Damon Stoudamire Discusses What He Learned In His First Year Coaching In The ACC

Damon Stoudamire is entering his second season as the head coach

Mar 2, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Damon Stoudamire on the sideline against the Florida State Seminoles in the first half at McCamish Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Damon Stoudamire had been a college basketball coach before, but he had not been a head coach in the ACC until last season. While there were certainly some down moments for Georgia Tech that included losses to Notre Dame, Louisville, and some blowout losses to other teams, there were bright moments as well. The Yellow Jackets upset North Carolina, Duke, and Mississippi State, not to mention the play of freshmen Nait George and Baye Ndongo.

Now, Stoudamire is entering his second season in the conference and at ACC Baketball Tip Off in Charlotte, he talked about some of the things that he has learned and what adjustments he is making going into his second season as the Yellow Jackets:

"Well, the league is a really good league, number one. I think that I learned a lot last season. You know, for me I was coming into the league, and naive isn't the word, but you are just trying to learn the league.

So when I say learn the league, I'm learning each individual coach. I'm trying to learn their style of play, what they hang their hat on, what going to be the concepts that they love from a basketball standpoint.

What that does for me now is it helps shape your recruiting and how I move forward with my team. So that was really big for me.

I'm excited about coming into year two because I think the biggest thing, as I've been telling these guys from day one, I don't think -- and this is just me personally. See, I don't believe sports are played from the neck down. I think it's played from the neck up, and I think that the smartest teams are the best teams.

I think college has proven that historically throughout the years because the best team doesn't always win in college. The best teams win in the pros because it's the best of seven, so eventually, you know, somebody is going to have a little more talent than the other team and along with the smarts.

For me mentally we have to be better. We have to be more consistent. We showed all last season that we can win big games, but we also showed our immaturity by losing some games that we felt we should have won. If we can make the growth in that area and be more consistent, I think that will lead to a lot of victories.

You know, it's on all of us and I'm holding them accountable, and we're not going to skip no steps. That attention to detail has to be on point this year. I'm not going to settle for less."

Georgia Tech has made some important transfer portal additions this offseason, including Oklahoma transfer Javian McCollum. With expected growth from young players such as George and Ndongo and some potential impact players from one of the nation's best recrutiing classes, it is not hard to see why Georgia Tech might be a better basketball team next season.