Tag: Josh Pastner

Josh Pastner fired from Georgia Tech after seven seasons in Atlanta

Georgia Tech opened their head coaching position over the weekend.

After seven seasons as the head coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Josh Pastner has been dismissed as head coach of the program the move was first reported by John Rothstein of CBS Sports.

Pastner’s firing comes on the heels of a 15-18 season for the Yellow Jackets including 6-14 in conference play. While the Yellow Jackets won the ACC Tournament in the 2020-2021 season, earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Yellow Jackets never reached the level of success envisioned when Pastner was first hired.

Expecting a long rebuild, his tenure would begin with a solid 21-16 campaign in 2016 which included a deep NIT run, finishing as the runner-up. The program, however, would take a step back over the next three seasons, going 44-51 including 23-33 in conference play. After winning the ACC Tournament in the 2020-21 season, the Yellow Jackets would once again take steps back each of the last two seasons, going 12-20 and 15-18 overall respectively while going a combined 11-29 in conference play.

The former Arizona guard also spent seven seasons as the head coach at Memphis earlier in his career, leading the Tigers to three Conference USA Tournament titles and a pair of Conference USA regular season titles.

Additionally, according to Zach Klein of Channel 2 in Atlanta, the Yellow Jackets are targeting College of Charleston head coach Pat Kelsey to be the Yellow Jackets’ next head coach.

Kelsey is currently in his second season with the Cougars, leading them to a 31-3 record overall including 16-2 in conference play and a CAA Tournament berth, sending the Cougars to the NCAA Tournament. Kelsey before finding himself in Charleston spent nine years with Winthrop which saw the Eagles earn three NCAA Tournament berths though their 2019-20 berth was of course canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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ACC basketball: Josh Pastner out after 7 years at Georgia Tech

Make that three coaching changes in the ACC this off-season.

Seven seasons and only one NCAA Tournament appearance was enough for Georgia Tech to decide to move on from head basketball coach Josh Pastner.  It’s a move that CBS Sports reports was expected for weeks and one that is hardly surprising.

In seven seasons at Georgia Tech, Pastner and the Yellow Jackets went just 109-113.  Five of those seven seasons saw them finish 10th or worse in the ACC.

Since appearing in the 2004 national championship game, Georgia Tech has made the NCAA Tournament just four times, winning just two total tournament games in that time and never getting past the second round.

Georgia Tech becomes the third ACC team to have a coaching change this off-season, joining Notre Dame and Syracuse.

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Georgia Tech’s Pastner compares Notre Dame to Golden State Warriors

A little too much respect from the opposition?

It appears Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner is impressed with Notre Dame. Maybe a little too impressed.

In previewing the teams’ upcoming game in Atlanta, Pastner let be it known that he has taken note of the Irish’s effectiveness from 3-point range lately. Indeed, the Irish have made at least 10 3-pointers in each of their past four games while making 46.9 percent of those shots. However, he might have given the Irish more credit than they deserve when he dropped this quote:

“They’re like the Golden State Warriors, the way they play.”

Tom Noie, Notre Dame’s beat reporter for the South Bend Tribune, was not impressed with this in the least:

Noie has a point. While the Warriors have the greatest 3-point shooter of all-time in Steph Curry, no one on the Irish even ranks in the top 10 of 3-pointers made in the ACC. Even if that was the case, Pastner has his own 3-point weapon in Michael Devoe that he can counter with. Still, if Pastner wants to believe this, let him.

The LSU basketball team set to play Georgia Tech

Previewing LSU-Georgia Tech.

For the first time in over a week, LSU Basketball will be out on the court again to take on Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

This will be the Tigers’ first game since they hosted Ohio on December 1st. It was a game they won 66-51, but LSU had their fair share of sloppy moments, especially on offense.

LSU is off to its first 8-0 start since the 2008-09 season. That team ended up losing to top-seeded UNC in the round of 32.

