Sunday, March 10, 2024


THE FLATS – Georgia Tech sophomore guard Tonie Morgan was named to the 2024 ACC All-Tournament Second Team, as the Atlantic Coast Conference announced the 10 members of the All-Tournament team on Sunday afternoon following the conclusion of the championship game.

Morgan, who was an all-ACC second team honoree prior to the tournament, put up some convincing numbers to help Georgia Tech reach second round action of the ACC Tournament. The Tallahassee, Fla., native averaged 21.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game in the Yellow Jackets’ pair of tournament games.

Morgan led Tech offensively in both tournament games. She opened the tournament collecting her eighth double-double of the season with 24 points and 11 rebounds against Pitt in the first round. Morgan hit seven field goals and converted 10-of-13 free throw attempts against the Panthers to help lift Tech into the second round where it faced Duke. Against the Blue Devils, Morgan logged 19 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals.

For the tournament, Morgan shot 42.3 percent (11-26) from the floor, 74.1 percent (20-27) from the free throw line and led Tech with 12 assists and 19 rebounds. She is the first Yellow Jacket to be named to the All-Tournament team since Lorela Cubaj earned second team honors in 2021.

2024 ACC All-Tournament Team
Most Valuable Player: Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame

First Team
Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame
Aziaha James, NC State
Sonia Citron, Notre Dame
Maddy Westbeld, Notre Dame
Saniya Rivers, NC State

Second Team
Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State
Makayla Timpson, Florida State
Tonie Morgan, Georgia Tech
River Baldwin, NC State
Georgia Amoore, Virginia Tech

I have a rather large column detailing baseball's struggles, some recruiting nuggets on the football side coming up this afternoon, but I realized I never posted this yesterday-

FRI- Cam Hill
SAT 1- Aeden Finateri
SAT 2- TBD
SUN- Logan McGuire

Game one starts at 2 pm, and it will be a race to get as much of the game in as possible before the (again) torrential downpours begin.

Brent Key has hired Tim Salem the former Pitt, Illinois and UCF assistant coach as a Senior Football Advisor for Special Teams. Strong recruiter and goes way back with Key. Very strong coach on special teams and offense.

Should be able to help in multiple capacities.

We're less than a week away from conference tournaments. Seeing some SEC basketball lately got me thinking. The SEC only plays 18 conference games and again will get more teams in the NCAA tournament than the ACC. Should the ACC roll back to 18 games to try to get more teams in? Seems like each team could get 2 more cupcake wins and a chance to at least put more teams like GT into the post season.

1. The Mrs wants to know if they allow blankets. 2. Do they have a gear store at the ballpark?

I figured I'd start trying to figure this out since we don't have a spring roster yet.

The ones with questions are educated guesses the ones with no annotation are confirmed.

4- Isiah Canion?
4- Warren Burrell?
6- Anthony Carrie
14- Graham Knowles
15- Tah'j Butler?
16- Syeed Gibbs
28- Trelain Maddox
52- Harrison Moore?
74- Jameson Riggs?
76- Jordan Floyd?
77- Keylan Rutledge?
86- Rylan Goede
90- Jordan Boyd
91- Ayo Tifase?
93- Jack Barton

Unsure
Santana Al-Tupuola
Cedric Franklin
Jackson Hamilton
Jackson Hawes 12?
Trey Horne
EJ Lightsey
Aaron Philo

Btw
Aidan Birr is sticking with 33

I will be there for practice on Monday and there is Pro Day on Friday as well. Key will talk on Monday.

Packed house expected. Greetings from inside JPJ Arena. Named after one of the greatest British bass players of all-time.

We spoke with Damon Stoudamire after practice on Friday.

I asked him about expectations going into this game and the ACCT, he said he wants to keep the focus on GT, but UVA hasn't changed that much from the last time they played. They still do the same things and they are on the bubble and fighting for a NCAA Tournament berth. He said they just have to minimize mistakes on both ends of the floor to have the best shot at winning.

On GT being a scary team right now for opponent, he thinks they are playing well at times and guys have bought into each other and that is good to see, but they are still capable of playing better too and they can beat anyone when they play well and they've proven that this season.

On blowing the lead to UVA at home, he said he still thinks they are not finishing games the right way and putting teams away, but they are winning games now. He doesn't think they are doing anything better, just are more locked in mentally. He said he is not big on the physical part this time of year and they just practiced for 30 minutes, but he is big on the mental part and that he doesn't want to kill guys with two-hour practices this time of year. The approach has to be the same over these games as it was in November, he thinks the buy-in is better now and actions speak loudly now.

