2021-22 Offseason discussion

orientalnc

orientalnc

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Steverc said:
I hate it every year.
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I had never heard of Ja Morant when he played at Murray State. It would have been a shame to miss seeing him just because I had not heard his name on ESPN. I think a pretty decent player came from Indiana State. Would you have stayed home for that team?

But, the bottom line is that our teams need our support. In every game.
 
AUFC

AUFC

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The low major games actually end up being exciting because we barely eek out late wins over half of them and lose to a couple every year without fail.

On the real though, I was very impressed with Gardner-Webb when we lost to them a couple years ago. I'm not surprised they won their conference that season. The Grambling loss still humiliates me. The ETSU buzzer beater loss is etched into my brain for life.
 

gt24

Jolly Good Fellow
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lv20gt said:
Lets look at the team dynamics real quick.

Right now I would say the likely rotation is something like the following.

Starting back court - Sturdivant - Devoe - Coleman with K. Moore and Parham off the bench. Our starting front court being Ush and Howard with Gigi off the bench. IMO that is a very solid line up as is, and that alone should rule out the strategy of going super light in the OCC. Yes we have a lot of young players, but that strategy is more beneficial when we are forced to rely on young players, which we really aren't this year.

That would be an 8 man rotation and would likely see some K. Moore at the 4 when Ush leaves if I had to guess. A rotation larger than that just isn't likely if Ush and Devoe are playing the minutes we know they will. And IMO it's a pointless endeavor to pretend like Ush and Devoe won't play 30+ mpg against ACC teams. It just isn't a realistic concern. 10 man rotations are fantasy, and 9 man rotations are not nearly as easy to manage as some fans often pretend. Look at FSU's minutes last year where they had about a 9 man rotation, but it was because they had 1 averaging 28 mpg, 2 more at 25, and the rest under 20. Point is, I don't see us realistically going beyond an 8 man rotation in ACC play.

So, if any of the non included players were to improve to the extent to become a rotation player it would likely be at the expense of one of the 8 mentioned. IMO throw Devoe and Ush out of that consideration. So I would have two groups. The first is Meka and Smith in contention for the 5 and 1 spots respectively. Could either of them be good enough this year with development to be a rotation player at those spots? Sure. I could see Meka pushing out either Howard or Saba for a year at the 5, although size would be an issue, or Smith pushing either Sturdivant or Bubba out of the 1. However, if that were to happen I think it would have to stem from practice performance earning time against legit competition. I see no chance either of them would be getting very few minutes against legit competition but perform well enough against overmatched opponents to change that in time for ACC play. And in the case they do show out in practice, then an overly soft OOC will hinder their development in time for ACC play imo because games against the sisters of the poor are more about getting used to the speed of the game rather than preparing playes for ACC play. Now if we were forced to play a freshman come hell or high water then sure. But that's not the situation we are in.

Of the others, Maxwel, Kelly, J. Moore, meka at the 4 pushing ush to the 3, and even Coleman, are basically all looking to take minutes away from Khalid. My opinion is that Coleman is the most likely candidate, but it could be any. But I hold a similar view as above. I think the player most likely to do that is the one that earns it in practice and proves it against legit competition, not someone who doesn't get in unless it's against the sisters of the poor and suddenly shows out.

And all of this means I don't think the hit to the resume is worth it. We have a lot of experience returning and a solid group just with that experience. No need to tank our resume imo. If one or more of our young guys really is capable of helping that much, I have to believe they will prove it in practice and get in even against normal OOC teams.
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This is good stuff. Your point about Ush and Devoe is strong. For all the moveable/flexible pieces, hard to imagine either losing more than a few minutes. otoh, everywhere else is a question mark in my mind (good question marks because it's talented players competing for minutes). 3 different options at the other guard spot (kyle bubba smith). 3 different options at the big spot, and the 1 with the most experience has the lowest ceiling imo. as if that were not enough, khalid vs coleman at the wing spot. maybe you are right and all of the above will be sorted out during practices -- with clear and definitive lines of separation. that would be a coach's dream.

tangent: practices next fall might be the most competitive at GT since ???? anyone care to venture a guess? (the list of 10 players above leaves out maxwell and 2 incoming frosh ranked in the Top 150.)
 

RyanS12

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Assuming that Jose and Moses are going pro regardless of the draft puts us in the upper middle of the ACC on most people’s boards.
slugboy said:
For the B10-ACC challenge, I think that means we face Rutgers, Wisconsin, or Michigan State. Maybe Indiana or Penn State. I don’t think we’ll get slotted against Purdue, but that would be interesting. Indiana or Rutgers wouldn’t surprise me.

I don’t see us in a early season tournament, and I’m not sure why:
www.bloggingthebracket.com

2021-22 Men’s College Basketball Exempt Multi-Team Events And Tournaments

A regularly updated list of the 2021-22 men’s college basketball season’s exempt multiple-team events (MTEs) and non-exempt tournaments, which will eventually include schedule and TV information. If you have any additions (non-Rothstein tweets, I already see those), email them to...
www.bloggingthebracket.com www.bloggingthebracket.com
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Id love to play Michigan St! I was in East Lansing in 2005 when Zam rimed out a shot from mid court and we lost by 2 or 3. Hopefully we go back to East Lansing but espn, the acc and big 10 are about name brands in this event so the usual blue bloods will play each other. And with K stepping down, you know they’ll want that last Izzo/Rat face matchup.
 
jacketBMR

jacketBMR

Georgia Tech Fan
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Will be starting my Master's program at Wisconsin next Fall, would be awesome if Tech drew them in Madison but I think we're gonna be the home team this season since we were at Nebraska last year.
 
jacketBMR

jacketBMR

Georgia Tech Fan
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jacketBMR said:
Will be starting my Master's program at Wisconsin next Fall, would be awesome if Tech drew them in Madison but I think we're gonna be the home team this season since we were at Nebraska last year.
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Season 4 Success GIF by The Office
 
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