2017-2018 GT Hoops Schedule

gtuberfan

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They may be legit, but they still aren't us. Still a wide gap between the ACC and SEC.

Idk man. I feel like we are not as good as a conference this year and the SEC is significantly better. Still advantage us but not by a significant margin
 

Peacone36

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Idk man. I feel like we are not as good as a conference this year and the SEC is significantly better. Still advantage us but not by a significant margin

I was more optimistic last year for the SEC and said so here in the preseason.

UK, Florida, Bama Mizzou should be good teams.

Arkansas could be good but lost Hannahs and Kingsley
LSU sucks
Auburn SHOULD be good but Horace Spencer has been a disappointment. Wiley is a super talented but, they gotta prove it.
Miss St should be good, but they should have been good last year. Ready graduated, Kegler transferred, Wright obviously has issues.
A&M still doesn't have a PG unless youre counting on Duane Wilson.
UGA has nice pieces but are those pieces better than Frazier? Nah.
USCe lost probably the best player they have had since Downey, along with Dozier and Notice.

I don't see a super deep conference.
 

gtuberfan

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UK UF Vandy Mizzou and Bama are almost lock tourney teams.
LSU definitely does not suck. They have some really nice pieces coming in and a high quality coach now.
Texas A&M will be improved as well with Savion Flagg. Plus Jay Jay can play the point.
Auburn has all the talent in the world to be very good but I'm not buying them since they've yet to prove anything in previous years.
Ole Miss lost Saiz but they have added 2 quality 4* players to make up for it.
Arkansas I think will be in the mix. Sure they lost those 2 but I think Hannahs is a bigger loss - they have a top 40 player in Gafford to slide in right where Kingsley is leaving a spot.
Georgia you said all that needs to be said.

On paper I see 9 of the 14 SEC schools having a better team than last year. Some significantly better.

With respect to the ACC, on paper I see UNC, FSU, Duke, UVA, Syracuse, Wake, Clemson all having worse teams than the previous year. That goes without mentioning Pitt's D2 team.

I think the SEC gets 6 or 7 and the ACC gets 8. Sure ACC is still better but I don't think it's that wide of margin anymore
 

Peacone36

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I dunno about Vandy. Good team. decent class but losing Kornet is a big deal. MFD and LaChance is a really good backcourt but...............eh. Youre listing a lot of freshman to be difference makers in those programs. I think next year is probably the year for a lot of those teams, A&M in particular. LSU? I don't see what youre looking at outside of the Wade hire and Waters commitment. Sampson is a nice player but Robinson has not lived up to his billing and Blakeney went pro. Its gonna take some time there.
 

DH9387

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mstranahan

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I'm thinking we finish right around .500 in conference.... 8-10 9-9 or 10-8 Just like last year, they could easily prove me wrong. :)
 

lv20gt

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Next year is really hard to predict imo. We certainly did a fair bit of punching above our weight class last year, and despite going 8-10 I'm still not sure how much of that was really being that good vs the breaks going for us. I could see us doing better and winning 10 or more, but I could also see us being a better team and regressing in the win/loss. It seems like everything we needed to happen did. Lammers and Stephens made huge strides, and Heath, Heyward, and jackson all made good strides as well. Okogie played well above his projection, and we seemed to avoid injuries entirely except for Gueye.

We saw how guys reacted to a change in staffs but how much of a jump will Lammers, Okogie, and Jackson make after a year in the system? How much better prepared will opposing teams be for what we are doing, especially on defense? Will any of the incoming freshmen play as above their recruiting level as Okogie did? Will Gueye or Ogbonda make similar strides to being part of the main rotation that we saw Lammers and Stephens make last year? Will we remain healthy or will injuries significantly punish our lack of depth? Hell with Okogie alone I could see a sophomore slump or I could see him being a PoY contender. That alone means the range of victories I could see is pretty huge.

Although overall I feel like it's a pretty good schedule for us.
 

YlJacket

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Next year is really hard to predict imo. We certainly did a fair bit of punching above our weight class last year, and despite going 8-10 I'm still not sure how much of that was really being that good vs the breaks going for us. I could see us doing better and winning 10 or more, but I could also see us being a better team and regressing in the win/loss. It seems like everything we needed to happen did. Lammers and Stephens made huge strides, and Heath, Heyward, and jackson all made good strides as well. Okogie played well above his projection, and we seemed to avoid injuries entirely except for Gueye.

We saw how guys reacted to a change in staffs but how much of a jump will Lammers, Okogie, and Jackson make after a year in the system? How much better prepared will opposing teams be for what we are doing, especially on defense? Will any of the incoming freshmen play as above their recruiting level as Okogie did? Will Gueye or Ogbonda make similar strides to being part of the main rotation that we saw Lammers and Stephens make last year? Will we remain healthy or will injuries significantly punish our lack of depth? Hell with Okogie alone I could see a sophomore slump or I could see him being a PoY contender. That alone means the range of victories I could see is pretty huge.

Although overall I feel like it's a pretty good schedule for us.

A lot of things broke right for us last year. Even more have to break right for us this year. At minimum we need at least one freshman (probably Alvarado) to play not just at an ACC level but at a really solid ACC player level. And then we still have to manage the PF slot even with that. That is a really tall order.

I think we are getting better but would not be shocked if we had a worse record. Really hope not but that is what it is - hope.

This schedule is about the best we could get. Need to take advantage of it. And the OOC schedule seems to be just enough better without the 200 plus RPI teams.
 

alagold

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As I see it for us--unless TJ becomes a CONSISTENT 15 ppg guy and limits TOs ,we will struggle to match last yr.The REBing especially has me worried and teams will be better prepared for our zone. That is even with Alvarado playing at a decent level and no big injuries.(of course, if Ben gets hurt ALL bets are off)
 

Peacone36

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.(of course, if Ben gets hurt ALL bets are off)

Whoa whoa!!!! Don't even!

I think Jax is gonna be awesome this year personally. These guys should come in with a confidence that was missing at the start of next year. I worry about our shooting from deep a bit. J-Ok shoots a good % but hes more of a slasher. Hopefully Alston and CGB can step up there.
 
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