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Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009

Deep Jackets roster in place for season of high expectations

ATLANTA — The past year has been filled with some of D’Andre Bell’s most challenging moments.

Forced off the basketball court and into a hospital bed, an untimely diagnosis for a congenital condition had Bell watching from afar as his Georgia Tech teammates stumbled to one of their worst seasons in recent school history.

But while it may have been frustrating to sit at home in Los Angeles and recuperate from surgery while his Yellow Jackets combined for a 2-14 ACC showing in the 2008-09 season, Bell believes the team has a great chance to make all of that a distant memory this year.

“My sole goal was to put up a couple of banners before I left,” said Bell, 10 months after being cured of the rare condition known as spinal stenosis. “Out of all the years, I think this is going to be one of the best opportunities we will have as a team to do that.”

Ranked 22nd in The Associated Press Poll and 20th in the ESPN/USA Today Poll entering today’s season opener against Florida A&M, the Yellow Jackets are not the only ones expecting great success this season.

Along with the addition of Bell’s senior presence into Georgia Tech’s lineup — he actually graduated last year and is enrolled in graduate school classes for his final year of playing eligibility — the Yellow Jackets have gotten a jolt of depth, highlighted by one of the nation’s top recruiting classes.

Additionally, with junior forward Gani Lawal returning from an experiment with the NBA draft process, pundits and pollsters alike are favoring this year’s team to resemble something drastically different.

“We all know that in order for this team to be good and for the expectations we have, those expectations would not exist had Gani Lawal and D’Andre Bell not come back,” Hewitt said.

One of the ACC’s best players last year, Lawal averaged 15.1 points and has provided a solid level of frontcourt experience. Bell’s addition will not only provide the Yellow Jackets with key on-court experience, but it should help them during those crucial timeouts in which they need a veteran leader to emerge.

“Because he’s a high achiever and he’s done everything (the other players are) trying to do, when it comes from him, it means a lot more,” Hewitt said of Bell. “He’s already graduated, he’s played on some good teams, and he’s come back from a devastating circumstance where he thought his career was over. And now, here he is clearly one of the top three or four guys on the floor whenever he steps into practices.”

Along with the presence of these two veterans, Georgia Tech will toss a freshman into the starting mix, as well.

Derrick Favors, the 6-foot-10 post player who was named the country’s best high school talent one year ago by one recruiting service, will step onto the floor today at Alexander Memorial Coliseum for the first time in a college game.

The highly sought after player has a wingspan of nine feet and is known for blocking anything that comes remotely close to that area when offensive players drive through the lane.

“Oh, he’s good,” sophomore guard Iman Shumpert said, smiling before a recent practice. “I go down (the lane) pretty aggressive, but I know if I go down there, I’ve got to go down on business. It’s definitely hard to score around the basket knowing that Favors is in there. He changes so many shots. Gani already changes shots, so if you’ve got Gani and Favors in there, you’re going to be doing a lot of circus shots trying to score on them where you have to try to dunk on them — not too many people can do that.”

Asked about Favors before that same practice, Lawal hesitated to talk about how good the freshman was.

“I won’t speak on that. I’m going to let you guys be the judge of that,” Lawal said.

Does that mean Lawal thinks Favors’ presence will help any?

“No,” Lawal said. “I know it will help.”

This game comes on the heels of an 84-76 overtime thriller in Georgia Tech’s exhibition game against Indiana University-Pa. on Sunday. With Shumpert — Georgia Tech’s best guard — shelved for much of the game, the Crimson Hawks were able to keep it close. The Yellow Jackets also missed the play of freshman Daniel Miller, a former GISA product who Hewitt announced this week will use a redshirt option this year.

Following tonight’s game, Georgia Tech takes off for a three-day trip to Puerto Rico, where it will play in an early-season tournament before hosting Mercer on Nov. 27.