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Call this season step two in taking Georgia Tech back to the NCAA Tournament, a place where the Yellow Jackets have gone 10 times during Bobby Cremins' tenure on the Flats.

The first step can certainly be termed a success. Following the disappointment of the Yellow Jackets' 1995-96 season, Cremins brought in one of the nation's top recruiting classes to join the talented forward combo of Matt Harpring and Michael Maddox, and the result was a return to post-season in 1997 as Tech advanced to the third round of the National Invitation Tournament and finished with a 19-14 record.

Tech also eased up to sixth place in the ACC standings and is poised to take the next step back to the Big Dance in 1999. There are some challenges, however.

To earn its 14th post-season bid in the Cremins Era, Tech will have to overcome the loss of Harpring, the second-leading scorer in Yellow Jacket history with 2,225 points, and Maddox, his frontcourt mate who finished his career with 1,303 points.

Tech's schedule, consistently ranked among the toughest in the nation, includes a minimum of 14 games against teams which made the NCAA or NIT fields a year ago.

The cornerstones of Tech's building effort as the Jackets look to improve upon their NIT season are a pair of ACC all-freshman honorees in guard Dion Glover and center Alvin Jones, as well as another talented freshman point guard.

Glover, a former Georgia Mr. Basketball who was also a first-team Parade magazine all-America at Cedar Grove High School, was the nation's third-leading scorer among freshmen last year, averaging 18.4 points while shooting 44.1 percent from the field. Glover averaged 5.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists, and made an impact on the defensive end of the floor with 70 steals.

"Dion had a great learning year last year," said Cremins, who is embarking on his 24th season as a head coach, and his 18th at Tech. "I'm hoping to see a more mature Dion Glover. The biggest thing with Dion is to learn from last year. At times, he tried to do too much."

An explosive scorer whose jump shot needs improvement, the 6-5 Decatur, Ga., native played the second guard position a year ago, but may see time this season at small forward as well while Cremins searches for the optimum combination. Glover, who finished second in the ACC Rookie of the Year ballotting and made the 12-man USA team that played in the Goodwill Games this summer, demonstrated ability to dominate an opponent at times last year, scoring 33 points against Seton Hall in the first round of the NIT and 29 points and 11 rebounds against Louisville.

He also scored 29 against Maryland and 27 against Clemson and Kentucky, accumulating 20 points or more in 15 contests, including six of Tech's last nine regular-season games.

"He is capable of taking over a game, as he did against Louisville," said Cremins. "He needs to be himself. Overall, he does everything, and he's a great athlete. He knows he needs to work on his shooting, but it's not just his shooting. He needs to make better decisions, player better defense, play harder."

Jones, a 6-11 force in the middle, surprised many last year, including Cremins, by cracking the starting lineup from the beginning. He announced his presence immediately with a Tech-record 11 blocked shots in the Jackets' season-opener against Winthrop, and went on to shatter the school season mark with 141. He finished the season averaging 6.8 points along with 6.7 rebounds per game. His intimidating presence gives Tech a solid anchor for its defense, and Cremins looks for continued development in his post offense.

"He was a big surprise," said Cremins of Jones, who was invited to try out for the U.S. Goodwill Games team, but was forced to decline because of a stress fracture in his foot. "I had no idea he would come in and start right away. He can really block shots. But he's not there yet. He needs to get stronger and more mature. He has the possibility of being a very fine player."

Cremins has some decisions to make on the other three starters, however, including breaking in a new starting point guard to replace the departed Travis Spivey, who averaged 5.7 points and ranked sixth in the ACC with 4.3 assists per game last year as a freshman. Spivey, in good academic standing but uncomfortable at Tech, felt his interests would be best served by transferring.

A pair of newcomers, 6-0 freshman guard Tony Akins from Berkmar High School in Lilburn, Ga., and 7-0 Jason Collier, who transferred from Indiana, figure prominently in Tech's plans. With Spivey gone, Akins becomes the favorite to start at point guard, while Collier, an excellent shooter, likely will start at power forward when he becomes eligible in December.

Akins, who became the third consecutive Georgia Mr. Basketball to sign with Tech, led his Berkmar High School team to the AAAA state finals last year, averaging 28.6 points and 6.5 assists per game. He was named the Georgia prep Player of the Year by both the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and USA Today. After Glover was a near-miss in ACC Rookie of the Year ballotting last year, Akins has the all-around shooting, penetrating and passing elements to make a run at becoming the ninth Tech player to win the award.

He inherits the heralded point guard job executed so deftly in past years by all-Americas Mark Price, Kenny Anderson, Travis Best and Stephon Marbury. To judge the importance of the point guard in the Yellow Jackets' success, one need only consider the fact that those four players led Tech to an average of 21 wins in their combined 11 seasons, as well as 11 of Tech's 13 post-season appearances.

