A.c.c. basketball preview: Georgia Tech @ Virginia Tech:

#159 R.P.I. Georgia Tech @ #1o3 R.P.I. Virginia Tech:

TV coverage: 3pm, Raycom (check local listings)
Vegas line: VT-9
o/u=117
$-line: TBA

If not for bad-luck Seth Greenberg and company would have no luck at all.

As the Virginia Tech men’s hoops program just got Michigan’ed by Florida State down in Tallahassee on Thursday night.

That was one whale of a K.Kong sized gut-kick that Virginia Tech took after playing their orange and maroon guts out on a night that saw a mere 7 scholarship players available and in uniform vs. a very tough and 21^st ranked Seminole basketball team.

I tried to think up something catchy to say to describe Thursday night. Some called it taking the foot off the accelerator a bit premature. Some called it running outta gasoline in mental or physical terms –perhaps both. And some called it coming from ahead to choke.

Whatever you deign to call it, that sucked and that was such a lethally injurious game that you can only realistically expect that that one will leave an O&M mark.

Or in other words, even though Georgia Tech is up next on the basketball schedule, you have to wonder if Virginia Tech will be playing Florida State … twice.

Georgia Tech at a glance:
316^th in turnover margin (-3.2)
3o2^nd in assists (10.8)
3o1^st in scoring offense (61.4)
68^th in rebounding margin (+3.6)
46^th in FG percentage defense allowed (40.2%)
24^th in blocks (5.2)

Georgia Tech Frontcourt:

• N.B.A. pros=1 possible overseas pro
• Injuries=1 (C, Nick Hicks, a 6`11“ 218 lb. sophomore string-bean who manages to manufacture a basket, a couple of boards and a block in a pivot relief roll off the Georgia Tech bench. Nick has missed the last two Yellow-Jacket games as he is suffering from mononucleosis and is out for a indefinite period of time –God bless on that.

  

The Gah.Tech frontline is (only) a three-man show and any foul trouble here would prove troubling indeed for the Wramblin’ Wreck.

The Jackets rather quietly enjoy the services of the best big in the A.c.c. that you’ve prolly never heard of. #5 Daniel “Big Jake” Miller goes 6`11“ and 258 well-built sophomore lbs. Miller gets you 8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 swats per game per his frenetic pace. That said, one thing Miller does not have is his former Shaq-Fu Free-Throw reputation, as he bricked his way to 37% last year at the FT-stripe. However, Mr. Miller has come to town and he has worked and worked and worked some more on his 15` set-shot and now nets a nifty and team leading 79.4% from the charity-stripe. So you know he has some touch on his shot. “Big Jake” is said to have soft-hands and good footwork and is a useful help-defender in weakside erasing terms. Miller has reliable face-up range out to 12` so you must honor his mid-range game. Miller is known to be a bit foul-prone making him a one-man X-factor in this one.

Starting along side Miller up-front is Kammeon Holsey (no relation to our departed J.Hosely). Special-K is 6`8“ and 229 lbs. of four as in power-forward. Kammeon is every bit as explosive as he is inconsistent as he tends to go off or simply disappear game-to-game. Kammeon moves rather effortlessly for having already blown-out his A.C.L Kammeon is known for his terrific stamina and quick-leaping ability as well as he ability to defend more than one position when the other team has the ball. Kam’ is a twin and he averages 8.8 points and 4.3 rebounds on a team leading 58.9% from the floor despite being a 49.3% from the FT-line. Go fig’ on that? The only frontcourt sub off of Coach Brian Gregory’s bench would be freshman year 6`7“ 230 lb. Julian Royal. Julian is a VHT (very highly touted) 4.5 star recruit who was a penta-A Georgia state champion high school baller at Milton. Julian conjures up 4.4 ppg and 2.4 boards on a rotation leading 43.8% from 3-point land. Julian Royal may or may not be playing as kingly as Georgia Tech had hoped; though the ceiling is pretty high on this kid who is only 24 games into his collegiate career.

Georgia Tech Backcourt:

• Association pros=1 (the legacy Rice kid)
• Hurts=none

  

#41 Glenn Rice Junior (dunking) is the signature baller from the Wramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech down in the ATL –and “yes” he is related. Younger Glenn goes 6`5“ 2o6 junior year lbs. of nepotistic pure shooter D.N.A. Glenn’s range is basically the gym itself –if he is in it, he is open, although his 3-point shooting has regressed from 47% 2 seasons ago to 33% this year. Ditto the fact that he is per se only a 60% FT-shooter and this from a guy with one of the most pure strokes you will find in the entire A.c.c. Glen does lead Georgia Tech in scoring at 13 ppg, rebounding at 6.7 boards per contest and in steals at 1.3 per game. Such gives you a glimpse as to why Lindy’s pre-season magazine named legacy Rice the most versatile player in the whole A.c.c. Glenn additionally blocks one shot per game and is second on the Yellow-Jackets in assist (2.3 apg). That versatility metric firmly established, Glenn needs go from being a volume shooter to a volume maker as Glenn never meets a shot that he did not like or was unwilling to take. Glenn has been a little off since the end of last month as he has not broken the 20 point barrier since mid January. Accordingly Glenn is due for a breakout game and if he gets that on Saturday the Wreck has a much better chance of storming our Cassell.

