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Georgia Tech Basketball: Jackets receive harsh punishment from NCAA

By Dylan Callaghan-Croley

CHAPEL HILL, NC - JANUARY 20: Head coach Josh Pastner of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets reacts against the North Carolina Tar Heels during their game at Dean Smith Center on January 20, 2018 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC - JANUARY 20: Head coach Josh Pastner of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets reacts against the North Carolina Tar Heels during their game at Dean Smith Center on January 20, 2018 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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The Georgia Tech basketball program has received harsh punishments from the NCAA due to the Josh Pastner/Ron Bell Scandal that has hovered over the program the last two years.

There won’t be any postseason basketball for the Georgia Tech basketball program in the 2019-20 season. On Thursday afternoon, the NCAA released their penalties on Georgia Tech for the Josh Pastner/Ron Bell scandal and the NCAA has found enough evidence to bar the Jackets from postseason play this year.

The Jackets are entering year four of a seven-year control for Josh Pastner as they to rebuild a once top-notch program. The Jackets have failed to make the NCAA Tournament each of the first three years of the Pastner era and haven’t made it at all since the 2009-10 season. Meaning, of any season that started in this decade, the Jackets officially will have missed the NCAA Tournament in each season.

The postseason ban is not the only punishment handed down to the Jackets, the program was also hit hard when it comes to recruiting. For the next four years, the Jackets will have one less scholarship to work with, which when it comes to a small team game like basketball, can be a killer for a program. Additionally, the Jackets will not be able to have any type of communication with recruits for the next eight weeks and will have three less official visits to work with going forward.

For the Jackets, the postseason ban isn’t all that major. The Jackets would most likely struggle to make a postseason tournament in the 2019-20 season anyway. That being said, for a program that is rebuilding, the recruiting penalties could do quite the amount of damage. The Josh Pastner era of recruiting hasn’t been spectacular by any means but has had it’s good moments.

The eight weeks of not being to communicate with recruits could prove deadly for the 2020 recruiting class as the Jackets competitors will now have that time to make up any ground the Jackets may have in any recruitment.

Overall, it’s hard to say just how impactful the penalties handed down to the program will be in the long run but on paper, it’s setting up to possibly push the Jackets rebuilding efforts back by a year or two. The 2019-20 season may be the most important of the Josh Pastner era and for Josh Pastner’s tenure. If the Jackets don’t make any improvements on the court, Pastner could be looking at the end of road for himself at Georgia Tech.

It’s safe to say that any good will that Pastner has built is slowly going out the window with these latest developments. A man who was brought to bring the program back to prominence is slowly taking steps backwards instead.