Jackets

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are no longer on the verge of a breakthrough. They have arrived with a bang and have the makings of a team that could shake up the hierarchy of the Atlantic Coast Conference. By destroying Ohio State, 73-53, on the road two nights ago, Georgia Tech put its stamp on a dominant showing by the ACC, which trounced the Big Ten by winning seven of nine contests in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The No. 13 Yellow Jackets, ranked for the first time since December 1997, also served notice that their 6-0 start, their best in nine years, is not a fluke.

SAN ANTONIO - A little over six minutes into their NCAA tournament semifinal confrontation with Oklahoma State, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets showed their other face, the one that has helped them wear down opponent after opponent during this magical postseason run. Onto the Alamodome floor came junior guard Will Bynum, junior forward Isma'il Muhammad, fifth-year senior Clarence Moore and sophomore forward Theodis Tarver. They are the gang of four that has added invaluable bulk to Georgia Tech's foundation.

COLLEGE PARK - Maryland needs to get over last weekend's loss to North Carolina before it can get past Georgia Tech this Saturday, coach Ron Vanderlinden said yesterday during a weekly news conference at Byrd Stadium. "We need to get ourselves together to play a good team," Vanderlinden said of the Yellow Jackets (7-2, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who are ranked No. 20 and have won their five games since an overtime loss to North Carolina State. They are the team Maryland (5-5, 3-4)

LAUREL - Heather Landis takes pride in her free-throw shooting. The Chapelgate guard is even more accurate after she misses. Landis made amends for missing the front end of a one-and-one free throw by sinking two more with 11.7 seconds left to clinch the Yellow Jackets' 56-52 win against host Pallotti in an Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland B Conference tournament semifinal last night. Chapelgate, the No. 3 seed, will seek to retain the championship it captured last season against top-seeded St. Paul's tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Villa Julie College.

ATLANTA - It was exactly 31 days ago, on Jan. 6, that Maryland took on Georgia Tech at Cole Field House and led by 19 points at halftime before ultimately prevailing by a comfortable 13. After that game, the Terrapins were 2-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and riding a 10-game winning streak, while the Yellow Jackets were winless in conference play and searching for answers. Now, as the second half of the ACC season picks up steam, the circumstances are different. Since that win over Georgia Tech, the 13th- ranked Terrapins (15-6, 6-3 ACC)

They reside in the basement of the Atlantic Coast Conference, yet the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are a team worth watching. And by next season, don't be surprised if coach Paul Hewitt's squad is making a move toward the upper half of the league standings and angling for a return to the NCAA tournament. The Yellow Jackets (7-10, 0-4) are the youngest team in the conference, with only one senior in point guard Tony Akins and one junior in reserve forward David Ewing. They usually start freshman forward Ed Nelson, redshirt sophomore forward Clarence Moore, sophomore forward Robert Brooks and sophomore shooting guard Marvin Lewis.

Georgia Tech most likely will miss the NCAA tournament and will finish no higher than fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Yet the 2001-02 season has been anything but a failure in Atlanta. Take away the Maryland-Duke axis dwarfing the rest of the league, and the most dangerous squad might be the Yellow Jackets, who are surely the most improved. With Wednesday's 90-77 victory over No. 24 Wake Forest, Georgia Tech has won seven of its past nine games, and has beaten five teams it lost to during the first half of the conference schedule.

ATLANTA - There was no need to look at the scoreboard inside the Georgia Dome to see which team won yesterday's first Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinal. All one had to do was look at the faces of the two first-year coaches, Matt Doherty of North Carolina and Paul Hewitt of Georgia Tech. Doherty was smiling, knowing that his top-seeded Tar Heels had been a bit fortunate to survive the pesky, fifth-seeded Yellow Jackets with a couple of questionable decisions by the officials in the final minute of North Carolina's 70-63 victory.

Georgia Tech has made its opening statement with authority. Now, will the Yellow Jackets follow through or fade? Tech came into the season with an imposing defense on paper. After imposing its will at then-No. 16 Auburn by intercepting sophomore quarterback Brandon Cox four times, recovering a fumble and holding Auburn to 50 yards rushing en route to a 23-14, season-opening victory, Tech needs to keep it up for a change. "We've won big ballgames around here before," Yellow Jackets fourth-year coach Chan Gailey said.

ATLANTA -- Georgia Tech wobbled into last night's Atlantic Coast Conference opener with four straight losses, a dysfunctional team that had lost its direction.Even its coach, Bobby Cremins, conceded, "We have fallen apart."That the Yellow Jackets resuscitated themselves with a 98-84 victory over Maryland before 11,087 at the Omni should not come as a shock.This, after all, is the ACC city where the Terps are accustomed to going down in flames.Counting last night, Maryland has lost 14 of its past 15 games against Georgia Tech in Atlanta.