11/9 - MBB vs. Howard

[57jacket]

As poor as we played O at times, clearly the main problem is defense. It's obvious. I played for 20 years. Here are my thoughts
o Offense is fun
o Defense is hard work
o Offense is shooting
o Defense is quickness
o Offense is passing
0 Defense is "want to"

 

[GTNavyNuke]

They’re fine but they had three good players hit the portal last season as well. This is a cop out IMHO. We were the superior team and for the second game in a row we played poorly for 30 or so minutes.

Let’s just hope this isn’t a thing.

You know a lot about basketball. Do you think Howard is a good team, i.e. conference winners maybe this year? Do you think that a large part of the closeness in the game was Howard was very hot shooting? (I know being hot is helped by poor D and don't know enough to separate the two.)

Everybody's acting like their dog died. From my seats in Section 104, I was EXTREMELY IMPRESSED with Howard. They were athletic, disciplined and well coached. I don't care what conference they play in, that's a tough team. We didn't play well but they had a lot to do with that. We came back from 14 down in the second half to tie it, they immediately ran it back up to 7 and we fought back and eventually hung on for a tough win. The good guys showed some serious heart tonight.

You may all now resume your woe-is-me bitchfest. But for me, I'm pleased.

I watched on ACCNX most of the game. I'm real impressed we got down 14 but came back. Shows a lot about character.

Howard looked good to my uncalibrated eyeballs, but how much was them and us I don't know.

Winning always beats losing and I'm glad it was a close game so there is more to learn from without losing.

 

[Steverc]

I will say crowd was instrumental down the stretch. The defensive energy picked up and you could see the chaos on Howard’s offensive possessions late with the crowd noise. We need 8,600 strong though, especially against Top 25 opponents like Mississippi State and Duke coming up.

I was thinking that lack of crowd support may have played a role in the poor play. Now, I am thinking that if this game was played on the road, we lose big time.

 

[Jim Prather]

How about a more optimistic way to view this game - the past few years this game would have been a loss!

 

[spdrama]

After my comments, in quotes is a Howard pre-season look by a sportswriter. I think GT fans, not unlike many long-time college basketball fans have a tendency to have little respect for mid-majors and smaller schools lacking in reputation for achievement in Division 1 athletics. CSD managed to acquire quite a few really good ball players, both through the portal & as freshman in the brief time he had since taking the realm after most of the best players were already gone. A bunch of good players does not make for a good team unless they have time to play for awhile as a team. We are two games into a new season with new coaches and new players and they came from behind to beat a very good Howard team with 22 offensive rebounds, only 7 turnovers and 17 more attempted shots. These student athletes work their arses off everyday. Just maybe fans should show a bit more appreciation by showing up at games to support them and holding off harsh critiques, at least for more than 2 games.

“Howard made history last winter, advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1992. Coach Kenneth Blakeney’s fourth season turned out to be the charm as the Bison went 22-13 and captured the MEAC regular season crown before taking the conference tournament (rallying from four down with 20 seconds left).

Unfortunately, the splash made by the program last winter caught the attention of more than a few schools, and three players left for greener pastures: forward Steve Settle transferred to Temple, swingman Jordan Wood traded in D.C. for New Orleans as he transferred to Tulane, and most importantly, point guard Elijah Hawkins departed for Minnesota (enjoy the winters).

But Blakeney does return plenty of talent, including preseason All-MEAC selections Shy Odom, Jelani Williams, and Marcus Dockery. The nonconference slate, as always, has plenty of road games (eight) plus a pair of neutral site games. Howard was picked first in the MEAC Preseason Poll.”

 

[Techster]

I only got to watch the 2nd half due to some work social commitments. However, I was able to sneak a few peaks at the boxscore in the first half. At one point, Howard was hitting 70% of their shots.

I'm going to look at this from an admittedly gold tinted angle.

Early season contests tend to end with some funky results. #4 Michigan State lost to James Madison. Louisville barely wins (93-92) against UMBC. Vanderbilt loses to Presbyterian. Oklahoma State loses to Abilene Christian. Cal barely gets by St Thomas Minnesota (71-66). Point is, It's better to be GT barely winning against Howard than #4 Michigan State losing to James Madison.

Should we be concerned that we've started slow two games in row, and that teams with inferior talent have been able to play us evenly? 100%

What concerns me is we seem to have regressed from Game 1 to Game 2. Our defense got worse...and defense has been a point of pride and emphasis for Stoudamire. We jacked up 18 3's, and only made 4. Our free throw conversion continues to be subpar (around 60% for both games). We continue to miss easy chances. These slow starts in the first half will come back to haunt us if we don't get it straightened out.

