Coming out of high school, Matt Harpring didn't top many coaches' recruiting lists.
Despite leading a small private school to the Georgia AAA State Championship, and being named the state's "Mr. Basketball" as a senior, Harpring went largely unnoticed. Considered too small or too slow for a major college program, Harpring drew relatively few scholarship offers.
Of the offers he did receive, many were not even for basketball. In fact, the Dunwoody, Ga. native appeared headed for Northwestern to play football-Harpring's brother Brian played tight end for the Wildcats-when a last-minute change of heart dropped him into Bobby Cremins' lap at Georgia Tech.
Cremins was one of the few coaches who knew about Harpring from the start. But even though Cremins watched his son play alongside the versatile Harpring in high school, the Tech coach-like so many of his counterparts-was reluctant at first.
And then a funny thing happened.
A growth spurt turned the 6-foot-5 swing man into a 6-foot-7 forward. A super senior campaign eventually brought the other coaches around, and Harpring's desire to stay close to home made Cremins a fortunate man. In his freshman year at Tech, the hard-working, but still anonymous Harpring started 24 of 29 games, averaging 12.1 points per game.
He made the ACC All-Freshman team, but missed out on ACC Rookie of the Year by just one vote. It was almost a fitting disappointment for a role player who never seemed to get his due.
But Harpring wasn't done yet. He continued to train hard-and grow-and added about 15 pounds to his frame. Harpring's game kept growing, too. No longer an invisible man, Harpring lit up the conference as a sophomore, averaging 18.6 points per game along with 8.1 rebounds. He was the only player in league to finish in the top 10 in five different categories: scoring, rebounding, field-goal percentage, free throw percentage and three-point percentage.
That performance earned Harpring All-ACC honors, a surprise to everyone except the man himself.
"I know what I can do," Harpring said. "Every year I set goals for myself. My freshman year, my goal was to be ACC Rookie of the Year, and although I didn't get it, I tried my best and some people thought I deserved it."
Waiting one more year for critical acclaim wasn't that difficult for the quiet star.
"My goal [last] year was to be first team All-ACC, and I knew I could do that, it's just a matter of going out and [showing] people," Harpring said.
Harpring and Tech achieved quite a few goals last year, going 24-12 and reaching the Sweet 16 while also winning the ACC regular-season title. But things seem to have changed for the Yellow Jackets overnight.
Point guard Stephon Marbury, who led the team in scoring and three-pointers as a freshman, has already moved on to the NBA. Marbury's stay at Tech amounted to little more than a six month blur. Business travelers stranded at the airport have experienced longer layovers in Atlanta.
Gone too is Marbury's backcourt mate, senior Drew Barry. The vocal leader, Barry held the Yellow Jackets together during an early season lull. He also led the squad in assists and minutes played.
This fall, Cremins had hoped to turn the reigns over to Marbury's understudy Gary Saunders. But studying proved to be a problem for Saunders, who has been declared academically ineligible for the first semester-and probably the entire season.
Suddenly Harpring is Tech's only established player. A solid role player for two seasons, Harpring will suddenly be expected to star-high expectations for a largely unrecruited player. Lone senior Eddie Elisma and junior Michael Maddox return alongside Harpring in the frontcourt, but the rest of the playing time should fall to four unheralded freshmen.
Kevin Morris, a 5-foot-11 freshman from New York City, will assume point guard duties for Cremins' squad. As the next in a long line of talented New Yorkers to patrol the point, expectations will be high for Morris. But Cremins stresses that Morris is not the next Kenny Anderson, Travis Best or Stephon Marbury.
"We're trying to avoid any comparisons," Cremins said, almost defensively. "Kevin's a solid all-around player.... He's just solid. That's the best way I can describe him-solid."
Cremins is actually very excited about Morris, who only recently qualified academically. Morris and his fellow freshmen won't dazzle like Marbury, but then again they shouldn't be gone after one season either.
"You don't see any superstar in this class," Cremins said. "They're all good players with a chance of becoming very good players. Maybe that's what I like about this class; I think you are looking at four guys who should be around four years."
In years past, Cremins has been accused of not using his bench. No such criticism is expected this year, because Cremins will have little or no bench to use. Tech will employ a six or seven man rotation, with both the offensive and defensive burdens falling almost completely on Harpring.
"Harpring's got to tell these freshmen what to do," Cremins said. "He's not flashy; he's just as solid as they come."
Solid seems to be Cremins' buzzword of choice this winter. And while it aptly describes his hard-working forward, it doesn't bode well for the Yellow Jackets' season outlook. Harpring's play will have to go from solid to spectacular if Tech hopes to duplicate last year's success. The NBA has ripped through the Atlanta program in a style that would have made Sherman proud, and Cremins now finds himself on the verge of a similarly long reconstruction.
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