2024 offseason

[orientalnc]

Panther is on campus a lot and has some access. Someone on the inside told Panther before the season started that the kid could play. He reported that in one of his patented bullets in a post. It turned out to be correct. George can play.

If Onwuchkwa and Powell have shown good things in practice, that is a good thing. Both were well regarded recruits out of High School. Neither would represent the big surprise that George was.

I can agree with this. I do not think CDS would have offered Nate unless he thought the kid could play.

 

[Connell62]

Panther is on campus a lot and has some access. Someone on the inside told Panther before the season started that the kid could play. He reported that in one of his patented bullets in a post. It turned out to be correct. George can play.

If Onwuchkwa and Powell have shown good things in practice, that is a good thing. Both were well regarded recruits out of High School. Neither would represent the big surprise that George was.

This makes more sense. He is easily the worst GT reporter of the 3-4 writers that closely follow GT.

I stopped paying for that **** site many years ago, but I'd be hard pressed to believe he had an inkling of an idea of what lied ahead for Nait George unless someone shared it with him.

 

[LargeFO]

For a freshmen PG last season Nait was very good. He improved as the year progressed. His ability to score on penetration improved greatly over the course of the season. If he can consistently hit the floater he flashed late last season he will be a handful on pick and rolls.

It will be interesting to see how he plays this season. I expect with McCollum as another PG they will cause problems for opponents. How they play defense will go a long way in determining our season.

I think he wore down 2nd half of season some. Will really help to have McCollum this year with him.

 

[78pike]

I think he wore down 2nd half of season some. Will really help to have McCollum this year with him.

I think opposing teams had more tape on him by the second half of the season and realized he was a player they had to worry about on defense. The first half of the season Nait came out of nowhere and probably wasn't a focus of defensive game plans. Maybe he wore down some physically but these are 18-20 year old young men that are in the best shape of their lives. They don't wear down as easily as the rest of us.

 

[Root4GT]

I think he wore down 2nd half of season some. Will really help to have McCollum this year with him.

In Nate’s last 5 games he averaged 13.6 ppg and 4.6 assists per game. Not exactly wearing down. Facts matter.

 

[kg01]

In Nate’s last 5 games he averaged 13.6 ppg and 4.6 assists per game. Not exactly wearing down. Facts matter.

I mean, he had some up and down games later in the season. He did look worn down despite what the raw numbers may say.

 

[Jack]

I mean, he had some up and down games later in the season. He did look worn down despite what the raw numbers may say.

Freshman fatigue. After he showed up, the opposition put the slammer on him. They won’t be able to get away with that this year because we are more loaded in the back court and if they jump on him that will free others up.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Chemistry is important. And CDS understands that.

But ultimately the test for a top tier team is whether you can put 5 quality players on the court at one time. We are getting there but aren’t there yet.

 

[LargeFO]

In Nate’s last 5 games he averaged 13.6 ppg and 4.6 assists per game. Not exactly wearing down. Facts matter.

You kinda missed the point but that's fine.

 

[LargeFO]

Freshman fatigue. After he showed up, the opposition put the slammer on him. They won’t be able to get away with that this year because we are more loaded in the back court and if they jump on him that will free others up.

That was my overall point. McCollum will help drastically with 'shouldering some of the load'

 

[YlJacket]

Freshman fatigue. After he showed up, the opposition put the slammer on him. They won’t be able to get away with that this year because we are more loaded in the back court and if they jump on him that will free others up.

I'll take a slightly different slant - not sure if it was fatigue or not but for sure teams adjusted to us after he started to have success with the pick and roll with Ndongo. Aggressive traps off the pick and lots of help on the primary option. No more free flowing drive and rim runs like we saw against Duke. That made us have to go to the "others" as secondary options and that is where we had issues - especially at the 4. So not trying to die on whether it was fatigue or other teams adjustments - though I personally think it was more adjustments - but your concept that we are more loaded with scorers in the backcourt helps when the ball moves from the initial action - but to me the key will be do we have a 4 who can drain a corner 3 when the other team helps aggressively on the Ndongo rim run.

