aul
Hewitt does not question whether he can outcoach Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams,
Gary Williams and the rest of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
He can't.
"If you try and X and O people in this league, you're not going to do it,"
Hewitt said last weekend during the A.C.C. tournament in Greensboro, N.C. "The
coaches are too good. You need good players."
Which is why Hewitt, in his fourth year at Georgia Tech, was so disheartened
last fall when a top high school recruit turned down a scholarship offer. The
player, whom Hewitt declined to name, decided he did not want to lose to Duke
every season.
"We lost a recruit earlier this year because one of the schools that we were
recruiting against told him: `You'll never beat Duke if you go to Georgia Tech.
You'll never be able to surpass that program,' " Hewitt said. "And I'm trying to
explain to the young man, `Look, we're going to do it.' "
This is the season Hewitt and the Yellow Jackets did it. On their way to a No. 3
seeding in the N.C.A.A. tournament and a first-round game against Northern Iowa
on Friday in Milwaukee, Georgia Tech knocked off five teams ranked in The
Associated Press's top-25 poll: Connecticut, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Texas
Tech and Duke.
Not since the Bobby Cremins era has Georgia Tech posted a 20-victory season or
arrived at the N.C.A.A. tournament with a legitimate shot to contend for the
championship. All of this in a season in which many predicted the Yellow Jackets
might not even make the National Invitation Tournament.
Georgia Tech lost Chris Bosh and Ed Nelson after last season. The Yellow Jackets
finished 16-15 and lost in the first round of the N.I.T. Bosh, a 6-foot-10
freshman center and the A.C.C. rookie of the year in 2003, became the fourth
overall pick in the N.B.A. draft last spring. Nelson, a 6-8 sophomore who was
the A.C.C.'s top freshman in 2002, transferred to Connecticut.
Georgia Tech was roundly dismissed at the start of this season. The Yellow
Jackets were projected to finish no better than seventh in the annual A.C.C.
media poll.
"Pretty much everybody thought we were just going to be down in the dumps this
year," point guard Jarrett Jack, a sophomore, said. "I think we all banded
together, wanted to show everybody there was talent still left."
They did, opening the season 12-0 and rising from unranked to No. 3 in the A.P.
poll, the program's highest ranking since 1986. Included was a victory against
Connecticut, then No. 1, in the Preseason N.I.T., a tournament Georgia Tech won
by beating Bob Knight and No. 25 Texas Tech in the final.
Led by Jack and the junior guard-forward B. J. Elder, who averaged 16 points a
game, the Yellow Jackets were 9-7 in the A.C.C. this season, good for a
third-place tie with Wake Forest. Among the surprises: the emergence of the 7-1
junior center Luke Schenscher from Australia, whose curly-red mop top inspired
Duke fans to chant "Big Bird!" at Cameron Indoor Stadium this season. Schenscher
averaged 8.7 points and a team-best 6.2 rebounds a game in his first year as a
starter.
Schenscher was a backup to Bosh last season and could not help but hear the
collective lament when Bosh left for the N.B.A. Few thought Schenscher could
make a significant contribution as Bosh's replacement.
"I saw that as motivation to work as hard as I could in the summertime,"
Schenscher said. "People were discounting us. They were saying, if Chris leaves,
and then Ed leaves, we've got nobody. We used that for motivation."
Georgia Tech also learned how to win on the road. After going 2-11 away from
home last season, the Yellow Jackets were 7-5 this season. That included a
victory at Wake Forest that ended the Demon Deacons' 24-game home winning
streak.
It would not be the only streak Georgia Tech would break. Duke had won 41
consecutive games at Cameron until the Yellow Jackets beat the Blue Devils,
76-68, on March 3.
"When I walked off the court at Cameron, one of the first things that popped in
my head is, `O.K., that's one more wall we don't have to climb over when we're
recruiting quality players,' " Hewitt said.
Perhaps the second thought was the realization that if Georgia Tech could win at
Cameron, it could win on any court.
"All the things I've been saying are starting to really show," said Hewitt, who
is from Westbury, N.Y., and whose name has been mentioned in connection with the
vacant St. John's job. "The win at Duke caught everybody's attention, but if you
ask the guys in our locker room, they feel like they can go pretty much anywhere
and win a basketball game."
Perhaps all the way to San Antonio.
