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May 2007
Tech’s sin: Cutting it close
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Tech can make an excellent case it should have been invited to play in the NCAA baseball tournament. I have little doubt the Yellow Jackets would win more than they lost if matched head to head against a few of the at-large selections.
At the end of the day, though, doesn’t Tech have to blame itself a bit for getting in a position where the committee could rationalize choosing someone else? Aren’t the Yellow Jackets a little like the guy who goes to sleep with the front door open and wakes to find thieves stole his TV? They didn’t deserve to be robbed (nobody does), but their actions (winning only 32 games overall, finishing a half-game behind N.C. State and 1 1/2 games behind Miami) made it possible.
Tech arguably did enough to earn an NCAA tourney berth; it just didn’t do enough to lock up that berth so tightly a less deserving squad couldn’t get it.
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Greatest Tech team ever?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Tech’s women’s tennis team plays tonight at 6 p.m. for a berth in the NCAA championship match. The only other Tech teams to reach an NCAA final were the 2003-04 men’s basketball team, which lost to Connecticut in the Final Four at San Antonio, Texas, and the 1994 baseball team, which lost to Oklahoma in the final of the College World Series.
So the women’s tennis team got me thinking: Which teams, regardless of sport, are the greatest in Tech history? And where might Kristi Miller, Alison Silverio, Amanda Craddock, Amanda McDowell, Christy Striplin, Tarryn Rudman, Whitney McCray and Kirsten Flower fit in?
Pending the outcome of the tennis tournament, I would put the 1952 football national champion at the top of my list and the 1990 football national champion second, though you could make a case for the football teams of 1928 and 1917.
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How great will Choice be?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We spent a lot of the spring focusing on what’s new with Georgia Tech football, at quarterback, at receiver, at linebacker, at defensive back. But one of the most intriguing things about the 2007 Yellow Jackets might be what Tashard Choice can achieve behind a more experienced offensive line.
Four of the starters from last season are back. So is fullback Mike Cox. And Choice is the No. 8 returning rusher in the nation, at 105.2 yards per game.
Choice had good games last season against two of the nation’s best running defenses: 107 yards on 26 carries against Miami (No. 4 in the nation against the run) and 105 on 18 carries against Virginia Tech (No. 11 against the run) and 169 on 27 carries against West Virginia (No. 13 against the run).
New to the schedule this season: Boston College, which was 26th against the run, and Army, which was 115th out of 119 teams. Off the schedule: N.C. State (85th) and Troy (53rd).
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A quarter century of winning
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s another streak that shows how long and how consistently Georgia Tech has produced winners.
Monday’s 15-7 baseball victory at South Florida lifted Tech’s record to 30-17, meaning the Yellow Jackets have won 30 or more games for 25 consecutive seasons. Since Year 2 of the Jim Morris era, when Tech won 30 or more games for the second time in school history, the Jackets have won 30 or more games every season. (The 40-win streak stands at seven seasons, by the way, and there’s no guarantee it will reach eight.)
The consecutive seasons with at least 30 victories is a little bit like the bowl streak in football, which reached 10 consecutive seasons at this year’s Gator Bowl.
I’ve heard fans gripe for two reasons about the bowl streak: 1) Big whoop, a lot of those bowls were lower-tier and didn’t even exist 30 years ago, and when’s the last time the Jackets were in a Bowl Championship Series game? 2) Who cares about getting to piddly bowls every year if you don’t play for the national title?
So, I wonder, are people going to say similar things about the baseball streak? What do you think? Would you trade consistent winning for one national title or more trips to the College World Series?
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