Technical Tidbits 1/13

Versatility has been the name of the game for the 11-5 Jackets all season long. The new-found flexibility that Brian Gregory and company have been able to integrate into the game-plan in the form of a reliable three point shot to pair with normally consistent defense and rebounding has been an absolute difference maker all season long. Tech, a team which finished last season in 343rd place out of 345 eligible teams in terms of three point percentage (26.7%), is now ranked 36th in the whole nation from behind the arc at an astounding 38.5%! That kind of improvement from one season to the next is almost unheard of and nothing short of miraculous. It would be unwise to anticipate that number to hover around 40% for the remainder of the season, but the odds of another 343rd-place finish are equally bad. Hats off to Brian Gregory and the players for identifying a weakness and working to resolve it.

College football season officially came to an end late Monday night with the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide upending No. 1 Clemson by a final score of 45-40 in Arizona. Though Clemson ultimately fell short, Tigers quarterback Deshaun Watson came to play; the true sophomore carved up one of the best defensive units in the nation for 405 passing yards, 73 rushing yards, and 4 total touchdowns. That should not come as a surprise to anyone reading this who watched Watson play versus Tech during 2015 or even in limited action during 2014. He's an excellent player. The good news is that Tech has already faced him twice. The bad news is that Tech still has to face him twice more, or possibly once if he declares for the draft. Hooray?

The 2015 campaign is mercifully over, but it's simply never too early to look ahead to next season! The AJC's Jeff Schultz agrees with this assessment, having already compiled a list of his 2016 predictions for Georgia's main teams. I'd certainly recommend reading the article, but the comments... maybe leave those be. Schultz has Tech finishing the season at 8-4, a number that I will absolutely take given the disaster in 2015. We at least knew at the beginning of last year how tough Tech's schedule would be, but this season is completely different -- the mass exodus of coaches from the Coastal and an early game in Ireland (which has historically thrown teams off) makes it difficult to predict much of anything. At this point all we can do is wait for everything to sort itself out. Nearly every game on the schedule is nothing more than a question mark for one reason or another.

Will Georgia Tech be able to keep up its much-improved three point shooting? Has it been the biggest key to the team's success so far?