Technical Tidbits 9/29

Shaq Mason's 2013 season was by far his best as a Yellow Jacket. It saw him take home All-ACC honors while helping to anchor a veteran Georgia Tech offensive line which was, as always, pivotal to the success of Paul Johnson's flexbone scheme. It's hard to believe, but 2014 is looking like it could be yet another career-best season for the senior guard -- he welcomed a baby into his life this off-season, and that appears to have motivated him even more to keep improving both as a player on the field and as a leader off of the field; he was just elected as a team captain this season. His progress as a player had been fantastic to watch, and we can only hope Mason gets a chance to play at the next level following what will hopefully be his best season yet.

The No. 2 basketball prospect in the entire nation, Jaylen Brown of Wheeler High School in Atlanta, has singled Georgia Tech out as one of the schools which he is seriously considering attending. While it is obvious that a commitment from a player like Brown would be an absolute game-changer for a program like Georgia Tech's, he has made it clear that he has some serious interest in playing elsewhere. And by elsewhere, I mean outside the United States and not with any college at all. If he does in fact decide to follow in the footsteps of Emmanuel Mudiay before him, it could be a huge trendsetter for all of college basketball as more and more high profile recruits would leave to play overseas. Just imagine the pressure that this would put on the NCAA. If all of the best players decide to go overseas, electing to play for millions of dollars as opposed to being an NCAA puppet for a year or so, college athletes would almost certainly have to be paid for there to be any hope of a high profile player staying in the U.S. It just makes more sense for guys who need to support their families immediately; not every five star player will make it to the NBA, so why risk it in college when you can take $3,000,000 and run? I'm sorry to turn this into an essay, but players deciding to go overseas could absolutely reshape college sports. It would even out the playing field if nothing else while forcing the NCAA to actually give a crap about what people want. Maybe it will even make people realize that not everyone should be required to spend time in college in the first place...

Guys, today marks the 10th consecutive day in which Russell hasn't totally embarrassed Tech fans everywhere with some terrible uni-- OH GOD WHY? WHY, RUSSELL, WHY?

Here's your first look at this season's gold uniforms #TogetherWeSwarm pic.twitter.com/4IAXGFXnsl

— GT Men's Basketball (@GTMBK) September 29, 2014

I'm actually not sure how to react to those. Part of me wants to like Buzz on the back while the other part of me realizes that Buzz looks terrible almost everywhere. And by that I mean literally everywhere. Can we just scrap Buzz and start over? He needs to be more intimidating and to stop making appearances on all of the GT apparel.

Whenever College GameDay visits the campus of an SEC school, you can expect a couple of different things: a hoard of intoxicated fans and some pretty hilarious signs. In the case of GameDay's visit to Columbia, SC, the latter was more true than anything; the Gamecock faithful showed up in full force and brought their sharpies with them. I especially like the one in which Maty Mauk was outed as a user of shake weights. Seriously, who does that? Get out, Missouri.

What would it mean for the NCAA if college athletes decided to play overseas? Should players be allowed to bypass college in this way? Should they even have to go to college in the first place?

Have a great Monday!