"We did not recruit Tony Akins early, but Kevin Cantwell went to see him play and came back raving about him," Cremins said. "Dereck Whittenberg and I went to see him play, and we decided to go all out. We're really happy to once again have the player of the year in Georgia come to Tech."

Akins will be pushed by 5-11 sophomore T.J. Vines, a mild surprise as Spivey's primary backup a year ago. Vines played nearly 15 minutes a game, averaging 2.6 points and 1.3 assists per game while supplying solid defense. Though he made just 29 percent of his three-point attempts, he is a capable outside shooter who made some big threes. He recorded career highs of 12 points and six assists in Tech's second-round NIT win over Georgetown, playing the entire second half and keying a 16-point Jacket rally with three treys.

"We'll go after each other [at point guard]," said Cremins. "Tony can shoot the basketball. He's an all-around player with a lot of talent. T.J. showed us he can play, and we'll see how he matures. At first, we were disappointed with his outside shot. His shooting percentage was not what we hoped, but he can shoot it, and we want some scoring from him."

Tech's backcourt may also get a boost off the bench from Darryl LaBarrie, a 6-3 guard transfer from Florida A&M who made the all-Freshman team in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in 1996-97. He sat out last season at Tech after averaging 12.1 points and 2.3 assists for the Rattlers.

Collier, whose father Jeff played basketball at Tech from 1973-76, left Indiana following the fall semester last year. He enrolled at Tech for winter quarter and practiced with the Yellow Jackets throughout the remainder of last season. Under NCAA transfer rules, the Springfield, Ohio, native cannot play for Tech until fall quarter ends (Dec. 11), which means he will play his first game in a Tech uniform Dec. 13 against Georgia at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

A legitimate 7-footer, Collier averaged 9.7 points in his one-and-a-half seasons with the Hoosiers, including a 10.7 average and a 56.3 shooting percentage from the floor in his abbreviated sophomore season. As a freshman, he demonstrated an ability to shoot from the outside by making six of 13 three-point attempts. He blocked 43 shots in two seasons.

"I never thought Jason would ever transfer, but I'm very happy to have him here," said Cremins, who recruited Collier heavily out of high school. "It was a surprise Christmas gift."

Tech lost important depth in the frontcourt with the departure of 6-10 junior Pablo Machado, who transferred to Loyola Marymount after shooting an even 50 percent from the floor in two seasons while averaging 1.7 points and 1.4 rebounds per game.

The small forward position vacated by Harpring will be shared, or battled for, depending on one's perspective, by third-year players Jason Floyd and Jon Babul.

Floyd, a 6-6 swing player from Hampton, Ga., has shown steady progress in each of his first two seasons, mostly coming off the bench. Though he started just one game last year, he averaged 17 minutes and 6.4 points per game, actually finishing the season as Tech's fifth-leading scorer. He notched his career-high of 22 points in Tech's season-opener against Winthrop, and posted seven double-digit games during the season.

He supplies perhaps Tech's best outside threat. Floyd led Tech last season in three-point shooting with 38.6 percent, and was even better in ACC games at 41.1 percent.

Babul, a solid, fundamentally-sound 6-7 player from North Attleboro, Mass., red-shirted last season while recovering from a stress fracture in his foot. He played nearly 20 minutes a game as a freshman, when he played in 26 games and started six, and averaged 2.2 points and 2.8 rebounds. A tenacious rebounder, he grabbed more rebounds on the offensive glass than on the defensive end. Until Collier is eligible, it is likely Babul will fill the power forward spot.

"Jon and Jason will battle it out, but we need them both," Cremins said. "One can start and the other come off the bench. I feel like Jon can be a very good player for us. He's a smart player, and he's tough. He's not a great shooter, but he does everything else extremely well. Jason needs work on his defense and handling the ball, but he's coming on."

A few walk-ons return to add depth, including 6-7 junior forward Ashley Kelly of Albany, Ga., and a quartet of guards in 6-3 junior Paul Trotti of Marietta, Ga., 5-10 sophomore Kyle Perry of Snellville, Ga., 6-4 Bert Culbreth of Loganville, Ga., and 6-2 red-shirt freshman Steve Economos of Dunwoody, Ga.

While the make-up of this year's team differs significantly from last year with the departures of Harpring and Maddox and the fact that Tech has no senior class, Cremins is confident the pieces are in place for the Jackets to continue their climb back to the NCAA Tournament.

"Last year was a very important year, because we finished last in the ACC the year before and were projected to finish last again [Tech finished sixth]," said Cremins. "We came within one game of getting to the Big Dance. Winning 19 games and getting to the third round of the NIT made it a good season. Not a great season, but a good one.

"To me, it was definitely a year of progress. We need to take it one more step. Our goal is to get back [to the NCAA Tournament]. I think, with our personnel, we have a good chance."