‘Anxiety is an understatement’: Dangers of ACC tournament evident to Georgia Tech ahead of title game
The next 48 to 72 hours are among the most important for Georgia Tech basketball in a really long time. After 10 years without a bid to the NCAA Tournament, Greg Gumbel will call the Yellow Jackets’ name at some point Sunday afternoon during the selection show on CBS.
Shortly thereafter, Georgia Tech plans to board a plane to Indianapolis to join the pseudo-bubble the NCAA has built to play a tournament as COVID-free as possible.
For coach Josh Pastner and a group of players who stuck with the program through some lean times, it will be the culmination of a remarkable rebuilding job. The ultimate payoff is so close they can taste it.
But before any of that happens, Georgia Tech is going to play an ACC championship game Saturday night at a tournament where two teams have already been forced to withdraw because of positive COVID-19 tests, including Virginia, which was supposed to be Tech’s opponent in Friday’s semifinal before a positive test popped up.
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At this point, the smart thing to do would be for the Yellow Jackets to say “thanks, ACC, it’s been fun,” hunker down in their hotel rooms for the next couple days and pray that their next few daily tests all come back negative. If getting to Indianapolis is the goal, shutting things down until Sunday night would be the safer bet.
But Georgia Tech isn’t going to do that. In fact, Pastner said Friday it wasn’t even discussed. The Yellow Jackets will play either North Carolina or Florida State in the title game on Saturday night.
“We’ve got to get to Indy, but our guys want to compete,” Pastner said. “It wasn’t even a thought. We want to compete, and we have a chance to play for a championship, so we never thought for a second that we wouldn’t play.”
You can understand the sentiment. Georgia Tech hasn’t won an ACC Tournament since 1993. For a program emerging from a lost decade, Saturday night will be a huge showcase on ESPN. As much as these conference tournaments might seem insignificant once the bracket is set, the opportunity to hang a championship banner would be a big deal.
But isn’t that a fundamentally unfair choice?
No team should have to worry that playing in a championship game might imperil its participation in the more important tournament next week. No team should have to be in a position to risk its ultimate goal so that the conference can fulfill a television contract.
“Anxiety is an understatement,” Pastner said. “It’s easier to say 'Hey, it’s out of your control so don’t worry,’ and I understand that and get that. But as hard as it is to get to the NCAA Tournament for Georgia Tech, I want our guys to experience it. I know it's been such a grind to get to this point and we’re right there.”
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