Tech vs. Georgia: Has balance of power shifted in hoops?
Brian Gregory: Can he wake up Tech?
Mark Fox: Got Dogs to tourney quickly.
Because of obvious allegiances, it’s nearly impossible for fans/readers in these parts to debate the merits of Georgia and Georgia Tech — or to be fair: Georgia Tech and Georgia — and remain objective. But here goes:
Loading ...Has the balance of power in college basketball between Georgia and Tech officially shifted to Athens?
I touched on this subject two weeks ago, though it was more from a conference perspective after the SEC earned more spots in the NCAA tournament than the ACC.
I’ll concede these two points on Georgia and Georgia Tech: 1) Mark Fox has coached only two seasons and next year the Bulldogs almost certainly will have to do without Trey Thompkins (who’s expected to turn pro) and possibly without Travis Leslie (who may follow him); 2) As much as the Georgia Tech fan base appears split on Brian Gregory — much like the Dayton fan base was split on Gregory — we have no idea what kind of job he’ll do on The Flats.
Here’s the situation at the two schools:
♦ Georgia: Fox brought Georgia to the NCAA tournament in only his second season. The Bulldogs’ conference record (9-7) was their best in the SEC since Jim Harrick cheated. Harrick’s best SEC record in a season that the NCAA determined he didn’t cheat: 9-7 in 2000-01. Fox energized the fan base and woke up recruiting. We can debate whether the Dogs, who lost in the first round of the tournament to Washington, underachieved this season or not. My view: They did not underachieve. Thompkins, their best player, was slowed much of the season by injuries. He’s the difference in several of those close losses. This also is a program still learning how to win. Fox inherited a team that went 12-20 the previous season and he went 14-17 and 21-12 in his first two years. The arrow: pointing up.
♦ Georgia Tech: Recruits are still drawn to Georgia Tech. We know this because for all of the criticism Paul Hewitt took the past few years, he was able to get talent on campus. Gregory’s success obviously hinges in part on how quickly he can make inroads in the state (and that starts with holding onto Milton High School’s Julian Royal). The Jackets can get better quickly. The ACC is not the powerhouse it used to be. But Gregory obviously has a lot to prove. Hewitt was fired at least in part because he couldn’t win in the ACC. Gregory leveled off in the Atlantic 10. His first two Dayton teams went 22-10 in conference. His next six went 48-48, and only one over .500: 11-5 in 2008-09, when the Flyers went to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Next season, he’ll have to try to get people excited while the Jackets split games between Philips Arena and Gwinnett Arena. The arrow: Uncertain.
So there are the Cliffs notes. Your thoughts? Has one program pulled ahead of the other? I’ve also put up a poll.
By Jeff Schultz
♦
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169 comments Add your comment
Paul in RDU
March 29th, 2011
1:15 am
Since the SEC fans love to post the record in football for the last 10 years, let’s compare the ACC to SEC in b’ball from 2001 to 2010
Championships ACC 5 SEC (aka Florida) 2
Final games ACC 6 SEC 2
Final Four ACC 9 SEC 2
SEC has a chance to slightly close the gap this year with UK
GT has the power
March 29th, 2011
2:33 am
Fox is overrated. His end of game coaching is among the worst in the country. See: game after game this season. GT will continue to have the power and outrecruit the state by far over UGa. All 5 UGa basketball fans will cry together when the realize that Fox is hot garbage.
Hairy Dawg
March 29th, 2011
7:27 am
UGA goning running ownership of state in basketbal just like we doing for football.
C C
March 29th, 2011
9:02 am
Too early to tell for BOTH coaches, though Fox has done pretty well so far. I’m not ecstatic about Gregory’s hire but I’m certainly willing to give him a shot, and am relieved that Hewitt has a chance to try to do better somewhere else. Like most objective Tech fans, I see several things that bode well and several potential red flags.
If you measure ONLY this year, UGA has done better than GT. That’s not enough to proclaim they are the better program. If you go back 5, 10, or more years and look at the body of work, GT is the better program. Yes GT will be without a campus home court, but only for one year season. Then they’ll end up with great BB facilities across the board. It’ll happen soon enough.
Jeff, you suggested that the SEC was better than the ACC right now, essentially based on them getting 5 teams in the NCAAs while the ACC got 4 teams in. A simplistic and selective argument. The ACC was still down, but you are using ONE close statistic.
The ACC had two teams on the bubble who didn’t make it, while the SEC had one. Two SEC teams were out after 1 game, then the Vols lost by THIRTY to an unspectacular Michigan team. Gotta give Kentucky props (and Ashley Judd can ignite the ol’ fan base!), but as the season has progressed, the ACC’s top two have been ranked more highly than the SEC’s top two. It’s been pretty close though.
Meanwhile the middle and lower-tier teams this year were generally better in the ACC. For example: Looking at Sagarin, For EVERY team from 1st to 11th in each of the two conferences, the ACC team has a higher ‘ranking’ than the corresponding SEC…every single one #1 to #11. Only for the #12 team was the SEC team higher: Awful Auburn vs awful Wake.
Yes the ACC was down, but as a conference overall, it was still ranked ABOVE the SEC by every measure I could find. Look up whatever ratings you can find, Sagarin, Pomeroy/Kenpom, average RPI, etc…and compare all of the teams. The ACC was ahead everywhere I looked, but it was certainly closer than usual this year.
