GEORGIA TECH IN THE THE YELLOW JACKETS 2001 NCAA TOURNAMENT IN SAN DIEGO NCAA West First & Second Rounds ¥ San Diego, Calif. Facility Thursday, March 15 & Saturday, March 17 Cox Arena 5500 Canyon Crest Drive PRACTICE/PRESS CONFERENCE, Wednesday, March 14 San Diego, CA 92182 All Times Local (Pacific Standard) Phone: 619-594-0234 Georgia Tech Press Conference, 1:30-2:00 p.m. Georgia Tech Practice, 2:10-3:00 p.m. Team Hotel: Town and Country Resort FIRST ROUND PAIRINGS, Thursday, March 15 500 Hotel Circle North All Times Local (Pacific Standard) San Diego, CA 92108 #8 Georgia Tech (17-12) vs. #9 St. Joseph’s (25-6), 11:42 a.m. Phone: 619-297-6006 #1 Stanford (28-2) vs. #16 UNC Greensboro (19-11), 30 min. following Fax: 619-294-5957 #4 Indiana (21-12) vs. #13 Kent State (23-9), 4:55 p.m. #5 Cincinnati (23-9) vs. #12 Brigham Young (23-8), 25 min. following SID: Mike Stamus cell: 404-218-9723 SECOND ROUND, Saturday, March 17 [email protected] All Times Local (Pacific Standard) Assoc. SID: Allison George Cincinnati-Brigham Young winner vs. Indiana-Kent State winner, cell: 678-595-7728 2:38 p.m. [email protected] Stanford-UNC Greensboro winner vs. Georgia Tech-St. Joseph’s winner, 30 min. following Media Hotel: San Diego Marriott Mission Valley 2000-01 GEORGIA TECH ROSTER 8757 Rio San Diego Drive No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown (High School/College) San Diego, CA 92108 2 Darryl LaBarrie G 6-3 196 Sr.-R Decatur, Ga. (Tucker/Florida A&M) Phone: 619-692-3800 3 Tony Akins G 5-11 182 Jr. Lilburn, Ga. (Berkmar) Fax: 619-297-3960 4 Alvin Jones C 6-11 265 Sr. Lakeland, Fla. (Kathleen) 5 Clarence Moore* F 6-4 225 So. Norco, La. (South LaFourche) Host Institution: 10 T.J. Vines G 5-10 200 Sr. Woodstock, Ga. (Etowah) San Diego State University 11 Shaun Fein G 6-3 205 Sr.-R Centerville, Mass. (Barnstable/Stonehill ) 14 Winston Neal G 6-1 200 Jr. Greenville, Ga. (Flint River Academy) Media Coordinator: 23 Jon Babul F 6-7 232 Sr.-R North Attleboro, Mass. (North Attleboro) Kevin Klintworth 24 Marvin Lewis G 6-3 198 Fr. Germantown, Md. (Montrose Christian) Phone: 619-594-5547 33 Halston Lane G-F 6-4 205 Fr. Oak Ridge, Tenn. (Oak Ridge) Fax: 619-582-6541 34 Robert Brooks F 6-7 201 Fr. Saginaw, Mich. (Arthur Hill) 44 Michael Isenhour F 6-8 248 Jr.-R Lawrenceville, Ga. (Shiloh/Air Force) 51 Patrick Harpring G 6-2 185 Jr. Dunwoody, Ga. (Marist) PRONUNCIATION GUIDE *injured, out for season Babul ...................... BAY-bull Head Coach: Paul Hewitt (St. John Fisher, 1985) Fein ................................. Fine Record at Tech 17-12 (.586), 1st season Isenhour ....EYE-zen-how-er Overall Record: 83-39 (.680), 4th season Assistant Coach: Dean Keener (Davidson, 1988) Assistant Coach: Willie Reese (Georgia Tech, 1989) Assistant Coach: Cliff Warren (Mount St. Mary’s 1990) Director of Basketball Operations: Peter Zaharis (New York University, 1987) 2000-01 Georgia Tech Basketball • 1 Yellow Jackets Make Return to NCAA Tournament in Hewitt’s First Season Georgia Tech is returning to the NCAA Men’s defeating UCLA and Kentucky. Then came victories Basketball Tournament for the first time since 1996, over 10th-ranked Virginia on the road and 6th- but don’t ask head coach Paul Hewitt if he is ranked Wake Forest at home in the same week in surprised to be in this position. He isn’t, nor are his January. In February, the Jackets knocked off 13th- players. ranked Maryland and earned a second victory over Hewitt is taking the Yellow Jackets back to the Virginia, then ranked 6th, in the same week. Tech NCAA Tournament in his first year at the helm then beat Virginia a third time in the first round of after guiding the veteran group to a 17-12 record the ACC Tournament, the Jackets' first tournament and a fifth-place finish in the ACC that few observers win since 1996. would have ever considered possible. A tough early schedule included games at Iowa The Jackets are making their 12th NCAA and Stanford, and the aforementioned wins over Tournament appearance overall, and have a 16-11 UCLA and Kentucky. Tech played UCLA in the record in the tournament. Tech’s last appearance in Wooden Classic on Dec. 2 and came away with a the NCAA’s was 1996, when the Jackets advanced 72-67 win. A week later at Philips Arena in Atlanta, to the round of 16 and finished with a 24-12 record. Tech ran with Kentucky and earned a last second, Tech made nine straight appearances in the 86-84 victory on