2023 Holiday Break - GT in the Diamond Head Classic

DH9387

DH9387

Jolly Good Fellow
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I do not know if any Swarmers made the trip out here for this, but if anyone did and is looking for any recommendations on things to do, places to go, or food to eat, feel free to reach out to me and I can provide a local’s guide to Honolulu / Oahu. My wife and I will also be at all three of our games and would love to meet up with any other Tech fans in attendance.
 
RamblinCharger

RamblinCharger

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orientalnc said:
NET rankings of Diamond Head teams


Nevada 43
Temple 146

TCU 46
Old Dominion 246

GT 160
UMass 89

Portland 260
Hawaii 124
Click to expand...
Going to have a tough first matchup with UMASS. We have to get the turnovers under control, and need to find a way shots more consistently, but we can win the game. KENPOM has them at 125 and us at 128, so I think it'll be a close game. We should have the talent advantage.
 
OG-T

OG-T

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Could go 1-2 or win the whole damn thing; I’d lean to latter vs former.
*UMass - really unknown but low turnovers and our recent high turnovers. Control those and we win IMO. Side story is Gapare playing against former team.
*Hawaii or Portland - Hawaii would basically be their home game with local fans. They’re sneaky good, maybe better than recent Hawaii teams. Portland is not good.
*Winner (or loser) of other bracket - the other side of bracket seems collectively stronger. Just get us to Final and we’ll see what’s what.
 
Peacone36

Peacone36

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The bad news is GT is dead last in the ACC against the spread at 4-5 and UMass is 5-2 ATS as the favorite. The Minutemen aren't just decent ATS, they are smashing it by +4.3 ppg. The defeated UMass-Lowell but also lost at home to Harvard and on the road against Towson.

One of my former favorite ACC players also plays for Frank Martin now if you remember Matt Cross. The oft-injured forward played for both Miami and Louisville before landing in Amherst. Hes averaging over 15 points and 8 rips per contest and pairs with former Northeast Conference POTY Josh Cohen who is averaging 18 and 8 per game. We are going to need a big game on the defensive end from both Kowacie and (i would assume) Ndongo who is our best front court defender in terms of rating at 90.7 points allowed per 100 possessions. We are a much better perimeter defensive team than interior defensive team so this could be problematic. Cross is more of a wing but likes to shoot within the arc.
 
orientalnc

orientalnc

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Peacone36 said:
The bad news is GT is dead last in the ACC against the spread at 4-5 and UMass is 5-2 ATS as the favorite.
Click to expand...
There is no causal relationship between the point spread, or results relative the point spread, at any point in the season. The point spread is a tool bookies use to balance the betting between two teams. Nothing more. So there is no news about this. It's like saying UMass performs better on sunny days than cloudy days. Which means we should be fine in Hawaii where the forecast is for cloudy skies today.
 
Peacone36

Peacone36

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orientalnc said:
There is no causal relationship between the point spread, or results relative the point spread, at any point in the season. The point spread is a tool bookies use to balance the betting between two teams. Nothing more. So there is no news about this. It's like saying UMass performs better on sunny days than cloudy days. Which means we should be fine in Hawaii where the forecast is for cloudy skies today.
Click to expand...
ok

Or you could read it as when they are favored this season they have won their games straight up over 70% of the time. But carry on.
 

YlJacket

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I doubt there is enough action on either UMass or GT basketball to require the bookies to try to balance the betting. The lines simply relate to the models Vegas has which my understanding are similar to KenPom. So the models say we’re a slight underdog on a neutral court. Seems about right to me
 

MtnWasp

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
992
We are seeing inconsistent play from key guys: Good games, invisible games and bad games.

I think it likely that the talented inexperienced players will have more frequent good games as we go. But we'll have to see if the rugged ACC schedule wears-down and breaks the confidence of some players. That is where the coaching comes in.
 
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