Technical Tidbits 1/15

Former Georgia Tech guard Shaq Mason has earned an invitation to play in the Senior Bowl, the absolute top-of-the-line game in terms of pre-draft showcases. We wondered why Mason cancelled his previously scheduled appearance in the Medal of Honor Bowl, and this appears to be exactly the reason -- Shaq the Track will now get a much better opportunity to play with some higher-level prospects. In terms of his draft stock, Mason should go somewhere in the late rounds because of his suspect size, which is less than prototypical for an NFL guard. That's not to say, however, that Shaq won't have success in the NFL -- the role of height is strongly overplayed in professional football, just like it is in most sports.

Georgia Tech dropped its fourth straight game of the season yesterday, falling to Notre Dame by a final score of 62-59. The loss puts the Jackets at 9-7 overall, including a horrendous 0-4 in the ACC and 0-2 against the Irish. The first half saw Tech go to halftime up by eight, but the Jackets made a whopping six baskets in the final 20 minutes to seal their loss. It was yet another frustrating loss to add to the resume of a Tech team which could be 4-0 in the conference if they'd made a few more shots; the Jackets have lost their ACC games by an average of just 4.5 points. The next game up for Tech will be against yet another solid team in Pittsburgh just two days from now; there is no rest for the weary in the mighty ACC.

The ACC blog over at ESPN just released a post detailing their best and worst of 2014, with the worst being picking Tech to finish sixth in the ACC Coastal. It really doesn't get much better than hearing ESPN writers talk about how wrong they were about your favorite team, so be sure to bask in the glory before they inevitably pick us to finish at the bottom of the league yet again. They set the expectations and we exceed them. That's just how it goes.

The Georgia Tech basketball team may have lost seven games, but the Braves are clearly planning on losing far more than that this season -- they just finished their complete tear-down by dealing Evan Gattis to the Houston Astros. While the return on Gattis was more than fair (three prospects, two of which were top 10 in the Astros organization), it still represents the end of what has been a fun era in Atlanta with El Oso Blanco. I hope the Astros enjoy having him as much as we have in Atlanta. At the very least, this move helps me understand why the Braves kept Fredi Gonzalez on as manager; they clearly want to lose as many games as possible, and an incompetent manager is the best way to do just that.

What is the ceiling for this basketball team? What do you project their final ACC record to be?

Have a great Thursday!