Georgia Tech was playing one of the most difficult stretches of any team in the ACC when it lost the series to No. 10 Florida State, having finished the regular season against a top-10 opponent for the third year in a row. It's been a tough stretch to end the season in a three-year top-10 series, but Georgia Tech is arguably the toughest group in the ACC Tournament, having to face Virginia and Florida State this week. . Nothing will come easy this week for coach Danny Hall's team, and their play could determine whether they qualify for the NCAA Tournament when this week ends.
Let's take a look at Georgia Tech's resume heading into tomorrow's ACC Tournament.
Georgia Tech finished the season 31-21 (15-15 ACC) with an RPI of 46 and a KPI of 33. What are KPIs? Below is an explanation from baseballamerica.com.
“Kevin Pauga first created KPIs as a grading system for basketball. Pauga, now Michigan State University's athletic director, has since applied KPIs to sports ranging from baseball to field hockey to volleyball. Every win or loss is evaluated on a positive scale, with the best win being around 1.0 and the worst loss being around -1.0. will be created.
KPIs evaluate various factors such as the strength of the opponent, the location of the match, and the score when determining a winner (this is what makes a KPI similar to an RPI, which treats a 1-point win as a 1-point win). One of the key distinguishing factors is 20-run victory). During the 2023 season, KPI's best win was Alabama's 12-1 win over Arkansas on March 31 with a 1.36 rating. The worst loss by a large NCAA Tournament team was Tennessee's 12-5 home loss to Tennessee Tech on April 18, with a -0.744 rating. ”
Every ACC team with a record of .500 or higher and an RPI of 50 or higher has qualified for the NCAA Tournament. That being said, not every ACC team with a record below .500 and an RPI worse than 50 was selected.
Georgia Tech competed in four of the RPI Top 15 (KPI Top 10) road ACC series. RPI 4th/KPI 6th University of North Carolina, 7th/7th Clemson University, 8th/8th Florida State University, and 13/9th University of Virginia. . The Yellow Jackets have 14 wins in Quad 1+2 and are ranked in the top 25 in the nation. Facing the third-toughest schedule in the nation with six weeks remaining, Georgia Tech has climbed the mountain, earning series wins over No. 16 Virginia Tech, No. 10 Virginia Tech and No. 9 Duke. This followed an overwhelming victory over the No. 1 university. 13 North Carolina State and series wins over Pitt and Miami.
These are good things for Georgia Tech, but let's take a look at why they're on the bubble heading into the ACC Tournament but aren't comfortable on the field.
Georgia Tech has had some really nice wins this season against some of the best teams in the conference and in the country, but they've also had quite a few head-scratching performances. Big loss to Cornell (RPI 194th), sweep to Boston College (RPI 82nd, did not qualify for the ACC tournament), one loss to Pitt (83rd), two losses to Auburn (RPI 45th), loss to Miami (RPI 90) ). It's hard to go an entire season in college baseball without a bad or odd loss, but Georgia Tech has not one or two, but eight such losses. If they don't make the NCAA Tournament, we can look back at the sweep of Boston College, the loss to Cornell, and the losses to Pitt and Miami and understand why Georgia Tech didn't make it. .
If the Yellow Jackets can get one win and one loss in pool play, I think they will qualify. Florida State and Virginia are both top 12 in RPI, so one win might be enough. The situation would only become dicey if they lost both games, both in big defeats. This is the worst-case scenario for Georgia Tech, and if that happens, they could be shut out. If they can beat both teams and get out of the pool, I think Georgia Tech can safely get into the pool. It's going to be an interesting few days for Georgia Tech, and their play could decide their postseason fate.
No. 9 seed Georgia Tech will play No. 5 seed Florida State on Tuesday, May 21 at 3 p.m. and No. 4 seed Virginia State on Wednesday, May 22 at 11 a.m.
