Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 25, 1990 TAG: 9003251950
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS LENGTH: Long
But ninth-ranked Tech (27-6) has tied the school record for wins in a season, and finds itself within one victory of its first NCAA national semifinal.
"I thought this would be a rebuilding year," said Cremins, whose team meets Big Ten upstart Minnesota in the NCAA Southeast Regional semifinal today at 1:40 p.m. "I thought we'd come back with a big recruiting year and I've done that.
"We haven't signed anybody."
As Cremins mellows, he's much more secure with his coaching stature and the sustaining of the Yellow Jackets' program than he was a few years ago.
Mark Price and John Salley led Tech to back-to-back 27-win seasons in 1984-85 and '85-86, but Tech has been pretty much Dickensian since, with great expectations.
"After Price and Salley were gone, I didn't think we'd be in this type of position for a while," Cremins said. "We still continued to get to the NCAA Tournament [this is Tech's sixth straight appearance], but people expected more, because we created a monster.
"I can't control that. I can't control the press saying how great we are. We've taken a lot of criticism in the last three years, and that's beyond me now. I've gotten that out of my system. It bothered me for a while, but if you're going to coach today, you've got to live with criticism.
"I really wanted to rebuild the Georgia Tech program. People told me, `You'll never get the program back to where it was in '85.' And I felt with [Brian] Oliver and [Dennis] Scott, we had something."
What Cremins had in Oliver and Scott were complementary players, but far from a complete team. The Yellow Jackets, who live and die by the jump shot, still haven't found some pieces of the puzzle.
"When we got Kenny Anderson and Malcolm [Mackey], Kenny really gave us a chance. I really thought this was going to be a rebuilding year. But Dennis came back a different person."
Scott, the gun from Reston, Va., shed more than 45 pounds from his 6-foot-8 frame, and actually could be counted on to do something more than shoot. Anderson, the nation's premier recruit of a year ago, came into the program with a minimal amount of ego-disturbing.
While Oliver, Scott and Anderson have dominated as a perimeter trio - averaging 69 of Tech's 88 points per game - freshman Mackey and senior Johnny McNeil, a junior-college transfer who didn't fit in a year ago, have been just capable enough inside.
"No doubt, we're hurting inside," Cremins said.
"Me and Malcolm, they don't expect us to do much," McNeil said. "They just want us to hang in there and play hard."
Cremins said he's sure McNeil and Mackey "at times resent not getting the ball more. But I've told them to hang in there, and their day will come."
Cremins openly expresses his amazement at the Yellow Jackets' success, which includes a 16-0 record outside the ACC, a conference tournament title, and six losses by a total of 14 points during the ACC regular season.
"I don't understand how we continue to win," he said. "We haven't played well since the ACC Tournament, and the first half of the East Tennessee State [first-round NCAA] game. And we're playing with an Oliver at 50 percent."
Oliver has been hurting all season with a stress fracture. The 6-4 wingman's injury has exacerbated Tech's mediocre rebounding and interior defensive problems.
With Oliver hobbled, Scott has been forced to the basket more, and has responded. While his shooting has suffered, he has 20 rebounds in the Jackets' last two games. Still, no one on Cremins' team is in danger of being labeled "Mr. Inside."
"Our perimeter game has been outstanding," Cremins said. "And Kenny, he's been more of an impact player than I thought he would be."
British native Karl Brown has played well, spelling Oliver in the NCAA run, but Cremins wonders how long the Yellow Jackets can afford to shorten their lineup and succeed.
"We're getting killed on the boards," said Cremins, whose team has been outrebounded in 18 of 33 games. "The only reason we've been able to get away with a short lineup is [because] Scott's rebounding has improved."
Cremins knows the Gophers will play zone defense today and will try to slow the tempo, but the Yellow Jackets know how they got this far as a No. 4 seed.
"We're going to play the same," Cremins said. "Sometimes we don't have the greatest shot selection always, and we're not passing the ball as well as we were.
"Our game is to run, and we like to throw up bombs. Sometimes, like when we beat Michigan State [in Friday's regional semifinals in overtime], I ask myself how in the hell we won that game."
Cremins said his first notion of how this season could be came in Tech's third game in early December against Pitt at the Hartford Civic Center in the ACC-Big East Challenge.
"We were down 19 or 20 points and came back and won by one," Cremins said. "I've never coached a team before that hasn't been blown out one, two or three times. But we haven't been.
"We've lost six, but we've never been blown out. I never thought we'd be here, honestly."
\
by CNB