2/14 - GT @ Wake Forest

[sidewalkGTfan]

Outscored by 24 from behind the 3 point line...sheesh. I get that we don't shoot the 3 ball well, and I can live with that, but for a team that hung it's hat on playing D last year, our effort on D has sucked balls this year.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Outscored by 24 from behind the 3 point line...sheesh. I get that we don't shoot the 3 ball well, and I can live with that, but for a team that hung it's hat on playing D last year, our effort on D has sucked balls this year.

Yep. Another team that shot lights out from 3PT. It feels like 90% if our opponents shoot > 50% from behind the arc. Which is like shooting 75% from 2PT. You can’t beat anybody who shoots that.

 

[slugboy]

Went to sleep when we were up. Apparently didn't last.
Did anyone play well?

 

[Peacone36]

The game at UVA next week could be flat out embarrassing. Hopefully we can score more than the 8 we put up in the first half vs them a few years ago under BG. Not sure if it was only 8, but I know it was something stupidly low.

It was 28 for the game so......yeah

 

[ESPNjacket]

With Alvarado and Haywood out GT is going to be at a huge quickness advantage the rest of the way. GT only has 3 perimeter players left in a reasonable rotation at this level (Okogie, Jackson, Alston). Most teams play 3 perimeter players at a minimum.

3 point defense won't be good and there isn't much anyone can do about it the rest of the year.

 

[RamblinRed]

My belief is that this team may win one more game, just too many injuries and distractions this year.
At this point you've lost your starting backcourt (which is also your 2 best shooters). We lack depth, perimeter players, experience, offensive firepower. Not much you can do but go out and play hard and take your lumps.

The fact that both Tad and Ben are both playing at levels below last season just hurts this year more.

I'll disagree on AD a little. AD has developed into a solid ACC starter. Not a great one, not a horrible one, just a solid one.

I thought Evan played pretty well last night all things considered. Moses had a forgettable night, that doesn't shock me. Right now Evan is pretty far ahead of Moses from a basketball players standpoint. Moses is a fantastic athlete, but not a very good basketball player right now, and he wasn't really expected to be. Evan missed most of fall practice with sickness and injury and that put him back, but his higher skill level and higher level of competition is starting to show a little.

Next year will be a different season and that is a good thing.

 

[ESPNjacket]

With Alvarado and Haywood out GT is going to be at a huge quickness advantage the rest of the way. GT only has 3 perimeter players left in a reasonable rotation at this level (Okogie, Jackson, Alston). Most teams play 3 perimeter players at a minimum.

3 point defense won't be good and there isn't much anyone can do about it the rest of the year.

I meant disadvantage above. Uggh.

 

[slugboy]

I meant disadvantage above. Uggh.

Well, we do have a quickness. It's just not the same amount of quickness.

 

[lv20gt]

Went to sleep when we were up. Apparently didn't last.
Did anyone play well?

Some will disagree but I thought in general we played well considering the situation. That isn't to say we played good basketball, but when we have no point guard, and none of our other guards have anything close to a point guard mentality, things are going to look bad. Defensively we're almost always playing someone out of position, and often that is a true freshman. I thought in general Ben, AD, Cole, and Okogie played well. Wright was not much of a factor but he didn't make too many egregious mistakes and the worst part about his play was him trying to guard out of position.

Tad was very passive and just wasn't looking for his offense and Alston was, well, Alston.

It's not good basketball, but I don't really think we played that poorly. It's felt like watching a varsity team take on a team that was a composite of a varsity and JV. Even if we play well we're still going to get handled.

 

[Silk3]

We feed AD in the post now like hes Shaq...super frustrating. If thats our go to play you know were in trouble lol then they double team him and he makes the slowest decisions ever. If he would kick it out quick and get the defense moving we could actually get some open shots. I feel bad for Wade, hes out there playing 5v1

 

[alagold]

The stats that jumped out at me were--our 3 pt -11%, theirs 51%, and their Asst/TO was 17/5. Really bad def.
(btw-on 3 pt shooting-I play in an over 55 league, we have a guy 69 yrs old who hit 6-10 3s the other night)
I still say if JP doesn't get a decent big man transfer for next yr , it will be a struggle also.(maybe not to this degree but still rough)

 

[Peacone36]

I don’t think a supremely talented big man is essential or directly correlates to success in basketball anymore. You just need a guy who takes up space.

