The Power of Three

Together they form college basketball’s most confounding shell game -- three guards whose interchangeable talents keep opponents guessing where Georgia Tech will strike next.

Jarrett Jack, Marvin Lewis and B.J. Elder, the driving forces behind the Yellow Jackets’ surprising run to the Final Four, wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Any given night, anybody’s liable to step up,” said Jack, a sophomore point guard. “We’re a very unselfish team. We definitely like to see each other score and we like to share the basketball.”

There’s something about a three-guard lineup that seems to suit Georgia Tech, especially during the NCAA tournament.

The only other time the Yellow Jackets reached the Final Four was in 1990, when the high-scoring trio of Kenny Anderson, Dennis Scott and Brian Oliver was known as “Lethal Weapon 3.”

This season’s team doesn’t possess that kind of offensive punch, but Paul Hewitt, Georgia Tech’s fourth-year coach, knows he’s fortunate to have players such as Jack, Lewis and Elder because of their commitment to “3-D”: distribution, defense and depth.

“Coaches around the country try to get their players to be unselfish, to sacrifice for the good of the team,” Hewitt said. “But you have to have the right group of guys who are coachable. These guys are coachable.”

That was evident last weekend at the St. Louis Regional, where the three guards demonstrated their team-first principles by giving way to one another in a seamless relay comparable to a major league infield turning a double play.

For those keeping score, it was Elder to Lewis to Jack.

Elder had been Georgia Tech’s leading scorer on the season, but he went down with a sprained ankle in the second minute of the regional semifinal Friday against Nevada.

Nothing to worry about. Lewis, the team’s senior captain, simply played the postseason game of his life, scoring 23 points and making two three-point baskets late in the second half to help the Yellow Jackets rally for a 72-67 victory.

With Elder still hobbled and Lewis off his game Sunday in the regional final against Kansas, Jack stepped up with a star-making turn, scoring a career-high 29 points, including eight in overtime, to carry Georgia Tech to a 79-71 victory.

And that’s the way it has been all season. Elder, who expects to play Saturday against Oklahoma State, has led the Yellow Jackets (27-9) in scoring 13 times, Jack eight times and Lewis seven.

Zero would be the number of times anyone has complained about sharing the load.

When junior guard Will Bynum, a transfer from Arizona, became eligible in December and began taking away minutes from the starters, the others welcomed him with open arms instead of cold shoulders.

“Offensively and defensively, guys give up themselves to make the team better,” Lewis said. “That’s what makes us so special.”

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Hewitt knew Jack was a special player the first time he went to Mt. Zion Academy in Durham, N.C., to watch the point guard play in 2001.

Then a junior, Jack put on a show for his future coach by scoring 56 points, breaking the school’s single-game record held by Tracy McGrady.

It took three years, but Jack finally had his encore Sunday in the regional final. Kansas couldn’t stop the dribble penetration of the muscular, 6-foot-3 playmaker, who had nine rebounds, six assists and four steals to go along with his 29 points, 17 above his average.

It was the latest in string of clutch performances by Jack in the last month.

His steal and length-of-the-court drive for a dunk in the final six seconds secured a 57-54 victory over Boston College on March 21 in the second round of the NCAA tournament. His 17-foot jump shot with 1.4 seconds left was the difference in an 83-82 victory over North Carolina in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament March 12.

When Georgia Tech defeated Duke, 76-68, to end the Blue Devils’ 41-game home winning streak March 3, Jack led the Yellow Jackets with 15 points, seven in the last two minutes. The victory gave him temporary bragging rights over his second cousin, Duke senior guard Chris Duhon.

“I try to stay composed out there,” Jack said. “My attitude [is] a reflection on the whole team. If I put my head down, everybody is going to put theirs down. I just try to be positive. I know that if we keep fighting, we’ve always got a chance.”

Unlike some of his illustrious predecessors -- such as Kenny Anderson, Travis Best, Stephon Marbury and Mark Price, who were the primary scorers for their Georgia Tech teams -- Jack is known as a pass-first, shoot-second point guard.

