Out of the Desert

Techster

Helluva Engineer
Messages
18,390
Yellow Jacket fans....exhale. For ten years, the GT Basketball nation wandered the desert trying to find our way back to basketball heaven. Well, here we are. After a decade of frustrations, dying on the inside as smaller programs surpassed us, watching elite recruits not give us a second thought, multiple coaching changes, and several missteps...GT basketball is back from the desert. Not only are we back, but we did it in a BIG way: We won the ACC Championship!

Think about what that means, and how hard it was for us to get here. This is not a story of 2 games over a March weekend that led to our ACC Championship, it's a story of a gut wrenching 10 years. It's a story of a proud program with proud fans trying to find its footing among the changing college basketball landscape. GT did not get here the easy way.

This story starts at the heels of one of the most successful chapters of GT basketball (the Paul Hewitt era), goes through a frustrating period (the Brian Gregory era), and finally culminates with 5 up and down seasons of the Josh Pastner era.

The team to take us out of the desert was not built with a band of one year rentals that used GT as a pit stop on their way to the NBA. That would have been the easy...the way most "elite" teams do it. This team was built piece by piece...with players who came to GT imperfect, but together were built into the perfect team for this time in GT basketball history. We had players other schools felt were spare parts but became key players (Usher, Sturdivant), players not highly thought of out of high school but would develop into some of the best players in the country on this level (Wright, Alvarado). We had a talented player that needed to that talent to blossom (Devoe). We also had a player that's probably the smallest in the conference, but would make some of our biggest plays each game (Parham). We also have guys who didn't play outside of themselves and understood their roles and played it well when called upon (Moore, Howard). There were no cutting corners to make this team into what it has become, there was no cheat sheet...just years of hardwork and each player understanding and accepting what they needed to do to make this team what it is today: A championship team. We also had to do it playing the hardest ACC schedule in the conference this year. No team before us even came close to making .500 with that kind of schedule, but we got through it with a 10-6 record. No, the path was not smooth, and there were plenty of bumps and potholes along the way....but we made it. We made it with the ACC POY named Moses...if that's not a sign of divinity.

This is also a story of a fanbase. Some fans will not remember this because you are of the younger generation, but believe me when I say it use to be a big deal when GT did NOT make the NCAA tournament. It's wasn't like it is now when it's a big that GT made it out of the desert and back to the NCAAT. All I knew through middle school, high school, and college was GT making the NCAAT almost every year. I saw GT basketball win recruiting wars with the basketball blue bloods...and take that talent and beat the same blue bloods on the basketball court.

It's different now. GT doesn't win recruiting wars against blue bloods anymore. GT doesn't win very many games against blue bloods on the court. GT doesn't make the NCAAT on regular basis. To be a GT fan these days is not easy. To say you're a GT fan among college sports fans is even harder. To steal a phrase from Cormac McCarthy, it's tough to "carry the fire" for GT sports.

But that's what many on here have done the last 10 years. They have done their part to carry the fire for our proud program. Those that have taken their time to update everyone each day on GT recruiting, those that have updated us day to day on what's happening with the players and the team, those that given their thoughts (whether you agree or disagreed) on the status of our program, those that have broken down the each game after wins and losses, and so many more instance. Everyone of us has helped carry that fire for 10 long years in the desert...this is our story as well.

So thank you for this team, the coaching staff, and Josh Pastner. Also, thank you GT fans. It's been a long time, but WE'RE GOING TO THE BIG DANCE!!!!
 

lv20gt

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,586
Lets hope this is actually an escape from the desert and not just a stop at a nice oasis.

And that's not being negative. Whenever a program is at a low place there is always going to that first real taste of success and when it comes there is no way of knowing if it will be the start of a long period of success or just a flash in the pan. These players have done their part. Some of them their part is nearing the end and others it's just beginning. Next year a new batch of players will join the returning ones in trying to build upon the success of this year's team. I'd say we are out of the desert when we stop worrying about who is leaving more than we get excited about who is returning/added.
 

MtnWasp

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,058
Lets hope this is actually an escape from the desert and not just a stop at a nice oasis.
Every year is a "show me" year. The ACC is highly competitive and being good is not guarantee to finish in the top 10.

But the fall-back attitude of not being able to win, that Pastner can't do it, has been proven false. The ground state of hopelessness and cynicism is now unjustified. We can return, if we so choose, to approach the future with a sense of hope and anticipation. We can now look at our coach as Our Guy, and get behind him so that when we have a bad moment, we don't turn on him but look forward to getting back on track at the next opportunity.

I understand the GT fans are not generally of the ilk to simply relax and cheer for the good guys and believe that good things can and will happen. But some might consider giving that approach a whirl.
 

lv20gt

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,586
But the fall-back attitude of not being able to win, that Pastner can't do it, has been proven false. The ground state of hopelessness and cynicism is now unjustified. We can return, if we so choose, to approach the future with a sense of hope and anticipation. We can now look at our coach as Our Guy, and get behind him so that when we have a bad moment, we don't turn on him but look forward to getting back on track at the next opportunity.