This LSU team is winning with its defense. After ranking outside the top 100 in KenPom’s defensive efficiency the last couple of years, this LSU team ranks sixth. It’s a unit that has yet to reveal a weakness.

They are first in steal percentage and fourth in block rate. They defend the floor well from inside and outside the arch. The size and speed of the defense allow Will Wade to attack offenses any way he wants.

None of this is to say the offense isn’t worth noting, they just haven’t been as good. LSU ranks 31st in points per game and is even better in the second half.

LSU has been on its best on offense as they have worn teams down and scored in transition. They haven’t operated as cleanly in pure half-court sets and they haven’t found a consistent way to score from deep.

Wade has proven over the last few years he can get his team to score. It’ll be worth watching if they look different on offense after having a 10-day break.

After a decent season last year, Georgia Tech has not looked great. They’ve dropped a couple of games in a row at home and squeaked by Georgia Southern before that. The Yellow Jackets are 5-3 but lack any impressive wins.

Georgia Tech has a good field goal percentage from deep, but they don’t actually shoot a lot of 3-balls. Most of Tech’s offense comes from 2-point field goals, as they don’t shoot free throws well either.

Despite being one of the taller teams on average, they don’t block a ton of shots and are below average when it comes to creating turnovers. That’s good news for LSU.

A final note on the location of this game – despite being played in Atlanta, it is not at Georgia Tech. It will be at State Farm Arena, the home of the Atlanta Hawks.

Now, let’s take a look at the odds and some players to watch

Odds provided by Tipico Sportsbook

Spread: LSU (-7.5)

Total Over/Under: 139.5

Players To Watch

Darius Days (LSU): When Darius Days goes, LSU goes. He is the glue that holds this team together on both ends of the court. He can shoot and play inside and has been instrumental in LSU’s elite play on defense. His ability to step out to the wing gives Wade a lot of ways to deploy his lineup.

Michael Devoe (Georgia Tech): Devoe leads the ACC in points per game, scoring 23.9 a night. He’s a senior who’s started 83 games since arriving at Georgia Tech. The guard is a threat to score from all over the floor, inside and out. He’ll facilitate too, averaging 6.3 assists per 100 possessions.

Prediction

LSU will look a little rusty, but will also have some new kinks on offense geared to improve scoring. LSU will wear down Georgia Tech in the second half, winning 70-60 and moving to 9-0.

How To Watch, Listen and Stream

  • Date: Saturday, Dec. 11
  • Location: State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia
  • Time: 5:00 p.m. CT
  • TV: ESPN2
  • Radio: LSU Radio Network
  • Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

Visit our free to play game lobby at Daily Ticket, Powered by Tipico Sportsbook

ACC Will Have Basketball Teams Wear GPS Devices for Contact Tracing

By anyone’s standards, this has been a rough year for college football as far as playing scheduled games.

By anyone’s standards, this has been a rough year for college football as far as playing scheduled games. Perhaps that’s why the ACC doesn’t want to take chances as far as its basketball season. With COVID-19 cases forcing entire football teams to quarantine, the conference is hoping to avoid that for basketball.

For the 2020-21 season, the ACC will have members of all men’s and women’s basketball teams use wearable GPS devices for both games and practices. The idea is to measure exposure to players, staff and opponents who might be infectious. This would allow teams to make quarantine decisions for individuals instead of everybody, which is required without that data. At minimum, this will be required for all conference games.

Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner only sees good things coming out of this:

“Instead of saying ‘We’ve all got to shut down,’ — you don’t want to shut down — but maybe it’s two or three (players) and not an entire team. I think it’s a real game-changer. It’s a real positive step.”

With all of the games that go into a college basketball season, there is even less room for error compared to football. Forcing an entire team to quarantine for two weeks would take a big bite out of its schedule. It’s simply not an option. Props to the ACC for taking this step and improving its chances to have as complete as season as possible.