SAN ANTONIO, Texas - For a coach who did not belong, Paul Hewitt had worked himself into a little bit of a frenzy.
His arms kept flailing this direction and that, as if he were attempting to guide a plane in for a landing at dusk. He leaned into his team's huddle, and for once, he wasn't the laid-back, cerebral coach everyone knows. There was electricity in his eyes and razor blades in his voice.
For a team that did not belong, this was the sound of reason. It was not the first time the Georgia Tech players had seen Hewitt in those final, furious seconds of a basketball game. By now, they trust the guy to sort it out.
In the years to come, remember this moment, when Hewitt once again leaned into his huddle and once again, he traded in a hunch for a game-winning play.
It was right about then that Hewitt, basketball coach, became a star.
His team came to town as an afterthought. Everyone said so. There were three contenders here, led by three stars, coached by three legends. Oh, and there was Georgia Tech, just to fill out the foursome.
The more people talked, the more you would have thought Tech sneaked into the Final Four when no one was watching. They were the newcomers, the team that should have faded away long ago. That's the trouble with a team from nowhere; after a while, everyone expects you to go back.
Ah, but there is a difference to this team, however, a freshness the Final Four hasn't seen in years. There is a stubbornness, a fierceness, a refusal to accept the existing social order. As a team, they play with their chests puffed out and their chins extended, and they dare you to cross center court.
So far, no one has been able to make them back down. The latest to fail was Oklahoma State, which left the court asking the same question of every Tech victim in this tournament.
Who are those guys?
And what are they doing here?
It's easy enough to wonder. Who has thought about a bouncing ball at Georgia Tech since Stephon Marbury beat it out of town? Why would anyone bother?
When the season started, in fact, Georgia Tech was picked seventh in the ACC. To some, that might have seemed lofty. Tech had been a .500 team over the previous two seasons, and its best player, Chris Bosh, had jumped to the NBA and another talented player, Ed Nelson, had transferred to UConn. It is not exactly the route Duke followed to get here.
Hewitt, 40, has led Tech on a run that borders on the magnificent. It is his calm, and his confidence, that has taken his team this far. No wonder Georgia Tech shoved a contract extension into his hands this week; who wants to risk this guy getting away to coach another bunch of upstarts?
Look, the NCAA is big about telling you about Cinderella stories and unexpected successes. Let's face it. Most of those moments come in the first round, maybe the second. Who has been a more unexpected finalist than Tech? Maybe Utah in '98? Maybe Florida in '00? How does a team get from nowhere to the national final? How does it build yet another national title contender in the ACC?
Hewitt will shrug and tell you, in that voice of conviction, it is natural progression.
"Time," he said. "Unfortunately, today when people cover sports, they want it now. Last year, we lost a lot of games on the road. Everybody was making a big issue (out of it). "Georgia Tech can't win on the road.' We had a freshman point guard. We were a young team physically and mentally.
"I never lost sight of the fact, if you're building a program the right way, there are going to be steps. You don't go from zero to 60 in sports. It takes time to build it."
The thing is, the more you watch Tech play, the less unexpected this becomes. Tech's players are unselfish, versatile and relentless. Under Hewitt, no one seems to doubt.
Take the closing seconds of Saturday night's game, when Hewitt was left matching wits against Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton, who supposedly has more of them than most coaches. Even Hewitt laughed the other day when someone compared him to the other three coaches here. Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Calhoun and Sutton have combined for 2,121 wins, 14 Final Fours and four titles. Hewitt? He has a lot of white dress shirts.
This time, Hewitt considered his hand, and he decided that, yep, Will Bynum was going to win the game for his team. And Bynum did, driving past Lucas for the layin with a second and a half to play. Sutton? He was left second-guessing himself for not putting Janavor Weatherspoon into the game to guard Bynum.
Hewitt's decision says a great deal about him, and about his team. In other games this tournament, Hewitt has decided Marvin Lewis was going to take the last shot. Or Isma'il Muhammad. Those decisions worked, too.
In other words, Hewitt is in one of those zones where every decision he makes seems to work. And the Tech players are in the same zone, because every decision does.
Such is the versatility of the Yellow Jackets. One game, it's Jarrett Jack scoring 29. Another, it's Clarence Moore. It is as if the Yellow Jackets draw straws before the game, and during it, to see who their designated star will be. Maybe B.J. Elder. Maybe Luke Schenscher, who may be the best Australian athlete since Matilda was waltzing. It doesn't matter. It's like watching the Temptations; you never know who is going to sing lead.
Who are these guys?
They're one of the last two teams standing. Before it's over, they might be the guys who stole this tournament.