C C
March 29th, 2011
9:06 am
“UGA goning running ownership of state in basketbal just like we doing for football.”
Wow. I hope that was some sort of joke:
An daauwgs runn ownershep of grammmar, an soberness 2! An reel smarte poleetishuns!
Now you know: Apparently at least one of the Chick-Fil-A Cows received an English degree from UGA…
It Ain't Rocket Science
March 29th, 2011
10:52 am
Seems like the topic of this blog has been forgotten by a few of the people on here, that hate each others schools. It is, “Has UGA slipped by GT in Basketball”, I beleive. I am a big fan of UGA sports, but I don’t beleive a few down years by one school or another proves some type of dominance by the other school. GT has been traditionally a BB school, by virtue of their record and the ACC. UGA, is the football school by virtue of the SEC and the size of the school alone. I am sure that Tech. has beaten UGA in BB more than UGA has beaten TECH., just as I am sure that UGA has beaten Tech. the majority of time in football. Since I was a teenager, and believe me, that is more than a few decades ago, the ACC has been the power conference in basketball, and every since my early thirties, the SEC has been dominant in football. Things were different when I was younger. I can even remember, when the U.S. Naval Academy finished nbr. 2 in the country with Roger Staubach, but got their butt whippped in the cotton bowl by Texas. The State of Georgia has a rich tradition in college sports, and every Georgian should be proud of that fact. Everybody on these blogs, spends too much time being negative. Georgia sports has enough detractors from just the Alabama, Ohio’s, Tenn. and Florida detractors that come on these boards to insult Georgia college sports teams. Of course, when an AJC sports writer, writes blogs such as this, with the intended purpose in mind, of fueling a debate as silly as this one is, it makes it easier to get schools fan bases going at each other.
The Sham
March 29th, 2011
12:34 pm
@Schultz – Fair enough… I’m not saying UGA is poised for a Final Four run next year, I’m just saying we are on the way up and GT is… well… they just hired a head coach that was mediocre at a mid-level school. Time will tell…
We just agree to disagree. I still love you man!
Kenny Powers
March 29th, 2011
6:44 pm
Good one GT has the power.
Why don’t you see Kennesaw State and 73-72.
Douchenozzle
James Adams
March 29th, 2011
10:57 pm
ACC fans are so funny. If you want dominance, go watch football. If you want to live on the past, keep listening to people like Wes Durham and Billy Packer. Win 6 Championships in a row, quit losing BCS games…and I love how you don’t comment on the 7-14 record head-to-head. 17 years in not some flash in the pan sample size. It’s 17 years!! How many overrated centers have graced the hardcourt at UNC since then? 7-14….SEVEN AND FOURTEEN! Yeah, I wouldn’t comment on that either.
GT75
March 30th, 2011
10:25 am
We’re a baseball school now.
Jim n Buckhead
March 30th, 2011
11:31 am
GT will be better in the long haul when they get the new stadium in place but Im not sure if this new coach is the answer…
Damon Evans
March 30th, 2011
3:28 pm
LOL GT is and its not even close. When is the last time UGA even won a tourney game. UGA basketball reminds me of Northwestern basketball…both prorgames are garbage.
keith
March 30th, 2011
3:43 pm
UGA has the better PROGRAM? Please. Fair to say that UGA has the better team right now, but for them to have had ONE good season and make ONE NCAA tournament in the last decade and for them to suddenly be a better PROGRAM than Tech is ridiculous. People that think UGA is the better program can only base that on the fact that Tech is starting over right now. If Gregory turns Tech around in one year (doubtful), then Tech is without a doubt the better program, and no one will ever look back and say “For one year, Georgia was the better program.” Come on. To be a better program they need to outplay, outcoach, outrecruit, and have better results than Tech for more than ONE consecutive year.
When Tech had the brief upper hand on UGA in football a couple of years ago, did Tech suddenly have the better football PROGRAM? I know exactly what Dog fans would say, and what smart Jacket fans would say. No. Idiot Jacket fans would say yes, just like idiot Dog fans would say yes to this debate.
Howie
March 30th, 2011
3:45 pm
The 1st comment on this page is correct. I would rater compare Tech to Kennesaw State, as their players are not in trouble with the law, which is a problem in the Bulldog nation…….
Gtfan11
March 30th, 2011
4:34 pm
Until Brian Gregory proves otherwise, UGA has the better program. It pains me to say but hogmtndawg may not have been far off base with the state rankings.
1. UGA
2. Norcross HS
3. Milton HS
4. Kennesaw State
5-Tie: GT/Georgia State
Reality Check
March 30th, 2011
4:42 pm
GA Tech has been at the bottom of the list in the NCAA for years at graduating basketball players. They get thugs that can’t read and they only play for 1 year. Why doesn’t Tech try teaching any of their ball players to read?
Atlanta
March 30th, 2011
4:43 pm
UGA whipped Tech the past 2 years and Tech hasn’t even won a game in Athens since 1976. Tech hasn’t been relevant in a over a decade. No one even cares enough to attend their games.
GDBurdell
March 30th, 2011
4:52 pm
tek, tek baseball and tek basketball are huge suck, why even have a stupid survey that pretends otherwise
GDBurdell
March 30th, 2011
4:53 pm
when will tek stop recruiting criminals and thugs who are constantly in trouble with the law??????