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In the last four years, Georgia Tech has lost more than 40 ACC games. The Jackets are coming of an ugly 12-19 season. They won only two ACC games.
For Paul Hewitt and the Yellow Jackets, the final four from the 2003-2004 season seems like a distant memory.
The good news is that Hewitt brought in one of the best recruiting classes in the country highlighted by consensus top-five player Derrick Favors. The Jackets benefited from the return of All-ACC forward Gani Lawal. Lawal decided to forgo the NBA draft and play his junior season at Tech.
The Jackets also get back defensive specialist D'Andre Bell from a spinal injury that sidelined him all of last year.
The parts seem in place for the Yellow Jackets to make a big turnaround from last year's disastrous season. The Yellow Jackets are already 1-0 on the young season after a 100-59 hammering of Florida A&M. The Jackets get a big step up in competition this weekend.
They are one of three teams ranked in the top 25 participating in the eight-team Puerto Rico Tip-off tournament . Some people aren't really big fans of preseason basketball tournaments, but I think they are great way for teams to play good non-conference opponents and build for the rest of the season.
If you remember in 2003 an unheralded Georgia Tech team won the preseason NIT, and beat No. 1 ranked Connecticut in the process. They went on the to the Final Four that year.
This year's field features a top-10 Villanova squad, and top 25 teams Georgia Tech and Dayton. Kansas St, Ole Miss, Boston University, Indiana, and George Mason are also in the field.
The Yellow Jackets will open with a Dayton Flyer team that returns four starters off a team that is the Atlantic-10 favorite and coming of a 27-win season.
The winner of this game will face the winner of the Villanova-George Mason matchup.
As you can see we are going find in a real hurry if this Georgia Tech team is going to make a real push the NCAAs this year. They don't have to win the tournament, but I'd feel good about a 2-1 finish with a couple good non-conference wins.
The tournament starts Thursday at 11:30 AM with the Jackets and Dayton as the first game.
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