A few years ago, Georgia Men's Hoops Coach, Mark Fox, stated publicly his desire for the GT-UGA annual game to be played when students are in session on campus. I think that is the right approach and applauded him for making a big deal about it.
For 4 seasons between '07 and '10, the 2 schools had met either in early January before spring semester started or late December after fall semester had ended. Then, the next 5 years, it was adjusted appropriately to early December weeknight games for 3 years ('11 thru '13) before fall semester exam week and then the last 2 years on Friday nights in November.
Tech goes for its 5th straight in the series on December 19th this year. I expect Georgia to still have a good crowd though even with students out of session and many heading home for the holidays. Their program is on the rise at the moment. The lone bright spot to the Brian Gregory era at Tech is his 4-0 perfect record so far against the arch-rivals. It would be nice to get this series back to where it was when it was receiving national TV ESPN type of TV exposure 20 years ago. Taking the game away from neutral site was a mistake in my opinion. Hosting the game on campus when students are out of session defeats the purpose somewhat.
Additional note to consider...one potential advantage for Tech is that the Jackets' final exams will be the week of Dec. 7-11 while Georgia's official academic calendar indicates that their final exams are a week later, Dec. 10-16. This likely means Tech will get at least one game - perhaps two - coming off final exams prior to traveling to Athens while Georgia may face Tech coming off of their final exam week. Just something to keep an eye on when the schedules are released later this summer.
For 4 seasons between '07 and '10, the 2 schools had met either in early January before spring semester started or late December after fall semester had ended. Then, the next 5 years, it was adjusted appropriately to early December weeknight games for 3 years ('11 thru '13) before fall semester exam week and then the last 2 years on Friday nights in November.
Tech goes for its 5th straight in the series on December 19th this year. I expect Georgia to still have a good crowd though even with students out of session and many heading home for the holidays. Their program is on the rise at the moment. The lone bright spot to the Brian Gregory era at Tech is his 4-0 perfect record so far against the arch-rivals. It would be nice to get this series back to where it was when it was receiving national TV ESPN type of TV exposure 20 years ago. Taking the game away from neutral site was a mistake in my opinion. Hosting the game on campus when students are out of session defeats the purpose somewhat.
Additional note to consider...one potential advantage for Tech is that the Jackets' final exams will be the week of Dec. 7-11 while Georgia's official academic calendar indicates that their final exams are a week later, Dec. 10-16. This likely means Tech will get at least one game - perhaps two - coming off final exams prior to traveling to Athens while Georgia may face Tech coming off of their final exam week. Just something to keep an eye on when the schedules are released later this summer.
