Technical Tidbits 3/16

Georgia Tech baseball dropped its fourth straight game last night, falling by a final score of 14-3 at the hands of Auburn. The loss represents Tech's first at Russ Chandler Stadium this season; the team was previously 10-0 within the friendly confines of the Rusty C. The 2016 campaign is far from slipping away, but going 0-4 versus arguably the most pivotal part of the schedule to date is hardly encouraging. The bottom line is that this is a very young team, as it has been for the better part of three years (somehow). Peaks and valleys are to be expected, though the drastic nature of those experienced by this team have been a strange combination of encouraging and terrifying so far. Hopefully they can get back on track this weekend with a home series versus Virginia Tech.

Could the 2016 football season become something of a carbon copy of the 2014 season that brought so much success? Eh, signs point to no. However, that certainly doesn't mean that the team has no chance of making tremendous improvements from last year's dreadful 3-9 mark. It would honestly be a little bit shocking if Tech didn't improve significantly this season from last; the schedule is significantly lighter in 2016 and the odds of the team experiencing as many injury issues this year as it did last year must be low. I'm personally all tapped out on hope after using up my lifetime supply of it prior to and during the 2015 season, but 2016 does figure to be a much kinder year for the Jackets. Hopefully they can capitalize on experience at key positions and have some success before the end of the Justin Thomas era.

Tonight's NIT opener versus Houston will officially mark the first postseason game of the Brian Gregory era at Georgia Tech, a small reward for a tumultuous half-decade of basketball on The Flats. You too can be a part of this historical event; tickets remain on sale starting at just $15 to see the Jackets and Cougars fight it out in what should be an interesting game in some aspect or another. Honestly, I have no idea how the Jackets and Cougs figure to match up on the court; my fear is that the game will end up as a runaway for one team or another. At any rate, the winner of tonight's game will head north to Columbia a few days later to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks, a team which proved itself to be both mad and hungry during their big win over High Point.

The men's basketball team isn't the only one that will be facing off in the NIT this week: the Lady Jackets also have a big postseason match-up, theirs coming against in-state rival Mercer on Thursday night at McCamish. The WNIT doesn't seem to have a seeding system that is comparable to that of the men's NIT and NCAA Tournament, but the Jackets are clearly the higher seed in this one considering that they'll have the good fortune of hosting the event. If they manage to win, the Jackets would then play the winner of Tulane and Alabama for a spot in the next round.

Have a great Wednesday!