Season Preview

The Thrillerdome

9. Georgia Tech


2010-2011 record: 13-18 (5-11 ACC)


Games against NCAA Tournament teams: 6
Best non-conference game: 12/7 at Georgia




Projected Starting Five:


C - Daniel Miller (Sophomore)
F - Kammeon Holsey (Sophomore)
G - Glen Rice, Jr. (Junior)
G - Jason Morris (Sophomore)
G - Mfon Udofia (Junior)




It was only a matter of time before Paul Hewitt was no longer the coach at Georgia Tech.  Hewitt could recruit, and brought a lot of talented guys to Atlanta, but he was not a good in-game coach.  His teams were some of the sloppiest you'll see, with so many turnovers.  So it was time to make a change.  And that means Brian Gregory comes over from Dayton, where he had a decent impact on that program.


Gregory's biggest challenge is finding a replacement for Iman Shumpert.  Shumpert was one of the best players in the league last year, finishing with 17.3 points per game, and leading the team in rebounds, assists and steals.  There is no one on the current Georgia Tech roster who will be able to fill that void.  What they do have is a few decent shooters, led by Glen Rice, Jr., who was the second-leading scorer last year.  I was high on Mfon Udofia after his freshman year, but it seems that he regressed last year.  He will have to step up his game for this team to be successful.


The team will miss Brian Oliver, who was a spark before he got hurt last year.  He ended up transferring to Seton Hall.  Like last year, the team has very little in the frontcourt.  Kammeon Holsey and Daniel Miller, the presumed starters, combined for about eight points per game last year.  Coach Gregory has already said that he will likely use four guards on the court at the same time, but that will prove very difficult against teams like North Carolina and Florida State.


It's definitely going to be a strange year for the Yellow Jackets.  Besides a new coach, the team has no real home, with Alexander Memorial Coliseum (aka the Thrillerdome) undergoing renovations.  They will split their games this year between the Atlanta Hawks' home and Gwinett Arena.  That will make it very difficult to have a true home court advantage.  Georgia Tech does have a pretty easy schedule, with non-conference highlights being games against SEC teams Georgia and Alabama.  They also get Duke and Carolina only once, and play Boston College and Wake twice each.  That schedule is the main reason why I put them as high as #9.