Sorry I don t have a lot of time today, but I m writing, tying up loose ends while getting ready to head to Tampa and searching frantically for a dog that s been lost since 8:30 last night. Kids left the back gate open, and poof! Gone.
The single biggest key to Tech s game against Wake Forest, in my opinion, is Kyle Visser. He killed them in Wake s win over Tech with 26 points and nine rebounds, and when Tech beat Wake he had 16-8.
When he s got it going, the defense starts collapsing that much more and it opens the floor for teammates.
I think he s the most improved player in the ACC this season, and not just because he s improved his scoring and rebounding from 5.0/4.3 to 16.
9/7.2 between his junior and senior seasons (and that s a huge bump). He sees better, and draws fouls on purpose several times per game.
In fact, he gets to the free throw line more than anybody in the ACC except UNC s Tyler Hansbrough (8.4 apg to 7.4 apg).
He s a 64.4 percent free throw shooter, which is neither great nor terrible.
Wake, though, is 11th in the ACC in free throw shooting (63 percent), and the way Tech s been willing to foul to prevent quality shots lately, that would seem to favor Tech.
This is the lowest FT percentage by Wake since 1952. Senior reserve Michael Drum is an exception, hitting 85.7 percent of his free throws.
I shouldn t say this, but I think Tech s going to drill Wake. Other than defending Visser (and nearly everbody else) better the second time around, the Jackets seemed to figure out Wake s lightning-quick point guard, freshman Ishmael Smith. Add the two together, and if you step on the snake s head and tail, that snake s hurting.
I m not surprised by the ACC All-Rookie team, but that doesn t mean I agree with it. I m cool with Brandon Costner, Brandan Wright, Jon Scheyer and Javaris Crittenton, but based on what I saw in person, on TV and off statistics, I think Thad Young should have made it over Ty Lawson.
Lawson, though, plays at UNC, in the middle of the North Carolina voting bloc that sways the award (I didn t have a vote, as the AJC does not allow writers to vote in these things any more).
Lawson played well when North Carolina went on its rush, pillaging everyone for about two or three weeks, but other than assists, where he finished second in the conference with an average of 5.25 to Crittenton s 5.38 (that s all players, not just freshmen), he doesn t show up well in any statistical categories.
And he was benched the other day in Atlanta by Roy Williams.
This is not just about stats. It s about effect on teams.
Take Lawson from UNC, and the Heels still win 23-24 games. There s not a huge dropoff when Bobby Frasor runs point for North Carolina.
Take Thad Young away, and Tech s a 16- or 17- win team right now, I think.
Did Young, who was picked by these same writers before the season to be ACC Rookie of the Year put up the numbers some folks expected? No. But Paul Hewitt would jump right in and say it was ridiculous to ascribe certain expectations to any freshman.
He points out that Thad was No. 1 or No. 2 for scoring almost all season for Tech, which authored a very big turnaround from last season.
He finished the regular season No. 5 among freshmen in scoring, trailing Costner (16.1), Crittenton (16.
0), Wright (14.4) and Scheyer (13.9).
Thad averaged 13.1.
All stats are in ACC games only.
I could make cases for Costner or Crittenton as Rookie of the Year. Costner s a nightmare matchup because of his size (6-8), power and ability to shoot (he finished No. 9 in the league overall in 3-pointers made with 2.
00 per game; just behind Scheyer at 2.06), and he led all freshmen in both scoring and rebounding (7.4, No.
6 overall). He also hit 79.8 percent of his free throws, so hacking him wasn t such a great idea.
Scheyer and Crittenton were 1-2 among freshmen, 2-4 overall at 87.8 and 84.3 percent.
They were the only freshmen with better percentages.
As I wrote the other day, Wright is gold around the basket, and he led all ACC players with a .647 field goal mark.
Bad free throw shooter, but he also averaged 6.2 rebounds per ACC game. Still, Wright s numbers were inflated because he played next to Tyler Hansbrough, who drew double teams galore and boxes out like a gorilla.
Interesting, in steals per game, Tech has three of the top four in Crittenton (2.13, No. 3 among all ACC players; Jeremis Smith, 1.
63, No. 6; Young, 1.44, No.
9, and Mario West, 1.38, tie No. 10).
