Archive for May, 2010

Continue reading A couple of videos from Tech’s baseball win »

The first part of the NCAA’s annual APR report is out and five Tech teams were recognized for being in the top 10 percent of their sports: baseball, men’s cross country, golf, women’s cross country and volleyball.

Overall, 841 teams were recognized by the NCAA. The APR, or Academic Progress Rate, provides “a real-time view of a team’s academic success by tracking the progress of each student-athlete during the school year. By measuring eligibility and retention each semester or quarter, the APR provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.

“An APR score of 925 is the minimum level of academic success; teams scoring below 925 can lose scholarships and face other sanctions over time, including bans on postseason play.”

The rest of the scores are coming out later this spring.

You can find a searchable database for the scores here.

Continue reading Five Tech teams honored by NCAA »

As some of you may have heard, the ACC seems to have done very well for itself, according to the Sports Business Journal.

It is reporting that ESPN has purchased the ACC’s TV rights for football and men’s basketball for $1.86 billion over 12 years. Yep, that said billion. The ACC has not come out and publicly said a deal is done. Neither has the Worldwide Leader, which isn’t normally modest about such things. The deal picks up in 2012 and lasts through the 2022-23 seasons.

The increase from the ACC’s current contract is substantial: $80 million a year more to $155 million. To compare, SEC schools split $205 million a year in its deal with ESPN. So, factoring in the share the conference offices receive, each school in the ACC will pocket  $11.92 million a year compared to the SEC’s $15.77 million.

Drilling a bit further down, Tech will be pocketing $6 million and a few pennies more each year.

Again, all of this is based on the numbers being in the ballpark.

Now, you may ask a …

Continue reading ACC’s billion-dollar deal »

It was a mixed bag for Tech’s teams last weekend:

• The baseball team took two out of three from Miami to move into a tie for second in the Coastal Division.
• The softball team destroyed all comers to win the ACC tournament in Blacksburg.
• The women’s tennis team was swept 4-0 by Ole Miss in its NCAA regional.
• The men’s tennis team was beaten 4-1 by Kentucky in its regional.
• The men’s and women’s athletes on the track teams posted a few personal bests at the Georgia Tech Invitational.

Perhaps the most disappointing was the women’s tennis team. Coach Bryan Shelton said the team’s goal was to win the national championship, so to get beaten on their home court was not what he had in mind. The Rebels seemed content to just put the ball in play and wait on mistakes, and Tech would miss shots by a few inches here and there. Eventually, the mistakes added up.

The most surprising was how thoroughly the softball team romped to its second consecutive ACC title. The Jackets were the top …

Continue reading The weekend that was, the week upcoming »

As many of you know, Georgia Tech will host Miami in an important three-game ACC series at Russ Chandler Stadium, beginning Friday.

Tech needs to win this series. It has stumbled a bit recently, dropping three of its past five series, including to relative lightweights Virginia Tech and N.C. State.

If the Yellow Jackets (39-9, 17-7) can sweep the series against the Hurricanes (36-11, 18-6) , it could be on top of the ACC by Monday if North Carolina can take care of business against co-leader Virginia (40-9, 18-6).

The rotation

Friday

Georgia Tech RHP Deck McGuire (6-3, 3.05 ERA) vs.  Miami LHP Chris Hernandez (7-2, 3.04)

Saturday
Georgia Tech RHP Mark Pope (7-0, 3.73 ERA) vs. Miami RHP Jason Santana (5-2, 4.83)

Sunday
Georgia Tech  LHP Jed Bradley (8-2, 3.75 ERA) vs. Miami RHP David Gutierrez (5-0, 3.86)

A breakdown of the game:

GT/UM/Advantage
Batting Average/.328/.301/GT
Runs Per Game/9.6/7.9/GT
Hits Per Game/11.8/10.3/GT
Doubles/105/100/GT
Triples/23/18/GT
Home …

Continue reading Georgia Tech vs. Miami »

Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team will play at Northwestern in the 12th annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge, officials announced today.

The game will be on Nov. 30. Time and TV will be announced later.

The ACC has won 10 of the 11 Challenges, winning 67 of the 108 games.

The Yellow Jackets did not play in last year’s challenge because they finished 12th in the league in the 2008-09 season. They are 4-6 in the Challenge, and have yet to face the Wildcats.