I asked him how he keeps the team focused going against UVA who controls pace and tempo and how he keeps the team from getting disjointed against that, he said this game is very mental and they've got to be better mentally against UVA. He said he is not sure how much of a focus that was for a lot of the guys in the past. He said you have to defend them the same way even if it is 25 seconds into the shot clock. They can't allow the late backdoor cut, an offensive rebound or a wide-open jump shot on a flare screen. He said he doesn't think UVA is trying to trick people, but they are good at the tricks they use. They have to win 50/50 plays, offensive rebounds, putbacks, don't miss assignments, and don't let Beekman get a wide-open shot. They have to stay disciplined. He said he feels like the team is getting better mentally and that has been the difference over the last few games.

I asked about the improved rebounding and Damon said they are not stabbing at the ball with one hand as much and grabbing it with two now and making that concerted effort to do that more. Also, the guys are being more aggressive on 50/50 plays and that is a sign of how committed they are to each other and what he has been looking for. He said he didn't press some magic button or do anything differently, the guys just are buying into what he has preached since day one now and they've figured it out. He said coaching wise he hasn't done anything differently or as a staff. It has been the same points of emphasis all year, but the guys are seeing now how that relates to winning and are doing that stuff. He joked that not one of the players will get up there and tell you Stoudamire had some great plan or whatever, the guys are just locked in and playing harder and they had to adjust to his expectations for them and they are taking those things to the floor now and that is a beautiful thing to see.

On the transition defense success at Wake, he said that they are committed and holding each other accountable and that is when you see guys sprit back on a turnover and they miss a layup and GT gets the rebound and just act like it didn't happen when you go back on offense. They've done a better job of having that mentality lately.

I asked him if he is frustrated that they gave up some wins against the bottom half of the league that if they were wins now would have GT on the bubble and he said that truth be told maybe they were not prepared to win those games at that time and the season isn't over so who is to say they can't make a run now. He said he doesn't believe in boxing yourself in or limiting yourself as a ballplayer. No one can tell you what can and cannot be. The games they lost made them better today and however things end up he is proud of the guys for how far they've come and he thinks they have a lot left over the next week. He thinks they are playing as well as anyone in the ACC right now and that is big moving forward.

I asked if the trip to Hawaii and success out there is something to build upon as they hit the road for what they hope is a full week of games, he said that being together and having been a player he thinks that togetherness is big. They can make basketball be the main thing and watching film and being focused on the task at hand. That is what they did in Hawaii and they just have to stay locked in and stay in the moment as they move forward. It is a one-game scenario from here out. They will go into a great atmosphere at UVA on Saturday night and their fans will be hyped as they are trying to make the tournament and want to finish the season well. Coach Bennett is a great coach and has been doing this for a long time so he will have his team prepared especially seeing GT's trajectory of late and they just have to keep elevating over the next four of five days.

First pitch at 4pm.

CF Burress
C Ellis
SS Green
1B Jones
3B Giesler
DH Zmarzlak
LF Yunger
2B Becchetti
RF Brosius

SP Cam Hill

This series is about Georgia Tech showing what they are able to do. While no team is going to go undefeated, starting the season with back-to-back sweeps against lesser opponents would be a sign of progress. Georgia Tech asserting their will in these types of series in the past has typically led to a 2-1 series win.

The length that Hill can give them on Friday will go a long way in determining the rest of the series from a pitching standpoint.

Will be interested to see what the bats are able to do. Can they really score over 10 runs per game?

Other things I am watching this weekend-

-Burress' ability to consistently get on base
-Payton Green's defense
-Matthew Ellis' defensive ability

Greetings from McCamish with a very small crowd

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech athletics has reached a five-year agreement for Atlanta-based 680/93.7 The Fan – the preeminent sports radio station in the Southeast – to remain the flagship station of the Georgia Tech Sports Network, Tech athletics and Dickey Broadcasting Company announced on Thursday.



Highlighting the partnership, 680/93.7 The Fan will continue to be the radio home of Georgia Tech football and men’s basketball games across the Atlanta-metro area, with broadcasts being carried worldwide on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 680 The Fan and Tune-In Radio apps and at ramblinwreck.com, and across Georgia on the statewide Georgia Tech Sports Network.



680/93.7 The Fan and Tech athletics will also collaborate on the next evolution of coach’s shows and podcasts, along with the creation of additional Yellow Jackets-focused content.



