clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Technical Tidbits 5/31: Jackets to Gainesville, GHSA Championship to be played at Tech

Some of the best high school athletes in Georgia will finally get the chance to play at McCamish Pavilion.

By edac46

If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

It appears that all of our worries over Tech's NCAA Tournament chances were unfounded after all: the Jackets will head down to Gainesville for a matchup with UConn and, eventually, top-seeded Florida. That's going to be a heck of a daunting task for the Jackets, especially from a starting pitching perspective; someone besides Brandon Gold is going to have to step up and become reliable if the Jackets hope to pull of a massive upset. Florida is unquestionably the most talented team in the country, but they aren't even the first team in line to face Tech. Looking past UConn or even Bethune Cookman (the Gainesville regional's four seed) would be a huge mistake.

It's also worth noting that the ACC beat all other conferences, putting a shocking 10 schools in the 64-team NCAA Tournament field. Time will tell if the conference really deserved that many berths, but I'm certainly not complaining about national attention for the ACC. I'm also enjoying the fact that just about everyone but UNC got in. That's always a win.

The GHSA basketball finals have found a much-needed new home, or rather two new homes, after a tumultuous run in Macon: Georgia Tech's McCamish Pavilion and Georgia's Stegeman Coliseum. This is great news for both the state's high school athletes, who will finally get to see the court at Georgia's best colleges, and the schools themselves. Though it may be negligible in the long run, it certainly seems like exposing the state's top talent to an arena as modern and fresh as McCamish Pavilion would be a good idea. Not to get personal, but that's especially true when you consider that these players will be comparing McCamish to Stegeman Coliseum, which is... less modern and fresh. It certainly couldn't hurt, at the very least.

Baylor made an incredibly interesting hire to replace Art Briles, naming former Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe the acting head man in Waco. Though it's a temporary move by design, I'm still surprised that they elected to go in this direction. I guess it isn't all that unbelievable given Grobe's reputation as a high-character guy and great coach overall, but the fact that the school moved so quickly shows the magnitude of the situation. The scandal itself claimed another victim shortly after Grobe's hiring, with the resignation of AD Ian McCaw. Hopefully Grobe can right the ship, even in his post-retirement days.