ACC Basketball: Takeaways from Day 2 of conference tournament action

SOUTH BEND, INDIANA - FEBRUARY 22: Armando Bacot #5 of the North Carolina Tar Heels high fives teammates against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the first half at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center on February 22, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

3 of 3

ACC Basketball Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Josh Pastner Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /

Josh Pastner deserves to keep his job

I’ve said since October that Georgia Tech had the weakest roster in the ACC. So on Feb. 5 when the Yellow Jackets sat at 8-15 as losers of nine games in a row, I was far from surprised.

With their season looking like a total failure a month ago, Pastner was remarkably able to keep his group together and display some real improvement. Georgia Tech put together a 6-3 record over the final month of the season (not counting Feb.18 win over non-D1 Florida Tech). The only losses came on the road at Wake Forest (by one point), at Pitt (held a second-half lead), and vs Pitt again (held a second-half lead) in the ACC Tournament. This team competed at a high level in every single game to finish off the season. Plenty of ACC teams cannot say the same.

Pastner has had to deal with a plethora of injuries (no Deivon Smith, Tristan Maxwell, or Rodney Howard yesterday) this year.

He’s developed a really good guard in sophomore Miles Kelly, and South Alabama transfer Ja’Von Franklin evolved into an absolute beast over the last month of the season. Over their final five games of the year, Kelly averaged 23 points and 5.4 made three-pointers per game (with a 46.6 3PT%). Across the Jackets’ last nine, Franklin averaged 13.1 rebounds per contest. Both players are eligible to return to school next season.

Next. Biggest Bracketology winners of Wednesday. dark

While it’s unclear what’s next for Pastner and his job at Georgia Tech, I want to give credit where credit is due. Pastner did an unbelievable job maximizing the talent on his roster over the last month of the season. All that being said, this team finished the season with a 15-18 record, so I’d understand if they want to turn the program in another direction.