Modest winning streak and indications of better play that ultimately proved a false alarm – Georgia Tech has been down that road. It was last year.
Twelve months later, the Yellow Jackets may be about to find out how much their three-game winning streak and the scorching offensive numbers recorded therein mean – is it a surge gained on the backs of subpar competition or is it a hint that the season may turn out better than the forecast?
Georgia Tech’s Wednesday night home game against No. 9 Virginia Tech won’t mean everything – the Jackets could win and still falter or lose and still rebound – but it should provide more feedback than their past three games.
“It’ll be a great test to see where we are as we continue forward,” coach Josh Pastner said. “I do think we’ve gotten a lot better.”
The results would indicate it. Since sandwiching a road win over Arkansas with distressing home losses to Gardner-Webb and Georgia, the Jackets have drilled Kennesaw State, South Carolina-Upstate and Kennesaw State by an average of 19.7 points per game while playing three of the most efficient games on offense in Pastner’s tenure.
“Guys are just finding their roles, coaches are finding niches (for players) and understanding how to put us in the best position to be our best,” forward James Banks said.
The rub, though, is that Kennesaw State, South Carolina-Upstate and Wake Forest are not comparable with Virginia Tech or most of the rest of the teams the Jackets will play the rest of the regular season.
A year ago, the Jackets lost to Georgia and Wright State going into Christmas break and then won five out of six, including three consecutive league games, going into a home matchup with then-No. 2 Virginia.
“I think we’re one of the teams that’s in the mix,” Pastner said before the game against Virginia. “I think anybody can beat anyone in the league so far.”
Virginia beat the Jackets 64-48, and Tech and the mix went their separate ways. The Jackets lost four in a row and 11 out of 12.
This is not to say that Tech is doomed to repeat history.
“Our team’s completely different than last year,” guard Brandon Alston said.
It is the case. The Jackets’ makeup is different without Josh Okogie, Ben Lammers and Tadric Jackson. They are defending better. There is no cloud hanging over the team as there was last season. Pastner constantly reminds media how much he likes this team.
But it is still a team trying to break out of the bottom one-third of the ACC and is 1-5 against teams in the RPI top 150. On Wednesday, the Jackets don’t even necessarily need to win to establish their credibility. Showing well against the Hokies would be meaningful. But a win sure wouldn’t hurt.
“To beat a ranked team would be really big for us moving forward,” Alston said. “Confidence-wise, I think we’re a confident team, but just in terms of our overall goals, it would really help us.”
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