Wreck Ramblin

Final Four is job fair for coaches

The Final Four is more than just three basketball games. For the 3,000 or so coaches head and assistant looking to move up and the athletic director in need of a coach or even a coach in need of a staff, the Final Four and the annual NABC convention is a giant job fair.

[St. Petersburg Times]

It worked for Paul Hewitt. See continuation

NCAA tournament format not perfect, just special

The NCAA tournament is often held up as the model for deciding a champion, especially compared to college football's Bowl Championship Series system.

Yet, even on the eve of a Final Four featuring four of the top eight seeds in the tournament - and the regular-season champs of four of the six major conferences - Donovan sees the NCAA tourney's three-week, six-game, win-or-go-home format as far from ideal.

"I think if you would start this tournament all over again, there would maybe be four different teams here right now," Donovan said. "The NCAA tournament is the greatest college, and maybe greatest sports event, period, in the county because of the uncertainty of what's going to happen. But I don't know if it crowns the best team."

It's flaws, after all, make it special.

[AVB, Morris]

Calvin Johnson draft watch, 31MAR07

"Although Johnson is rated as the most likely “can’t miss” prospect in the draft, wide receivers are farther down the draft food chain than offensive left tackles, quarterbacks and potential franchise running backs. For that reason – and that reason alone – Johnson is likely to be on the board with the fourth pick in the draft. The top three teams in the inverted pecking order on draft day are the Raiders, Lions and Browns. They’re picking in the top three for a reason. They suck. For franchises at the absolute bottom, quarterbacks and left tackles are the cornerstones of convincing their fans they can turn things around. For that reason, the Vegas “smart money” is on JaMarcus Russell, Joe Thomas and Brady Quinn being the eventual top three picks. If it plays out that way, Johnson will still be on the board and the Bucs will be on the clock."

[JH, Viking Update]

more in the continuation

GT's final four teams recognized at breakfast

A  breakfast was held at Phillips Arena Friday AM, at which Texas freshman Kevin Durant received the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Year Award

 

Georgia Tech's 1990 team, better known as Lethal Weapon 3, was represented by Coach Bobby Cremins, Dennis Scott, Kenny Anderson, Brian Domalik, Greg White, James Gaddy, James Munlyn, and Rod Balanis.

The Yellow Jackets lost to UNLV in the national semifinals in Denver.

Georgia Tech's 2004 team, which lost in the national championship game to UConn, was represented by Coach Paul Hewitt, Mo Moore, David Nelson, and Marvin Lewis.

"It is just great to be here and to see all of these guys again," said Cremins, now head coach at the College of Charleston. "It's great that people remember us after all these years."

ACC dominant in basketball this decade

... despite being down the past two years.

In this decade, the ACC leads all leagues in NCAA tournament game victories (72), winning percentage (.667) and championships (Duke in 2001, Maryland in 2002 and North Carolina in 2005).

And, it's not just a few good teams at the top. Nearly half of the schools in the ACC have made the NCAA field in those years (39 of 80, or 48.75 percent).

For the first time in recent memory, the ACC surpassed the SEC in total revenue distribution to its membership in the tax year ending June 30, 2006.

The only other league with a chance to exceed the ACC's $130 million in payouts is the Big Ten, for which a tax return is not yet available.

"It's never going to be really down," Miami coach Frank Haith said of the ACC. "

[RD, News-Record]

The ACC is judged by its previous ACComplishments

Since the NCAA Tournament changed its rules in 1980, eliminating its long-held team limits on bids per conference (one through 1974, then two through 1979), the ACC had never gone two straight years without a Final Four team -- until now. In fact, the league averaged one Final Four team per year from 1980-2005, balancing its five seasons without a representative in the semifinals with five in which it filled half the four-team bracket by itself.

Heading into the 2007 NCAA Tournament, the ACC also had put at least two teams in the Sweet 16 every single year under the new (post-1979) rules -- until now. In one 12-year stretch, from 1984-95, the conference actually advanced four teams into the Sweet 16 an astonishing seven times.

This year, despite a league-record seven NCAA Tournament bids, the ACC fell apart in the postseason -- for the second time in a row.

[David Glenn, ACC Sports]

The ACC only looks bad in comparison to its usual strength.

Videos of Mario West's dunks

The Ramblin Racket and GT Sports Blog have embedded videos of some of Mario West's dunks as he won the slam-dunk contest at Georgia State.

YouTube of Between-the-legs dunk.

GTSB also has more on Gani Lawal.

Football scrimmage today

The Jackets are scheduled to scrimmage Saturday morning at Bobby Dodd Stadium/Grant Field, beginning at 11 a.m.

Tech fans attending Saturday's scrimmage (11 a.m.) are asked to enter Bobby Dodd Stadium via Gate 4 and sit in the lower West Stands.

[GT AA]

Given Atlanta has been invaded by 75K basketball fans, you might be wise to take MARTA.

Baseball rallies to beat Terps, 5-4

Luke Murton's RBI single through the left side capped a two-run ninth-inning rally as Georgia Tech (17-11, 6-4 ACC) defeated Maryland (18-9, 5-5 ACC), 5-4, Friday night in the series opener at Russ Chandler Stadium.

The Jackets and Terps continue the series Saturday in a game that is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., which is a change from previously-printed schedules. Live video of the game will be available online at ACC Select (gatech.playonsports.tv), while fans may listen to the game live on WREK-Radio (91.1 FM/www.wrek.org).  Live stats can be found at www.ramblinwreck.com.

[GT AA]

Minor sports

Georgia Tech's seventh-ranked women's tennis team will host its final Atlantic Coast Conference matches of the season this weekend, facing No. 13 North Carolina at noon on Saturday and No. 20 Duke at 1PM Sunday. [GT AA]

Fresh off a sweep of archrival No. 22 Georgia, 5-4 and 4-1, on Wednesday, the 24th-ranked Georgia Tech softball team (31-10, 3-3 ACC) will host No. 23 North Carolina (34-8, 6-0 ACC), winners of 27 straight, for a huge Atlantic Coast Conference softball three-game series this weekend. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday and single game on Sunday, both days beginning at 1 p.m. at Glenn Field. [GT AA]

The Georgia Tech men's tennis team suffered their sixth straight loss falling, 6-1, to Virginia Tech Friday afternoon at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center on the Virginia Tech campus. The Jackets slipped to 5-11 overall and 2-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. [GT AA]

Kimery Hern placed first in the women's hammer throw with an NCAA Regional qualifying and school-record mark of 189 feet on day one of the Yellow Jacket Invitational on Friday night.

Hern, a sophomore from Clinton, Wash., had set the school-record last weekend at the Wake Forest Open where she finished with a mark of 188 feet, 7 inches. On the men's side, sophomore Charles Rohling placed 10th with a career-best throw of 172 feet, 11 inches. The Yellow Jacket Invitational continues tomorrow morning with the shot put and javelin beginning at 10:30 a.m. The running events will begin at 1 p.m. with the women's 3,000 steeplechase. [GT AA]