I have no memory of Georgia Tech men’s basketball before Bobby Cremins was the coach. I can look up the records for decades of bad seasons before him, but I don’t know what it was like to watch Yellow Jackets basketball then.
Maybe things were worse than they are now. That’s hard to imagine. The Jackets might be the worst team in NCAA Division I.
Still, a small crowd of faithful Tech fans showed up for Senior Night on Wednesday. They cheered on a team that hadn’t won a game since Jan. 17. They hoped the Jackets could salvage something from this sad season by winning the final home game.
It looked like the home fans would get what they wanted when the Jackets ran out to a big lead early. The optimism didn’t last. Cal took control not long after halftime and eased to a 76-65 victory.
It was the 11th loss in a row for the Jackets (11-19, 2-15 ACC). They’ll finish last in the ACC. The only question is whether Boston College (3-14) will join them there.
Damon Stoudamire’s third season as Tech’s coach is among the worst in the program’s history.
“It’s a humbling position to be in if you’ve never been in this position,” Stoudamire said. “My journey is on Google. I’ve been through a lot and, man, I can tell you don’t nothing compare to this, what I feel right now as the coach of Georgia Tech.
“I haven’t experienced this before. It makes you understand now, ‘This is what it really looks like.’ Because this is the bottom.”
Things could get worse for the Jackets. If they don’t upset Clemson on Saturday, they will finish with the program’s lowest conference winning percentage since the 1980-81 team was 0-15. That was the final season for coach Dwane Morrison, who was replaced by Cremins.
Cal had more to play for in this game. The Bears are on the NCAA tourney bubble. They are trying to hang on to a bye for the first round of the ACC tournament.
Tech won’t be in Charlotte, North Carolina, next week. The bottom four ACC teams aren’t invited to the league tourney. The Jackets will finish their season at Clemson on Saturday. They are likely to suffer another lopsided loss in a season full of them.
The Jackets didn’t pack it in against Cal (21-9, 9-8). Tech led 20-8 halfway through the first half. After Cal took a 14-point lead in the second half, the Jackets rallied to get the deficit down to 6 points with 4:21 to go.
The Tech fans who stayed until the end awakened. Jackets players on the bench urged on their teammates. Everybody wanted to win. But Tech isn’t good enough to beat a decent ACC foe, save for the inexplicable victory at North Carolina State before the losing streak.
The Jackets had won 10 consecutive regular-season finales. Senior Kowacie Reeves Jr. scored 19 points while making five 3-pointers, but it wasn’t enough to win his final game for the Jackets.
“I appreciate the institution,” Reeves said. “I appreciate Coach for giving me another opportunity. I came here and felt like I found a new home. … I loved my whole Georgia Tech experience.”
Reeves transferred from Florida to Tech to play for Stoudamire. They may leave together. Stoudamire is 42-54 (19-38 ACC) as Tech’s coach. Tech would owe Stoudamire about $2.9 million if he’s fired after this season.
Stoudamire said he thinks “a lot” about how he can turn around the program.
“There has to be an honesty,” he said. “I always say this to the players, ‘You can’t go to the bathroom in the dark. You’ve gotta turn on the light and look in the mirror.’
“You have to reset it and look at what you need to do to do those things and get the right fits in and all the things that go with it.”
Stoudamire is the latest Tech coach who hasn’t been able to find the right formula. It’s still hard for me to believe the Jackets has been down for so long. They first entered my consciousness as regular NCAA Tournament entrants with Cremins, who seemed to have an unlimited supply of star players.
Cremins’ successor, Paul Hewitt, kept the winning going. He guided the Jackets to the Final Four in 2004. They last made it in 1990 with Cremins. Hewitt did Cremins one better by advancing to the national title game.
The Jackets went to the NCAA Tournament three more times with Hewitt before he was dismissed in 2011. That was soon after I arrived in Atlanta. I figured it wouldn’t be long before the Jackets were consistent winners again.
Instead, they’ve been mediocre to bad ever since. The high point during that period was a fluky ACC tournament championship with coach Josh Pastner during the 2020-21 COVID season.
The low point is now.
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