 

[yjfan]

I do not think this changes what we expected. Powell was always going to be a rotational player. I have said Doryan would be also by January. Let's not get too hyped by this news. Rothstein is seeking clicks, but there is always a bit of truth in his posts. Does this make us a NCAA possible team? Maybe. But we still need to do it on the court.

 

[yjfan]

That’s where O’Brien and Sutton. Come on handy

 

[Connell62]

I mean, he had some up and down games later in the season. He did look worn down despite what the raw numbers may say.

Yes, the grind caught up with him, but I don't think that it was him wearing down as much as it was other programs figuring out he was our engine.

Once they realized that they needed to make him shoot it, it took him a few games to get his legs into his shot.

Then he became deadly off the pull-up J.

 

[AUFC]

I'll take a slightly different slant - not sure if it was fatigue or not but for sure teams adjusted to us after he started to have success with the pick and roll with Ndongo. Aggressive traps off the pick and lots of help on the primary option. No more free flowing drive and rim runs like we saw against Duke. That made us have to go to the "others" as secondary options and that is where we had issues - especially at the 4. So not trying to die on whether it was fatigue or other teams adjustments - though I personally think it was more adjustments - but your concept that we are more loaded with scorers in the backcourt helps when the ball moves from the initial action - but to me the key will be do we have a 4 who can drain a corner 3 when the other team helps aggressively on the Ndongo rim run.

I think home versus Wake Forest last season was a growing up game for Nait. Just saw a lot of defensive looks he had never seen before at that level. I've always thought about Steve Forbes as a top ACC head coach but that game was really evidence of how a good coach/gameplanner/strategist can win you games.

 

[orientalnc]

Yes, the grind caught up with him, but I don't think that it was him wearing down as much as it was other programs figuring out he was our engine.

Once they realized that they needed to make him shoot it, it took him a few games to get his legs into his shot.

Then he became deadly off the pull-up J.

I decided to look at how well (or, not so well) Nate played in our final 5 games:

Miami - 5 points, 6 assists; Kyle had 10 points & 7 assists. We won by 4 in Miami.
FSU - 15 points, 2 assists; Kyle had 20 points & 4 assists. We won by 9 at home.
WF - 16 points, 3 assists; Kyle only played 13 minutes; 3 points & no assists. We won by 1 in W-S.
UVA - 8 points, 5 assists; Kyle had 8 points & 4 assists. We lost by 15 as Va never let us get comfortable on offense.
ND (ACCT) - 24 points, 7 assists; Kyle had 10 points & 2 assists. We lost by 4 & scored 4 points in the final 5 minutes.

My thought here is Nate played about the same at the end of the season as he did in middle when everyone was hyping his play. I included Kyle because he had a similar role in the lineup last year as McCollum will this year. Nate was playing 30+ minutes every game, so losing his legs might have been an issue. Kyle was also playing a lot minutes save the WF game. I think having four guys who can play the 1 & 2 will be a bigger help this season than just having McCollum out there. Kyle was already doing that part. In the ND game Nate played 39 minutes and Kyle played 32. Could that have been what cost us that game?

 

[MtnWasp]

The adjustment by ACC coaches was to pressure Nait on the ball and then deny him off the ball. Opposing ACC coaches clearly felt that GT's offensive efficiency went up with the ball in George's hands in the half court. Typically, opposing defenses late in the year pressured in the back court to funnell the ball to Miles Kelly, to let him bring the ball up the floor (which he did nice and slowly). Then it was all denying George the ball to let somebody else trigger the offense.

This season, we will have to counter that. An explosive McCollum would go a long way to solving the problem. Still, would like to see the staff scheme to help George re-acquire the ball in the half court sets.