On the bright side, this was another game GT could have scored 100 points if we would have converted more free throws and finished our easy chances. Again, we had multiple guys in double figures (Kelly 27, Claude 19, Reeves 15, Sturdy 11). Both Sturdy and Abram had an off night, but GT was still able to score 88 points. Those are two guys GT will need to play well heading into the tougher part of our schedule. Certain guys, outside of Kelly, like Claude and Reeves are proving they will be high level players for us. Remember, we're still missing Terry (who averaged double figures for us last year) and Ndongo (who seems to have gotten most of the early season hype).

Would we have liked for GT to blow Howard out? Of course. But this team is still learning to play together, our coach is still getting use to the roster, at some point those easy chances will start falling, our free throw shooting will improve (I hope), and our defense will improve. After two games, we have 4 guys (Kelly, Reeves, Claude, Coleman) who AVERAGE double figures, another (Sturdy) who's one bucket away from averaging double figures, and another player that hasn't played yet (Terry) that was averaging double figures last year. Oh, does anybody expect Abram to NOT play better as the season progresses? This could be our most lethal roster since the Hewitt days.

There's definitely cause for concern after Game 2, but IMO, there is SO MUCH more to look forward to once our coach and players get into rhythm.

 

[iopjacket]

The team has a lot work to do to start strong and play good defense. I think they will succeed.

 

[MtnWasp]

For Stoudamire to win with how he wants to play is going to require a work ethic, intensity and toughness that the players are not familiar with. This is going to be a process and there is no guarantee of success.

There is a bias among some fans that if we are going to beat Duke and make the NCAAT then we have to beat any mid-major program by at least 30 points. There is a lot wrong with that orientation. The chances that we beat Duke this year are slim, making the NCAAT is a long shot and lots of mid-major teams are good. Howard played well.

While it sucks that we let Howard players waltz to the rim for 30+ minutes, it is good that we scored to keep up and that we did have an effective kick at the end of the race. Ragged play is pretty common in November. The fact that we are missing two likely starters is also significant. The point is to get through it without losing. Mission accomplished so far. 2-0.

 

[alagold]

I didn't get to see the game but I saw the stats. 2 thing jump out--they scored 80! pts and shot super--BAD Defense! --Effort/approach/talent? what?,
We shot badly--22% from 3 , 59 on FTs..
And still won! .This would be a loss on the road for sure.
Shooting will be erratic but the DEF has GOT to improve.

 

[Root4GT]

Full credit for coming back to win this. That is big and not lost in the rest of what I saw

Our defensive effort and fundamentals sucked in the first half and were only marginally better in the second. It wasn’t any great scheme - just wide open driving lanes and no help when the ball got in the paint. I thought our D was good first game but it regressed badly tonight

Our offense looked good at times but regressed to one on one iso ball. Kelly made it work but it ain’t ACC level play.

I was also really surprised at the short bench tonight. Last game we played a lot and looked fresh. Tonight we had guys really gassed middle of the second half.

It’s a win. Take it and run. But lots to fix

Of the 10 guys who dressed only Murphy and DOWUONA got under 10 minutes. Murphy simply isn't good enough to get lots of minutes and DOWUONA will likely see less than 10 minutes per game when Terry and Nodongo return.

It was clear that CDS wanted Kelly to have the ball the last 5+ minutes of the game. That was good strategy as Kelly consistently came thru. The team spread the court with shooters and Kelly worked off a high screen and easily got to the basket.

The defense is clearly a work in progress. Guys do have trouble staying in front of their man as the opponent attacks the basket. The weakside help is not good right now.

Of course this is game 2 in the CDS era. This team is fun to watch play!

 

[CuseJacket]

 

[YlJacket]

Of the 10 guys who dressed only Murphy and DOWUONA got under 10 minutes. Murphy simply isn't good enough to get lots of minutes and DOWUONA will likely see less than 10 minutes per game when Terry and Nodongo return.

It was clear that CDS wanted Kelly to have the ball the last 5+ minutes of the game. That was good strategy as Kelly consistently came thru. The team spread the court with shooters and Kelly worked off a high screen and easily got to the basket.

The defense is clearly a work in progress. Guys do have trouble staying in front of their man as the opponent attacks the basket. The weakside help is not good right now.

Of course this is game 2 in the CDS era. This team is fun to watch play!

