Georgia Tech still has 5 games left on the season – 6 at the most. There will be no NCAA tournament, no NIT, no post-season. The Yellow Jackets have won one game since January 13 and at 11-16 (4-10) the team is just playing for pride. Effectively, the season is over and has been an unmitigated disaster.
Most season previews had Georgia Tech as a fringe NCAA or NIT team. The Jacket’s season was in trouble before it started. Early in the year top player Josh Okogie had an injury and served a suspension. One of the Jackets best scorers Tadric Jackson also had to serve a suspension. All-ACC post player Ben Lammers had an ankle injury.
This was all before conference play started. Georgia Tech lost home games to Wright State and Grambling, and a road game at Wofford. The new year saw a promising 3-1 ACC start quickly evaporate into losses in 9 of their next 10 games. During this time the Jackets suffered season ending injuries to 3 pt specialist Curtis Haywood and one few bright spots of the 2017-2018 season PG Jose Alvardo.
Then you have a former friend of Josh Pastner’s Ron Bell accusing Pasnter of NCAA violations and sexual harrassment of Bell’s girlfriend. What could go wrong did go wrong for Georgia Tech basketball this year. The only thing within Pastner’s control is maybe he better be more careful choosing his friends. That said no one is going to feel sorry Pastner and the bad luck of the season. It’s about results and Georgia Tech doesn’t have them. Do you think anyone has sympathy for Kevin Stalling at Pitt because he had several players exit the program leaving him shorthanded?
There’s no question though – Pastner had a lot working against him this year, and you have to look at his first two years at Georgia Tech not just this season.
Our buddy @Hokiesmash_ASD summed it up best.
To be fair, I thought Pastner overachieved his 1st year getting an entire roster not of his own players – to the finals of the NIT – and it’s been a tough year because he has an injured center – his backcourt is out – and he has is own personal problems he’s going through
— Matthew (@hokiesmash_ASD) February 17, 2018
Josh Pastner won’t enter year 3 of his tenure on the hotseat, but he’s got to show progress next year. At no point during the year did Georgia Tech have more than 4 proven ACC caliber players on their roster. Once Alvardo went out it was just 3. They’ll enter next year without two of them Ben Lammers and Tadric Jackson.
He brings in his first top 50 recruit Michael Devoe, and top 250 players Kristian Sjolund and Khalid Moore. There’s potential for a really solid 2019 class too. I expect Josh Okogie to return for his junior season, and Jose Alvardo to take another step at PG. He had a nice freshman season going before his injury. If Devoe is as good as advertised, he would be a much needed complementary scorer to Okogie.
Year 3 is critical for Pastner and Georgia Tech to reach the post-season, and to finish with a strong 2019 class. If that doesn’t happen then you’ll see Georgia Tech fans’ patience wear thin with Pastner. The next 2 years will determine if Pastner is the long term solution at Georgia Tech. He won’t get more than that.
