Georgia Tech has fallen on hard times

Paul Newberry

Friday, Jan. 10, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

ATLANTA -- Kevin Morris has a tattoo of the Grim Reaper on his right arm. That's an appropriate symbol to lurk over Georgia Tech's basketball team.

A year ago, the Yellow Jackets won their first Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title and made it to the NCAA round of 16 with one of the best backcourts in the country.

But Stephon Marbury is in the NBA and Drew Barry is gone, too. They left behind a team that has lost its first three ACC games for the first time since Bobby Cremins took over as coach in 1982.

"I thought we would be OK," admitted Cremins, whose team (6-6) has lost six of its last eight games and faces the prospect of falling below .500 Saturday when it visits No. 14 Louisville.

"I underestimated Drew Barry. He was a wonderful leader and I underestimated Drew Barry's leadership. I knew Stephon was a great player. I knew he was a rare player. I didn't underestimate his talent, but I underestimated his determination."

The transition is most pronounced at point guard.

Cremins' pipeline to the New York City schoolyards landed Marbury, who immediately became the team's leading scorer as a freshman with 18.9 points per game in addition to his wondrous ball-handling skills. Cremins returned to those same streets after Marbury turned pro to sign Morris, but he has hardly made a similar freshman impression.

Morris arrived at school late because of a disputed high school class and is still struggling to make the transition to the college game.

"I think I'm just going through the learning stages," said Morris, who is averaging only 7.8 points and shooting less than 31 percent from the field. "When I'm going to shoot I start to look around at the last minute to see if somebody else is open instead of just shooting my shot. I've got to learn that when I'm open, I've got to take the shot and stop worrying about passing to somebody else all the time."

Morris' poor play has drawn even more attention because of who once ran the court in his shoes. Before Marbury, the Yellow Jackets had a couple of point guards named Kenny Anderson and Travis Best, who are both in the NBA as well.

"There are a lot of people trying to put pressure on me, trying to make me do some of the things those guys did," Morris said. "Coach Cremins always says I'm real stubborn and independent. I know how to put those things aside and do what I know how to do instead of trying to be somebody else."

Tech's other guard, Gary Saunders, missed the first six games because of academic problems and has struggled to regain his shooting touch since moving into the lineup. He is shooting less than 38 percent from the field.

"That's a concern," Cremins said. "Gary and Kevin have been under a lot of pressure. They're not playing as well as I hoped they would play. ... It's been interesting, to say the least."

In the latest loss, a 73-63 setback to No. 2 Wake Forest, the Yellow Jackets got only 15 points out of their guards, which is putting a inordinate burden on Tech's best player.

Forward Matt Harpring leads the team at 19.8 points per game, but his shooting has suffered without Barry and Marbury to share the scoring load. He appeared downright weary at the end of the Wake Forest game, sweat pouring off his forehead from the effort expended to compensate for less-talented teammates.

Cremins worries that his team is slipping back into the rut that plagued the program before the all-too-brief Marbury era. After nine straight trips to the NCAA tournament, Tech failed to make it in both 1994 and '95 and faces the prospect of another postseason blackout.

"Oh sure, it's tough," he said. "The expectations for Georgia Tech basketball have always been high, particularly with the success we had last year. But I knew this would be a little tough."

He just didn't realize how tough.