1/7 - MBB @ Syracuse

[Ramble1885]

time to

squeeze them oranges.

 

[AUFC]

Please delete, published while the other thread was created.

 

[AUFC]

Bad timing on my thread! Wrote it while you were publishing yours. If mods can close that, I'll move my post here.

Another opponent who ranks among the bottom of the power conferences on both sides of the ball, but especially defensively. They are led by ACC standout guard JJ Starling who just returned from injury for their loss at Florida State this past weekend. They are also getting strong contributions from 1&Done forward Donnie Freeman. Between Freeman and Luke O'Brien's former teammate Eddie Lampkin (who has a build that resembles former NC State center DJ Burns), these guys gobble up any misses from their opponents. We are not strong offensive rebounders anyway and getting worse in that stat, but it might be okay because...opponents don't miss shots against Syracuse. They have an opponent eFG% that ranks in the lower end of D1 and opponents crush them from inside the arc. Opponents crush them from outside the arc too.

Offensively, they can't shoot the 3 to save their lives. They do like to run the court though and play a lot of 1 on 1 basketball. Get the ball to their star power in JJ and Freeman, and let them beat their defenders.

Schedule-wise, they have played 8 games against P6 competition and lost all 8, including a 5 point loss at Notre Dame, 10 point loss in the Dome to Wake and 16 point loss in Tallahassee. They had some close calls against mid-majors early in the season.

That said, there's no such thing as an easy road game in the ACC and the oddities of the Dome makes it one of the more difficult places to win. Let's hope Lance and the guys channel some 2023 magic and shoot the lights out tomorrow.

Game tips at 7pm and can be viewed on ACC Network. Let's keep it rolling!

P.S. Tickets to watch now 5-time ACC ROTW Dani Carnegie and GTWBB vs. Virginia Tech are still available: https://ramblinwreck.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS:IBM:WB24:WB12:&linkID=gatech&shopperContext=&pc=&caller=&appCode=&groupCode=WB-SINGLE&cgc=&dataAccId=314&locale=en_US&siteId=ev_gatech. You've got a couple more days to move engagements around and skip your morning McDonalds run to save up enough money for a $10 ticket to make sure you're in McCamish for what will be the team's biggest game since knocking off UConn in 2021.

 

[jdcroft2001]

The last time I posted on this site the good guys beat Syracuse at the Dome 96-76 in February 2023. My 14 year old son is now 16 and we are headed back. We are looking for a repeat performance and I am cautiously optimistic. The team is playing well and seem to getting used to playing with each other.

 

[Connell62]

Only thing that concerns me about tomorrow night is that Cuse is working to get their season back on track and will likely be playing hard. They’re in wounded dog mode almost, but this is a road game we can steal.

Bring the defensive intensity fellas, hope it travels. I think we will need it until the guys adjust to shooting in the dome!

Yellow Jackets win a close one 75-70

 

[Northeast Stinger]

The team is vastly improved. But the age old question is whether they have learned how to win yet. That’s that intangible thing, hard to define, but which is a real thing in sports. Players are having an off night, they’re playing an inspired opponent, but the team keeps their intensity level up and guts out a win. This is how winning streaks in almost any sport are maintained.

I want to see tonight if they have learned how to win.

 

[CuseJacket]

Bad timing on my thread! Wrote it while you were publishing yours. If mods can close that, I'll move my post here.

Another opponent who ranks among the bottom of the power conferences on both sides of the ball, but especially defensively. They are led by ACC standout guard JJ Starling who just returned from injury for their loss at Florida State this past weekend. They are also getting strong contributions from 1&Done forward Donnie Freeman. Between Freeman and Luke O'Brien's former teammate Eddie Lampkin (who has a build that resembles former NC State center DJ Burns), these guys gobble up any misses from their opponents. We are not strong offensive rebounders anyway and getting worse in that stat, but it might be okay because...opponents don't miss shots against Syracuse. They have an opponent eFG% that ranks in the lower end of D1 and opponents crush them from inside the arc. Opponents crush them from outside the arc too.

Offensively, they can't shoot the 3 to save their lives. They do like to run the court though and play a lot of 1 on 1 basketball. Get the ball to their star power in JJ and Freeman, and let them beat their defenders.

Schedule-wise, they have played 8 games against P6 competition and lost all 8, including a 5 point loss at Notre Dame, 10 point loss in the Dome to Wake and 16 point loss in Tallahassee. They had some close calls against mid-majors early in the season.

