St. Joseph's-Georgia Tech Preview
March 14, 2001 GAME: No. 9 St. Joseph's (25-6) vs. No. 8 Georgia Tech (17-12) Georgia Tech never had much NCAA tournament success under BobbyCremins.Paul Hewitt is hoping to start changing the program's reputation. In a matchup of coaches who were named the best in their respectiveconferences, Hewitt leads the Yellow Jackets against Phil Martelli and St.Joseph's in the opening round of the West Regional. Little was expected of the Yellow Jackets this season after Hewitt tookoverfor the revered Cremins, who resigned last year after the team finished withalosing record for the second straight season. Georgia Tech made the NCAA tournament every year from 1985-93, neverlowerthan a No. 8 seed and twice a No. 2. But Cremins got the Yellow Jackets pastthe regional semifinals just twice and reached the Final Four once in his 19years there, making the field of 64 only once in his final seven seasons. Despite losing leading scorer and rebounder Jason Collier after lastseason,the 37-year-old Hewitt has managed to get Georgia Tech back into thepostseasonwhile getting named ACC coach of the Year by The Associated Press. The focus has been solid play in the paint, led by center Alvin Jones.The6-foot-11 senior had 100 blocks this season and is fourth all-time in theACC.Jones led the conference with 10.3 rebounds per contest and tied for secondonthe team with 13.6 points a game. "I knew I had a coach who would work me real hard," said Jones, whoconsidered entering the NBA draft after his junior year. "I felt like thatwasall I needed, a coach who would work me hard and point out things to me. Iknewby staying I would only get better." Jones is an intimidator who can affect all shots inside the paint, buttheproblem for the Yellow Jackets is that they're facing a team whose offensivestrength comes from the outside. Martelli, the Atlantic 10 coach of the year, entrusted his offense toJameerNelson, and the freshman point guard impressed. Besides averaging 12.4points,Nelson led the A-10 in assists with 6.3 per game. Many of those assists went to starting backcourt mate Marvin O'Connor,whofinished second to Xavier's Paul West in voting for conference player of theyear. The 6-4 junior averaged 26.8 points over the final six games of theseason and finished second in the A-10 in scoring. O'Connor spearheads a 3-point attack that accounts for much of theHawks'offense, with Nelson, forward Bill Phillips and A-10 sixth man of the yearNa'im Crenshaw also posing serious threats from beyond the arc. Georgia Tech has a top long-range threat of its own in point guard TonyAkins, who leads the team in scoring and hits better than 42 percent(77-for-182) of his 3-pointers. PROBABLE STARTERS: St. Joseph's - F Phillips (11.9 ppg, 9.3 rpg), FFrankWilkins (6.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg), C Damian Reed (9.2, 6.5 rpg), G Nelson (12.4ppg,6.3 apg), G O'Connor (21.6 ppg, 2.7 apg). Georgia Tech - F Jon Babul (5.7ppg,3.4 rpg), F Marvin Lewis (8.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg), C Jones (13.6 ppg, 10.3 rpg), GAkins (14.5 ppg, 4.2 apg), G Shaun Fein (13.6 ppg, 2.2 apg). HOW THEY GOT HERE: St. Joseph's - At-large bid, Atlantic 10 Conference.Georgia Tech - At-large bid, ACC. ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD: St. Joseph's - 14-19, 15 years. GeorgiaTech -16-11, 11 years. |