Additionally, the partnership includes the continuation of “The Good Word,” a weekly one-hour show that goes in depth on the latest in Georgia Tech football and men’s hoops and airs in conjunction with Brent Key’s and Damon Stoudamire’s coach’s shows, as well as live programming from Helluva Block Party prior to every Tech football home game.



“We’re proud that 680/93.7 The Fan will remain the flagship station of the Georgia Tech Sports Network, as it has been for the last 30-plus years,” Georgia Tech director of athletics J Batt said. “In addition to the benefits that come with having Georgia Tech football and men’s basketball radio broadcasts on the Southeast’s preeminent sports radio station, we’re especially excited and grateful to partner with 680/93.7 The Fan as we look to create expanded and innovative audio content for Tech fans worldwide. Many thanks to David Dickey and all the great people at Dickey Broadcasting Company for their continued support of Georgia Tech athletics.”



“We are excited that 680 The Fan will continue to serve as the proud radio home of Georgia Tech athletics and we look forward to working with J Batt and his team to create and deliver great Georgia Tech-themed content and events,” Dickey Broadcasting Company general manager/president David Dickey said. “680 The Fan has been the College Football Voice Of The South for over three decades, and Georgia Tech Athletics plays a big role in that.”



Georgia Tech football and men’s basketball games have aired on The Fan since 1993, and with the new agreement, the partnership between Tech athletics and Dickey Broadcasting Company will extend through the 2028-29 academic year. In addition to being the flagship station and producer of the Georgia Tech Sports Network, 680/93.7 The Fan is also the flagship station and producer of the Atlanta Braves Radio Network and regional college football network Southern Sports Today.

THE FLATS – Coming off an overtime win at Miami to conclude regular season play, Georgia Tech women’s basketball earned the No. 10 seed in the 2024 Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament. The Yellow Jackets will open the tournament on Wednesday facing No. 15-seeded Pitt at 3:30 p.m. on ACC Network.

BRACKET | TOURNAMENT CENTRAL | TICKETS

The ACC Tournament begins on Wednesday with first round action. Four games of second round action will be played on Thursday, followed by the quarterfinals on Friday, semifinals on Saturday and the championship game on Sunday.

In regular season action, Georgia Tech defeated Pitt, 68-58, in the Petersen Events Center on Jan. 7. KaraDunn scored a game-high 26 points, while Tonie Morgan added a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds and Rusne Augustinaite added 14 points. Tech hit nine three-pointers paced by a trio from Augustinaite and went 11-for-13 at the free throw line.

The 47th annual ACC tournament will run March 6-10at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C. All games leading up to the championship will be televised on ACC Network with the championship game on ESPN. ESPN announced today that ESPN’s College GameDay will broadcast live for the first time from the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament on Sunday, March 10 prior to championship tipoff at 1 p.m.

Tickets for the 2024 Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Championship are currently on sale at theacc.com/tickets.

Johnson holds nothing back in this interview. Too much to type but a must listen to interview. Funny as hell and if you didn’t like or think Collins was a clown, listen to the interview and you will 100 percent agree now.

Key is a Saban disciple. I'd love to hear his honest and open take on what is described below and how he is navigating it being 27 years younger than Saban.

ESPN Nick Saban Article

But Alabama's 27-20 overtime loss to Michigan in the CFP semifinal at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 was a hard one for Saban to digest. Not only was Saban upset about the way his team played, he was especially disheartened about some of the things that happened afterward -- in the Rose Bowl locker room and back on campus, when he met with some of the players.

"I want to be clear that wasn't the reason, but some of those events certainly contributed," Saban said of his decision to retire. "I was really disappointed in the way that the players acted after the game. You gotta win with class. You gotta lose with class. We had our opportunities to win the game and we didn't do it, and then showing your ass and being frustrated and throwing helmets and doing that stuff ... that's not who we are and what we've promoted in our program."

Once back in Tuscaloosa, as Saban began meeting with players, it became even more apparent to him that his message wasn't resonating like it once did.

"I thought we could have a hell of a team next year, and then maybe 70 or 80 percent of the players you talk to, all they want to know is two things: What assurances do I have that I'm going to play because they're thinking about transferring, and how much are you going to pay me?" Saban recounted. "Our program here was always built on how much value can we create for your future and your personal development, academic success in graduating and developing an NFL career on the field.

"So I'm saying to myself, 'Maybe this doesn't work anymore, that the goals and aspirations are just different and that it's all about how much money can I make as a college player?' I'm not saying that's bad. I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just saying that's never been what we were all about, and it's not why we had success through the years."

