In honor of my 1,000th post*, I chosen to address a topic that happens to be catching my attention today.
Way to go, JACKETS!
The men’s basketball team of my alma mater, Georgia Tech, just beat Kansas in the NCAA tournament, earning an opportunity to play in the Final Four for only the second time in school history.
Growing up, I was never a big basketball fan. I was never very skilled at the game, so I didn’t pay much attention to it. Then I went to Georgia Tech and lived on campus my first year as freshmen were (are?) required to do. The benefit of being a student is free tickets to sporting events. Living on campus, I had little better to do (besides studying, but hey, I was a freshman, what did I know?). Georgia Tech, at least for the previous 15 to 20 years, had a miserable basketball program. The school had recently joined the nation’s premeire basketball conference, the ACC, and after two years had only one win in the conference.
The program had a new basketball coach, a fellow named Bobby Cremins. In his first two years, the team finished below .500, but began to show some promise. And Cremins had (somehow) recruited a coach’s son in Mark Price from Enid, OK to play point guard at Georgia Tech.
I still remember the starting line-up. Mark Price was point guard. The wiry and creative Bruce Dalrymple at shooting guard. The center was Ivan Joseph, who had little basketball skills, but he was big, and boy could he get his money’s worth on fouls. Future NBA star John Salley played power forward. And an other solid but unspectacular player, Scott Petway, played the other forward position. The team went 18-11 my first year, earning a trip to the NIT.
The next year, Mark Price led the team to an ACC championship and to the “elite eight” of the NCAAs. Coach Cremins won ACC coach of the year. I suddenly found college basketball to be exciting.
The next year, Tech got off to its best start, 15-1, had its best regular season record, 23-5, a top 10 finish, and made it to the Sweet Sixteen.
I have some fond memories of those games while I was in school. I remember being at a game at Tech’s home coliseum, Alexander Memorial (known as “the big tit” on campus, based on it’s unusual architecture). The head coach of Maryland, Lefty Dreisel, was going after his 500th career win. Dick Vitale was on hand. Tech took Maryland to three overtimes, and eventually won the game. This was the most exciting sporting event I have ever seen in person, and it was the second most satisfying Tech victory I have personally watched**.
In addition to Mark Price and Bruce Dalrymple, I got to watch a number of great players, including Tom Hammonds, Duane Ferrell, and Dennis Scott.
After leaving school, I enjoyed watching the Jackets over the following years. I remember Lethal Weapon Three: Brian Oliver, Dennis Scott, and Kenny Anderson. I had the privilege to watch other talent such as Jon Barry, James Forrest, Travis Best, Drew Barry, and Stephon Marbury.
Those teams of Bobby Cremins were filled with starting talent, but had nothing on the bench. Bobby had a knack for recruiting top talent, particuarly guards, but had trouble finding backups off the bench, since players knew they wouldn’t be getting much PT. And in the mid-90s, star college players weren’t staying in school, but were skipping out to the NBA in large numbers. Kenny Anderson played two years, Stephon Marbury only one. That left Tech with some signicant recruiting challenges. Cremin’s record began to falter.
Bobby stepped aside in 1999, and Paul Hewitt took the reins. The team he created is very different from the teams of Bobby Cremins. They have depth. Less than two minutes into Friday’s game, Tech’s leading scorer, BJ Elder, had a Nevada player roll up his ankle. While he has played a little in that game and the one against Kansas, he hasn’t scored a point since.
He didn’t have to. Tech’s bench depth and strength may be unmatched in the NCAAs this year. Tech got 34 points from their bench in their overtime win against Kansas today, considering the starting guard scoring a career high of 29 points. Yes, Jarrett Jack was awesome, after scoring little in the previous three games.
I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention our center, Luke Schenscher, who has really stepped up his game this year. Today he was perfect from the field, 5-5, and 5-6 from the charity stripe. Even though he struggled today, Marvin Lewis is the senior leader, the team captain, and was in the at the end, being chosen to take ball at the end of the game to draw the foul - he is an excellent free throw shooter. Clarence Moore had 14 off the bench, which is a critical addition with BJ out of the game. Will Bynum, our transfer from the University of Arizona, hit a HUGE three pointer in overtime to put the game out of reach. Muhammad, McHenry, and Tarver also contributed to the win.
And I’m pleased to see Oklahoma State get past St. Joseph, because I think we match up better with OSU. St. Joe’s guards are awesome, and I feared them more than OSU. Not that I’m predicting a victory, but I feel better about our chances. Who knows, this could be our year. We’ve already beaten a number one team twice this year (specifically both teams on the other side of the final four bracket).
I have sincerely enjoyed my time on the SDMB, and I have learned alot. I am perhaps most proud that I successfully cut my teeth in GD, which, as you know, can be a pretty rough place. In my very first thread, regarding gun control, I was accused of being both a troll and a sock puppet (I was neither, btw).
I’m proud to be a charter member.
GO JACKETS! TO HELL WITH GEORGIA!
- Technically, I have had more than 1,000 posts. I originally joined in December of 2001, and had about 165 posts before the board crashed in early 2002 without a backup.
** The most satisfying Tech victory I’ve personally witnessed was the 1990 Citrus Bowl, where Georgia Tech’s football team beat Nebraska to earn a share of the National Championship. I vaguely remember hanging on the goalposts before they came down. [sub]I was a little drunk at the time.[/sub]