Sports Page Atlanta

For 70% of the game, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Virginia Cavaliers were locked in a heated, back and forth battle. But with 11:43 remaining in the second half, and the score tied 59-59, the Yellow Jackets decided to pull away, scoring on eight of their next nine possessions and eventually prevailing 94-76.

Anthony Morrow and Jeramis Smith led Tech in scoring with 18 points each, and a total of five Yellow Jackets reached double digits in scoring. Morrow also lef the team in rebounds with seven, in what will be his final ACC tournament. Next for the Jackets… the Duke Blue Devils.

Georgia Tech lost to Duke in February by 13 points, 71-58 and have lost 22 of the 24 games played against the Blue Devils. The last time these two teams met in the ACC Tournament was 2005, and Duke won that match 69-64. Pushing those glum statistics aside, many feel that Georgia Tech is playing the best basketball of the year, right now.

Time to face the Evil Empire. Duke will be a challenge. They are a 3-pt taking machine. We need Coach Hewitt to design another effective defense. That will be a challenge, because you can’t key on one guy. We need to push the tempo and we need to establish some inside game.

This team can do it. They are capable. They are playing their best ball of the year. Can it continue for one more night? Abso-freakin-lutely!!!!

And AJC columnist Mark Bradley also thinks that Georgia Tech has a fighting chance tonight.

I can see Georgia Tech beating Duke Friday.

I can see the 16-loss Jackets playing on Saturday in the ACC tournament.

I can see the team that cannot reach the NCAA tournament as an at-large invitee giving itself a fighting chance to get there as an automatic qualifier.

I can see all these things happening. Maybe you see none of the above. I understand if you don’t. I’ve watched Tech all season, same as you. But what I’m seeing now isn’t the team I watched lose those seven home games. What I’m seeing now is something close to the team I thought this could/should be.

The Yellow Jackets are going to have to continue with their hot streak, and in fact play near flawless basketball to beat the top-10 ranked Blue Devils tonight. A win tonight, and continued winning through the weekend, is Tech’s only shot at an NCAA birth.

Game time is 7:00 and you can catch the action on WATL or on 790 The Zone.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 14th, 2008 at 3:01 pm and is filed under Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.