Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Five Good Minutes: Georgia Tech and The Legacyx4

Today we welcome the boys from the Georgia Tech sports blog The Legacyx4 to talk hoops and preview tonight's game between Boston College and Georgia Tech (7pm RSN/NESN).



BCI: First, tell us a bit about your blog. Why "The Legacy x4"?

Legacyx4: Winfield created the blog and at one point was the only writer. He is a 4th generation Tech student and thus, The Legacyx4. We have since grown to the optimal size of three writers with the addition of Dane and Bird. Dane is also a student at Tech and Bird is a recent GT alum.


BCI: We all know the future looks bright for Georgia Tech basketball - at least for the 2009-2010 season - with your recent signing of Derrick Favors (#4 national recruit according to Rival150). But this season the wheels seem to be falling off the Paul Hewitt wagon ("wreck" if you will). What has been the biggest factor in Georgia Tech's 0-4 start in the ACC?

Legacyx4: It just seems as if the group has not molded together as a team. The potential is there with McDonald's All-Americans in Gani Lawal and Iman Shumpert but we just haven't seemed to live up to the billing. Lewis Clinch was academically ineligible for the Fall Semester and then we had Mo Miller out with a broken nose. In addition, we had a key part in our defense (De'Andre Bell) out for the season with a spinal condition. A good excuse would be to say it's just a string of bad events for the bad molding but that would only be partially true. The lack of progressive development for the team is fairly evident this year.

The addition of Derrick Favors has, for almost all purposes, given Paul Hewitt a free pass on this season. Which is unfortunate because all coaches should be held accountable for their seasons. After next year, with arguably his best recruiting class ever, Hewitt will have to get his "Wreck" back up and running again or else his seat will be heating up majorly. Honestly, signing Paul Johnson was the worst thing to ever happen to Paul Johnson.


BCI: The last time Georgia Tech started the season 0-4 in the ACC, the year was 2001-2002, long before the Eagles had joined the conference. That year, the Yellow Jackets pushed its ACC record to 0-7 before turning the season around and finishing 7-9 in conference. Is there any hope for a similar turnaround in 2009?

Legacyx4: We can always hope. There seems to be some improvement now that Clinch and Miller are both back but you really can't have huge expectations this year. The consistent inconsistency of our basketball team is what keeps us down.


BCI: Georgia Tech has seemed unable to hold leads late in the second half. Is this due to inexperience, poor coaching, a combination of the two, or something else?

Legacyx4: It comes down to the combination of coaching, how to play in tight games, and overall depth of the team. There have been too many games this year, when it is late in the 2nd half and our players are literally standing around waiting for someone else to start it up/ run the offense/ win the game. The overall result of standing around is absolutely nothing happens. There is also a noticeable talent gap between the starting five and the back ups. This factor, though small, can play an integral role in the outcome of the game.


BCI: Give us a scouting report. Who is going to be the biggest contributor for the Yellow Jackets tonight?

Legacyx4: Watch out for Zach Peacock and the Lawal/Shumpert combination. When either of the two get going it is a lot of fun to watch. However, it is consistency that is a key problem. Throw them off, and it's back to the drawing board. Lewis Clinch is the clutch shooter. He won't necessarily rack up double-digits every night, but when we have needed a shot it has always seemed to be him who takes it.


BCI: Last one, make a prediction for the game. Do the Jackets get off the schnide and win their first ACC game, or do the Eagles end their four game losing streak?

Legacyx4: Hmmmm do the Jackets lose to a team who lost to Harvard? Or do we turn it around? The game being at home means no 10 point lead lost in the final minutes (We hope). That, along with a seemingly depressing response to your questions, let's end on a positive note. Jackets win 70-66!

Jeff: I'm predicting an easy Eagles victory. Double digits.

Brian: Thanks for joining us!


For more info on Georgia Tech sports, check out The Legacyx4.

Have something to say? Want to be featured on a future Five Good Minutes? Email us at bcinterruption at gmail.

2 comments:

BCMike said...

As great as the UNC win was in Chapel Hill (which no one talks about any longer), it goes to show you that a bad loss is more impressive to people than a big win.

Every mention of BC hoops past that game the announcers/writers just love to say that we lost to Harvard. I don't get it.

It's not like we haven't lost to remarkably shatty teams before. We did last year, and we have every year. It's a long season.

Why we're judged as the team that lost to Harvard as opposed to the team that beat UNC at Chapel Hill (something this GT team couldn't do if given 1,000 tries) is beyond me.

Go EAGLES.

BEAT NORTH AVENUE TRADE!

Brian said...

BCMike - I agree with you. The Eagles should be judged more by quality wins (at North Carolina) than bad losses (vs Harvard, at Saint Louis).

Unfortunately for the Eagles, this team has shown that it is tremendously streaky, and just so happened to follow up their best win with their worst loss back-to-back. People only remember what is most fresh in their minds.

That, and the whole Gene-Jags debacle really took the spotlight off the BC win over the Heels. Some shameful s--t right there.