12/5/2021 - UNC @ GT

YlJacket

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Thoughts from today

Howard and Saba are not ready for high end true 5 competition yet. Bacot did pretty much whatever he wanted to and caused the rest of our D to break down. I do think that Pastner has too quick a hook on Saba though. We need his length and he needs to play through a few things without fear of immediate hook.

Devoe came back to earth today. A "good" game by most any standard but we cannot afford good from him right now. Cannot have 1-5 from 3 for him. UNC did a good job of mucking up the high post and having a 6'8" athlete on him is tough.

What I saw in the second half we didn't run the 3 man action around the high post and seemed to try to get the wings more involved in the offense but we have to really look hard at ways to get Coleman or Kelly good looks that they know are coming. We are highly dependent on Devoe or one of the PG getting into the paint to kick out and that doesn't always work with young guys who are not always sure what to do.

Overall I think we have the pieces to be a bubble team, whether we can develop and gel quick enough to get there is a big question.
 

SecretAgentBuzz

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Stinks to lose. I really wanted to win this one (as I am sure the players and coaches did too!). Bacot is a load down low and Howard got in foul trouble but stayed in. It looks like Pastner doesn't really trust Saba yet, but an afraid-to-foul Howard wasn't much defense for Bacot and that opened up everything else. Our zone even looked unorganized, and that's uncharacteristic.

The biggest difference in the game was that stretch where we missed about 5 open looks in a row. Usher, Kelly, Devoe, Coleman--everybody had good looks at layups or threes and none went in. That coupled with the weak defense turned a close game into one out of reach. We've got to hit those open looks when we get the chance. Maybe we are still playing tired in the second halves from the flu hangover?

Also, we got ZERO shot attempts from Howard or Saba. They are not the most important cogs in our offense, but when they aren't even taking shots, something is off. LOVED the production from Khalid. If he can bring that every night, that would be HUGE. Usher had another off night with 4-10 shooting and only 8 points. We need more from him. He was -29 on the court. I expect more from him and I am sure he will do better next time out. The only two guys with +/- in the positive? Deebo and Kelly. Hmm...maybe we need to keep the freshman out there?

Go Jackets! Let's beat LSU on Saturday!
 

THWG16

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Not giving up on the season , but the lack
Of recruiting by pastner lately scares me , you’d think coming off a tournament title that recruits would be more attracted ,
But we missed on a lot of guys this fall . I don’t think we go to tourney this year ,
And just think how bad next year could be . We give pastner an extension and he’s only had one good season !!
 

D-man44

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Not giving up on the season , but the lack
Of recruiting by pastner lately scares me , you’d think coming off a tournament title that recruits would be more attracted ,
But we missed on a lot of guys this fall . I don’t think we go to tourney this year ,
And just think how bad next year could be . We give pastner an extension and he’s only had one good season !!
You guys are soooo pessimistic after losing to a UNC team who just smacked Michigan. Back to back winning seasons in the ACC is impressive as was his first season getting to the NIT title being projected last in the ACC. Winning the ACC should earn more leeway than saying "why did we extend him" 8 games in. BTW with GT athletics about to fire the goofball on the football side who is GT getting that is an upgrade on CJP?
 
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GTbball2016

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You guys are soooo pessimistic after losing to a UNC team who just smacked Michigan. Back to back winning seasons in the ACC is impressive as was his first season getting to the NIT title being projected last in the ACC. Winning the ACC should earn more leeway than saying "why did we extend him" 8 games in. BTW with GT athletics about to fire the goofball on the football side who is GT getting that is an upgrade on CJP?
Pastner deserves to keep the job and have the extension he received. However, I think everyone is a little concerned at how badly the recruiting cycle went. It’s why this offseason’s portal could easily make or break next year’s team. As it stands now, it it looks like possibly the worst roster in the ACC. As for this year, it’s hard to see how this team goes .500 in the ACC.
 

D-man44

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Pastner deserves to keep the job and have the extension he received. However, I think everyone is a little concerned at how badly the recruiting cycle went. It’s why this offseason’s portal could easily make or break next year’s team. As it stands now, it it looks like possibly the worst roster in the ACC. As for this year, it’s hard to see how this team goes .500 in the ACC.
What does this have to do with losing to a good UNC team? Georgia tech had a very good class last year coming off over a decade of not making the tournament just not how college basketball recruiting works. That same class has not contributed much because freshman are usually bad. People saying next year will be scary when Pastner wants to add older guys because of this seems weird.
 