That said, there's no such thing as an easy road game in the ACC and the oddities of the Dome makes it one of the more difficult places to win. Let's hope Lance and the guys channel some 2023 magic and shoot the lights out tomorrow.

Game tips at 7pm and can be viewed on ACC Network. Let's keep it rolling!

P.S. Tickets to watch now 5-time ACC ROTW Dani Carnegie and GTWBB vs. Virginia Tech are still available: https://ramblinwreck.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS:IBM:WB24:WB12:&linkID=gatech&shopperContext=&pc=&caller=&appCode=&groupCode=WB-SINGLE&cgc=&dataAccId=314&locale=en_US&siteId=ev_gatech. You've got a couple more days to move engagements around and skip your morning McDonalds run to save up enough money for a $10 ticket to make sure you're in McCamish for what will be the team's biggest game since knocking off UConn in 2021.

Good preview. To summarize, they aren't good on offense. Nor are they good at defense.

But, they have a little bit of bite with Starling back in the mix. And, timing could prove poor with Chris Bell finding his stroke again against FSU. He's been in a season-long funk which can't happen for this 'Cuse squad to win. He was one of the ACC's best 3-point shooters a year ago (42% on 6+ 3pt FGA/game). It's probably not a coincidence that he performed against FSU at the same time as Starling's first game back... Bell is no longer at the top of the scouting report.

My only quibble is that I don't think Donnie Freeman is a 1@Done. He might be 1@Done at 'Cuse, but I don't see his game translating to the NBA next year unless he's good with a 2nd round grade. And now there's so much money to be made in college that that move doesn't make sense.

This is a game we can absolutely take. Vegas has us at (+1). The random mash of players that 'Cuse got from the portal doesn't make a lot of sense when pieced together. The Dome isn't what it used to be. Announced attendance will probably be 14k-15k, but actual attendance may be < 10k. Fans are jumping ship at a big clip, and Autry's seat is already warm less than 1.5 yrs into his tenure.

 

[Ramble1885]

The team is vastly improved. But the age old question is whether they have learned how to win yet. That’s that intangible thing, hard to define, but which is a real thing in sports. Players are having an off night, they’re playing an inspired opponent, but the team keeps their intensity level up and guts out a win. This is how winning streaks in almost any sport are maintained.

I want to see tonight if they have learned how to win.

I feel they’ve improved a lot because our issue last year was we couldn’t beat the teams we were SUPPOSED to beat. Finally we’ve done that.

Cuse is favored by 1.5 and this is on the road. If we lose I’ll be disappointed but not pissed. That said if we do what we did last season against them and spread out their zone and open up three point shots we’ll be okay.

 

[Connell62]

I feel they’ve improved a lot because our issue last year was we couldn’t beat the teams we were SUPPOSED to beat. Finally we’ve done that.

Cuse is favored by 1.5 and this is on the road. If we lose I’ll be disappointed but not pissed. That said if we do what we did last season against them and spread out their zone and open up three point shots we’ll be okay.

They're no longer a straight 2-3 zone team. It's still there, but not like it was under Jimmy.

Play D... If we play the same level of D we have the past 3-4 games, we will be fine.

 

[Peacone36]

A couple notes from the wagering side

Syracuse is 2-5-1 ATS at home this season, underperforming the number by -4.6 ppg
Georgia Tech is 1-1 ATS in true road games this season, outperforming the number by +6.0 ppg
The O/U for Syracuse home games is 4-4 with an average of +8.9 points ppg
The O/U for Georgia Tech road games 0-2 with an average of -20.5 points ppg
Syracuse is 6-0 straight up this season as the favorite with an average MOV of 9.0 ppg
Georgia Tech is 0-6 straight up this season as the dog with an average MOV of -14.3 ppg

 

[57jacket]

What Georgia Tech basketball must do to earn fourth straight win Tuesday at Syracuse

The road has not been kind to Georgia Tech during the Damon Stoudamire era.

www.ajc.com

 

[orientalnc]

A couple notes from the wagering side

Syracuse is 2-5-1 ATS at home this season, underperforming the number by -4.6 ppg
Georgia Tech is 1-1 ATS in true road games this season, outperforming the number by +6.0 ppg
The O/U for Syracuse home games is 4-4 with an average of +8.9 points ppg
The O/U for Georgia Tech road games 0-2 with an average of -20.5 points ppg
Syracuse is 6-0 straight up this season as the favorite with an average MOV of 9.0 ppg
Georgia Tech is 0-6 straight up this season as the dog with an average MOV of -14.3 ppg

We're a slight underdog @ Syracuse for two reasons in my opinion. 1st, we are 0-2 on the road (0-3 if you count Northwestern). 2nd, no one knows for sure if this "new" GT is the real one or someone else wearing GT uniforms. My opinion is that we are 5-10 points better that Cuse on a neutral court. But, the dome is not neutral for any team and Cuse could hammer us if we come out cold shooting.

