2023 Holiday Break - GT in the Diamond Head Classic

[GT33]

Just how old is Blackshear?

29. He's a 11th year Rs, Covid, Medical Rs who completed every grade twice.

 

[techgrad]

I don't remember seeing so much player bashing on this site. Kelly is in a slump, yes. But nobody else is exactly lighting it up either. Many shots Kelly took was after we passed the ball around for a while, and nobody would take the shot. Reeves probably should demand the ball more, but he defers most of the time. We currently don't have much movement on the perimeter. Teams are packing it in and just daring us to shoot, and we can't shoot. We need someone to step up besides Ndongo. Nobody is stepping up yet, but I remain hopeful.

 

[UgaBlows]

I felt like the refs swallowed their whistles quite a bit when our guys were in the paint

 

[spdrama]

Friday night December 15, 2023, at 5-3, the team left Atlanta for NY on the start of a 4 game neutral site stretch, including a 9 hour flight to Hawaii. I challenge anyone to say they expected a return to Atlanta with an 8-4 record. After ball handling, inbounding & high turnovers game after game, they finished the last two with 9 turnovers in each. Nate George had 0 in the Championship game and seems to have already learned lessons on ball control at this level. We all watch as many games as we can and know Miles is struggling with his 3s. But he plays hard defense, rebounds, unselfishly passes, and is penetrating more and successfully driving to the hoop. He knows he is struggling, his teammates know and the entire coaching staff knows. The only people bashing him and his teammates and team are those who love to complain. Theater performers have a saying for their publishing critics, “Those that can, do. Those that can’t, review.” Win or lose, this team was a rebuild, almost overnight and have far exceeded my expectations for this season. No idea what is in store for the rest of 2023-24 and I certainly hope they play in late March, but this coaching staff and team have renewed my interest in GT basketball and seems to have renewed similar interests of high level recruits. I prefer to cheer these young men & shrug off bad plays or a loss.

 

[orientalnc]

I kept hoping they would put Gapare on Blackshear as he was just muscling Reeves. Blackshear isn’t a typical guard but they isolated him and made it work.

We do need to come up with a way to double a hot guard and make somebody else beat us

Blackshear is too strong for Gapare and Tafara is very foul prone. When a player is having a game like blackshear was last night there's not a lot you can do. Trying to deny him the ball is very difficult. Blackshear is a 5th year senior (grad student). I think his sister said he is 23.0

 

[techgrad]

I hope CDS hasn't given up on Abram. Though still a work in progress as a PG, he is a capable scorer. He was a 36.4% 3-pt shooter last year and can go on hot streaks. CDS seems to be going with an 8 player core the past few games. That was surprising given we were playing 3 games in 4 days and needed fresh bodies more than ever.

 

[GT33]

@spdrama Well said. We did way better than expected & if we shot the ball decent last night would have walked away with a W. That would have been amazing, but we're not there yet. Good times ahead with Stoudamire and this team.

 

[iopjacket]

Relax, if you having anxiety over the team’s play. This is a rebuilding year. We have one returning player starting and two playing significant minutes. Through my gold shaded glasses, I see us progressing very quickly into a very good team. We are making mistakes, but we are learning fast. Recruiting is going very well. We can replace our losses. Our biggest recruiting problem appears to be adhering to the thirteen 13 scholarship limit.

 

[TampaBuzz]

... True, but Nevada had the same number of games in 4 days and a 4 hour time change. But after being there basically a week the time change difference should have been negligible/non-factor.

Actually, they got to Hawaii a few days earlier than we did and played a "non-conference" game against University of Hawaii a couple of days before the tourney started.

 

[awbuzz]

I felt like the refs swallowed their whistles quite a bit when our guys were in the paint

Let there be NO DOUBT about that!

 

[awbuzz]

Actually, they got to Hawaii a few days earlier than we did and played a "non-conference" game against University of Hawaii a couple of days before the tourney started.

Thanks for that info.

Hats off to the team for a good run at the Diamond Head Classic.
In a nutshell, I don't think that getting to Hawaii on the 15th or 16th, then having a game on the 24th that the time change was a real cause in any of the reason why we lost last night, Especially for a game that started at 9PM EST.

 

[orientalnc]

Thanks for that info.

Hats off to the team for a good run at the Diamond Head Classic.
In a nutshell, I don't think that getting to Hawaii on the 15th or 16th, then having a game on the 24th that the time change was a real cause in any of the reason why we lost last night, Especially for a game that started at 9PM EST.

I agree. It doesn't take 3-4 days to adjust to the time change. We lost last night because 1) Nevada is a good team, 2) we didn't shoot very well, 3) Nevada did,, and 4) Blackshear and Lucas had career nights in the same game.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Relax, if you having anxiety over the team’s play. This is a rebuilding year. We have one returning player starting and two playing significant minutes. Through my gold shaded glasses, I see us progressing very quickly into a very good team. We are making mistakes, but we are learning fast. Recruiting is going very well. We can replace our losses. Our biggest recruiting problem appears to be adhering to the thirteen 13 scholarship limit.

I expect us to make the Sweet 16 this year. CDS is the real deal and will cope with figuring it out.

 

[GT33]

You have to apply the "playing against GT factor", multiply that 36 by 0.5

We're neutral court, so multiply the 18 by 0.8, so we probably get 14 FTs.

Well looky there we made 14 FTs!

