Where does baseball need to finish for an NCAA Tournament berth?
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Notwima13: I don’t know if this is a taboo topic but can we talk about Butker? I guess my question is what are your thoughts? Can you separate a player from their believes?
Ben: This isn’t the platform to discuss my thoughts on Harrison Butker’s beliefs, so instead I’ll say this: I think most commencement speakers are a waste of time. The only time any of them will give a speech that is actually memorable is if it’s deemed controversial in some fashion. As for whether you can separate a player from their beliefs, that really comes down to the individual person and the strength of conviction of the belief. And that’s all I’m going to say about it.
Logan: Regarding separation of a player from their beliefs it’s a struggle. Same with many musical artists or writers, I like their work but don’t necessarily agree with their beliefs. This has become a prevalent topic in the modern world. Personally I view the work people perform as separate from their beliefs. I don’t feel that the work someone does on the field and/or in their art is inherently a representation of their internal thoughts and feelings. I also don’t think that people who like the art/work follow the artists/athletes beliefs off the field. That’s just my personal belief, but I do understand why many people cannot separate “art from the artist” if you will and cannot support someone who does or says something controversial.
Jeff: You can certainly separate the player from their beliefs because fan bases do it all the time. If Butker continues to boot through field goals for Kansas City then no one is going to really care among that group. Athletes with polarizing views are not new and people will continue to complain and get over it as long as they produce.
Jack: I’ll echo Ben that our platform is not the place to get into personal beliefs vs. personal beliefs, aside from GT sports related beliefs. As much as it’s a fruitless endeavor, I do what I can to not separate player from beliefs because I don’t like reducing people to just one factor about them. With that comes a double edged sword (depending on perspective) of becoming more likeable or less likeable with more information you know about a person, welcome to the internet.
Frodo Swagginz: Why is Shadeur Sanders and Colorado getting so much hype?
Ben: Because Deion Sanders is literally hype incarnate. That’s it. That’s the whole reason.
Logan: Shadeur is talented and he has a popular dad who has a large Twitter presence. It’s kind of the same reason Bronny James got so much hype coming into the year. We will need to see how things play out with Shadeur this year, but I think we will keep hearing about him and see him drafted… his performance on the field will determine where exactly he ends up as a draft pick.
Jeff: Shadeur is a talented QB who happened to play behind one of the worst offensive lines in college football. He still has work to do to prove himself a top first-round pick. His father is also a massive draw for television. Multiple generations know him as one of the best athletes of all time and he commands attention. Legacy does spill down and so Shadeur inherits part of the fanfare. Just look over at Texas with Arch Manning. He isn’t nearly as vocal but his last name still demands the media pay attention.
Jack: Nepotism, narrative, all the same reasons famous people are famous. Shadeur will be interesting as a quarterback legimitately this season. I’m not buying that he’s the top QB in this upcoming class, but people always need quarterbacks (the Falcons were right!), so anything he can do to play well independent of his team will serve him well in the draft.
Partywaggin: I saw where the football team’s projected wins are actually less than last season. I understand that we (yet again/supposedly) have one of the “toughest schedules” in football, but c’mon!
Can the defense possibly be worse? Can King have more TO’s?
Expecting a 1-loss campaign is not realistic, but OTOH, if we come out and beat F$U, there’s suddenly a world where we can win the ACC and all the glory(?) that comes with that feat.
Am I missing something?
Ben: Taking off your gold-colored glasses, you have a team that had one of the worst defenses in the country, turned the ball over a lot, and has a tough schedule. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that maybe the team won’t win as many games this season. Personally, I think they improve to win at least as many as they did last year, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that they might not.
Logan: I think people remember the big upsets and how good our offense looked, but forget we lost to Bowling Green and Boston College. A lot of our season will depend on if the defense improves at all as the defense was what cost us dearly in a few games. We have potentially the largest swing in win ceiling and win floor of anyone in the ACC, so if the defense shows up and the offense stays healthy we could win 10 games this year but if people get injured and the defense is the same as last year we could lose 10 games. I don’t think it’s wrong for us to be hype as fans, but maybe slow your roll a bit. I think aiming for a 8 win season against this kind of schedule would be a hugely successful season, but even 6 wins would still be successful season.
Jeff: I’ve listened to some quick previews on several podcasts that find Georgia Tech a bit of a wildcard. They acknowledge there is momentum building for the team, but flaws need fixing and the schedule is difficult as you pointed out. The one people get hung up on is the Miami win being a bit of a fluke. If they do the common sense move and take a knee Tech would have finished 5-7 and missed a bowl game. Vegas is also trying to find that sweet spot for value. It seems natural that a year 2 team that made 7 wins last year should beat the 5.5 predicted by the oddsmakers. Vegas is just hedging the schedule that includes Georgia, Notre Dame, and FSU being a little too much this year. Lines also move based on the betting action so it could move up if no one takes the under.
Partywaggin: So it just struck me: Is there a vanity plate the Wreck Club can get for the ‘reck?
The generic Georgia plate of “GV6512E” seems pretty sad compared to the rest of the car. If there’s some super secret Wreck Club meaning to that plate that I’m not aware of, mea culpa!
Ben: I’ll defer to our Reck Club alumni.
Jack: Just in case Akshay or Jake don’t comment, I believe they just haven’t bothered. There’s a number of things you ‘d think Reck Club would’ve done by now that they haven’t. It’s student run and people are only temporarily there, so with that comes constraints of getting more permanent things done. C’est la vie.
Submitted via email: Hey Guys,
Hope the week is going well for you this week. I’ll get right to it, question this week with the ACC baseball championship coming up, what do you think our actual chances are going into the ACC tourney. I don’t imagine we have much of a chance if we make the postseason, but maybe we get a surprise run in the ACC tourney? Also, what do you think happens to Danny Hall assuming we don’t do anything in the ACC tourney or the postseason? Is it possible he steps down or do we just fire him? Let me know your thoughts.
Have a good week, later,
Jimmy Dean
Ben: I don’t follow college baseball closely enough to talk about Tech’s odds in the postseason, but it’s happened before that Tech went on a surprise run in the ACC tournament. Not saying that it’ll happen again, but it’s not unprecedented. As for Danny Hall, I don’t see Tech firing him. If he doesn’t return, I could see him “retiring.”
Logan: In my opinion it’s time for us to part ways with Danny Hall, but I think he is one of those coaches where you struggle to find a replacement who can perform at the same level. I expect that unless Danny decides to leave or retire that we will keep him as coach regardless of how things go in the playoffs.
Jeff: Georgia Tech is squarely on the bubble for the NCAA tournament. Taking the series this week against a Top 10 Duke was big in improving RPI and you’ll need at least a win against FSU this weekend. A series win would almost lock Georgia Tech in as they could jump quite a few ACC teams in the standings and seal a winning conference record. The ACC tourney is always a weird one to call with those round-robin pools they do at the beginning. It depends on who is grouped. If they manage to win a pool I think that would lock them into the postseason.
Jack: Read our USI article! Getting one win at FSU will likely be an insurance policy to keep us in the field. What we really can’t do is lose 6 straight games between the FSU series and the ACC Tournament. We’re projected to be the last ACC team in the NCAA field, but even that may change depending on how Virginia Tech does (who we have very similarly rated in USI).