Beginning Monday, June 21st, 2004 CHN began unveiling 144 Team previews in 144 Days. CHN ranked the nations top 144 teams, and is unveiling one per day leading up until the opening day of the 2004-05 Season.

Bookmark the 144 Teams in 144 Days home page, and check back each day to see which team is previewed next.

#9 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

ACC

2003-04: 28-10, 9-7, 3^rd

2003-04 postseason: NCAA Runners-up

By Joel Welser

Georgia Tech won’t be a surprise team this year.  This season they will be the hunted, not the hunter, and it will be interesting to see how head coach Paul Hewitt prepares his team for that situation.  Four starters (B.J. Elder, Jarrett Jack, Anthony McHenry and Luke Schenscher) return, as do two quality reserves (Will Bynum and Isma’il Muhammad), but after that the experience takes a major drop. 

Who’s Out: Marvin Lewis is the only starter not returning to Atlanta.  The 6-4 guard averaged 11.0 points and 2.8 rebounds per contest.  Robert Brooks, a 6-8 forward, was an important big body off the bench for a thin frontcourt.  Guard Clarence Moore averaged 5.9 points and 4.7 rebounds as a senior last year.  David Nelson saw limited playing time as a senior for Georgia Tech.

Who’s In: None of the newcomers should be starting from day one, but will provide some much needed depth.  Ra’Sean Dickey and Jeremis Smith will have to back up returning players Luke Schenscher, Anthony McHenry and Isma’il Muhammad.  Dickey, at 6-9 and 255 pounds, uses his size to dominate the boards.  He has some quality low post moves and should be a solid player before his time is over at Tech.  Smith has the toughness to play inside, but is more of a wing player.  He is athletic and versatile enough to fill in wherever he is needed.  Zam Fredrick and Anthony Morrow bring some more depth to the two guard.  Fredrick, South Carolina’s “Mr. Basketball” award winner, is a solid perimeter shooter.  Morrow should see some minutes on the wing.  He’s a lanky 6-6, with a good touch from long range.  Guard Keith Jones redshirted last season after earning a spot on the roster as a walk-on.

Who to Watch: The backcourt of Will Bynum, B.J. Elder and Jarrett Jack is very solid.  Luke Schenscher has become an incredible post player.  Anthony McHenry is expected to start at power forward, just as he did last year.  He only averaged 3.4 points per game despite starting 32 of the 38 games played.  He averaged 18.3 minutes per game and should see an increased role this year.  He’s not a scorer obviously, but he does the dirty work.  McHenry is a solid defender and rebounder who will need to continue playing that role and pick up a few more points if he sees more minutes.  The Yellow Jackets could use another threat underneath so defenses can’t key in on just Schenscher.  McHenry signed with GT as a point guard and just moved to the frontcourt last season.  He should be ready to take on a bigger scoring role under the basket.

Projected Conference Rank: Georgia Tech earned 3^rd place last year in the ACC and could very well end up at 3^rd again.  That may be a disappointment for some Yellow Jackets looking for an ACC Championship, but things will be a lot of different when teams are looking forward to playing you, not looking past you. 

Projected Post-season Tournament: NCAA

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Email Joel Welser: jwelser_chn@ameritech.net

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