Another look at Georgia Tech's 80-66 loss to No. 15 North Carolina Saturday in Chapel Hill, N.C. Three observations and thoughts about a defeat that dropped the Yellow Jackets to 10-9 overall and 3-3 in the ACC. The "5 observations story" can be found here.
1. Ted Valentine can be something of a lightning rod, given what seems an inclination for theatrics. One doesn’t earn the nickname “TV Teddy” by receding into the shadows. To that end, criticism would seem warranted.
His presence in Saturday's game was noteworthy first because it was his first calling a North Carolina game since turning his back on Tar Heels guard Joel Berry. Near the game's end, he called a technical foul on guard Jose Alvarado well after the play ended for stepping over Berry, a call that coach Josh Pastner accepted after an explanation from Valentine.
One is entitled to the opinion that he’s a substandard referee – it’s hardly an unpopular one – but, in the eyes of those whose job is to evaluate refereees, he’s apparently, at the least, less substandard than nearly all officials in Division I. He has been selected to officiate seven Final Fours, assignments that referees earn through their work in the first four rounds of the NCAA Tournament, jobs that themselves are earned during the regular season.
A CBS Sports survey of coaches named him one of the best officials in the game.
2. That said, the discrepancy in fouls was considerable – 23 to 12. North Carolina took 24 free throws to six for Tech. Going back to the start of the 2010-11 season, Tech has had only five games in which it attempted six or fewer free throws and the opponent took 20 or more, according to sports-reference.com. (You might be interested to know that Valentine officiated the last one, a 71-60 defeat at Miami last February, along with Roger Ayers and Terry Wymer. Ayers is also considered one of the top officials in Division I.)
Pastner did not object to the work of the officiating crew after the game, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if he sent in a video of the game with questions about certain calls to the ACC office. Pastner is good to throw his fists in disgust at least a couple times a game, but the outbursts are usually reserved for his own players, typically for insufficient effort. Valentine appeared to be the recipient of Pastner’s aggravation at least once, if memory serves, after guard Tadric Jackson was called for a charge midway through the second half.
“As a coach, you’re always going to look at it, but things work themselves out,” Pastner said. “We’ve been on the other end.”
Without question. Tech beat Coppin State 76-62 on December 27. Tech was 20-for-21 from the line and Coppin State was 2-for-3. That was a two-point game with a little less than eight minutes to play.
3. It’s not a game Tech was supposed to win, obviously, And it’s one loss in a league season of 18 games, 6 percent of the schedule. It’s not the end of the world, particularly if you’re of a mind that not much should be expected of this season beyond improvement, regardless of record.
That said, for those holding out hope that the Jackets might somehow far outperform expectations and challenge for an NIT bid, or even an NCAA Tournament berth, they need to find a way to steal at least a couple wins that no one is expecting, and they gave away two chances this week with the losses to Virginia and North Carolina. Beating would have required near-perfect performances, and Tech didn’t give itself a chance in either with 18 turnovers against the Cavaliers and 15 more against the Tar Heels.
I would guess that, to gain even the attention of the NCAA Tournament committee, the Jackets would need to finish 11-7 in ACC play to go into the ACC Tournament at 17-13. And, really, it might take something similar to get into the NIT.
Tech is now at 10-9, and each loss, obviously, pushes the Jackets one step closer to 13. Further, those hypothetical 11 wins will likely need to include a handful of wins over teams like North Carolina or Virginia given the Jackets’ weak non-conference strength of shedule. Tech is 1-4 on the road thus far, and the one is over Pittsburgh, which has an RPI of 159.
4. The rest of the games may not be as rigorous as Thursday’s and Saturday’s were, but they may all, to some degree, be decided by how well Tech can take care of the ball. It looks like, as with last year’s team, the defense will be there.
The Jackets were absolutely devoured on their defensive glass by North Carolina, but that isn’t likely an occurrence that’s likely to be repeated. What Tech can also take from the game is that the Tar Heels had an effective field-goal percentage of 46.2 percent, which is beneath their standards. Virginia was in the same neighborhood.
What figures to be far more variable is how well the offense can take care of the ball and also how well Alvarado can run the offense.
Turnovers were up against Virginia and North Carolina, and Pastner acknowledged the challenges that Alvarado is facing.
“We’re relying on Jose,” Pastner said. “He’s a freshman. He was in high school last year. He’s playing 40 minutes as game in the ACC, and it’s the most important position on the floor, point guard, in basketball. You’re asking him to run the team. He’s getting better, but it’s just understanding tempo and certain shot selection and that’s just going to come through experience.”
Plus/minus
The statistics service that provides the box scores (including plus/minus) at most college games did not have the plus/minus for both teams’ starters, for some reason. I will update if I can obtain them.
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