I m not going to get too deep into what s going on currently with basketball because I still have three days to do that before Tech plays again (I think they re in regardless of what happens Thursday, but seed and site are at stake). But what about next season?
Should Thaddeus Young and Javaris Crittenton both opt to return, Tech s going to have players coming out its ears.
The Jackets lose just one senior, Mario West, of course, and gain the eligibility of PG Matt Causey, redshirt freshman C Brad Sheehan and regain Lewis Clinch. The Jackets also have incoming freshman PF Gani Lawal, PG Maurice Miller and G/F Lance Storrs. Storrs and Lawal were at the BC game Sunday, by the way, and so was stud Norcross junior Al-Farouq Aminu.
Anyway, that s six in, one out, although the scholarship swap (which will be interesting to see worked out) stands at three in/one out currently. Whether somebody will transfer, or be moved to HOPE, I don t know yet.
Far more interesting is how playing time will be worked out.
Hewitt has said the Causey kid has really, really impressed him and he figures to be in the mix next season. Does that mean Miller redshirts? It s way too early to know, but Tech s going to have competition at every spot next season.
Lawal is going to play as a freshman for sure, Storrs and middle remain to be determined.
Just because Sheehan will be eligible doesn t mean he ll end up in the regular rotation, I guess, but at 7-feet (or close), you have to wonder if he won t merit some time.
Will the rotation grow from 10 to 12?
Hewitt said the other days it s possible, but that it would take a very special group to pull it off, a group who can leave egos behind. Can t see Critt s minutes dropping below the low 30s in ACC games, but what do I know?
Oh, what a difference movement makes!
When Thaddeus Young moves like he did last night, especially in the first half, Tech s offense is quite different. His two highest scoring games this season, 24 against Georgia and 25 against the Heels (without attempting a free throw) also were his two best games moving.
Against Georgia, a lot of his action came on back cuts.
Last night, he and Morrow were coming off screens very well, catching and firing. And hitting. Young hit 5 of 6 3-pointers, Morrow 4 of 10.
Nobody can tell me that doesn t change the way anybody defends Tech, not that defense is North Carolina s forte.
And about the season-high 28 fouls, don t need to hear that Tech got jobbed. As Hewitt said, sometimes that s a function of the way they play defense, and he wants to play it like that.
Tech has been much more physical on defense over the past eight games (while also out-rebounding every one of those opponents).
When Tyler Hansbrough got out on that break, and Mario West ran with him and didn t try to hack him but rather tried to time his jump as if he were defending a guard only to smash Hansbrough in the process, then the Heels knew nothing would come easy. I m a fan of that.
The fouls? We don t have any other way to play, Hewitt said. We have to play tough, physical defense, and if they call fouls, they call fouls.
We re not going to finesse anybody, and I m definitely not going to out-coach anybody so we have to get after it. We ve re-established ourselves after playing for a year and a half like something I didn t recognize.
In his first game without wearing the protective mask on his face, Zach Peacock seemed like a different player.
He had eight points, six rebounds and a blocked shot in 17 minutes. Nice.
Dickey and Smith fouled out, but each took six rebounds first.
And that s not all. I think Jeremis and Ra Sean, they set great screens, Morrow said. I told them if you keep setting those screens, I m going to keep hitting those shots and you ll be open for slips or dunks.
There s some guessing as to what will happen if Tech beats Boston College Sunday, and Duke loses at North Carolina. For starters, I think that would assure the Jackets of an NCAA tournament bid. Also, Tech and Duke would be tied for sixth place in the regular season.
I don t know it for a fact yet, but I heard in the press room last night that Tech would win some sort of a tiebreaker to be the No. 6 seed in the tournament.
If Tech stays in the No.
7 spot, the Jackets most likely will play N.C. State first in the ACC tournament.
The winner of that game would then play the No. 2 seed, mostly likely to be Virginia Tech (which could tie North Carolina, but has beaten the Heels twice to break that tie).
If Tech is No.
6, the Jackets would play No. 11 seed Wake Forest or Miami, with the winner going on to face the No. 3 seed, which would be UNC if the Heels beat Duke Sunday, and Va.
Tech beats Clemson in Blacksburg. Va. Tech s edge is the backcourt of Dowdell and Gordon.