 

[OG-T]

Christmas and Holidays to y’all! I’m excited about GT Ball and feeling like we’re trending to “relevant” again. Congrats to CDS a team so far. We all see GREAT potential and that’s why feeling we should be 10-2, but the optimism of this 8-4 is encouraging. If some comments on this board are “player bashing,” then I guess CDS is guilty too. He’s said in many interviews that “Miles needs to not take plays off, needs to go hard every possession, needs to hunt shots better, needs to play at an all-American level”. Not much different than here. I HOPE Miles stays another year. He’s not NBA ready, very few counter moves with ball and not a killer shooter in EVERY catch and shoot play. If he comes back I think he’ll have an adjusted mindset for role and flourish, especially in his LAST year. Right now is painful, especially at 1-for-22 on recent 3s. CDS has anointed Miles as the Man; I think those expectations were too lofty and I bet CDS wishes he wouldn’t have put that out there. Love that Miles will get nice break to conference sched, and let him come out in New Year with a renewed outlook, and see ACC play as a “new” season.

Simple fix IMO: Miles is working much harder on defense (rebounding, helping gaps), that this toll is showing on fatigued shooting mechanics. His elbow height on shooting arm is dropping slightly. Happens to outside hitters in volleyball too. The dreaded dropping elbow - creates inconsistent-looking shots, and leads to spikes being blocked. I hope he goes on a 15-20 type shooting spree, he’s capable!

 

[MWBATL]

FTR, the "conversation" about Kelly, it's not that he's turned into a bad player, or that he's even taking bad shots. He's playing good defense, and he's one of our best rebounders. The reality is his shots are not falling like they were in the past. IMO, I think he's pressing a bit and he's probably in his own head. Obviously, Stoudamire still has confidence in Kelly or else he wouldn't be playing the minutes he's gotten.

So how do we get the Kelly of 2022? That's the money question for Kelly and Stoudamire.

Sports psychologist?

 

[57jacket]

Sports psychologist?

As a "gunner" in my playing days, LOL, the mental aspect is HUGE. When I 'knew" I was going to make it I did, and when I had doubts, my chances were really low. Why it varied from time to time, I haven't a clue. Maybe Mama wasn't "treating" me well. LOL. He'll get out of his slump. Just keep putting it up. I'm sure that what CDS is telling him.

 

[MtnWasp]

I agree. It doesn't take 3-4 days to adjust to the time change. We lost last night because 1) Nevada is a good team, 2) we didn't shoot very well, 3) Nevada did,, and 4) Blackshear and Lucas had career nights in the same game.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Lucas put up 25 in their game against TCU, averaging over 17ppg. Definitely not a career night for him. I thought we kept him in check, relatively. His twenty did not beat us.

Blackshear did a Michael Jordan on us. He was playing with us. The one guy we had that Nevada could not match-up was Ndongo and for some reason Stoudamire took him out of the game with 4:02 left in the game and that was the game. Gt was +9 with Ndongo on the floor and -17 without him on the floor.

But it is pretty remarkable that we stayed with them the entire game with a shooting differential of 49.1% to 38.6% (31.8% to 23.1% from three).

I think the heat on Miles Kelly is legit. The fact that he tested the NBA waters after last season makes his shooting performance this year, more than a third of the way through the season, a bit of a joke. He actually had to be pulled from the game last night. He deserves all the, "C'Mon, man!" cries he gets.

Since I am not a Claude (-15+/- last night) or Dowuona believer, Gapare becomes an important player as we need another post player to take some pressure off of Ndongo. Gapare is a player who too often plays off balance, and way too often shoots off balance. He needs to use his athleticism to get where he needs to go then set himself to shoot or rebound or make a block. He needs to IQ-up and let his athleticism work for him instead of against him. If he can get himself under control, he could be an important player for us.

If not, then we have to hope that Ndongo can hold-up as our only competent post presence.

 

[alagold]

Maybe its time for Kelly to come off the bench to get a new perspective on the game.Last nite our 2 players with most minutes went 6-24 but with 5 assts/3 TOs. Cannot win with that.But overall did some good things esp OFF rebs near end.
Just need to get more exp playing together and shooting outside better. (and setting up Reeves more)

 

[orientalnc]

Merry Christmas everyone!

Lucas put up 25 in their game against TCU, averaging over 17ppg. Definitely not a career night for him. I thought we kept him in check, relatively. His twenty did not beat us.

Blackshear did a Michael Jordan on us. He was playing with us. The one guy we had that Nevada could not match-up was Ndongo and for some reason Stoudamire took him out of the game with 4:02 left in the game and that was the game. Gt was +9 with Ndongo on the floor and -17 without him on the floor.

But it is pretty remarkable that we stayed with them the entire game with a shooting differential of 49.1% to 38.6% (31.8% to 23.1% from three).

I think the heat on Miles Kelly is legit. The fact that he tested the NBA waters after last season makes his shooting performance this year, more than a third of the way through the season, a bit of a joke. He actually had to be pulled from the game last night. He deserves all the, "C'Mon, man!" cries he gets.

Since I am not a Claude (-15+/- last night) or Dowuona believer, Gapare becomes an important player as we need another post player to take some pressure off of Ndongo. Gapare is a player who too often plays off balance, and way too often shoots off balance. He needs to use his athleticism to get where he needs to go then set himself to shoot or rebound or make a block. He needs to IQ-up and let his athleticism work for him instead of against him. If he can get himself under control, he could be an important player for us.

If not, then we have to hope that Ndongo can hold-up as our only competent post presence.

A few points:

I have to concede about Lucas' career night. It just seemed like it. He and Blackshear combined for 31 of Nevada's 36 2nd half points. We clearly did not stop either of them.

Ndongo came out with 4:02 remaining after committing his 4th foul. He was out for 90 seconds before returning. I agree that we did not play as well with him on the bench. That much is clear. But, it could also be said the Nuggets don't play as well when Jokic is on the bench.

Claude was not effective last night, but he is, and was last night, a bear on the offensive glass. I wonder if Dowuona will see the court again this season. He played 6 minutes in Hawaii. All against UMass.