and Clinch really began to play well, Bell's minutes slowly dried up and his quality of play seemed to tail off as well.

What does it look like he'll bring to the table for future teams? Well, nothing spectacular - he's a hustle player who plays solid defense but he has some clear limitations. Bell is somewhat undersized for a SF, and he can't really play SG. In ACC play he struggled against athletic frontcourts, shooting only 36% (despite having a very nice jumper when open) and rebounding at a low rate. There's a reason Bell was seeing less of the court as the season went along, he was struggling to keep pace at the end.

With Thad Young coming in next year and Morrow and Clinch both needing minutes as well, I think that Bell will play less next year than he did as a freshman - maybe only 10mpg. He has value off the bench as a ball handler, defender and a guy who can make open jumpers but if Hewitt has to play him for long stretches of time, especially in the conference season, it'll be a sign of some pretty serious problems on the team.

Alade Aminu - 7.7mpg, 2.3ppg, 1.6rpg

Aminu was a track star in high school and had only a couple of year's experience playing basketball, but his elite level athleticism and size helped make him a top 100 recruit as a high school senior. While not a project on the level of Luke Schenscher, it was fairly obvious that Aminu had a ways to go before becoming a productive ACC level performer. Surprisingly to me, he played well in the conference games he entered and showed that he has tons of potential for the future.

What does Aminu offer for next year? He's going to be the primary post backup coming into the season, and should probably see his minutes double. He has the athleticism and agility to be an above average defender in the post, but he badly needs to get stronger and play under control more - he simply fouled way too often this year. On the offensive end, I'm not expecting Aminu to be a force by any stretch of the imagination, but 5-6ppg on dunks, putbacks and simply beating his man down the floor wouldn't be beyond his abilities. As for beating his man down the floor ... Aminu is F-A-S-T for a man his size, he will be very good in transition as this team tries to run a bit more next year.

If Aminu can contribute 5-6ppg, 4rpg and solid defense in around 15mpg, this Tech team will be in great shape with Dickey taking the lion's share of the minutes and Peacock/Sheehan chipping in a bit as well. I'm excited to watch Aminu develop, Hewitt and the staff did a terrific job working Schenscher into an NBA caliber center (if you had told me Schenscher would play in the NBA his freshman year, I'd have called the nearest mental hospital for you) and Aminu has a lot more natural talent to work with.

Paco Diaw - 7.4mpg, 0.9ppg, 1.3apg, 43% FG%

Talk about the under the radar, Paco Diaw was so far under the radar nobody had any idea what to expect from him. Diaw actually started a game early in the season, and played better than our other PG's for a short stretch at the beginning of the year - "better" meaning "didn't dribble it off his foot bringing the ball upcourt". Unfortunately, that came to an end at Wake Forest when Diaw commited 4 turnovers in only 9 minutes of play and looked completely out of place against ACC competition. From that point on (most of the conference season) Diaw saw very little playing time and really didn't look comfortable in the tiny bit of time he did get.

What does Diaw bring to the table next year? Honestly, I'm still not sure I know. He's the player on the current roster I would say is a better than average passer from what little we saw, but he is very weak and looked like he could easily be physically intimidated by ACC guards and that led to a number of turnovers during conference play. Diaw hit the only three he attempted this season, but didn't show much of an offensive game in any of his time on the floor and was tenative when open for shots. There is talent there, but the jump in competition level looked to be so huge that often he was just trying to adjust to the speed and athleticism of the game.

Diaw will be an interesting case next year, with Crittenton coming in and his brother (Boris Diaw) now in Phoenix and not in Atlanta any longer. I think he's a very strong candidate for a redshirt to allow him to build strength and get used to playing with ACC caliber players in practice every day, but I also would consider him a transfer possibility at some point in the future. I think he has the potential to be a contributor to Yellow Jacket basketball, but I'm not sure next year is the best chance for that to happen.