The state of South Carolina is going to be a spot where new safeties coach Cory Peoples spends a good amount of time, and after recently offering Camden DB Jordan "Jojo" Crim, the 6-foot-1, 170 pound safety has locked in an OV for the weekend of June 1st. , he tells me.
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It is the craziest thing how we have done better the second half of the ACC season in each of the past 5 years. I tend to always be a bit overly optimistic, but perhaps we could retain enough of the roster, plus add a few more, to have a .500 first half of ACC play next year…then put together a winning record in second half?

23-24
First 10: 3-7
Second 10: 4-5 (1 to play)

22-23
First 10: 1-9
Second 10: 6-4

21-22
First 10: 2-8
Second 10: 3-7

20-21
First 10: 4-4
Second 10: 7-2

19-20
First 10: 4-6
Second 10: 7-3

THE FLATS – Due to inclement weather in the forecast Friday evening, Georgia Tech baseball’s series opener against Youngstown State on March 8 has been moved to 2 p.m., it was announced today.



The Yellow Jackets (7-4) will host the Penguins (0-10) in a four-game series this weekend, beginning Friday.



Further weather and schedule updates will be available online at ramblinwreck.com and @GTBaseball on X.

Great start

Hope this is cool to post (don’t want to advertise somebody else’s business in Kelly’s store). @Pantone4515 and his great team have made Burress t-jerseys available.

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I found this fascinating and I don't shop at Costco because it is not close by. I have a lot of family that are into the Kirkland booze so I ended up watching the whole thing. My brother is a convert for Costco.

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The Athletic reporting a vote today moved the early signing day from mid December to the Wednesday before the conference championship games.

They didn't vote on a June date, but suggested that will come.

Oh, and our friend Patrick Suddes was quoted extensively in the article.

THE FLATS – Two of Georgia Tech football’s most anticipated matchups of the 2024 season will be held in conjunction with two of the Institute’s biggest weekends of the year, as the Yellow Jackets will host Notre Dame for Family Weekend on Oct. 19 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Miami (Fla.) for homecoming on Nov. 9 at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field.



This season will mark the first time that Georgia Tech’s Family Weekend is aligned with the Jackets’ annual home date at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which will not only allow families of Tech students to witness one of the biggest games of the year, but also give them the opportunity to enjoy the amenities at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, one of the world’s premier stadiums. Home of the National Football League’s Atlanta Falcons, Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Super Bowl LII and the 2026 World Cup, Mercedes-Benz Stadium is located less than a mile from Georgia Tech’s Midtown Atlanta campus.



Georgia Tech hosts Atlantic Coast Conference rival Miami for homecoming at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field. The Yellow Jackets have won homecoming thrillers each of the past two seasons – a 23-20 overtime victory over Duke in 2022 and a 46-42 come-from-behind triumph over No. 17 North Carolina last fall – and are 55-18-1 all-time in homecoming games at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Tech is also 1-0 all-time in homecoming games against Miami (a 30-23 victory in 2006). The teams played perhaps the most memorable game in series history last season in south Florida, when the Yellow Jackets forced a turnover with 26 seconds remaining, marched 74 yards in 24 seconds and scored the winning touchdown with two seconds to go on a 44-yard pass from Haynes King to Christian Leary, which capped Tech’s 23-20 win over the 17th-ranked Hurricanes.



The only way to guarantee tickets for the Family Weekend and homecoming games are by purchasing 2024 Georgia Tech football season tickets. Season tickets are on sale now and include the best seats for the Yellow Jackets’ six-game home slate, which features ACC matchups against Miami, Duke (Oct. 5) and NC State (Nov. 21) at Bobby Dodd Stadium, as well as the showdown with Notre Dame at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Season ticket packages begin at just $225. For more information and to become a season ticket member today, visit ramblinwreck.com/footballtickets.



Georgia Tech opens the 2024 season on Saturday, Aug. 24 against defending ACC champion Florida State at the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland. Tickets are available atramblinwreck.com and official Georgia Tech travel packages are available at gt2ireland.com.



Tech finished 7-6 overall and 5-3 in ACC play in 2023 (good for a tie for fourth place in the 14-team ACC) and won the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl championship with a 30-17 victory over UCF. The Yellow Jackets return 17 starters, including all-ACC honorees DL Zeek Biggers, OL Joe Fusile, RB Jamal Haynes, King, WR Eric Singleton, Jr. and OL Jordan Williams.