ATLANTA, Ga. (ACC Communications) – Georgia Tech has withdrawn its appeal of the competition penalty levied by the NCAA against its men’s basketball program last September. The competition penalty prohibits Georgia Tech from participating in postseason play following the conclusion of this current season (2019-20).
By withdrawing the appeal of penalty V.2 as outlined in the NCAA decision, Georgia Tech will not participate in the upcoming Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, nor will it be eligible to be selected to participate in any national postseason tournaments.
However, the Yellow Jackets will have full postseason eligibility restored for the 2020-21 season. Had Georgia Tech not withdrawn the appeal and assuming a scenario where the appeal was denied after the conclusion of the 2019-20 season, the competition penalty would have been applied to the 2020-21 postseason.
“Since the appeals process will extend beyond this current season, we feel that it is in the best interest of our men’s basketball program – and especially the 14 student-athletes that return to the team – to drop our appeal of the competition penalty,” Georgia Tech director of athletics Todd Stansbury said. “I feel very good about the future of our men’s basketball program and, therefore, want to remove the cloud of a potential postseason ban from hanging over our team as we move into next season and beyond.
“The hardest part of this decision was knowing the effect that it has on the two seniors on this year’s team – James Banks and Shembari Phillips,” Stansbury continued. “I am very disappointed for them and hope that our entire Georgia Tech family will rally around them to make the final games of their college basketball careers special.”
“I support the decision of our administration to withdraw the appeal of the competition penalty and am happy to know that we’ll have this penalty behind us as we go into 2020-21,” Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner said. “Like our administration, I’m sad for our two seniors who won’t have the opportunity to participate in the postseason in their final year. We will do everything in our power over the final two games of the season to send James and Shembari out on a high note.”
Georgia Tech’s appeal of two other penalties levied by the NCAA last September will continue. The penalties still being appealed are:
- V.4: Scholarship reductions, which reduce the number of grants-in-aid that Georgia Tech can award by one during each of the next four seasons (2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23);
- V.9: Official visit limitation, which prohibits Georgia Tech from scheduling official visits in conjunction with home men’s basketball competitions in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
There is no timeline on when the appeals process will conclude. As this remains an ongoing NCAA process, Georgia Tech will have no further comment at this time.
