2023 Holiday Break - GT in the Diamond Head Classic

[spdrama]

I believe CDS has a good idea about Sacko and how much value he would have added. Sacko shows moments of promise, but I am not 100% sold on him. Blackshear was a matchup problem for us. That, and everytime the ball left his hands it went for two points.

Claude is too small to play the five and not enough of anything else to play the four. But Dowuona is a true negative on the offensive end. I can see why he was not getting minutes at NCSU. And, at least Claude is a bull on the boards. I liked the Nevada five out and wonder if CDS is considering that for our Ndongo rest peeriods. Gapare at the five would be OK for 1-2 minutes here and there.

I am beginning to think this is not solvable. And, it could be that CDS agrees. Abram did not see the floor in Hawaii. I would not be surprised if he hit the portal now that multiple transfers have immediate eligibility.

Sacko was unrated out of HS and as a true freshman, CDS is getting him some experience here and there, but probably figured Blackshear would have eaten him up alive. Sacko will get more minutes and eventually contribute, but he is way too far behind Ndongo & George in readiness at this level. Claude is finding it difficult to match up at this level, but he plays hard and has contributed to some of the team’s wins. Not bad to come off the bench when the matchup fits. I’ve said it before, Abram is the only player on this team who looks unhappy during warmups. He obviously thought Tech provided an opportunity for lots of minutes but does not seem to be a good fit for some reason. Suspect an issue between him and CDS that might be getting worse as he sits with 0 minutes. No doubt everyone is very impressed by Blackshear’s performance. I’m hoping we have a player with that kind of potential arriving at Tech next season. Take a peek at some of the highlight reels of Jaeden Mustaf and tell me you don’t see a lot of Blackshear in him.

 

[slugboy]

I am beginning to think this is not solvable. And, it could be that CDS agrees. Abram did not see the floor in Hawaii. I would not be surprised if he hit the portal now that multiple transfers have immediate eligibility.

If he doesn’t make it here, someone will pick him up gladly.
He started a lot more at Ole Miss than here. Moving to the bench like he has doesn’t help his cause.

 

[kg01]

I believe CDS has a good idea about Sacko and how much value he would have added. Sacko shows moments of promise, but I am not 100% sold on him. Blackshear was a matchup problem for us. That, and everytime the ball left his hands it went for two points.

Claude is too small to play the five and not enough of anything else to play the four. But Dowuona is a true negative on the offensive end. I can see why he was not getting minutes at NCSU. And, at least Claude is a bull on the boards. I liked the Nevada five out and wonder if CDS is considering that for our Ndongo rest peeriods. Gapare at the five would be OK for 1-2 minutes here and there.

I am beginning to think this is not solvable. And, it could be that CDS agrees. Abram did not see the floor in Hawaii. I would not be surprised if he hit the portal now that multiple transfers have immediate eligibility.

Agree with a lot of this. On sacko, I'm 100% sold. I think he's a plus defender right now, minus a little foul difficulty.

@spdrama may be onto something w.r.t. Abram. If it comes out later that there was an issue there, not sure anyone would be surprised. I hold out hope that it works out buuuut.... my eyes tell me to be worried.

 

[AUFC]

Baye Ndongo, to the surprise of no one, with his THIRD ACC ROTW award. What a stud.

 

[Techwood Relict]

But, admittedly, I saw none of that ability when he was getting minutes so maybe I'm wrong?

I dunno but that's why they pay me the small bucks.

I don't know how he fits, but I'd certainly like to see his talent come out somehow.

 

[Techster]

Baye Ndongo, to the surprise of no one, with his THIRD ACC ROTW award. What a stud.

Posted it in another thread, but here we go:

 

[78pike]

Sacko was unrated out of HS and as a true freshman, CDS is getting him some experience here and there, but probably figured Blackshear would have eaten him up alive. Sacko will get more minutes and eventually contribute, but he is way too far behind Ndongo & George in readiness at this level. Claude is finding it difficult to match up at this level, but he plays hard and has contributed to some of the team’s wins. Not bad to come off the bench when the matchup fits. I’ve said it before, Abram is the only player on this team who looks unhappy during warmups. He obviously thought Tech provided an opportunity for lots of minutes but does not seem to be a good fit for some reason. Suspect an issue between him and CDS that might be getting worse as he sits with 0 minutes. No doubt everyone is very impressed by Blackshear’s performance. I’m hoping we have a player with that kind of potential arriving at Tech next season. Take a peek at some of the highlight reels of Jaeden Mustaf and tell me you don’t see a lot of Blackshear in him.

Just saying Sacko couldn't have done much worse than the defenders we already had on Blackshear as he was scoring every time he had the ball anyway. And as others have pointed out he was using the shoulder and body to get space to shoot. My thought was Sacko is the same height and a better body to absorb the shoulders than the other defenders we had on him. And I believe Sacko is a pretty decent defender from the previous games he has played. We didn't really need him on offense as we were going through Ndongo and Kelly and Sacko is not bad on the boards.