This year’s schedule:

2010 ACC/Big Ten Challenge schedule (times and networks are to be determined):

Monday, November 29

Virginia at Minnesota

Tuesday, November 30

North Carolina at Illinois

Ohio State at Florida State

Michigan at Clemson

Georgia Tech at Northwestern

Iowa at Wake Forest

Wednesday, December 1

Michigan State at Duke

Purdue at Virginia Tech

North Carolina State at Wisconsin

Indiana at Boston College

Maryland at Penn State

Here are scores from the previous Challenges, courtesy of the ACC:

Results by year:

1999 (ACC …

Continue reading Tech will take on Northwestern in hoops »

Georgia Tech’s softball team will take on Boston College on Friday in the first round of the ACC tournament in Blacksburg, Va.

The Yellow Jackets are the defending champions, and are the top seed heading into their 5 p.m. game.

I must confess, I’ve always been impressed by fast-pitch softball. I have no idea how the players ever get a hit. The mound is just 43 feet away, and the action that the pitchers can put on the ball, coupled by the need for the batter to instantaneously decide what type of pitch they’re seeing, where it’s located and if it’s possible for them to do anything with it even if they get the bat on it, make it fun to watch and to play.

Because I’m not good enough with words to illustrate the challenges, I thought it might be fun to try my first blog video and show you how tough it is. It’s in two parts, both are very short, but I hope it gives you an idea of the challenges that someone like Jen Yee, who is batting a whopping .583 this year, faces when she’s …

Continue reading Do you think you can hit one of these pitches? »

Colossal. Important. Fun.

Whatever word you want to use, it’s likely appropriate.

Many of Tech’s spring teams will be playing important games starting Friday:

• The baseball team will host Miami in an important three-game series with a share of first-place in the ACC at stake. More on that on ajc.com later this week.
• The softball team will be trying to defend its ACC tournament title in Blacksburg. More on that on ajc.com later this week.
• The men’s and women’s tennis teams will start NCAA play, the women at home and the men in Lexington, Ky.
• The track and field teams will host the Georgia Tech Invitational, which continues Saturday.

All in all, a lot of stuff.

But first, the baseball team will honor the 1985 team, dubbed the Joltin’ Jackets, on Saturday.The Joltin’ Jackets won Tech’s first ACC title, the first of four consecutive under former manager Jim Morris, who is now with Miami.

As part of the honors, the team will wear throwback uniforms from that year.

After you see …

Continue reading Big weekend for lots of Tech teams »

ESPN’s Chad Ford has posted his first NBA mock draft here: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2010/insider/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=MockDraft-100506

You may have to be a member to read it.

He has former Georgia Tech freshman Derrick Favors going third to Sacramento, saying this:

Analysis: The Kings might be terrible at the moment, but a core of Tyreke Evans and Favors would make them very dangerous in the future. Favors didn’t have a huge freshman season at Georgia Tech, but he has the potential to be the next Antonio McDyess.

Although it’s clear the Kings like Carl Landry and Jason Thompson, neither has the upside of Favors.

However, he didn’t have former Tech junior Gani Lawal going in the first round. He is listed as one of the next players in. Lawal averaged 13.1 points and 8.5 rebounds last year. He put his name in for the NBA draft after his sophomore season but withdrew it to return to school and refine his game.

Favors averaged 12.4 points and 8.4 …

Continue reading One NBA mock draft is in and there’s a surprise »

It’s been worth the long drives. It’s been worth the insults.

On Saturday, Georgia Tech assistant baseball coach Matt White will graduate from Georgia.

You read that right.

Matt White

Georgia.

He will receive a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife, 14 years after he graduated from high school in Waynesboro, Pa.

And yes, he’s gotten plenty of gruff. Mostly from the players he supervises.

“Baseball players have a knack for harassing each other,” he said. “When we get close to playing Georgia, they ask me who am I going to root for. There’s constant harassment.”

It’s been a long journey to get that diploma.

He signed with the San Francisco Giants in 1996 and spent 10 years with the Tampa Bay franchise.

When he left professional baseball in 2006 he said he needed to come up with a plan.

An avid hunter and outdoorsman, he found out Georgia had one of the top-five programs for Wildlife.

He applied and got into school and got into the program. Around the same time the opportunity to coach …

Continue reading Tech coach about to get his degree from Georgia. You read that right. »