Paul Johnson's 2016 recruiting class checked in at No. 10 out of 14 ACC teams in Southern Pigskin's ACC Class Rankings, a less-than-desirable landing spot for a program coming off of a 3-9 season. Calling the 2016 cycle a disappointment so early would simply not be paying proper respect to the players within it, but I will say Johnson and the rest of the staff will have to start bringing in better-regarded players as a result of the changing landscape of the ACC. It is truly amazing to look at the strides that schools such as Pitt under Pat Narduzzi and North Carolina under Larry Hipsterhat have made in terms of recruiting -- both feature excellent 2016 classes. Even Duke, a school which perennially struggles with recruiting, brought in a historically good class for 2016, one which features as many as seven four-star recruits depending on the service you look at. Clemson and Florida State both recruit at elite levels already; Miami looks poised to join them. None of those statements look great for Paul Johnson, particularly after the key misses around National Signing Day.
Georgia Tech basketball will look to bounce back for a third ACC win of the season when the team takes on Wake Forest tonight at McCamish Pavilion. The game will cap off a quick three-game homestand -- the Jackets lost the previous two to Duke and Miami -- before a couple of road games at Clemson and then Florida State. Few teams have struggled more than Georgia Tech in ACC play, but Wake Forest is certainly one of them -- the Deacs stand at 1-10 within the ACC and 10-13 overall with a few ugly loses. The Brian Gregory hate may be in full effect now, but a loss to this Wake team would just about put it over the edge. Danny Manning vs. Brian Gregory, the battle to coach one more season.
I'll leave you today with a glance at Louisville's decision to self-impose an NCAA Tournament ban following the NCAA investigation into an alleged prostitute and stripper scandal in the basketball program. I can't even imagine how difficult is was for Rick Pitino to justify this decision in front of a slew of student-athletes who had worked so hard to make it to the tournament and who will now suffer despite not even being involved in the scandal itself. This decision comes off as a weak attempt by the school to prevent further punishment for a violation which they've basically admitted happened. And poor, poor Rick Pitino feels that the school should just be fined, not banned. He can't possibly believe that any more than he can expect any of us to believe that he had no idea about what was going on in his own program.
In other news, the NCAA is run by clown college dropouts. If the NCAA does decide to leave well enough alone in this situation, it will just be the latest instance on a long list of infractions which were treated with kid gloves compared to the punishments doled out to Tech following Demaryius Thomas' non-issue of a violation. If all the Cards get is a single self-imposed ban for providing strippers and prostitutes, then Tech's forced nullification of the ACC Championship win coupled with a probationary sentence comparable to Paul Hewitt's self-renewing contract over some clothes makes the NCAA look silly.
How should the NCAA handle the Louisville scandal?