SAN ANTONIO — The road to the Final Four has taken several turns for Georgia Tech’s Jarrett Jack. The sophomore point guard from Fort Washington, who led the Yellow Jackets to their St. Louis regional victory over Kansas on Sunday, attended four high schools in five years.
Jack spent his freshman year at DeMatha but left because he was playing behind Billy Edelin, who later went to Syracuse. From DeMatha, it was on to St. Vincent Pallotti in Laurel for a year, Mount Zion Christian in North Carolina for a year and Worcester (Mass.) Academy for two years. He did not play his second year there.
“It was just tough circumstances that forced me to move on, tough situations,” said Jack, a second cousin of Duke senior point guard Chris Duhon. “Either it was a situation with a coach, or a coach had to resign. Just various things like that, things that always seemed to happen to me.”
Jack said he was concerned how his constant moving would be perceived.
“I thought people might think, ’He’s a problem child,’ or a kid with a bad attitude who can’t stay in one place,” Jack said. “I thought it was definitely going to affect my college recruitment. But anybody who knows me knows I’m not that type of kid.”
Injury update
Only Oklahoma State made it through the regionals in good health. Georgia Tech, Duke and Connecticut had injury issues, but all now seem to be at full strength.
Georgia Tech guard B.J. Elder, who was a non-factor in both St. Louis games because of a sprained ankle, will start for the Yellow Jackets against Oklahoma State.
Connecticut center Emeka Okafor is fine, too. The 6-foot-10 junior, who has battled a back injury for much of the season, suffered a pinched nerve in his neck that caused numbness in his shoulder in the regional final against Alabama. The same thing happened during practice Wednesday, but the numbness quickly subsided.
Duhon and Duke are literally breathing easier. The Blue Devils’ playmaker suffered bruised ribs against Maryland in the ACC tournament, and the injury has since limited Duhon’s shooting and mobility but not his defense. Yesterday he reported improvement.
“I can breathe a little better, and I can move a little better,” he said.
Staying put
Nothing succeeds like success. And rumors of a possible departure.
Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt, whose name came up in connection with the vacancy at St. John’s, has been rewarded with his second contract extension after taking the program to its first Final Four since 1990.
Hewitt’s contract, which has to be approved by the school president and athletic board, will be extended through 2010, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. With incentives, he stands to earn nearly $1 million a year.
Wet Friday
It rained heavily outside the Alamodome during team practices. That’s not unusual. What is unusual is that it also rained inside the dome.
The building’s roof sprang a couple of leaks during the downpour, causing workers to break out trash cans and plastic-lined cardboard boxes. One area that got wet was the press room. No big deal, except that hundreds of laptops were plugged in to electrical outlets.
The court remained dry.
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