ATLANTA – With three starters and 10 lettermen returning and the promise of a fast-paced style of play, Georgia Tech’s basketball team begins its first pre-season under new coach Paul Hewitt with two workouts Saturday, Oct. 14.
Four seniors with starting experience, including 6-11 center Alvin Jones (Lakeland, Fla.), 6-3 guard Shaun Fein (Centerville, Mass.), 6-7 forward Jon Babul (North Attleboro, Mass.), 5-10 guard T.J. Vines (Woodstock, Ga.) return from last season, when the Jackets went 13-17 and 5-11 in the ACC.
Also returning for the Jackets are starting point guard Tony Akins (Lilburn, Ga.), a 5-11 junior who started 26 of Tech’s 30 games and is the Jackets’ leading scorer back from a year ago. Three key reserves also return in 6-4 sophomore forward Clarence Moore (Norco, La.), who started five games and played in all 30, as well as 6-3 senior guard Darryl LaBarrie (Decatur, Ga.), and 6-8 junior forward Michael Isenhour (Lawrenceville, Ga.), who each played in 12 games.
Akins (11.5) and Fein (10.6) each averaged in double digits in scoring last season, and combined to shoot 36.7 percent from three-point range while each accumulating over 100 assists in the backcourt. Jones, who had an off-year offensively at 9.7 points per game, averaged 8.0 rebounds and blocked 76 shots, becoming Tech’s all-time block leader.
Hewitt expects increased contributions from Moore, who brings athleticism and leaping ability to the small forward position and a knack for scoring. Moore started five games last year and averaged 10.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and shot 48.6 percent from the field in those games. Hewitt will have to wait until the first of December, however, for Moore to join the team on court due to a foot fracture sustained in early September.
Babul, who averaged 3.6 points and 3.9 rebounds in 17 games last year, is recovered from a chronic hip flexor injury for which he underwent surgery following the season. Vines, who started five games, averaged 4.4 points and had 68 assists while averaging 20 minutes per game for the season. LaBarrie and Isenhour are also expected to shoulder additional load.
“The players have done an excellent job with their individual workouts and their pre-season conditioning,” said Hewitt. “We’re excited to get started. They’ve gotten a good understanding of the effort level we’re asking for. I’m not asking for them to be prefect every time, but I expect a certain energy level. I couldn’t be more pleased. Tony Akins has distinguished himself, as have Shaun Fein and Alvin Jones. Jon Babul has done a great job in pre-season conditioning.”
Tech also welcomes a freshman class that includes three players who are expected to see plenty of action and give Hewitt the numbers he wants to implement a full-court offensive and defensive scheme.
Leading the newcomers is 6-3 guard Marvin Lewis (Germantown, Md.), a sharpshooter who was a USA Today honorable mention all-America. Ranked among the nation’s top 50 seniors by more than one recruiting service, Lewis averaged 18.7 points and 4.2 assists as a senior at Montrose Christian School. Also in the group are 6-4 forward Halston Lane, an honorable mention all-America in USA Today who averaged 23.2 points and 8.2 rebounds at Oak Ridge (Tenn.) High School his senior year, and 6-7 forward Robert Brooks of Saginaw, Mich., who averaged 10.3 points and 10.1 rebounds at Arthur Hill High School.
“We’ve got to introduce the system that we’ll play, the fast-break, running style,” Hewitt said. “We’ve also got to introduce the press, go through the rules. The players have to get used to the terminology that we’ll use every day in practice and what we want them to do in specific situations. It’s going to make for a lot of long days. We may not move along as fast as we’d like all the time. But the energy level and effort in practice will always be in demand.”
Hewitt is not ready to make any predictions on his starting lineup, and said it would be early November before he has a better idea.
The Jackets’ first public competition will occur Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. with the annual Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Intrasquad Scrimmage at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Tech plays its first exhibition game against the California All-Stars at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 7 at the Georgia Dome, and a second exhibition against the USDBL All-Stars at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
The regular-season opener is at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 17 against Wofford at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
NEW BENCH, NEW UNIFORMS
Along with its new coach, Georgia Tech will wear new uniforms and sit on a new bench this season.
Tech has redesigned its home and road uniforms. They still sport the block “Georgia Tech” lettering on the front with the jersey number in between, but in a different typeface. The center of the neckline features a GT logo, and the sides of the jersey and pants feature a color band bordered by blue piping from underarm to the bottom of the shorts with a GT logo at the bottom of the shorts. The players’ names are on the backs, unlike last year.
Road uniforms are gold with white lettering and blue trim, while the home uniforms are white with gold lettering and blue trim, as before.
Additionally, Tech will sit on the opposite bench at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, nearest the tunnel where the teams enter the floor.
“I want the visitors to shoot into the student section in the second half of games,” said Hewitt. “The students are going to be a big part of what we’re going to accomplish here. They have been a big part of what Coach Cremins accomplished, and I want them to be a factor at home, especially at the end of games.”
MOORE EXPECTED BACK DEC. 1; BABUL FULLY RECOVERED
Sophomore forward Clarence Moore, who fractured a bone in his left foot in early September, is still expected back by the first of September, while senior forward Jon Babul has shown no ill effects from off-season hip surgery and has shined in pre-season workouts.
Moore, who played in all 30 games and started five last year, sustained the injury in a pickup game. He was in a hard cast for three weeks after surgery and now is in a soft cast. He is expected to begin conditioning work in a pool in the next week or so.
Babul, who missed 13 games last year with painful bursitis in his hip, had the bursa removed in the surgery.
“If there’s a bright side to it, [Moore] did it before we began pre-season conditioning, and he’s had the maximum amount of time to recover. We still hope to have him back by Dec. 1,” Hewitt saif. “Jon Babul, knock on wood, is doing incredibly well. He’s in the best shape he’s been in for a while, according to him.”
SENIOR CITIZENS
Georgia Tech’s roster includes six seniors, including scholarship players Alvin Jones, Shaun Fein, Jon Babul, T.J. Vines and Darryl LaBarrie, as well as walk-on Winston Neal. That represents Tech’s largest senior class since the 1975-76 season, when the roster included seven seniors.
WEST COAST TRIPS HIGHLIGHT TECH SCHEDULE
Georgia Tech’s 2000-01 schedule includes non-conference games against UCLA, Kentucky, Iowa and possibly Stanford away from home, and Georgia in the friendly confines of Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
Tech hosts Kentucky in the Delta Air Lines Classic for Kids, which will be played for the second straight year at Philips Arena. The annual double-header has Georgia facing NC State following the Tech-Kentucky game.
Tech makes two trips to the West Coast in December, first facing UCLA in the Wooden Classic on Dec. 2 at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, Calif. The Jackets then play Dec. 18-19 in the Stanford Invitational, a two-day event featuring Tech, the Cardinal, Idaho State and Sacred Heart.
The Jackets also visit Iowa in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on Nov. 28.
