After a poor performance against the Georgia Bulldogs earlier in the week, Paul Hewitt’s Jackets come up with their biggest win of the year in beating the Duke Blue Devils 71-67 . In my opinion it might be their biggest win in several years.  Did Georgia Tech turn the corner with the Duke win?

This is the question of the day and it’s being asked by the Jacket’s hometown paper and several bloggers, including myself.

Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal Constitution suggests Tech may have turned the corner.

ACC\SEC Blog asks What path does Georgia Tech take now?

and in my blog All About Sports I ask the question What will the win mean for Georgia Tech?

Basically I believe the consensus is nobody knows what this win will ultimately mean for the Jackets. What we do know is the Jackets are a gifted team especially in the low post. Gani Lawal has really turned himself into a force in the paint. There’s forward Derrick Favors who hasn’t scratched the surface of his potential, and there is Zachary Peacock a former starter that’s become a valuable player coming off the bench. As I discuss in my blog article the Jackets have become an outstanding defensive team as well. What will be the key to the Jackets future success?

Mfon Udofia has had a solid freshman season so far, but he can’t take any steps backward. In fact he needs to keep improving. I like that Udofia seems to always be in control on the court. He hit some big free throws against Duke too. He needs to be able to take defenders off the dribble and get to the basket more often. This will create increased opportunities for Georgia Tech’s big men as this will pull opposing team’s defenders off Lawal and Favors. Guard Iman Shumpert has to shake the rust off quickly. He’s just coming off an injury, but the ACC waits for no one. He took poor shots against Duke in general did not have a strong game with 7 turnovers and 1 for 9 shooting. The talent is there. In the end it comes down to Hewitt though.

Paul Hewitt has had a terrible ACC record the last few years. He’s become noted for turnover prone teams that don’t play to their potential. Today proved what Georgia Tech is capable of. Now Hewitt must find a way to get his team to play this way more consistently because it may determine if he is here next year or not.

Well Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt pulled in a top 10 recruiting class for this season. A team that features 3 McDonald All-Americans and a slew of top 100 HS players promised a season that would be different than the disasters of recent years. Early results over weak opponents gave the indication the Jackets might be improved. In their first ACC home effort against a good Florida State squad, the Jackets in a 66-59 loss proved that even though the year is different, the result is the same.

Every problem that was evident in recent years was on display tonight– a lack of offensive movement, poor rebounding technique, and untimely turnovers. The Seminoles went zone against the Jackets, and other than Zach Peacock, no Tech player could come up with a big shot. Mfon Udofia has potential, but against ACC competition, he at times looked overwhelmed by the Noles defense. The Jackets lack a player that can get to the basket off the dribble. They haven’t had a player who can do this with any consistency since Javaris Crittenton was in Atlanta. Is it too early to write off the Jackets’ season as another underachieving one, but this was about as devastating an early season loss as the Jackets could have.