 

[spdrama]

The game is really a toss-up. Too many Division 1 teams playing too often for Vegas Handicappers to research & come up with a point spread. They have to use rating systems and that creates a system that cannot quickly adjust for injuries & other team issues involving impact players making NCAA MBB betting one of the few sports a great follower/researcher can win at.

The KenPom system pretty accurately gives anticipated spreads for MBB. GT is rated 101 at 6.59. Syracuse rated 129 at 3.18. On a neutral court Tech would be a 3 1/2 pt fave. But each team gets a home court advantage offset to spread based on their respective home court history. Syracuse’s home court advantage is 3.31 pts per game. That actually makes GT a fave tonite by 1/10th of a point. KenPom predicts GT over Syracuse 79-78. Tech is expected to be a 53% outright winner.

A GT fan who follows the team might initially think this game is a good bet, especially getting a point or more. But Cusejacket knows the Orange and his take would keep me from putting $ on it, although it is good road win possibility.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

The game is really a toss-up. Too many Division 1 teams playing too often for Vegas Handicappers to research & come up with a point spread. They have to use rating systems and that creates a system that cannot quickly adjust for injuries & other team issues involving impact players making NCAA MBB betting one of the few sports a great follower/researcher can win at.

The KenPom system pretty accurately gives anticipated spreads for MBB. GT is rated 101 at 6.59. Syracuse rated 129 at 3.18. On a neutral court Tech would be a 3 1/2 pt fave. But each team gets a home court advantage offset to spread based on their respective home court history. Syracuse’s home court advantage is 3.31 pts per game. That actually makes GT a fave tonite by 1/10th of a point. KenPom predicts GT over Syracuse 79-78. Tech is expected to be a 53% outright winner.

A GT fan who follows the team might initially think this game is a good bet, especially getting a point or more. But Cusejacket knows the Orange and his take would keep me from putting $ on it, although it is good road win possibility.

All of that and then some player has a fight with his girlfriend and you lose a hundred bucks.

 

[57jacket]

I really don't know what to expect. We could continue to progress, but also regress, especially being on the road. Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst. If we do indeed win, I believe we finally have the team we thought we might have.

 

[gte447f]

GT can definitely win this game and should win this game if we are better than the worst teams in the conference. Whether or not we are remains to be seen. If we win this game (any if is a big if with this team until proven otherwise) then we will have beaten 3 of the bottom six teams in the 18 team conference. IMO that won’t tell us we are a good team, but it might tell us that we are a tier above the bottom of the conference.

Go jackets! No reason we can’t or shouldn’t win this one.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Can everyone tell how anxious we are to win this one?

 

[Rzunz]

Can everyone tell how anxious we are to win this one?

We gotta (or wanna) believe

 

[AUFC]

Another ingredient in Tech’s recent efficiency binge? Duncan Powell’s ability to hit the corner three:

Duncan Powell – 3-point shooting

• First 8 games: 2 of 17 (11.8%)
• Last 6 games: 10 of 18 (55.6%)

Part of that has to do with the absences of Kowacie Reeves and Luke O’Brien, who both occupied the “corner three” spot this season. But Powell’s success has had some collateral benefits as well.

“It’s huge. We can attack his gap. They can’t help off of him. If they help off of him, it’s a three,” McCollum explained. “What [more] can you ask for? Get downhill on his gap, and then you’ve got rotations all over the floor.”

Inside The Chart: Georgia Tech vs. Syracuse

Voice of the Jackets Andy Demetra takes us inside his prep for tonight's ACC contest

ramblinwreck.com

When that corner three is hitting, it's CDS's offense at its best.

I agree with everyone else - I've been burned too many times to be confident right now with regards to my sports teams looking like national championship contenders for 2 or 3 games in a row and then laying just an absolute egg. I'm nervous and don't expect to win tonight but I know we are more than capable of it if we put forth our best game.

 

[Peacone36]

I put a full unit on Syracuse.

Y’all are welcome.

Love,

The Mushiest Mike