That said AD needs to be better.

-Okogie and Alvarado are very good rebounders
-Syracuse’s best rebounder is a 6’7 freshman swingman.
-VT’s best rebounder (arguably) is a 6’6 swingman (off the bench)

Those situations are not ideal but it can be done.

Also, from what I have seen the last two games, with an off-season under Reveno I am pretty confident Cole can be at the very least an effective rebounder at the stretch 4. He plays very hard.

Don’t overlook Khalid Moore’s ability to impact the game on the glass either. I think that is where he will make his first impression.

 

[YlJacket]

The upside for AD next year is 25 min or so of good pick and roll D, 6 boards and hopefully 8 points on a couple of hooks and some put backs. If he doesn’t get overwhelmed on the block he can be OK.

Which for many nights will be good enough though we are going to really miss Ben’s rim protection The other reality though is that someone else is going to have to absorb 15 min or so at the 5. I don’t see AD playing 30 plus min

 

[Connell62]

The upside for AD next year is 25 min or so of good pick and roll D, 6 boards and hopefully 8 points on a couple of hooks and some put backs. If he doesn’t get overwhelmed on the block he can be OK.

Which for many nights will be good enough though we are going to really miss Ben’s rim protection The other reality though is that someone else is going to have to absorb 15 min or so at the 5. I don’t see AD playing 30 plus min

He’s averaging 9ppg in ACC play now. Take away the goose eggs he had against Duke and Cuse, and he’s likely averaging double figures. He’s got to focus on channeling his emotion and staying on the court.

 

[YlJacket]

He’s averaging 9ppg in ACC play now. Take away the goose eggs he had against Duke and Cuse, and he’s likely averaging double figures. He’s got to focus on channeling his emotion and staying on the court.

You are right and I misremembered his current avg. My point was that he isn't going to go up much as we go more perimeter on offense and he has to deal more with the athletes of a Duke or Syracuse without Lammers to take the bigger guys away from him. I see the goose eggs against Duke and Cuse as more warning about what happens next year when he has the other team's 5.

But to Pea's point, I don't think he needs to get 2X better or something like that for the team to do well next year. I still like a Lammers level double double guy who can protect the rim. But it isn't totally necessary.

 

[ramblinwreck1378]

Yep. Another team that shot lights out from 3PT. It feels like 90% if our opponents shoot > 50% from behind the arc. Which is like shooting 75% from 2PT. You can’t beat anybody who shoots that.

At some point, we need to stop pointing the finger at other teams and starting looking at ourselves and how we defend. There are enough data points here that tell me other teams shooting well against us is not an aberration or coincidence. We don't close out well, we help too much, and our rotation is awful.

 

[Peacone36]

At some point, we need to stop pointing the finger at other teams and starting looking at ourselves and how we defend. There are enough data points here that tell me other teams shooting well against us is not an aberration or coincidence. We don't close out well, we help too much, and our rotation is awful.

Agreed. We have some guys that are pretty......uninspired.....on defense. I also think Ben is getting hung out to dry a lot on our zone rotation which sometimes leads to him trying to close out in the corners and leads to teams getting easy layups.

 

[GTFLETCH]

Will be interesting to see if we win another ACC game this year. Wonder how long Josh Pastner keeps his job

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Will be interesting to see if we win another ACC game this year. Wonder how long Josh Pastner keeps his job

Remaining schedule is home vs. Virginia Tech (winnable), @ Virginia (might not break 45 points), @ Clemson (winnable, but I'd say 10% chance), home against NC State (winnable), home against Wake Forest (winnable). I still predict somewhere around 6-12 in the ACC.

My guess is bare minimum 2 additional years. I've seen nothing out of him so far that would lead me to be pessimistic about our program's future.

 

[Peacone36]

That’s a dumb thing to wonder.