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.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
489 comments Add your comment
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
6:12 pm
Tom: We will not win one game in the tourney. This team is SAD.
GT/Falcons fan
March 6th, 2010
6:12 pm
Unk boh mangahnee lanee cha lahnee cha
Ashley
March 6th, 2010
6:12 pm
Pathetic. I completely expect to this team to lose in the first round of the ACC tournament.
yellow dog
March 6th, 2010
6:12 pm
Mr. Paul “Blewitt” Hewitt. Smells like another loss.
PawleysIslandJacket
March 6th, 2010
6:12 pm
We should refuse our NIT bid. Lets either fire Hewitt or drop men’s basketball. Thjere is absolutely no reason to continue this pitiful charade of a program.
yellow snow
March 6th, 2010
6:13 pm
Nah nah nah anh anh nah nah nah hey hey hey GOODBYE… and by the way. Go DAWGS! 30-24
Phil
March 6th, 2010
6:13 pm
“Lol @ Hewitt supporters…comon u UNk boh maanganheees state ur case!!!!!!”
Am I missing something here? Are there really Hewitt supporters out there?
Tech Forever
March 6th, 2010
6:13 pm
Tech Forever finishes the regular season going 11 for 11 in outcome predictions. Too easy.
Ashley
March 6th, 2010
6:13 pm
What was strange about it? Our talent can’t overcome our horrible coaching. That’s the story of the last ten years. Nothing particularly strange or surprising about it.
GT/Falcons fan
March 6th, 2010
6:13 pm
Hewitt better call that fahhhtarse Sharpton, his job is on DA LINE!!!
GTGuy44
March 6th, 2010
6:13 pm
I predicted last Fall that we would have a losing record in the ACC. Yes we did and we lost to VT with them playing without their second best player who scored 41 points in a game this season (high in the ACC). Hewitt has to go. He simply cannot coach.
Turnt_Up
March 6th, 2010
6:13 pm
Seriously, I don’t want more disappointment of playing in ACC tourney. If it weren’t for our seniors getting a final chance to play, I would vote to skip it altogether.
DCJacket
March 6th, 2010
6:14 pm
I wonder what CPH will Tweet?
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
6:14 pm
I CANNOT believe that DRAD will not even address how bad this is. Does anyone think he ever sits down with Hewitt and gives him the “what-for”???? He should at least make the job unbearable for Hewitt, if nothing else. Hewitt’s performance deserves nothing less..
yellow snow
March 6th, 2010
6:14 pm
Love the sound of wheels falling off a band wagon. Football now basketball. I guess the baseball bees fall next?
DCJacket
March 6th, 2010
6:15 pm
Let’s get ourselves a good coach, and when he puts together one good season let’s NOT sign him to an extension out of desperation.
GT/Falcons fan
March 6th, 2010
6:15 pm
Touch Black no trade back…….lol. hhaahahahaha I AM so wrong on so many levels
Turnt_Up
March 6th, 2010
6:15 pm
Falcon, what does Sharpton have to do with Hewitt?
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
6:16 pm
The bandwagon in the other sports is ALIVE AND WELL…..you ugag idiots!! Paul now understands how painful it is to lose to redneck mutts, and I don’t see it happening again.
Tom
March 6th, 2010
6:17 pm
On a side note, I wonder if UNC has ever lost 3 times to a team in the same season? We will likely play them right? I give us a 50/50 chance. Nah, we’ve lost 3/4. Make that a 10% chance. But Hewitt said we are playing our best bball of the season! Bwahahaha. I guess that makes us 8th best in the league!
HugoStiglitz
March 6th, 2010
6:17 pm
7-9 in a down season with the ACC with three Mcdonalds all americans. What a freaking joke. Seriously, something has to change. This is downright stupid at this point.
GT/Falcons fan
March 6th, 2010
6:17 pm
NOOOH body knows da trobles i seen….no body knows my sorrow……
SOMEBODY STOP ME!!!!!!!!
RAMBLE ON!!!
March 6th, 2010
6:17 pm
This has to be the end of Phewitt!!!
GROUND HOG DAY MOST END!!!
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
6:18 pm
Tom: I know this. Roy Williams can coach blind-folded better than Hewitt.
Turnt_Up
March 6th, 2010
6:18 pm
DCJacket, who do you recommend for our “good” coach? Finding one available who can compete in ACC isn’t as easy as most think.
obvious truth
March 6th, 2010
6:18 pm
Tech wont get in. Many more appealing bubble teams and this team doesnt have any chemistry to win in a single elimination tournament setup(see Dayton game). This team responds well to adversity but not so well to pressure.
DCJacket
March 6th, 2010
6:18 pm
I wonder what Hewitt will say on Twitter?
old Tech fan in NC
March 6th, 2010
6:18 pm
Is VT the team you want to engage in a foul contest?
Jacket Backer
March 6th, 2010
6:18 pm
Can we fire him now?! CPH, hands down the worst coach in college basketball!
Butts Wagner
March 6th, 2010
6:19 pm
Is VT the team you want to engage in a foul contest?
Shouldn’t have been necessary.
obvious truth
March 6th, 2010
6:19 pm
Dayton was not single elimination touranment. Tech cant win under pressure. Mental discipline too low.