 

[Fatmike91]

Just saying Sacko couldn't have done much worse than the defenders we already had on Blackshear as he was scoring every time he had the ball anyway. And as others have pointed out he was using the shoulder and body to get space to shoot. My thought was Sacko is the same height and a better body to absorb the shoulders than the other defenders we had on him. And I believe Sacko is a pretty decent defender from the previous games he has played. We didn't really need him on offense as we were going through Ndongo and Kelly and Sacko is not bad on the boards.

I agree with this.

I'll add - the team is lacking a lockdown defender like Khalid Moore. We need to develop that skillset to win more games this year. Sacko is probably that guy - give him some minutes and let's find out. Focus Sacko on defense, and don't expect too much on O. Maybe he finds a valuable niche as a Freshman.

/

 

[Root4GT]

Just saying Sacko couldn't have done much worse than the defenders we already had on Blackshear as he was scoring every time he had the ball anyway. And as others have pointed out he was using the shoulder and body to get space to shoot. My thought was Sacko is the same height and a better body to absorb the shoulders than the other defenders we had on him. And I believe Sacko is a pretty decent defender from the previous games he has played. We didn't really need him on offense as we were going through Ndongo and Kelly and Sacko is not bad on the boards.

Sacko will likely get there in time. He fouls once every six minutes now. Guarding a player with the ball who has great skill attacking would likely be a foul every possession. No Blackshear isn’t a good FT shooter so that approach might have worked 4 times

 

[Tourneybound20]

Tend to agree with you and @78pike on Sacko. Probably would've been a good idea to make his primary cover the Blackshear kid. Honestly though, it took a Lebron-level game from that kid. And a Curry-level game from that other kid, and they barely beat us on a night when we struggled to score. No moral victories but I get it.

Sorta agree on Claude. Seems to be struggling at this level, for the most part. We need to spell Baye, so we need either him or Ayo to 'hold the rope' at times. But Claude looks unplayable a good bit. And foul-prone. Maybe not in volume but definitely ill-timed fouls.

We gotta solve the Abrams mystery. He's not a primary ballhandler, but he's gotta be able to give us something. My theory is that he should be a bucket-getter 1-on-1 in spots. But, admittedly, I saw none of that ability when he was getting minutes so maybe I'm wrong?

I dunno but that's why they pay me the small bucks.

Agree on all fronts especially adding the Lucas kid hitting timely contested jumpers lol...ugh...to what Blackshear did truly makes the outcome fairly digestible. I'm" thinking we play cleaner vs. FSU,huge game.Winnable game...gotta make free throws and rebound.I remember a game about 4-5 yrs. ago vs FSU at home.Beat the breaks off a more athletic,bigger,imposing team by getting the tempo going...Okogie and Lammers went nuts.Hopefully we can rebound and get out for some transition buckets.

 

[spdrama]

Sacko will likely get there in time. He fouls once every six minutes now. Guarding a player with the ball who has great skill attacking would likely be a foul every possession. No Blackshear isn’t a good FT shooter so that approach might have worked 4 times

I don’t see any point to all this second guessing of personnel decisions made by CDS during the game. That’s fine when a coach is a proven bust after a couple of seasons, but Stoudamire is experienced and a proven success as a player and coach at every level of amateur & pro hoops going back to his pre-teens. Hard to find people who know, understand & respect this game more than he does. He obviously has plans to make Sacko a contributor and in consult with the rest of the coaching staff knows best on how to bring him along. After all, they work with these men in the gym every day on preparation and monitoring progress. Timing is important. You don’t just throw freshmen to the wolves and hope they contribute & at the same time pray they don’t get their confidences destroyed. Some day Sacko might be able to defend a Blackshear. CSD obviously didn’t believe Xmas Eve 2023 was that day. I respect that decision and a loss doesn’t make it wrong

 

[MtnWasp]

Had we been shooting the ball better, I think Sacko would have been an option to put on Blackshear. But since we were having so much trouble scoring the ball, I think Stoudamire just couldn't see handicapping the O any more than it was already.

 

[orientalnc]

CSD obviously didn’t believe Xmas Eve 2023 was that day. I respect that decision and a loss doesn’t make it wrong

This is a wonderful point. We can pontificate to the end of time about what a coach or player should have done, but we were not there making those decisions in the moment. Playing college level hoops is hard. Ask me. I thought I would be a success and I was wrong. Sacko looks like he will be a good player for us. But CDS thinks he is not ready. I am good with that right now because there is little evidence to say he is wrong.

 

[Root4GT]

I don’t see any point to all this second guessing of personnel decisions made by CDS during the game. That’s fine when a coach is a proven bust after a couple of seasons, but Stoudamire is experienced and a proven success as a player and coach at every level of amateur & pro hoops going back to his pre-teens. Hard to find people who know, understand & respect this game more than he does. He obviously has plans to make Sacko a contributor and in consult with the rest of the coaching staff knows best on how to bring him along. After all, they work with these men in the gym every day on preparation and monitoring progress. Timing is important. You don’t just throw freshmen to the wolves and hope they contribute & at the same time pray they don’t get their confidences destroyed. Some day Sacko might be able to defend a Blackshear. CSD obviously didn’t believe Xmas Eve 2023 was that day. I respect that decision and a loss doesn’t make it wrong

Spot On! My point in noting how foul prone Sacko currently is. Asking a raw freshmen to guard a guy having a career day makes no sense on any level! CDS knows the players strengths and weaknesses.