UNC s is the front court duo of Hansbrough/ Brandan Wright. Which matches up worse against Tech at a neutral site?
I ll confirm this in the next day or two.
Anyway, last night Young s duel with fellow former Tennessee high school star Wright was special, although they didn t often guard each other. Young, from Memphis, hit 10 of 18 shots, including 5 of 6 3 pointers, and Wright, from Nashville, hit 8 of 10 shots and 6 of 9 free throws (with two misses late) to score a team-high 22.
Both were recruited by North Carolina, and there has long been speculation that Young has a strained relationship with Wright because Wright snagged the last scholarship the Tar Heels had to offer.
Young disputed that recently.
I remember in high school everybody was talking about how I hate Brandan Wright, and Brandan hates me. It was nothing like that, Young said of one of the leading candidates for ACC Rookie of the Year.
We always knew each other, and talked on the phone a couple times. I was seriously considering North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Memphis, Arkansas and Kentucky. He just basically made my decision easier.
Young said last night that if he hadn t chosen Tech, he most likely would have gone to UNC. It was reported a couple years ago that he committed to UNC, but he balked when Tar Heels officials wanted him to make his commitment public before making a visit to Kentucky. With that, Wright called to commit and allegedly UNC took Wright s commitment to fill out the Heels recruiting class.
I don t know what the drop-dead truth of the matter is, but both players are very talented. Wright s leading all ACC players in field goal percentage at better than 65.5, and averaging roughly 14.
5 points and 6.5 rebounds (he had 22 points and five rebounds last night).
That guy is gold around the basket.
But I think Young s ability to shoot from afar, and work more in space, translates to more NBA potential. A lot of that stuff Wright does around the basket won t fly as well in the NBA since it s not based on power - like Hansbrough (a monster).
But what do I know?
I know this: Young picked a good game to heat up if he wants to make the All-Rookie team. The biggest voting bloc of writers is in North Carolina, obviously, and a lot of writers were there last night. More probably watched on TV back home.
Next week, we ll get some football on here. Later.
So spring practice was delayed by a monsoon.
What to talk about?
I predict Tech wins tonight. How bout that?
Seriously (actually that was), I m working on a big Javaris Crittenton story for the Sunday paper. Here s an excerpt:
Hard courts, soft hearts
Try as his protectors might, they couldn t shield Crittenton from all evils as he grew up. There was a lot of people killed when I was growing up, he said.
There was a guy named Shaun who looked after me, who got shot like nine times.
A friend named Tank, I don t remember his real name because it was so long ago, but he got killed right before they tore Capitol Homes down. He got shot in the head after an argument or a beef with somebody.
It was almost like Rucker [a famous New York City basketball hotbed]. We had a basketball court, and you d have people doing things that were illegal, like selling drugs and gambling, on one side of the lot. Then you d have a bunch of people waiting to compete.
Sometimes, you d have to fight for your turn.
When Slaughter s team played a squad from West Virginia that featured O.J.
Mayo a Southern Cal signee who is currently considered the top high school prospect in the nation that brought out the best, and worst, in Crittenton in reverse order. He was playing 100 mph in the sixth-place game.
Mayo was in Javaris class before they put O.
J. down a grade. They were 12 years old, I think, Slaughter said.
The game wasn t going well and he wasn t making his shots, and I benched him for the most of the first half. We were down by like 15 at halftime, he had 2 points, and that s why.
He s just like my son so I m really riding him at halftime.
I said, What do you want to do? You got me in this situation. With his competitiveness, we won by double digits and he finished with 42 points.
Good thing they won. The alternative nearly kills Crittenton.
Dude hates to lose, said Bookie Ball Long.
Since he was able to play, Javaris has always cried when they lost, his mother said. He cried when they lost against Clemson. His heart is in it.
Or, as Slaughter said, I tell you, we could lose a game and he he d hurt more than me. He d fill me with pain.
Prayer is a part of his life, but Crittenton is no saint.
Everybody sins, he said. I believe in God, and his son Jesus Christ. I don t want people to think I m this perfect religious freak.
Everybody messes up. Kids do stuff, shooting dice on corners, running with the wrong crowd.
I didn t do certain stuff they did when they d go way out of line.
I still have friends who sell drugs and do what they do. I m not affiliated with what they do, and I don t agree with it, but they re still my people.
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