Island Buzz
March 6th, 2010
6:19 pm
Enough with the one and dones – get some kids who want to play and a coach who knows how to coach them up – not down
Jarred
March 6th, 2010
6:20 pm
Too bad you cannot afford to fire him.. he knows it. I’ve never heard of a tenured coach before, but until Tech manages to make some money, not happening anytime soon, he’ll still be there. That’s the problem with the lovely revolving contract you gave him.
The coach prior to hew
March 6th, 2010
6:20 pm
came from App State…I like the guy there today.
Ashley
March 6th, 2010
6:20 pm
This team hasn’t improved one iota since the loss to Dayton. Have some decency and quit, Hewitt.
Tech Fan
March 6th, 2010
6:21 pm
Hewitt has brought ALOT to tech basketball. and incase anyone is forgetting most of the starters are freshman. The only ones who dont know anything about basketball are the ones that are commenting here. Hewitt needs to stay at tech. and UGA fans commenting on tech basketball….? Now thats funny….. Hewitt is an ecellent coach and has done well this season with alot of freshman… I want to see him return. The others here commenting on him getting fired need to get a grip.
moboman
March 6th, 2010
6:21 pm
Ugly. As usual, a clueless effort. Signature moment, Tech coming back with 3 minutes left, and he brakes up the chemistry by inserting UDOFA. classic. Seeya CPH. Awful. Sickening season. So much talent wasted.
HEWITT MUST GO!
March 6th, 2010
6:21 pm
Hewitt must go! what can he be thinking??? does he just make up this alternate reality for himself where he is the perfect coach??? does he really think 7-9 is good enuff to make the NCAA tourney…bcuz it isnt! and shouldnt be! he is an embarrassment to coaching…and is embarrassing the traditions that bobby cremins instilled at tech! hate hate hate watching hewitt teams…so **** tired of it! Hewitt if you read these blogs…as a season ticketholder…I am telling you to just drop it and go! You would make more fans that way!! THANKS!
Tech Fan
March 6th, 2010
6:22 pm
And as far as Mark Bradley commenting on anything tech…. I call it like it has been …. bradley is a UGA homer and always will be.
DCJacket
March 6th, 2010
6:22 pm
Turnt_Up, that’s why we have coaching searches. I don’t profess to know the one guy we should hire, but we all know that we are in dire need of new direction for this program. Some Moneyball-esque, Billy Beane-style financial management is needed– no quick, speculative extensions. If we become a school who loses its coach(es) to glitzier programs or to the Thug-BA, then so be it.
Paul in RDU
March 6th, 2010
6:23 pm
GT beat UNC 3 times in 1985 – Bobby’s first ACC champion team.
I expect GT to lose to UNC in Greensboro next week. That will essentially be a home game for the TarHeels
GTkenz
March 6th, 2010
6:23 pm
Wrong Sir!!! Tech is NIT bound. They do not deserve by any stretch an NCAA bid. Selfishly, I would love to see them get in, if for nothing else the experience, but they are not NCAA worthy even in a down year for College Hoops.
No fire, no sense of urgency, and without question no coaching. If you look at this team on paper, they are National Championship contenders, but for what I can only assume is a lack of coaching, these kids underachieve.
I don’t want to banish Hewitt, I want Hewitt to get in some grills and start coaching. This is not a rebuilding year. It was supposed to be special, but when you lose to a terrible UGA team and slide in the 2nd half the way they have, no one should expect an NCAA bid. Pitiful, just dadgum Pitiful!!!
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
6:23 pm
Tech Fan…or should I say Hewitt’s mom? wife? dad? brother?
I don’t know what you think good basketball is, but by the end of the season, the guys should be playing better, not worse. I don’t care if they are freshmen or juniors!! They should get better. They are NOT!!
GT/Falcons fan
March 6th, 2010
6:23 pm
Kennesaw State has a good coach, Steve Alford is rockin, there r loads of good coaches out there…Hewitt’s system will not work anymore….I am sorry. Fire the PM>
But Remember...We're Young
March 6th, 2010
6:24 pm
Looking forward to Hewitts presser…”we’re young, couple of bad breaks, playing our best ball of the season, true fans will stick with the team.” His excuses are as predictable as his teams lack of fundamentals, poor free throw shooting and, of course, their inability to inbound the ball.
DCJacket
March 6th, 2010
6:25 pm
Hewitt= Mike Dunleavy of college basketball
Keep it up GT
March 6th, 2010
6:25 pm
Preseason overview:
“Georgia Tech has the roster to erase the memories of its brutal performance in ACC competition last season, when it finished last. The Yellow Jackets return six of their top eight scorers”
“Don’t be fooled by Tech’s poor 2008-09 performance. This is a dynamic team capable of making serious noise in the ACC. If the freshmen are as good as advertised, Georgia Tech should end its two-year NCAA tournament drought.”
Favorite Hewitt Moment of the game...
March 6th, 2010
6:26 pm
The time out right after Favors dunk around 8 minutes… had a little MO and he snuffed it. Good job coach! It’s like any three or dunk on the 2nd half, with GT behind, you can be absolutely sure that Hewitt will call a TO. He doesn’t even think about it…it’s a reflex.
Has there ever been a harder team to watch???
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 6th, 2010
6:26 pm
Hewitt should have a teleprompter for his pressers. LOL
If you are going to say nothing, it is best to have it rehearsed and mimic it from the prompter.
GT/Falcons fan
March 6th, 2010
6:28 pm
Kentucky is young…..is Caliparri makin excuses….unk boh mahhnganee lanee cha lahnne cha