Technical Tidbits 1/28: Jose Alvarado Wins ACC Player of the Week

Even though the Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball team only went 1-1 last week, Jose Alvarado had two massive games. Alvarado was rightly rewarded for those two great games with the ACC Player of the Week award. Against Louisville, the Brooklyn native had a double-double, with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Although the Jackets lost, it was a very close game, with Alvarado playing a key role in the near upset. On Saturday in the Jackets win against N.C. State, Alvarado had 26 points (a season high) and broke the Georgia Tech record for steals in a game with 9. Alvarado is one of the most important players on the team, and if Tech wants a shot at the NCAA Tournament, the guard will need to continue playing at a very high level.

This definitely isn’t Duke. To fill one of the two ACC bye weeks in their schedule, Georgia Tech turns to the Morehouse Maroon Tigers tonight. The game will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. in McCamish Pavilion, and can be found on ACCNX. I am expecting a large Jackets victory, but anything can happen in college basketball. We unfortunately found that out in December when Tech was blown out by Ball State at home.

If Jahmyr Gibbs does end up signing with Georgia Tech next week, he would be the highest 247 Composite recruit the Jackets have signed since 2007. The only problem is keeping him on track to sign. According to this article, Gibbs went on an official visit to Florida this past weekend, and has looked at other programs since committing to Tech last year. One thing that works in Geoff Collins & co.’s favor is that they will receive Gibbs’ last official visit this weekend. Hopefully Tech will hold strong for the next few days, this would be a huge get.

Our own Akshay Easwaran has been doing a lot of work with advanced stats in football and basketball recently. This article is an early, early preview of the 2020 season from his statistical model. In short, the team should be better than last year’s, but not by too much. The article details each game and the model’s projections, and gives some explanation behind the outlook. I highly recommend giving it a read.

The death of Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash Sunday morning shocked and saddened millions of people around the world. This article does a good job of recounting a special day to all those present that took place when Bryant and the Lakers held practice in Tech’s Zelnak Basketball Center, and shows that although Kobe had a fierce persona on the court, he had a good heart off of it. I would definitely give it a read.

Question of the Day: What is your favorite Kobe Bryant memory?