With 205 assists, Jack is only the sixth player in school history to reach at least 200 assists in a season and the first to do it since Drew Barry in 1996.

There’s no question which one of Jack’s assists was the most important. With Georgia Tech and Kansas tied, 71-71, in overtime Sunday, Jack drove to the basket and passed to Bynum at the top of the key for a three-point shot that put the Yellow Jackets ahead for good with 1:50 left.

“Jarrett’s been big for us all year,” Bynum said. “The key point of the game was when he found me for the shot. He had 29 [points], but that showed that he’s an unselfish guard.”

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Basketball fans in Madison, Ga., a small town outside Atlanta, have been following Elder since he shattered a backboard with a dunk during a state playoff game while playing for Morgan County High.

This season, the 6-4 junior helped shatter the notion that Georgia Tech couldn’t win without center Chris Bosh, who jumped to the NBA after leading the Yellow Jackets in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots as a freshman last season, and without forward Ed Nelson, who transferred to Connecticut.

By developing a midrange jump shot and buckling down on defense, Elder assumed more responsibilities to become what Hewitt called the team’s “most complete player.”

More than his shooting, Elder credits defense for helping Georgia Tech, a No. 3 seed, reach the Final Four. The Yellow Jackets have allowed an average of 63 points in four NCAA tournament games.

“We pretty much think that’s our strength, and [we] try to go out and put a lot of pressure on people and try to force a lot of turnovers,” Elder said. “They’re turning [into] easy baskets for us.”

Elder, chosen to the All-ACC second team, had put together the best stretch of his career by scoring in double figures in 13 consecutive games and making 45.6% of his three-point shots before being injured Friday and not scoring in either game last weekend.

He had a walking cast removed from his right foot Wednesday and has told reporters he expected to be ready for Saturday’s game against Oklahoma State, the only Final Four team Georgia Tech has not faced this season.

The Yellow Jackets know they could use him. In one of his best games of the season, Elder scored a team-high 22 points in a 77-61 victory over then-No. 1 Connecticut in the Preseason NIT on Nov. 26.

“B.J.’s a guy that brings a lot of firepower,” Lewis said. “He’s a leader.”

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After Georgia Tech beat Nevada on Friday, thanks mainly to Lewis’ big game, Hewitt recalled having to pick up recruiting the 6-4 shooting guard from previous coach Bobby Cremins.

“As the game ended, the first thing that flashed through my mind was, ‘Thank goodness Marvin Lewis gave us a chance,’ ” Hewitt said.

A four-year starter, Lewis will play in his 128th game for Georgia Tech on Saturday, putting him alone in second place on the school’s all-time list behind Malcolm Mackey, who played in 130 games from 1990 to ’93.

Away from the court, Lewis has distinguished himself in the classroom. He carries a 3.4 grade-point average and is on schedule to earn a degree in management this spring.

“He’s everything the NCAA wants to project,” Hewitt said.

Although Lewis would like to continue playing basketball after college, his career goal is to become a certified public accountant. He already has a job offer from an Atlanta accounting firm.

Lewis said academics were just as high a priority as basketball when he was being recruited at Montrose Christian High in Maryland.

“I even looked at Princeton and Villanova, schools like that, just because the academic side is what I really wanted,” he said. “Basketball-wise, yeah, you want to be happy. But I needed a balance.

“I knew that Georgia Tech was a place where, academically, I was definitely going to be challenged.”

On a typical school day, Lewis leaves his room at 8 in the morning and doesn’t get back until after 9 at night. In between, he negotiates a demanding schedule that includes classes, basketball practice and tutoring sessions.

Although he could have been more of a scorer in another basketball program, Lewis, who averaged 18 points as a senior in high school, said he has embraced the team concept taught by Hewitt and his staff.

“When I made my commitment to Coach Hewitt to come here, that was it. There was no second-guessing,” Lewis said. “Other people, family members, might say things. But I knew this was the right situation.

“When I was in high school, yeah, I was the main guy. But the main thing I learned is you need everybody to win. You need some role players, you need some guys to take a step back for certain guys and give yourself up. And that’s what I’ve done.”

One for all, and no regrets.