Fein’s jumper with 1.3 seconds left. tournament from 1985-93, including a Final Four Those victories took on more and more significance appearance in 1990, and also earned a bid in 1960. as the season wore on, with the Wildcats winning “The guys in that locker room deserve the the Southeastern Conference and the Bruins credit,” said Hewitt, who has been named the ACC finishing second in the Pac-10. Coach of the Year and is among the 20 finalists for After finishing the pre-conference schedule at 8- the Naismith College Coach of the Year award. “This 3, Tech opened its ACC slate by racing to a 44-32 is a significant step for our program. Bobby Cremins halftime lead over North Carolina at home. The Tar put this program on the map by going to the NCAA Heels rallied in the second half to win 84-70, and Tournament year after year, and that’s why these the Jackets fell to 0-2 in the conference after losing guys came here. The seniors deserve a ton of credit.” 93-80 at Maryland. As they watched the pairings being announced It was that game, however, that Hewitt has on television in the locker room, the players reacted called the turning point of Tech's season. After to receiving the bid with a jubilant yell, but it was falling behind by 22 points in the first half and taken in stride and was not a protracted celebration. trailing by 19 at intermission, the Jackets came out "I liked their reaction," Hewitt said. "They we're of the locker room and took the game to the Terps, happy, but it wasn't like the end of the world. It closing the gap to six at one point and outscoring wasn't like they just won the Super Bowl." Maryland 46-40 in the second half. Tech's chances to finish even with a winning Perhaps encouraged by that performance, Tech record this season or win more than a few conference took its 0-2 mark to Virginia, ranked 10th in the games were considered slim by most outsiders. The nation, and pulled off its biggest upset of the season, Atlantic Coast Sportswriters Association picked the 73-68, which remains the Cavaliers' lone loss at home Jackets to finish eighth in the league, ahead of only this year. After that, the Jackets came home and Florida State. upended Wake Forest in overtime, 95-89, to even But Hewitt wanted his group of five seniors to their league mark at 2-2, and Tech's players really taste success. They had played in four NIT games, began to believe. but none had been to the NCAA Tournament except “I feel like these guys have played to their senior guard Shaun Fein, whose Stonehill College potential," said Hewitt, disagreeing with observers team played in the Division II tournament before who have maintained that Tech’s performance has he transferred to Tech. been a surprise this season. “They came here to go Tech began turning heads in December by to the NCAA Tournament, and take advantage of 2 • 2000-01 Georgia Tech Basketball SEASON REVIEW SHAUN FEIN’S baseline jumper with 1.8 seconds left gave Tech an 86-84 victory over Kentucky for one of the the Yellow Jackets’ quality non-conference wins. the tradition that Coach Cremins built.” 400 blocked shots. When you have a great point The Yellow Jackets have played 17 of their 29 guard and a great center, that's a heck of a starting games against teams in the NCAA Tournament field, point.” posting a 7-10 record. Six of Tech's 12 losses have Jones' developing presence inside as an offensive come to teams who have held the No. 1 ranking at threat opened up the perimeter for a solid group of some point this season, three to North Carolina, two shooters. Tech has shot 37.7 percent from three-point to Duke and one to Stanford. range and ranks among the nation’s top 10 with Other Tech accomplishments this season 8.86 treys per game. Akins leads the group at 42.3 included its first ACC road wins in two years, at percent, Fein at 40.4 percent, Lewis at 37.5 and Lane Virginia and Clemson. at 38.8. The Jackets have ridden the backs of its five On defense, Jones' shot-blocking ability allowed seniors, including 6-11 center Alvin Jones, 6-7 the Jackets to employ a pressing, trapping style that forward Jon Babul and 6-3 guard Shaun Fein in the has Tech on a school-record pace of 8.1 steals per starting lineup. The rest of the Tech lineup includes game. Jones has 100 blocked shots, and the Jackets 5-11 junior point guard Tony Akins and 6-3 have limited opponents to 40.8 percent shooting freshman forward Marvin Lewis.