We didn't sub much at all second half. Claude and Kelly in particular were gassed at times. FWIW neither did Howard but it is different than what CDS discussed.

Kelly did make ISO ball work for this game - along with some transition baskets - and congrats to him - but I wouldn't count on that as we go forward.

 

[techgrad]

You can watch the game here if you missed it:

 

[techgrad]

Kelly did make ISO ball work for this game - along with some transition baskets - and congrats to him - but I wouldn't count on that as we go forward.

I wasn't a big fan of this while it was happening, but in CDS's presser, he said that he kept doing it because Howard couldn't stop it. I thought that was a good answer since this means we were just being opportunistic and doesn't mean we will rely on it heavily in the future. Also our shooting was off last night, and fouling out both of their big men with the ISO wasn't bad either.

 

[Root4GT]

We didn't sub much at all second half. Claude and Kelly in particular were gassed at times. FWIW neither did Howard but it is different than what CDS discussed.

Kelly did make ISO ball work for this game - along with some transition baskets - and congrats to him - but I wouldn't count on that as we go forward.

CDS said post game guys won’t often get the minutes Kelly got. He also said the game would dictate who plays. Obviously he realized Howard could not stop Kelly driving without fouling. Two of their guys did trying.

He also said two more guys will be coming ready later this month.

I don’t think you will see a totally predictable substation pattern from game to game.

So far Kelly, Claude and Strudy have all been in at crunch time. Debo has earned late game trust as well as has Reeves.

It will be interesting to see how this evolves. Those are guys with a lot of game experience under their belts in their careers.

 

[Jazzchaz]

Early season issues that need to be addressed:
After watching the exhibition and the first game with all the 3 pointers, layups and dunks, I was wondering if this team had anybody that can shoot the running floater as it will be of great value this season. (Terry possibly?)
I got my answer last night as time after time Kelly chunked up what I call, the 'running shot put'. Absolutely no touch at all. Reeves chunked a few as well. It's tempting I'm sure, but if the shot isn't in your arsenal, pass the ball back out if you can't get to the hoop.
Speaking of tempting, Gapare doesn't need to practice 3's during the game.
Another area of concern is clock awareness. In both the Georgia Southern game and last night with Howard, a timeout was called with few seconds left on the shot clock and Tech in possession. Both times after inbounding the ball, the players seemed unaware of the time and shot clock violations were called.

 

[57jacket]

Early season issues that need to be addressed:
After watching the exhibition and the first game with all the 3 pointers, layups and dunks, I was wondering if this team had anybody that can shoot the running floater as it will be of great value this season. (Terry possibly?)
I got my answer last night as time after time Kelly chunked up what I call, the 'running shot put'. Absolutely no touch at all. Reeves chunked a few as well. It's tempting I'm sure, but if the shot isn't in your arsenal, pass the ball back out if you can't get to the hoop.
Speaking of tempting, Gapare doesn't need to practice 3's during the game.
Another area of concern is clock awareness. In both the Georgia Southern game and last night with Howard, a timeout was called with few seconds left on the shot clock and Tech in possession. Both times after inbounding the ball, the players seemed unaware of the time and shot clock violations were called.

I can tell you from experience, running floaters really difficult. LOL I see guys do it, but I never could. Like you said , if you can't make that shot , kick it out.

 

[Root4GT]

Early season issues that need to be addressed:
After watching the exhibition and the first game with all the 3 pointers, layups and dunks, I was wondering if this team had anybody that can shoot the running floater as it will be of great value this season. (Terry possibly?)
I got my answer last night as time after time Kelly chunked up what I call, the 'running shot put'. Absolutely no touch at all. Reeves chunked a few as well. It's tempting I'm sure, but if the shot isn't in your arsenal, pass the ball back out if you can't get to the hoop.
Speaking of tempting, Gapare doesn't need to practice 3's during the game.
Another area of concern is clock awareness. In both the Georgia Southern game and last night with Howard, a timeout was called with few seconds left on the shot clock and Tech in possession. Both times after inbounding the ball, the players seemed unaware of the time and shot clock violations were called.

The offense is fine. The defense needs a lot of work.

 

[okiemon]

The offense is fine. The defense needs a lot of work.

Even Coach said the offense is ahead of the defense. He’ll get it corrected, and hopefully sooner rather than later.

 

[Root4GT]

Even Coach said the offense is ahead of the defense. He’ll get it corrected, and hopefully sooner rather than later.

That’s the objective.