Live from G-Tech vs. V-Tech: It’s NOT an elimination game
Here's what it's all about, folks. Eight days until the invitations are extended. (Bracket courtesy of ESPN.com)
There are those who’ll disagree, but I don’t believe Georgia Tech would be in dire straits, Dance-wise, if it loses today. As I’ve mentioned a time or two, I’m fairly certain the Yellow Jackets can finish 7-9 in regular-season ACC play and still make the field of 65 on the strength of their schedule and RPI. And this will sound strange, but here goes:
G-Tech, which will finish behind Virginia Tech in the ACC, is in better shape than the Hokies. If V-Tech loses here today, it’s in real trouble. If G-Tech loses, it’s in less.
At this moment, Joe Lunardi of ESPN.com lists G-Tech as a No. 10 seed in his updated Bracketology and V-Tech as a No. 11. Yes, the Hokies are 9-6 in the conference to the Jackets’ 7-8, but the NCAA committee cares less about standings than it does about SOS and RPI. And there’s your difference: V-Tech has an RPI of 55 and a SOS of 155; G-Tech has an RPI of 35 and an SOS of 18.
Put simply, V-Tech needs to beat somebody with a good RPI these next eight days to make the field. G-Tech needs only to win another game — and that victory can come either today or in Greensboro next Thursday — to make sure. And even if it loses both, G-Tech could still be invited to the only tournament that matters.
Maybe you shrugged when G-Tech beat Siena on Dec. 2, but the Saints have an RPI of 40. V-Tech, by way of contrast, played a non-conference schedule that included Brown, UNC Greensboro, Campbell, Delaware, Iowa (RPI of 195), Georgia (RPI of 95), VMI, Penn State, Charleston Southern, Maryland-Baltimore County, Longwood, Seton Hall (RPI of 56) and North Carolina Central. The Hokies did play Temple (RPI of 15) but lost.
And it isn’t as if Virginia Tech hasn’t been warned. It was snubbed 2008 after going 9-7 in the ACC because it played a weak non-conference slate. That came after coach Seth Greenberg contended, after a last-second loss to North Carolina in the ACC semis, that anyone who didn’t consider his Hokies an NCAA tournament team was “certifiably insane.”
But on every Selection Sunday, the chairman of that year’s committee tells Jim Nantz and Billy Packer the same thing: The committee’s advice is to go out and play someone good. G-Tech scheduled better than V-Tech. That’s why, eight days from Selection Sunday, GT is better situated than VPI.
With that, I’d be happy — nay, thrilled — to accept any and all questions, comments and predictions on tomorrow night’s Academy Awards. I’ll be here until we’re done with Tech-versus-Tech, and I’d be happy — nay, thrilled — if you’d join me. And yet again I thank you in advance.
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489 comments Add your comment
Tom
March 6th, 2010
5:27 pm
That isn’t good Mark. We can’t make our free throws.
PHMG
March 6th, 2010
5:27 pm
Paul Hewett Must Go – the Jackets are pathetic.
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
5:28 pm
Chump is TERRIBLE, but just like Reggie in football, he is much worse because he played for a coach that does not improve his players. They usually get worse..and at best, stay the same.
pbr in fla
March 6th, 2010
5:28 pm
I was at the national championship game in 2004; crazy exciting time; i can’t believe how far below .500 we are overall and in the ACC – as our humble correspondent host has put in his recent articles; GT is way down and we need a change, please!
Tom
March 6th, 2010
5:28 pm
But hewitt said we were playing our best basketball 2 weeks ago. Never mind they are 1-2 since then and about to be 1-3.
Mark Bradley
March 6th, 2010
5:28 pm
Favors tough shot slices the lead to 10, and he’ll have a free throw after the break.
They’re trying to get the ball inside. Especially when Shumpert’s not playing.
Tech Forever
March 6th, 2010
5:28 pm
Ashley, Fine. You’re right. I’ll make sure Coach Hewitt knows you’re disappointed he’s still on The Flats when practice starts next year.
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
5:29 pm
When you feed Favors, good things usually happen. But how often do we feed him? Very seldom.
Tom
March 6th, 2010
5:29 pm
55% to 36%. Like I said, eventually they will pull away.
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
5:30 pm
DRAD: He has to go. I don’t know how we do it in this economy, but he has to go. The GT alums and fans cannot be expected to watch this BULL forever.
Mark Bradley
March 6th, 2010
5:31 pm
Big trey by Terrell Bell.
Phil
March 6th, 2010
5:32 pm
I hope that Hewitt will consider taking the honorable route and resigning. As it is, he and his contract are holding our program hostage…. and there’s no change in sight.
Ashley
March 6th, 2010
5:32 pm
AlabamaRamblinWreck, you’re right that even PH’s wins are painful. I remember how frustrating it was watching the ‘03-04′ team during ACC play. Now if he were making regular tournament runs, I’d live with it. But I don’t want to put up with it for another finish in the bottom half of the conference.
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
5:32 pm
VPI players move the ball and get wide open shots…we flail around with our heads cutoff.
Mark Bradley
March 6th, 2010
5:33 pm
Oliver gets bailed out on an awful shot. Delaney fouls him. Oliver has three free throws.
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
5:34 pm
Exactly, Ashley…winning ugly is o.k. when you win a lot, but when you underachieve over and over and over and over and over, a change has to happen.
reid
March 6th, 2010
5:34 pm
Mark you a doubt ass if you think GT is going to make the tourney!!!! You should be fired!!!!!