First year coach Brian Gregory is still trying to pick the lock on Mfon Udofia’s potential. Mfon was nearly an all-world recruit three years ago who has never quite lived up to all of his VHT (very highly touted) potential. Mfon is a 6`3“ 196 lb. third-year lefty baller who is cat-quick and can flat out changes ends in a hurry. Mfon scores 10 points per game (ppg) despite his 37% shooting and is first in assists with 2.5 dimes dropped per night. Mfon is now the starting point-guard once again, this after being benched with about a month left in the 2011 season last year. Mfon is also the closest thing to a slasher in the Yellow-Jackets have as he does lead Georgia Tech with 93 FTA’s on the season where he is a very modest 66% from the line. Brandon Reed is the third guard in Coach Brian Gregory’s three-guard starting line-up. Brandon goes 6`3“ and a buck-eighty (180 lbs) in his sophomore season by way of Arkansas State where he averaged an eye-popping 15.3 as a rookie two years ago. Brandon is also a Koufax or left-handed guard who is the quintessential combo-guard in any three-guard line-up. Bran’ is the cousin of N.F.L. Rb Joe Cribs and the nephew of women’s hall of fame basketball player Roshonda Reed. So the bloodlines are willing indeed as this kid’s genetic résumé has baller written all over it. Bran’ nets you 7.8 ppg and 3 boards on a lowly 34% from the floor. That’s not quite what Georgia Tech had bargained for as the homegrown ATL prep prodigal son goes as the Jackets had expected more from the former Sun Belt newcomer of the Year award winner.

Pierre Jordan (no relation) is a 6` 170 lb. senior year player who was not even listed in most pre-season magazines. Pierre is a Florida State 3-year graduate and a point-guard by trade. So you know the kid has some smarts to knock down 125 odd credit hours while playing full-time ball in just over 6 regulation semesters. Pierre has been hampered by knee injuries his whole career and only chips in with 1.7 ppg off the Yellow-Jacket bench. Jason Morris is more of a swing than anything else, and as my cursor is here, I’ll list him as more of a backcourt baller for Georgia Tech. Jason stands 6`5“ and tips the Toledo’s at 210 lbs. Jason is an explosive in-game scorer that reminds one of what Reggie Miller of U.C.L.A. fame was capable of once upon a time. And just like Reggie, Jason is quite possibly the best 3-point shooter in the A.c.c. and surely the best concert pianist on a current Atlantic Coast hoops roster. Jason rarely hits a sour note from downtown, though his shooting has been chilly of late as he has slumped to 35% from the floor and 30% from beyond the arc. Although he did detonate vs. U.N.C. five games back; however, in the meantime Jason has gone a humbling 2 for his last 3 games or just 15% overall since January. That’s not good although this Morris kid is still quite capable of putting up some streaky numbers in a hurry whenever his shooting hand suddenly heats up.

(UPDATE: Georgia Tech has just suspended Glenn Rice Junior and he will not even travel to the New River Valley for Saturday’s game — VT’s odds on winning have just gone noticeably up!)

* n/a for not available, as both teams are very thin in frontcourt terms right now

Conclusion(s), illation, OPT digits:
As you can see above in the at a glance section, Georgia Tech is a fair to middling defensive and rebounding team. Those two categories are primarily effort based and therefore those two categories tend to travel well enough. That said, Georgia Tech is also one other thing, and that other thing would be a basketball team that is highly limited as offensive output goes. That coupled with a likely 5-alarm Florida State hangover conspires to tell us all that this one won’t be easy on the eyes as this one has “football score” written all over it. If low scoring defensive minded non-exotic basketball games are your thing than you Sir have come to the right place.

Georgia Tech is 30% for the year out on the road and has dropped 8 of its last 9 games overall. Virginia Tech allows 39% of opponent’s shots to tickle the twine at home and yup, you guessed it, Georgia Tech allows 39% of their opponent’s shots to find the net when they are the visitor in your house. On top of that, Georgia Tech has not cracked 54 points scored since January. Virginia Tech has been capped by 49 points in two of their last three games. Ergo, I was gonna type that this one would be a race to double-nickels (55), then I lowered that to 50 even. However, this one might very well be a race to a paltry 45, first one to get there … wins. For that matter I am not even sure if these teams could crack the Vegas o/u of 117 points if they played an overtime period, may not even if they played overtime periods plural. As the grounds-crew is gonna be busy picking up all the chips and flakes of orange paint in and around the rim area after this one; as this one has a Masonic look and feel of a bricklayers convention. If your favorite sporting noise is “clang” –this ones the one for you.

Have you ever seen the late-nite talk show host Craig Ferguson and Steve Gregory of Georgia Tech in the same room at the same time? Me neither and what is it with the Yellow Jacket A.D. always hiring TV lookalikes to head up the Georgia Tech revenue sports programs? That attempt at humor aside, the one thing that I will gar-ron-damn-tee you right now is that Tech is gonna win this one folks. The key question is which Tech would that be?

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I told Chris Coleman late Friday afternoon that I was prolly gonna pick the Virginia Tech upset and side with the other Technical school in the A.c.c. for this one. I was all set to do just that what with such a massive Seminole hangover firmly in hand and still in orange and maroon sports psych 1o1 full-effect. Then a funny thing happened along the way to the candy-store as Georgia Tech’s best player (Glenn Rice Jr.) is now suspended for this one. The Jackets have been averaging 57 ppg in their last five contests. Now subtract out Glenn’s team leading 13 ppg and you are suddenly left with a true offensive dullard of a hoops team that would only theoretically check in at 44 ppg! That’s an Ivy League set of scoreboard digits just begging for a place to happen men. On the other hand Georgia Tech is +1 on rest/reps coming into this one, and of course there still is the F.S.U. hangover to deal with. Did I mention the F.S.U. hangover yet? Just kidding, well mostly just kidding as this game has plop-plop fizz-fizz written all over it as it is coherently expected to be played in the 50’s, maybe even in the 40’s and at the very best in the very low 60’s. A real yawning festival of a snoozer before the big winter storm hits here early Sunday morning.

 Virginia Tech=63, Georgia Tech=5o

“LETS GO!”

“HOKIES!”

bourbonstreet**