THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 3, 1996 TAG: 9602030454
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
ACC followers have seen this type of Georgia Tech team before. New York City playground legend at the point. A small forward and shooting guard who do much of the scoring. Anonymous guy in the middle. Bench as thin as Ted Turner's mustache.
In fact, sub Stephon Marbury for Kenny Anderson, Matt Harpring for Dennis Scott and Drew Barry for Brian Oliver and you've got a fuzzy photo-copy of Lethal Weapon 3, the Georgia Tech team that went 28-7 and reached the NCAA Final Four in 1990.
A very fuzzy copy, to be sure. But while it would be ludicrous to suggest that the current Georgia Tech team can match the success enjoyed by Anderson and Co., the Yellow Jackets have been one of the surprises of this strangest of ACC seasons. At 6-2, tied for second place with Wake Forest, Georgia Tech (13-9 overall) remains very much in the title hunt. And with Marbury and Barry zinging no-look passes every which way, with Harpring emerging as one of the conference's best inside-out players, the Yellow Jackets may be the ACC's most entertaining team.
The only problem is, as Barry puts it: ``Looking at this Georgia Tech team, you don't know which one to expect.''
Will it be the Georgia Tech team that beat North Carolina? Or the one that lost to Mt. St. Mary's?
The Mt. St. Mary's loss began a four-game December slide that ended with losses to Bradley and Santa Clara in the Cable Car Classic in San Jose, Calif.
The loss left the Yellow Jackets with a 6-7 record heading into conference play - and with coach Bobby Cremins pulling at his already snow-white hair.
``I'm hoping that the main reason was overscheduling,'' Cremins said recently. ``I didn't know if we could turn it around.''
They have, and much of the credit goes to the team's veterans, Barry and junior Eddie Elisma.
Barry had just two points in a loss to Kentucky and six in a loss to UMass. Since conference play started, Barry is averaging 14.8 points.
``When Drew shoots well we're like a different team,'' Cremins said. ``I wish we had another senior to help him, but this is basically Drew Barry's team.''
And Barry has been bullish on this team from Day 1. Before the season, Barry said Georgia Tech's first four players - himself, Marbury, Hapring and forward Michael Maddox - could match up with any in the ACC. Left out of that quartet was Elisma, a 6-9 junior who had been ordinary, at best, in his first two seasons.
Elisma averaged just 5.6 points in his first two seasons, and was humming along at 5.3 points per when Georgia Tech met UMass Dec. 22.
Elisma hasn't been the same since. Matched against UMass' Marcus Camby, Elisma collected 17 points and 15 rebounds. He's averaged nearly 11 points and better than nine rebounds since.
``Eddie's been an unbelievable bonus,'' Barry said. ``He had a great game against Camby, and since then he's had a lot of confidence.''
Cremins said he saw flashes of former Yellow Jackets star John Salley when he recruited Elisma out of New York three years ago. But despite constant prodding, Elisma had never produced.
``I had been talking to him since Day 1, but to no avail,'' Cremins said. ``I wish I had the formula, I would give it to a lot of other guys.
``He's working harder, he's become a different person. I think he's starting to grow up.''
Basketball analyst Billy Packer says Elisma's emergence is the biggest reason Tech is contending for an ACC title.
``If Elisma is Elisma, Georgia Tech is in last place,'' Packer said.
While Elisma apparently has been something else, Marbury's been just the player he was expected to be: a 19-point, 4-assist man who will contend with North Carolina's Antawn Jamison for ACC rookie-of-the-year honors.
Harpring, who many think should have been last year's rookie of the year, has proven that was no fluke, bumping his averages to 17.8 points and 8.9 boards this year.
The Yellow Jackets have not made the NCAA tournament for two years. Although their 13-9 overall record is unimpressive, they've played one of the nation's toughest schedules, facing UMass, Kentucky, Georgetown, Louisville and Michigan out of conference. They also had not played a true home game until two weeks ago, when renovations on Alexander Memorial Coliseum were completed.
``I think we kind of underestimated what it would be like to not be in our own arena,'' Barry said. ``But I think that, and our schedule, is going to do nothing but help us in the long run. We're not feeling inferior to the North Carolinas and Wake Forests.''
And not even to some Georgia Tech teams of the past. ILLUSTRATION: FILE
Coach Bobby Cremins
by CNB