Georgia Tech Basketball received harsh sanctions that will cost them a shot at the NCAA Tournament. Can the program recover from the punishments?
The NCAA gave Josh Pastner and Georgia Tech Basketball some tough news on Thursday, banning them from participation in any postseason event for the upcoming season. The punishment also was added with four years of probation status that includes loss of scholarships, along with limitations concerning how much they’re able to recruit future prospects.
To some degree, it’s not a major surprise for Georgia Tech Basketball fans this was coming. The notice of allegations was given this past March concerning recruiting violations surrounding now-former assistant Darryl LaBarrie that involved impermissible benefits to certain recruits and transfers. He was given a three-year ban from the NCAA for his refusal to cooperate. Josh Paster’s name has been in the headlines a few times, including a rift with a former friend/associate when he first joined the program.
The Yellow Jackets are certainly not the only program in the eye of the NCAA storm regarding violations. Kansas was just served with a Notice of Allegations, while both NC State and Creighton already are dealing with potential repercussions. And expect something to come out of Tuscon involving the Arizona Wildcats soon. But while those programs may be able to recover from potential sanctions, this set of news could be devastating for Georgia Tech.
Some may have reacted with sarcasm about the Yellow Jackets being ineligible from the 2020 NCAA Tournament given their recent struggles but Coach Paster was set to have arguably his most talented roster with the program. They returned their top four scorers from the season prior, along with the additions of transfers of Bubba Parham and Jordan Usher. And with an ACC that looks weaker in the middle than normal, Georgia Tech had a real shot at dancing this year.
The scholarship reductions and recruiting restrictions will really hurt the program going forward in their quest to be a top-half ACC team. They already struggle competing with their peers in the league and local threat Georgia has been a recruiting power all of a sudden. Syracuse faced a similar situation when it came to scholarship losses and it did seem to set them back a bit. Coach Paster himself is somewhat considered to be on the hot seat and this set of news can’t be helpful.
It’s unfortunate that seniors Shembari Phillips and James Banks will spend their final season on a team that won’t have a postseason. Credit to the NCAA for actually enforcing their rules and regulations but to announce this right before the season and give the players (who had nothing to do with this) no way to transfer, it’s another “one step forward, two steps back” situation to observe. The question now will be whether this has a major effect on the 2020 recruiting class. Three-star commit Jordan Meka remains with the team but could this cause him to reconsider?
As far as whether the punishment fits the crime, I would’ve preferred the postseason bad to be for the 2020-21 season, to give players who are innocent more options. I’m fine with what happened simply because there needs to be a real deterrent by the NCAA. This could be bad news for Kansas, NC State, and others in the coming months. The Yellow Jackets could be the first of many programs getting hit hard by the NCAA but they may also end up as the most affected when it’s all said and done.