The Current State Of the Georgia Tech Basketball Program

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for the Yellow Jackets, who have been struggling mightily and have dropped their seventh consecutive game yesterday vs Notre Dame. The Ramblin Wreck is a program flummoxed at the moment and can’t quite figure out how to end this stretch they are on. To make matters worse, the program even caught a stray from NC State head coach Will Wade yesterday in his postgame press conference. Let’s just say he was anything but complimentary of the Yellow Jackets program.

"The NCAA Tournament? We're a long way away from that. This team lost to Georgia Tech. We'd be lucky to make it to Dayton."

When the Yellow Jackets did beat NC State, they held them to 74 points and forced them to shoot 37% from the field. At the time, the win against NC State ended a three-game skid. Yes, it was an ugly game for NC State, but they won it with their defense. Sure, this hasn’t been a good season for the Yellow Jackets, who are 2-11 in ACC play, but they have gone up against some of the elite and hung tough. You can go back to Duke, NC State, and even Miami as games that got away late. The statement was very unnecessary, but it highlights an issue the program has, which is consistency. They also don’t have a true leader who can galvanize the bunch. Head coach Damon Stoudamire said it best after a loss to Wake Forest at home on a leader and what the team needed to get a win.

“Well, first and foremost, you know, we need to win. You know, I think that we all understand that, you know, but it's a loaded question. We gotta be better at dealing with adversity. I just don't think that collectively we're great at dealing with adversity. And so when you start with adversity, let me start with the first word, which is being uncomfortable. So when you're used to being uncomfortable, and you allow yourself to be uncomfortable, then you learn how to deal with adversity. We just haven't done that. And a lot of times, you things are lost, and it's hard to unpack some of the things that happen when you lose because the only thing we see is the final score, which is important. And you cannot diminish that. But the biggest thing is we gotta learn how to fight. We gotta learn how to hit first. That was one of the first things I learned growing up. It's like if you get into a fight, right? If somebody walks up on you, you don't let them hit you first. You know, and it's just like to me, we're just on our heels,” said Stoudamire.

“We need someone on the court to galvanize the troops. It can come that way, but it can't always come from the sideline. And so the things that we need to do to be better as a basketball team, collectively at times. It has nothing to do with making or missing baskets. It's staying together and fighting through a little bit of adversity. Because when times get tough, you know, we don't stick together all the time. And that, to me, is hurting us more at the end of the day. You know, obviously, again, yes, we need to win. We do. We need to win bad. But it's not going to happen just by falling in our lap, you know, because when you need something, when you need a win, you gotta lock in a little more. You can't grab a rebound with one hand, you gotta grab it with two. You can't lunge for a ball that's on the ground, you gotta dive for a ball that's on the ground. You can't short close on a guy and contest and don't get off the ground if he's a three-point shooter. So it's a lot of things, but I'm just gonna start right there. It's the adversity part, and we gotta figure that out. See, it's crazy as it is, it's still a lot of season left. It's a lot of season left, and whatever happens, we have to be better through the adversity part.”

That is not a good thing to hear a coach say that when you have several veterans on the team, but it is the reality of the situation. It’s not like the team isn’t talented. They have several highly ranked players on the roster. However, that hasn’t translated to winning in the Stoudamire era, which has been problematic. He is one of the best recruiters in the country, but with the third year in this team is expected to be in a different tier, not the bottom of the ACC.

So, where is the program headed?

Currently, they are on a downward trajectory and with five games left need to finish things off on a high note. Their NCAA tournament chances are long over, but they can get out of the bottom of the ACC by stringing together a couple of wins to at least compete in the ACC tournament. It doesn’t look good, and changes could be coming, but for one of the better programs back in the 90s, they need answers and solutions quickly before things become much worse.

More Georgia Tech Basketball News:

•How to Watch Georgia Tech vs No. 16 North Carolina: Tipoff Time and TV Channel

•Key Takeaways From Georgia Tech 71-65 Loss To Virginia Tech

•Georgia Tech vs Virginia Tech Live Updates | NCAA Basketball

•How To Watch Georgia Tech vs Virginia Tech: Tipoff Time and TV Channel