 

[Tourneybound20]

I've actually enjoyed how CDS toggles the line-up,I think Gafara must be playing well in practice and he knows Sacko is coming but he makes mistakes rn...I love how CDS toggles the controls and plays who he feels will give us the best chance to win.

 

[78pike]

Spot On! My point in noting how foul prone Sacko currently is. Asking a raw freshmen to guard a guy having a career day makes no sense on any level! CDS knows the players strengths and weaknesses.

It makes sense from the perspective of try it and see what happens since nothing else we tried worked. Again I don't see how he could have done any worse than what anyone else had done. I get what has been said about Sacko being foul prone. But maybe that would have been the better alternative as he only shoots 66% from the line overall. While during his game against us it felt like he was shooting 100% from the field. It was actually 79% (11/14). And during the game against us he was 73% from the line (8/11). So maybe guarding him with someone that would foul him might have worked better.

 

[spdrama]

It makes sense from the perspective of try it and see what happens since nothing else we tried worked. Again I don't see how he could have done any worse than what anyone else had done. I get what has been said about Sacko being foul prone. But maybe that would have been the better alternative as he only shoots 66% from the line overall. While during his game against us it felt like he was shooting 100% from the field. It was actually 79% (11/14). And during the game against us he was 73% from the line (8/11). So maybe guarding him with someone that would foul him might have worked better.

It was a coach’s decision, not a fan or alum decision. IMHO, GT’s collective coaching staff is not ignorant of their players’ stats, abilities & liabilities and know far better than any of us who should be playing at any given time in any given game. 12 games into their first season with a 8-4 record and I keep reading posts by people who say the team was “outcoached” or imply the personnel is being mismanaged. Disappointment when this team loses is shared by everyone here. And everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Way to early in this new regime, at least for me, to support anyone who thinks they know better, in hindsight, than the collective basketball experiences of Stoudamire, Hobbs, Wells, Williams & Elder decide during games.

 

[spdrama]

It makes sense from the perspective of try it and see what happens since nothing else we tried worked. Again I don't see how he could have done any worse than what anyone else had done. I get what has been said about Sacko being foul prone. But maybe that would have been the better alternative as he only shoots 66% from the line overall. While during his game against us it felt like he was shooting 100% from the field. It was actually 79% (11/14). And during the game against us he was 73% from the line (8/11). So maybe guarding him with someone that would foul him might have worked better.

It was a coach’s decision, not a fan or alum decision. IMHO, GT’s collective coaching staff is not ignorant of their players’ stats, abilities & liabilities and know far better than any of us who should be playing at any given time in any given game. 12 games into their first season with a 8-4 record and I keep reading posts by people who say the team was “outcoached” or imply the personnel is being mismanaged. Disappointment when this team loses is shared by everyone here. And everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Way to early in this new regime, at least for meto support anyone who thinks they know better, in hindsight, than the collective basketball experiences of Stoudamire, Hobbs, Wells, Williams & Elder decide during games.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

It was a coach’s decision, not a fan or alum decision. IMHO, GT’s collective coaching staff is not ignorant of their players’ stats, abilities & liabilities and know far better than any of us who should be playing at any given time in any given game. 12 games into their first season with a 8-4 record and I keep reading posts by people who say the team was “outcoached” or imply the personnel is being mismanaged. Disappointment when this team loses is shared by everyone here. And everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Way to early in this new regime, at least for me, to support anyone who thinks they know better, in hindsight, than the collective basketball experiences of Stoudamire, Hobbs, Wells, Williams & Elder decide during games.

Agree, but @78pike was pointing out how a possible alternative since what we were doing didn't work. And provides stats to back up the speculation. We're here to speculate and this isn't a GT controlled board, fortunately.

Neither option would have been good for us; and the stats were in game stats not finalized till after the game. We did foul him about 5 times; more would have changed things little probably. Sacko was just playing really well both from the field and FT line.

 

[spdrama]

Agree, but @78pike was pointing out how a possible alternative since what we were doing didn't work. And provides stats to back up the speculation. We're here to speculate and this isn't a GT controlled board, fortunately.

Neither option would have been good for us; and the stats were in game stats not finalized till after the game. We did foul him about 5 times; more would have changed things little probably. Sacko was just playing really well both from the field and FT line.

I like Sacko. I like him a lot and obviously so do the coaches. He is going to be a contributor off the bench with a lot more minutes as the season progresses. But this was crunch time in the final minutes of a game that was close enough to win. Down 1 point at 4 minutes. 2 points at 2:55. CSD wanted his best players on the floor to win or lose with in the last few minutes and that did not include Sacko. It wasn’t just about stopping Blackshear, it was also about trying to outscore Nevada. They were drawing fouls and missing the free throws. And at 1 for 7 and 14% for the season Sacko was not a player you wanted at the line.