On the eve of opening night, what are our expectations for the upcoming season?
With just one more day until the season tips off, we’re providing all of our predictions on how the season will play out.
Logan
Projected Record: 17-14
We have the talent to be a potential dark horse in the ACC this year. Having the talent to compete and actually competing are two different things though. We are in the toughest conference in college basketball and even with the 19 home games and a relatively easy schedule I don’t think we are going to make an ACC run out of nowhere. After a year of coaching Stoudamire should have a better feel for this team and the talent available to him on the court, so we should still see some improvement in the team record. I think we finish just over .500 and set up well for next year, but I am open to the possibility that Stoudamire proves me wrong and pulls off a fantastic season.
Rob
Projected record: 19-12 (11-9 ACC)
I think that it is reasonable to expect a jump forward in year 2 under a new coach and year 2 for Baye Ndongo and Naithan George, who both had strong freshman campaigns. Transfer Javian McCollum will be an impact player after averaging 13.3 ppg last season at Oklahoma. Transfer Luke O’Brien already showed he could be a strong role player at a power 5 school and should have no issues transitioning to ACC play. Transfers Duncan Powell and Ryan Mutombo will add much needed post depth at a position that had very limited production outside of Ndongo last season. The Jackets added a trio of 4-star freshman, two of them being Jaeden Mustaf and Darrion Sutton, who attended Overtime Elite last year. Since Overtime Elite is essentially a pro league, their transition to college basketball should be much smoother than many players coming out of high school.
Taking a more granular look at the schedule, let’s start with the non-conference portion. The non-conference schedule is a strong mixture of games which should be won (e.g. West Georgia, Central Arkansas, etc.) and games that will show what this team is made of. The Jackets get georgia at home and early on in the season, which bodes well since the bulldogs will be young with many new faces and may take some time to gel. The Cincinnati game will be another great test and after losing by nearly 40 a season ago, Tech will have the opportunity to get some revenge at home. Oklahoma and Northwestern are both NCAA hopefuls this season and will be tough, but winnable road/neutral site games. I have the Jackets finishing non-conference play with an 8-3 record and if we’re able to do anything better than that, I think it would bode well for the rest of the season.
Moving on to ACC play, I expect the conference to be incredibly tight this season. After you get past Duke and North Carolina, there is a lot of parity throughout the conference. I think Tech should be able to take care of the majority of their home conference games and I see them picking up a few wins on the road. I think that a finish in the top half of the conference is definitely doable for this team.
And lastly, just for the fun of things, here goes my entirely useless and definitely won’t happen game-by-game prediction below.
Drew
Projected Record: 18-13 (10-10 ACC)
Damon Stoudamire’s second season goes a little better than his first. Baye Ndongo continues to look like a star in the making and the young talent shows flashes, but inconsistency rules the day. GT is in the bubble conversation until late in the season, but end up in the NIT after some late ACC losses.
MVP: Baye Ndongo
Surprise player: Duncan Powell
Best Freshmen: Doryan Onwuchekwa
Andrew
Better than last year? Hopefully
Asa
My general feeling is that this team looks to be much deeper, especially in the front court with some versatile transfers that should complement Ndongo better than what we had last year. I think the season hinges on two things, how George & McCollum work together (especially on defense) and whether or not Onwucheckwa is ready to play ACC ball. I see Tech as a fringe bubble team right now. The defense has to improve for this team to make it to the tournament.
Jake
I think I would describe my general thoughts as being cautiously optimistic. I am still not used to the transfer portal and the turnover, but the talent coming into the team seems to be robust, both from transfers and high school and OTE sources. The schedule seems to work out that Tech can capitalize on its ACC draw, as well as a generally favorable non conference schedule, and all these things combine towards the optimism. I’m sure it helps to hear some generally positive notes from national media, which feels unusual and a good development, as well.
ACC Media
1. Duke (42), 956
2. North Carolina (11), 924
3. Wake Forest (1), 800
4. Clemson, 765
5. Virginia, 743
6. Miami, 659
7. Pitt, 636
8. NC State, 550
9. Louisville, 518
10. Notre Dame, 462
11. Syracuse, 454
12. Georgia Tech, 433
13. SMU, 344
14. Virginia Tech, 252
15. Florida State, 251
16. California, 206
17. Stanford, 165
18. Boston College, 116
Baye Ndongo – Preseason All-ACC Second Team