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
5:35 pm
Embarrassed on senior day by a bubble team that is not even in the RPI top 40. Any well-coached team with a decent point guard WILL almost always beat GT under Blewitt.
louisville slugger
March 6th, 2010
5:35 pm
reid, I wouldn’t call someone an ass if you can’t spell “dumb”…
Butts Wagner
March 6th, 2010
5:36 pm
Lawal + Favors = 8 of 11 shooting, rest of team = 11 of 41
Phil
March 6th, 2010
5:36 pm
We play like a bunch of guys who just met each other and chose up sides at SAC right before tipoff.
Ashley
March 6th, 2010
5:36 pm
A “doubt” ass?
reid
March 6th, 2010
5:36 pm
sorry dumb ass!!!
How long?
March 6th, 2010
5:36 pm
Enter your comments here
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
5:36 pm
For the players’ sake, I hope they make the tourney….but for Hewitt’s sake, I couldn’t care less. HEWITT IS AN EMBARRASSMENT
Mark Bradley
March 6th, 2010
5:37 pm
VT by 15. I am … well, I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am.
Phil
March 6th, 2010
5:37 pm
Shumpert=Kevin Morris=Tony Akins
Tech Forever
March 6th, 2010
5:37 pm
louisville slugger, Maybe he’s questioning whether or not Bradley has a butt.
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
5:37 pm
Phil: That is what I have thought now for years.
Resign or Resign?
March 6th, 2010
5:37 pm
How does a team with TWO NBA lottery picks lose by double digits to VPI AT HOME??!!
How long?
March 6th, 2010
5:37 pm
How long till Hewitt’s gone?
RaleighJacket
March 6th, 2010
5:38 pm
This is getting ugly. Mark, this could be an elimination game if we lose by 20 at home to these guys.
louisville slugger
March 6th, 2010
5:38 pm
‘Bama, well said. I have no issues with the players, I always think they play hard, and yes, I think their defense on the whole has been excellent this year. But they are poorly led.
todd grantham
March 6th, 2010
5:38 pm
Why Mark, why on earth would this score surprise you?
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
5:38 pm
I really think Hewitt could not even be on the sidelines, in fact no coach at all, and they would not play worse. I really believe that.
Phil
March 6th, 2010
5:38 pm
Shumpert=Tony Akins=Kevin Morris
Mark Bradley
March 6th, 2010
5:39 pm
I don’t know, Coach Grantham.
Ashley
March 6th, 2010
5:39 pm
I hope we make the tournament just so our players can get something positive out of the season. They certainly haven’t benefited from their coaches. Favors draft stock has dropped and our upperclassmen have shown no positive improvement. I really feel bad for Bell after all he’s struggled with the past couple of years.
Tom
March 6th, 2010
5:39 pm
59% mark. It’s embarassing enough to lose at home to this team. But to get blown out is unnacceptable. You still think with this pathetic loss they are in Mark? I would hope not. This team doesn’t even deserve the NIT.
RaleighJacket
March 6th, 2010
5:40 pm
My definition of a good coach is one who has his team playing better at the end of every season than they were at the beginning. I can’t say that about this team. MD is playing better….VT is playing better…even UNC is playing better.
DCJacket
March 6th, 2010
5:40 pm
Shumpert= Tony Akins= Kevin Morris; are we going to be put on probation for playing someone who has already used up his eligibility?
todd grantham
March 6th, 2010
5:40 pm
But on a more interesting note, Georgia is playing down to LSU. Like so many college teams, they cant get fired up (so far) about playing a team as bad as LSU.
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
5:41 pm
Good coaches make teams better for being on the sidelines. (see Paul Johnson) Bad coaches will actually bring the talent down. It will cause teams with more talent than their opponents to actually lose games they have no business losing. Paul Hewitt is this kind of coach. He is worse than Gailey, and that is hard to say.
Paul in RDU
March 6th, 2010
5:41 pm
Prediction for the rest of the game.
GT goes 1 on 1 on offense and shoots with 25 seconds on the shot clock
VT runs off about 25 seconds every offensive possession before shooting (when they aren’t running down with 2 on 1s after a dumb GT shot)
VT by 10 at the end
Chad
March 6th, 2010
5:41 pm
I bet during timeouts hewitt says yo man, you is quick out der. Nice dunk. Now get dis game ova so we’z can go to da varsity and then to da club.
Butts Wagner
March 6th, 2010
5:41 pm
How does a team with TWO NBA lottery picks lose by double digits to VPI AT HOME??!!
Only 1 lottery pick, but Lawal came back to play his way into a potential lottery pick. Too bad he’s on a terrible team that may lead him to not even being picked in the first round. At this point, he should stick around for next year when he doesn’t have to split time with another really good front court player so he can make all of the inside plays himself and get better stats so he can be drafted higher.
coop64
March 6th, 2010
5:41 pm
Have we used all our timeouts yet?
How long?
March 6th, 2010
5:41 pm
GT will not win a game in the ACC tourney if they play like this…NIT.
Keep it up GT
March 6th, 2010
5:41 pm
Blown out at home should easily get them to the tournament, especially if Tech “is in better shape than the Hokies”
carrolltondawg
March 6th, 2010
5:42 pm
so does at double digit loss at home get you on the bubble?