Robert Pensa

After last season, which was derailed by numerous distractions and a slew of injuries, this season should be much more smoother for Tech fans. While the talent may be less than a season ago, I believe that the team will be much more focused and that should be reflected in the performance on the court. Jose Alvarado should take a step forward and make himself known as one of the top guards in the conference. His backcourt companion Mike Devoe has the chance to surprise many across the country who may not yet know his name. A healthy Curtis Haywood will log significant minutes and be one of the top scorers on the team. All that said, this is a young team still with not much experience and limited depth in the frontcourt. I expect the Jackets to find themselves on the bubble if everything goes well and an NIT appearance would be a great outcome for this season.

Jake Grant

Georgia Tech will outperform last year. This is good, because last year was pretty much the definition of mixed bag. The youngsters might struggle a little out of the gate, but, they’ll pull an upset or three come conference play and generally be a fun ticket to watch at McCamish. I think a logical result for the year looks a lot like 2016-17, for better or for worse and a nice little NIT run wouldn’t be the worst for this still-rebuilding team.

Akshay Easwaran

I think Tech can ride its bad non-conference schedule and at least do okay in the conference schedule to go .500. However, I think it’s going to be another rebuilding year, especially without Okogie and Lammers.

Drew Gordon

This team struggles without much experienced talent. Jose Alvarado and Shembari Phillips are the veteran leaders although combined they haven’t even played one full year for Tech. Tech picks up a lot of wins in the non-con due to playing some atrocious teams. They pick up one game against a major team (I’m not counting ECU), either St. Johns, Northwestern, or Arkansas. They lose to Georgia again. The team improves as the season wears on and PAstner’s rotation tightens. Unfortunately the ACC is stacked and Tech loses a few games it looked like it had won. Not a good year for Tech.

Record: 13-18 (4-14 ACC)
Breakout player: Curtis Haywood
Newcomer: Shembari Phillips
Freshman: Mike Devoe
MVP: Jose Alvarado

Stephen Murphey

Season Prediction:
OOC record - 9-4
ACC record - 6-12

Really want to see development from Moses Wright, whatever that entails. I think he can be special for Tech and when he was on last year, he’s a player we can rely on for production.

Same goes for Evan Cole, I think consistent minutes will help him this season.

This team is going to have to be an effort first team in more than just word. Effort on both ends of the floor will make the difference in 10 wins on the season and getting above .500.

Cade Lawson

I don’t have a great feeling about this season. It would help out a ton if Banks is given immediate eligibility, but otherwise Tech just doesn’t have the frontcourt depth to handle much of anything that life in the ACC will throw its way. I think we go 7-6 out of conference and 3-15 in conference to finish 10-21, but I look forward to being proven wrong.

Especially once we get into conference play, there aren’t many places to go for easy wins. The Jackets have the displeasure of playing Wake, Boston College, and Pittsburgh — our fellow ACC basement-dwellers — just once each, leaving only the top of the conference to play the remaining 15 games against. It’s a rebuild, and we’re going to feel the brunt of that.