D-man44

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People who think the freshman can’t play have no clue. They can score and will provide a strong foundation going forward.
I never said the freshman can’t play I said freshman are usually bad. Look at Devoe as an example. He avged less than 10 PPG, only shot 40% from the field, and had as many turnovers as assists. Freshman usually aren’t ready.
 

GT11

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I never said the freshman can’t play I said freshman are usually bad. Look at Devoe as an example. He avged less than 10 PPG, only shot 40% from the field, and had as many turnovers as assists. Freshman usually aren’t ready.
I was agreeing with you. Didn’t mean to imply you were saying that. I’m just frustrated with the people that are always so negative after a loss. This team is on the right track. We have scorers and good quick point guards, who are still learning. The bigs will get there with Rev working with them. Howard showed flashes against the stronger Wisc players. Remember where Banks was when he came here?
 

Northeast Stinger

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Disappointing loss but not the end of the world. Next time we play UNC it will turn out differently. Would almost bet on it.

I still like this team.

On a side note, had my TV set to record the game because I was not available for the first half and only got the second half recorded. 2021 has been the worst year for catching Tech sports on TV that I can remember in many decades.
 

lv20gt

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Pastner deserves to keep the job and have the extension he received. However, I think everyone is a little concerned at how badly the recruiting cycle went. It’s why this offseason’s portal could easily make or break next year’s team. As it stands now, it it looks like possibly the worst roster in the ACC. As for this year, it’s hard to see how this team goes .500 in the ACC.


This has been explained before. The recruiting cycle didn't go bad. The make up of the roster always leaned towards taking a small class especially with the rise of the portal. Here is where we stand going into next year eligibilitywise.

PG - Sturdivant (JR), Smith (SO)
SG - Kelly (soph), Maxwell (Soph)
SF - Coleman (Soph), Moore (Soph)
PF - Meka (Soph), Hill (soph)
C - Howard (JR), Gigiberia (soph).

Now because of Covid eligibility the big SO class actually has some that will be in their 3rd year. Regardless we are already pretty well situated for next year as is, and were likely always going to try and rely more on the portal to help balance the classes some as well as fill in the holes.

The idea that it is possibly the worst roster in the ACC next year makes little sense. We're a year out from the above being the core and we've already seen flashes from Sturdy, Smith, Coleman, and Howard of being solid contributors and it's easy to see the potential in Gigi, Moore, and Kelly. Of course if you are only looking at this roster as it is now, taking away Devoe, Ush, and Khalid, then you will reach that conclusion. But that isn't the case and they will all have a year more of development under them. We've already seen Smith, Studry, Coleman, and Howard have already had multiple double digit scoring games (I think Smith had one double digit and one with 9) and will develop as the course of the year goes on. We've also seen flashes from Kelly, J. Moore, and Gigi to think they can step in and be solid contributors next year as well.

We need to move away from hoping for a shiny new toy to come in every year and save us. The program will get to where it needs to be on the back of development of players more than anything else and we've seen a good job of that already.
 

slugboy

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We were playing better while F1 had us exiled to ESPN3. Maybe we'd have pulled off the win with more racing analysis??
 

dtm1997

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@lv20gt That's not how the COVID year works. It provides an option for a super-senior year that will count against scholarship #s. It doesn't dial back what year a player is in.

Regarding new talent, I bet they already have 1-2 transfer targets identified via back channels.
 

lv20gt

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@lv20gt That's not how the COVID year works. It provides an option for a super-senior year that will count against scholarship #s. It doesn't dial back what year a player is in.


Not sure what you're trying to say but in terms of eligibility you just described it as I listed them. I don't think it makes sense to go by academic credit hours if that's what you're getting at. Effectively, both Saba and Deebo have 3 years of eligibility after this one left where they will count against the total numbers the entire year. So effectively, they are in the same class, and I would say it makes more sense to refer to them as both sophomores next year, or Saba as a covid soph/3rd year soph, etc. Now will everyone use that extra year or even have the opportunity to? Probably not but that is true of regular eligibility as well.
 
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