Burdell’s Building Bracket: FINAL FOUR

Howey’s miracle run has ended. What are we left with? Well, when I sat down in January to work this all out, I went, “well, what’s the point of doing this, anyways, since it’ll just be McCamish, Tech Tower, the CRC, and Bobby Dodd no matter what.” While it’s nice to say I was right, these four really haven’t been threatened yet, so now it’s time to make two tough choices.

Welcome back to the biggest little bracket challenge anywhere in the business. For a refresher, here’s the bracket: Final Four.pdf. Choose wisely. The chalkiest possible Final Four’s wicked hidden meaning is that the choices are not too easy.

Jake Grant

Final Four:

Center Campus Regional Champion vs. North Campus Regional Champion

No. 1 Lettie Pate Whitehead Administrative Building (Tech Tower) vs. No. 1 McCamish Pavilion

The number one overall seed squares off against a number one seed that just staved off a surprisingly close challenge from an old, but scrappy 15 seed, the Howey Physics Building, in the Elite Eight.

Tech Tower:

This one is self explanatory, so I won’t mince words. There’s sixteen illuminated letters on the top, and one of Tech’s most prized-but-unlawful traditions is to take the T closest to the highway, in order around the tower, until they are all gone. Tech’s oldest building is worth a history column on its own, but nowadays houses gorgeous administrative offices, thanks to a recent renovation. Tech would not be the same without its crowning icon, which remains the de facto, if not de jure height limit for buildings on campus.

The Thrillerdome:

This is one of the places that need no introduction. Even the most casual of Georgia Tech fans have, for the most part, visited McCamish Pavilion. Built as Tech’s first true basketball arena, replacing the Heisman Gymnasium, the Armory, and the elegantly named Crystal Palace, McCamish is also notable as the face of many of Tech’s larger formal events, like Senior Capstone, the Spring Career Fair, and Graduation.

East Campus Regional Champion vs. West Campus Regional Champion

No. 1 Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field vs. No. 1 Campus Recreation Center

The CRC, quietly home to the sports facility on campus with the second-most signifiant historic athletic pedigree - McAuley Aquatics Center, the site of the 1996 Olympics’ aquatic program - squares off against the only one that beats it, Bobby Dodd Stadium. This one is perhaps the most self-explanatory one out there.

Bobby Dodd:

The number one seed in the east campus bracket needs no introduction, but you’re getting one anyways. First home to Georgia Tech Football as early as 1905, the former ravine with a creek in the bottom was flattened by prisoners John Heisman had contracted from the local penitentiary. Though Tech didn’t make the Flats its permanent home until 1913, after bouncing around between mainly Piedmont Park, an actual park, and Ponce de Leon Park, a baseball stadium, the now-graded Grant Field was supplemented by spectator stands built by Tech students. The Hill lorded over the west side, and a baseball stadium graced the far end of the field. Later on, stands would follow on the east side, before the stadium was bowled in along North Avenue and the Naval Armory and Heisman Gym and Pool conplex were built along the north end of the stadium. The stadium, home to four national championship teams, lost its bowl during the dark years in the back half of the 20th century, while the Edge Building, Rice Center, and the mammoth Upper North Stands and Football Offices replaced the Works Progress Administration-era basketball and swimming recreation center as the calendar marched into the 2000s. Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field, as it is now known, remains Tech home to this day, as the oldest on-campus facility in FBS football.

CRC:

The Campus Recreation Center is the second building of this purpose to be built on this site. The original, the Student Activity Center, was decommissioned after the turn of the millennium to make way for the expansion of the McAuley Aquatic Center, whose temporary stands were razed, shrinking capacity fivefold to roughly 2,000, while a fifth and sixth floor, including six basketball and volleyball courts, a running track, an indoor soccer court, and exercise rooms, were floated in. The leisure pool was permanently enclosed, while the workout floor, racquetball courts, and climbing wall were dug in on the back of the SAC footprint. The facility remains one of the nicest in the country, as well as being the best pool in the country.

Who will go to the championship? While I thought I had a good sense of the probable winners for the most part throughout the competition, for the first time, I legitimately have no clue who we’ll be voting for on Monday. Submit your votes by 10:00 PM on Sunday and I’ll see you back in this space Monday morning.

Oh, and the winner will be the subject of this week’s Rearview Mirror, because I realize I hadn’t told you all yet.