Nov. 5, 2002
ATLANTA – With Georgia Tech’s first exhibition game scheduled for Sunday, head coach Paul Hewitt said Monday he is encouraged by the progress his third Yellow Jacket team has made since a disappointing intrasquad scrimmage a week ago.
Georgia Tech basketball fans can get their first look at the 2002-2003 men and women’s teams at HoopsFest on Friday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m., at Alexander Memorial Coliseum at McDonald’s Center. Admission is free, and both teams will scrimmage and be available for autographs and photos. There will be contests and games for fans of all ages and 150 T-shirts will be given away! Gates 2 and 3 of the Coliseum will open at 6:30 p.m.
The Jackets host the Southeastern All-Stars at 5 p.m. Sunday in the first of two exhibition games (tickets are $4 for adults, $2 for youths), and Hewitt is beginning to settle on his starting lineup, which will include freshman Jarrett Jack at the point guard position.
“I’m very encouraged by what I’ve seen in the last week, especially from Jarrett Jack,” said Hewitt, who is looking to replace a four-year starter in Tony Akins. “He’s very receptive to being corrected and being coached. He has responded extremely well to film sessions that we’ve had. But he’s still got a long way to go. He still has things he needs to improve upon.”
Hewitt has settled on the backcourt and wing positions, with the 6-3 Jack joined by 6-4 junior Marvin Lewis (Germantown, Md.) and 6-4 sophomore B.J. Elder (Madison, Ga.). Lewis is the ACC’s top returning three-point shooter, averaging 10.9 points per game last year, and Elder made the ACC All-Freshman team after averaging 9.9 points per game. Combined, they made nearly 38 percent of their three-point attempts.
No matter who starts, 6-6 Isma’il Muhammad (Atlanta) and 6-7 Anthony McHenry (Birmingham, Ala.), both sophomores, will see plenty of court time on the wings. Jim Nystr?m, a 6-4 freshman from Stockholm, Sweden, also figures in with his shooting ability and will get a look in the exhibition games. He is, however, ineligible to play in Tech’s first eight regular-season games, and thus has more time to develop.
“We’ve pretty much decided that Jarrett will be our starting point guard,” Hewitt said. “From watching practice tapes from over the weekend, we made that decision. Marvin Lewis will definitely start. B.J. Elder, in my mind, will start. After that, it’s still wide open. Isma’il Muhammad is nipping right at their (Lewis and Elder) heels. Isma’il, if he doesn’t crack the starting lineup, will be a very quick sub in the game. Situations will come up throughout the year that will warrant Isma’il starting, for different reasons, primarily defensively if there is somebody we want to shut down.”
Hewitt wants to see more from Tech’s inside players before making decisions there. The group is led by 6-8 sophomore Ed Nelson (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), the reigning ACC Rookie of the Year who averaged 8.5 points and a team-best 6.9 rebounds last season. Luke Schenscher (Hope Forest, South Australia), a 7-1 sophomore, and 6-9 freshman Chris Bosh (Lancaster, Texas) are battling Nelson for the other two starting positions, but all three will get plenty of minutes in Hewitt’s rotation.
Robert Brooks (Saginaw, Mich.), a 6-8 junior forward, and Theodis Tarver (Monroe, La.), a 6-9 freshman, give Tech excellent depth inside.
“The interior is still a battle,” Hewitt added. “Luke, Chris and Ed have all had their moments. Luke has probably been the best rebounder of the group in the early going. Chris has shown some flashes. Ed has had days of dominance. Right now, we can’t settle on two of them.
“Overall, I’m pleased with the emphasis we’ve placed on defense. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into becoming a better team defending off the dribble, giving help, and working on our press. We’re starting to see some dividends from all the time we’ve put in.”
The Yellow Jackets, 15-16 last year and 7-9 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, finished in a tie for fifth place in the ACC and have been picked to finish fourth this season in a vote Sunday by the media at ACC Operation Basketball. No Tech player earned mention on the pre-season all-ACC teams, but Chris Bosh finished a distant second in the ACC Rookie of the Year projections.
“It was as expected,” said Hewitt. “I was surprised that Ed Nelson, as the ACC Rookie of the Year, did not receive any mention on the first or second all-ACC teams. But we know that those pre-season polls and prognostications don’t mean a whole lot. You still have to go out and prove yourself. It doesn’t hurt if I can remind Ed that he was not voted onto those teams. Ed has a lot of pride. I don’t play those type of mind games, but it struck us both as kind of odd. It goes to show you always have more work to do.”
As for Sunday’s exhibition, Hewitt’s priority is to see game-level intensity and effort, which is the cornerstone of Tech’s style of play.
“We want to establish a certain level of effort and effort that we’re going to play with,” said Hewitt. “Energy and effort is something I have preached. We just need to go out there and be a hard-playing team, try to be in people’s faces for 40 minutes, run the floor hard. If they have a physical lapse, we want to take advantage of it.
“Mentally, there are some things we need to be a little sharper on. We need to take better care of the ball than we’ve shown in the first couple of scrimmages that we’ve had.”
