By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

Georgia Tech won’t get to celebrate its first ACC championship in nearly 30 years on campus for a little while.

The Yellow Jackets hope to put it on ice indefinitely with its trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Georgia NET rankings
Sunday, March 14
34. Georgia Tech, 17-8
98. Georgia, 13-12
117. Mercer, 15-11
128. Georgia State, 14-6
261. Georgia Southern, 9-13
335. Kennesaw State, 2-19

Georgia Tech is seeded ninth and will take on Loyola of Chicago in the first round. Loyola of Chicago is 22-4, and won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament titles. The Ramblers enter Friday’s 4 p.m. game (TBS) at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse on a six-game winning streak.

The Yellow Jackets are dancing for the first time since 2010, when they beat Oklahoma State 64-59 and lost 75-66 to Ohio State. They are 23-16 in the NCAA Tournament, and have never been a ninth seed.

Some angst about Georgia Tech’s seed may overstate beating Florida State, No. 24 in NET before the championship. The Yellow Jackets’ NET of 34 puts the ninth seed in the ballpark, rating the Jackets in the top 36.

And that’s a spot in the NET rankings all year. Tech which lost 74-61 at FSU in mid December - has been improving in the rankings, but were 38th entering the ACC tournament, and hadn’t been anywhere near a Top 25 ranking in human polls.

The NCAA has used since 2017-18 as part of its evaluation a quad system, breaking down performance by teams at home, neutral sites, and away, and giving more weight to neutral and away games.

Tech was 1-5 on the road against the first quad (top 30 at home, top 50 at neutral site, and top 75 on the road). The Jackets also lost to sitting-home teams Mercer and Georgia State, both of whom had winning seasons and are ranked 117th and 128th. Both games were in late November.

While a fairly hot team now, Georgia Tech went 6-6 against top-50 NET teams.

Loyola has a much bigger gripe, dropped to an eighth seed despite a NET of 10, better than Kansas, Virginia, and Texas, among others.

North Carolina’s NET is 32, and the Tar Heels are an eighth seed.

Wisconsin’s NET was 27th, and the Badgers are a nine seed, and face UNC. LSU is an eighth seed with a 28 NET.

Loyola knows what Tech has

Midwest Region capsules

NCAA Tournament

Expect the unexpected

Column: Oh, how we’ve missed you, Tournament

Virginia and Kansas are in, but …

Who’s in the very first game? And notes

Michigan a top seed, but without top scorer for awhile

Baylor gets first No. 1 seed

Top seed Gonzaga eyes perfection

Notes I

Lots of Big Ten flavors with high seeds

Last time Duke, Kentucky, and Louisville stayed home the same year?

Gurus help with picking the first round

How to win your pool: skip logic

Michigan State does some trolling

Seeds the committee got wrong

First Round TV

Thursday

5:10 p.m. (16) Texas Southern vs. (16) Mount St. Mary's, truTV

6:27 p.m.(11) Drake vs. (11) Wichita State TBS

8:40 p.m.(16) Appalachian State vs. (16) Norfolk State t ruTV

9:57 p.m.(11) UCLA vs. (11) Michigan State TBS

Friday

12:15 p.m. (10) Virginia Tech vs. (7) Florida CBS

12:45 p.m. (14) Colgate vs. (3) Arkansas truTV

1:15 p.m. (16) Drexel vs. (1) Illinois TBS

1:45 p.m. (11) Utah State vs. (6) Texas Tech TNT

3 p.m. (15) Oral Roberts vs. (2) Ohio State CBS

3:30 p.m. (16) Hartford vs. (1) Baylor truTV

4 p.m. (9) Georgia Tech vs. (8) Loyola Chicago TBS

4:30 p.m. (12) Oregon State vs. (5) Tennessee TNT

6:25 p.m. (13) Liberty vs. (4) Oklahoma State TBS

7:10 p.m. (9) Wisconsin vs. (8) North Carolina CBS

7:15 p.m. (15) Cleveland State vs. (2) Houston truTV

7:25 p.m. (13) North Texas vs. (4) Purdue TNT

9:20 p.m. (10) Rutgers vs. (7) Clemson TBS

9:40 p.m. (11) Syracuse vs. (6) San Diego State CBS

9:50 p.m. (14) Morehead State vs. (3) West Virginia truTV

9:57 p.m. (12) Winthrop vs. (5) Villanova TNT

Saturday

12:15 p.m. (12) Georgetown vs. (5) Colorado CBS

12:45 p.m. (13) UNC Greensboro vs. (4) Florida State truTV

1:15 p.m. (14) Eastern Washington vs. (3) Kansas TBS

1:45 p.m. (9) St. Bonaventure vs. (8) LSU TNT

3 p.m. (16) Mount St. Mary's/Texas Southern vs. (1) Michigan CBS

3:30 p.m. (12) UC Santa Barbara vs. (5) Creighton truTV

4 p.m. (15) Iona vs. (2) Alabama TBS

4:30 p.m. (11) Wichita St./Drake vs. (6) USC TNT

6:25 p.m. (15) Grand Canyon vs. (2) Iowa TBS

7:10 p.m. (10) Maryland vs. (7) UConn CBS

7:15 p.m. (13) Ohio vs. (4) Virginia truTV

7:25 p.m. (9) Missouri vs. (8) Oklahoma TNT

9:20 p.m. (16) Norfolk St./Appalachian St. vs. (1) Gonzaga TBS

9:40 p.m. (11) Michigan St./UCLA vs. (6) BYU CBS

9:50 p.m. (14) Abilene Christian vs. (3) Texas truTV

9:57 p.m. (10) VCU vs. (7) Oregon TNT