Can Georgia Tech Play the Role of Spoiler in the ACC Tournament?
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Georgia Tech's regular season ended with a bit of a dud yesterday on the road vs Virginia, but the Yellow Jackets had an overall strong finish, winning three of their last four games and four of their last six. They will be facing Notre Dame in the first round of the ACC Tournament on Tuesday and in Damon Stoudamire's first ACC Tournament, I think there is a chance that the Yellow Jackets could play spoiler.
Looking at Georgia Tech's resume this season will make your head spin trying to make sense of it. They have bad losses to UMass Lowell, a blowout vs Cincinnati, two losses to Notre Dame, a loss to Louisville, and a loss to Boston College. Interestingly enough, Georgia Tech has found ways to win against Mississippi State (a projected NCAA Tournament team), Duke, North Carolina, Clemson, and Wake Forest. Georgia Tech has four Quad 1 wins, which is more than Auburn, Alabama, or Gonzaga. The Yellow Jackets have shown the ability to beat good teams, but the propensity to lose to nearly anyone. It makes them the ACC's most unpredictable team going into the Tournament on Tuesday.
So the question is: How far can Georgia Tech go?
I am not going to try and sell you that they can win the whole thing. I don't think they are deep enough or talented enough to win five games in five days, which is what they will have to do. I think they have the capability of winning multiple games though.
They will have to figure out how to beat Notre Dame. Georgia Tech is 0-2 against the Fighting Irish this season, but the two losses are by a combined 10 points. The Yellow Jackets had plenty of chances to win both games and are more than capable of winning their first-round matchup.
Georgia Tech Forward Baye Ndongo vs Virginia
Then it gets interesting. If Georgia Tech is able to take down Notre Dame on Tuesday, they will get a third matchup with Wake Forest and it is hard to predict how that will go because of the stark contrast of the first two matchups.
The first game was one of Georgia Tech's worst losses of the season. Wake Forest came into Atlanta and won 80-51 and Georgia Tech had one of the worst offensive starts you will see in college basketball.
This past Tuesday though, the Yellow Jackets got their revenge. It was their turn to jump out to a big lead, but unlike Wake Forest, Georgia Tech had trouble hanging on in this game. It took a game-winning shot from Baye Ndongo to give them a huge win and hand the Demon Deacons their only home loss this season. I think Wake Forest is a bad matchup for Georgia Tech because of their offense and Wake shot the ball super poorly from three in the last game, something that might not happen again.
Another factor in a hypothetical rematch with Wake Forest is they are currently on the NCAA Tournament bubble and need to make a good run in the ACC Tournament to ensure they get in. They have a lot to play for and won't take Georgia Tech lightly after what happened in the last game. If the Yellow Jackets win though, they could knock the Demon Deacons off the bubble and into the NIT.
I have been wrong quite a few times this season about this team, but I think two wins is probably the max they can get this week. If they get to the quarterfinals and play Pitt, it will be their third game in three days, which is tough on any team. The Panthers are another team that is fighting for an NCAA Tournament birth and they will have the benefit of a double-bye this week. Pitt won the only matchup between the two teams this season.
For Georgia Tech to have a chance to put some wins together this week, they are going to have to fix a few things. Turnovers have been a problem all season and almost cost them in the win over Wake Forest and they were again a problem last night vs Virginia. The three-point shooting has to be there as well. The Yellow Jackets shot 4-21 from three last night while Virginia was 12-21. Anytime a team hits eight more threes than you, you won't win. These are the two areas of focus for the Yellow Jackets, as well as being better on defense.
Georgia Tech has been a high-variance team all year and that makes predicting how this upcoming week will go a challenge. They could be in the quarterfinals with a chance to get even further or they could lose to Notre Dame on Tuesday.
Let's just wait and see what happens in the nation's capital this week.
