Bangin' On Fools

The Maryland Terrapins celebrated their first AP poll ranking in about two years with a 29 point trouncing of the formerly undefeated Fairfield Stags who arguably had the best dressed coach in Division 1 basketball. Maybe he was going to the club for postgame?

Outfits aside, he had the Stags up to play early, hanging with the Terps until the end of the first half due to many missed lay ups which was the lone reason it wasn't a 40 point game. Greivis Vasquez had another atrocious night from the floor (3-11) and Eric Hayes was forced to pick up the slack with 14 points. After one of Vasquez's field goals midway through the second half, the Senior puffed his chest out and stared into the student section as if he had just hit a shot to send us to the Final Four. It was Fairfield Greivis, a middle of the pack MAAC team that you made look like a bracket buster coming out of the gate, turning the ball over a team leading four times.

Sean Mosely continued to impress and looks poised for a break out year as often happens in a players Sophomore season. Mosely was looking for his shot and finished in double figures again. James Padgett and Jordan Williams remain much more of a post presence than we had last year but let's see how they do against some of the ACC's top big men.

Hopefully Vasquez can step his game back to where it was at the end of last year because if this team wants to stay ranked and possibly move up, they'll certainly need him no matter how much fans may adore or revile him.

In other news: Former Club Basketball member Ersin Levent got in the books for his first point of the year and recruit Tobias Harris was at Comcast for the season opener against Charleston Southern and reportedly had a great visit

Make or Break Year for Paul Hewitt

Since becoming the head coach at Georgia Tech in 2000 after a three year stint at Siena, a Paul Hewitt coached team has never finished better than 9-7 in ACC play. Granted, the one time his squad did achieve an in-conference record above .500 they ended up playing Connecticut in the NCAA Finals; but they haven't even gotten back to the Sweet 16 since. Three of the past fours years they've missed the tourney all together and now Hewitt is coming off his worst coaching performance in his nine years as a Yellow Jacket (2-14 in conference).

Even after such poor performance last year, there is reason for optimism. Hewitt has lured yet another top freshman to come play for him (along with another top recruiting class as a whole). Derrick Favors, an unanimous top 10 incoming freshman, will form a potentially lethal inside combination with Gani Lawal; a preseason All-ACC choice by the College Basketball Blue Ribbon report (fun wiki fact: it takes his girlfriend Leslie forever to get dressed). Having two stud big men is rarely seen these days and could give any team a tough time. If the old adage "games are won in the paint" is correct, then Georgia Tech will be winning a lot of games this year.

Besides Lawal, the Yellow Jackets return three other starters from last year's team.

Starting at PG will be the sophomore Iman Shumpert. The former McDonald's All-American had his ups and downs last season, but is expected to be much improved heading into the 09-10 campaign.

After working with him at the LeBron James Skills Academy, Jay Bilas had this to say about him: "A terrific kid, Shumpert has size, handling and passing ability, plus some real shake to his game. He gets by people and makes plays, and he has a great hesitation move. Although his name is pronounced 'E-mahn Shum-purt,' we started to call him 'Eye-mun Sher-bet.' I told him I would use the latter pronunciation on the air."

Look for Bilas to be saying "Eye-mun Sher-bet" a lot this year.

The shooting guard void by Lewis Clinch, the leading scorer on last year's team. While it may seem hard to replace his 15.5 ppg, his 37% shooting percentage won't be missed. Clinch's departure looks to be the classic case of addition by subtraction.

Taking his spot will be D'Andre Bell, a smart player who picks his spots, plays strong defense, and will help lead this young team. Bell was hurt all last year so he is more than ready to get back onto the court. He may not provide great outside shooting, but the Yellow Jackets now have a player by the name of Glen Rice Jr. - perhaps his name sounds familiar?

Small forward is the most questionable spot for Georgia Tech. Zach Peacock is expected to start, but last year he got more looks at power forward. A big key for the Yellow Jackets will be finding another player to log minutes here so Peacock can backup Favors and Lawal down low.

As already mentioned, Georgia Tech's bread and butter will be their two starting bigs - Lawal and Favors. It will be interesting to see how Hewitt handles the makeup of this team. Hewitt usually predicates his offense around guard play. Obviously it makes sense to feature his big men this year - but Hewitt hasn't always done what has made sense for his personnel.

In fact, he has mismanaged stars for years - Tech has always had talented players but still have yet to repeat the success of 2004-05. His misusage of players led to two of the biggest undrafted free agent signings in the NBA this decade - Anthony Morrow and Will Bynum - both getting considerable minutes for NBA teams this year. Alade Aminu, who graduated last year, could also find himself in a similar situation.

This year's team might just have too much talent though for even Hewitt to screw up. Favors and Lawal are surefire NBA draft picks no matter how Paul Hewitt uses them and Shumpert should avoid a sophomore slump. Still its Paul Hewitt, so if the excitement Derrick Favors is going to provide isn't enough for you, then you can enjoy watching Hewitt's facial expressions during the game (see picture above).

Hauschka's Time is Up

Fans who have been calling for Hauschka's head since he missed a 45 yard game-winner in Minnesota have gotten their wish. Last night's game against the Browns was the final straw for the Hauschka, the second year kicker out of North Carolina State, after he pushed yet another perceivable chip shot to the left and also had an extra point blocked.

It was his fourth missed field goal of the season which dropped his field goal percentage below 70% (9-13). Considering the league average on the year is 81% (407-502) a change is needed for the Ravens if they want to make noise in the ultra-tough AFC North.

A replacement will be announced in the upcoming days. An assortment of names have been floated out as possibilities including for veterans like Mike Nugent and Billy Cundiff. While their successes have varied, they both can say that they kicked for two of the most intimidating fan bases in the NFL (Jets and Cowboys, respectively). Another possibility is a name most Ravens fans are familiar with: Graham Gano. Gano battled Hauschka in training camp but had his only inconsistencies leading to his release. He has since had success in the unsuccessful UFL; making 9 of 11 field goals with a long of 51 yards. One thing is for sure, the UFL is not the NFL.

The eventual replacement might just happen to be coming to Baltimore by way of Indianapolis this week when the Ravens take on the Colts. Matt Stover, who is a big reason why Ravens fans were so impatient with Hauschka, will be returning wearing blue and white.

Stover is 6-6 so far for the Colts, performing spot duty while Super Bowl hero Adam Vinatieri recovers from knee surgery. When Vinatieri is fully recovered (he is set to return around Thanksgiving) the Colts will have to settle for just one of the two closest things the NFL currently has to Hall of Fame kickers. Stover is expected to be the one sent packing, but the Ravens would be glad to have either one of them making clutch kicks down the stretch.

Just hope it isn't too late by then.