Technical Tidbits 1/27: Georgia Tech bested by Duke

Make that two close losses for Georgia Tech in two games. The Jackets hung with the Duke Blue Devils throughout the first half, before a four-minute scoring drought at the end of the half allowed Duke to take an eight-point advantage into the break. Tech came back in the second half, with neither team pulling away in the last few minutes. Ultimately, the Jackets went cold, while Duke got hot to win by seven points. This was another tough loss in a winnable game that will have negative effects on Josh Pastner & co.’s NCAA Tournament prospects. At this point, it’s looking like the NIT will be the postseason event. Tech’s next game will be on Saturday against Florida State in Atlanta (4 p.m. ET, ACCN).

These are the tweets that you want to see. While Geoff Collins’ second full class at Tech is not as highly-ranked as the first, it does have some great players. (It should be noted that without many prospect camps, ratings should be taken with an extra grain of salt this year.) WR/TE Leo Blackburn is a well-regarded recruit, but has not had the fourth recruiting star that really begins to turn heads. The Westlake High School student-athlete finally received it from Rivals, and as the tweet says, it is very well-deserved. Keep up the good work, Leo!

There are extremely high expectations for the Georgia Tech Baseball team this season. They have a lot of talent, a great freshman class, and experience. This is a good combination, and it will be tested against the schedule that was released yesterday. Tech opens the season in less than a month (2/19-21), with a three-game home series against Eastern Kentucky. The first ACC series comes a week later, the Jackets head to Raleigh to face the no. 13 N.C. State Wolfpack. Interestingly, there is no series for the u(sic)GA game this season. Instead, the rivals will face off for midweek games a few weeks apart. The schedule looks tough, but the Jackets do have the ability to make it far this year. We’ll see what happens.

After their incredible performances in an upset against no. 6 Duke, and a win over no. 14 South Carolina, it’s only right that no. 13 Kenya Jones and Ava Hrastar were given ACC weekly awards. For her wins against no. 34 Mia Horvit (SCAR) and no. 8 Kelly Chen, Jones won ACC Player of the Week. So far, Hrastar is 2-1 in her first three matches as a collegiate tennis player, including a win over no. 28 Georgia Drummy from Duke. Her performances this past weekend made her an ACC Co-Freshman of the Week. This is a great way to start off a college tennis career for Hrastar, and another accolade for the highly-ranked Jones. Congratulations!

Check out number three.

Question of the Day: What are your thoughts on last night’s basketball game?