I am hopeful of next year and I believe I've been one of the more vocal posters about that specifically when someone mentions us absolutely needing a grad transfer big, or talking about replacing Jose. When the topic of Pastner's contract has come up and there has been concern about us losing a lot and taking a step back I have pointed out that experiencing a step back, especially a predicted one, isn't a sign that we are on the wrong path. I am 100% behind supporting Pastner and the staff going forward and feel it would be a mistake to behave with the mentality of "what if he isn't the one we need".

What I'm talking about is not whether we should have hope. We absolutely should have hope. I don't want the issue to be whether we can hope for a NCAAT birth or even the question of if we will or not. At the beginning of the season I want us to take it as an assumption we will make the NCAAT and be talking about how far the team can go. To me, that's when we'll be out of the desert. And that type of feeling only comes from sustained success spanning across multiple nucleuses (nuclei? ) of players. It's not that I doubt that Pastner can have that level of success, but that he hasn't, and hasn't had a chance to because the core we have this year is the first real core group he has has a chance to put together (treating it as the same core as last year because it pretty much is).
 

Techster

Helluva Engineer
Messages
18,390
It’s also nice having more than 2-3 other people in chat during the game. Next year the TiT needs to be full for all the big games & not with people wearing funny colored clothes.

One of the joys of this season has been the in game chats. Living and dying on every possession with fellow GT swarmers. Celebrating the nice plays, and getting a real time class in basketball X's and O's by the more informed posters. I say it at the end of every game, but it has truly been a pleasure to experience games with everyone.

Last night, I stayed off chat and just watched the game with my GF. I just wanted to take in the game and witness every moment of the Championship. We don't get there often, so it was a game I wanted to enjoy every second of. Winning it all definitely will be remembered for the rest of my GT fandom.
 

THWG16

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
811
Yellow Jacket fans....exhale. For ten years, the GT Basketball nation wandered the desert trying to find our way back to basketball heaven. Well, here we are. After a decade of frustrations, dying on the inside as smaller programs surpassed us, watching elite recruits not give us a second thought, multiple coaching changes, and several missteps...GT basketball is back from the desert. Not only are we back, but we did it in a BIG way: We won the ACC Championship!

Think about what that means, and how hard it was for us to get here. This is not a story of 2 games over a March weekend that led to our ACC Championship, it's a story of a gut wrenching 10 years. It's a story of a proud program with proud fans trying to find its footing among the changing college basketball landscape. GT did not get here the easy way.

This story starts at the heels of one of the most successful chapters of GT basketball (the Paul Hewitt era), goes through a frustrating period (the Brian Gregory era), and finally culminates with 5 up and down seasons of the Josh Pastner era.

The team to take us out of the desert was not built with a band of one year rentals that used GT as a pit stop on their way to the NBA. That would have been the easy...the way most "elite" teams do it. This team was built piece by piece...with players who came to GT imperfect, but together were built into the perfect team for this time in GT basketball history. We had players other schools felt were spare parts but became key players (Usher, Sturdivant), players not highly thought of out of high school but would develop into some of the best players in the country on this level (Wright, Alvarado). We had a talented player that needed to that talent to blossom (Devoe). We also had a player that's probably the smallest in the conference, but would make some of our biggest plays each game (Parham). We also have guys who didn't play outside of themselves and understood their roles and played it well when called upon (Moore, Howard). There were no cutting corners to make this team into what it has become, there was no cheat sheet...just years of hardwork and each player understanding and accepting what they needed to do to make this team what it is today: A championship team. We also had to do it playing the hardest ACC schedule in the conference this year. No team before us even came close to making .500 with that kind of schedule, but we got through it with a 10-6 record. No, the path was not smooth, and there were plenty of bumps and potholes along the way....but we made it. We made it with the ACC POY named Moses...if that's not a sign of divinity.

This is also a story of a fanbase. Some fans will not remember this because you are of the younger generation, but believe me when I say it use to be a big deal when GT did NOT make the NCAA tournament. It's wasn't like it is now when it's a big that GT made it out of the desert and back to the NCAAT. All I knew through middle school, high school, and college was GT making the NCAAT almost every year. I saw GT basketball win recruiting wars with the basketball blue bloods...and take that talent and beat the same blue bloods on the basketball court.

It's different now. GT doesn't win recruiting wars against blue bloods anymore. GT doesn't win very many games against blue bloods on the court. GT doesn't make the NCAAT on regular basis. To be a GT fan these days is not easy. To say you're a GT fan among college sports fans is even harder. To steal a phrase from Cormac McCarthy, it's tough to "carry the fire" for GT sports.

But that's what many on here have done the last 10 years. They have done their part to carry the fire for our proud program. Those that have taken their time to update everyone each day on GT recruiting, those that have updated us day to day on what's happening with the players and the team, those that given their thoughts (whether you agree or disagreed) on the status of our program, those that have broken down the each game after wins and losses, and so many more instance. Everyone of us has helped carry that fire for 10 long years in the desert...this is our story as well.

So thank you for this team, the coaching staff, and Josh Pastner. Also, thank you GT fans. It's been a long time, but WE'RE GOING TO THE BIG DANCE!!!!
Well said
 
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