Looking back on this freshman class it seems that GT has a future All-ACC caliber player, solid options at the low post and small forward positions and possible future starters and one player who is still a giant unknown. All around, this seems to be a solid class and one that can make a large contribution to future success in Atlanta. Not as deep as the '04 class, and not as top heavy with talent as the '06 class appears to be - but a solid class nonetheless.

(all photos from the excellent Gooley Photography)

Busy Weekend

2006-03-06T18:55:00.000-08:00

Yikes, my birthday was this weekend and my wife had a bunch of school stuff going on (she got accepted at Columbia for grad school, among other events) so I didn't have much time here. Of course, that means a ton of stuff went on including a bad loss to Clemson, Lance Storrs committing to GT and the requisite rumbling about transfers and future GT players Crittenton and Lawal winning state championships. Lot of meat to chew on over the next couple of days.

Just to leave you with something, you can check out highlights of the players named McDonald's All-American at this link: BallIsLife.com ... you can also download the video from there. Thad has a couple of sick dunks and a sweet post move right at the beginning, it's worth a viewing and should help with the bad taste in your mouth from losing twice to Clemson in the same year.

The Watermelon 500

2006-02-28T16:24:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has lived in Atlanta can appreciate this video, make sure to check out the caravan behind them at the end.

Make it stop ....

2006-02-28T15:34:00.000-08:00

When you think you've heard it all ...

It gets worse.

Seriously, the incompetence of our former athletic director and his staff is simply staggering. If this is true (which I sincerely hope not), this is much, much worse than anything else that has happened so far.

Vertically Arched Lettering?

2006-02-28T06:28:00.000-08:00

ESPN.com's "Uni-Watch" is admittedly one of the odder sports related columns on the internet, but they had an interesting blurb about Georgia Tech uniforms a couple of days ago in their discussion of teams that still go through the effort to have each letter custom made for uniforms so they can be vertically arched lettering and not radially arched lettering. Georgia Tech gets mention for the fact that we use both vertically arched lettering and negative vertically arched lettering on the front of the basketball jersey (top and bottom). Check out the picture below and read the entire column here to see what I mean.

Chris Bosh - an Olympian?

2006-02-27T18:27:00.000-08:00

There has been rumbling for a while that when USA Basketball releases the official 25 man roster for the next Olympic team on Sunday that former Yellow Jacket and current Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh will be one of the players chosen. He really does have the perfect game for international play with his ability to put the ball on the floor and shoot out to 18' - the rules just favor forwards with his skillset. In two years Bosh will be one of the best young frontcourt players in the world, and with the aging of other NBA superstars is set to be one of the faces of the next generation of US NBA stars. Bosh also already had experience with USA Basketball, playing with the Junior team in 2002. This Toronto Sun story has a few more details, along with some nice commentary on Bosh and his growth as a player since he entered the league.

Chris Bosh #1 in SportsCenter's Top 10

2006-02-27T17:14:00.000-08:00

Chris Bosh was #1 in SportsCenter's Top 10 plays of the day yesterday with this filthy slam on Eric Dampier of the Dallas Mavericks. And yes, he would be a senior at GT right now - the NBA Draft has really changed the college basketball landscape.

We're #1!

2006-02-27T14:16:00.000-08:00

Georgia Tech baseball is now #1 in the new ESPN/USA Today Poll after ripping of a 10-0 streak to open the season, including a huge win over #6 Tennessee and their #1 starter. Whit Robbins, Wes Hodges, Steven Blackwood and Matt Wieters are leading a powerful offense that Baseball America names the best in the country, and Robbins is on pace for a whopping 130 rbi.

Could this be the year, finally? I don't know - GT has been ranked #1 in every single season since 2000, including preseason #1 rankings in '01,'03 and '04 and we know how those years ended. I'm still a bit worried about the starting pitching, but when your team is ranked #1 it's pretty bush to complain about much. Lets hope this is the season that Danny Hall finally gets his elusive championship and Tech breaks the ACC baseball curse.

You should be reading beesball.com every day during the season, but I'll try to have some more stuff on baseball as the season progresses.