ACC Discussion 2020-21

[Techster]

I'll post this here since it concerns our conference as well:

College basketball 1-357 rankings: Here are the projected best 68 teams for the 2020-21 season

Matt Norlander's annual ranking of every Division I team in the nation, in order, from No. 1 to No. 357

www.cbssports.com

60. Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets can aim for the 2021 postseason (after not being eligible for postseason play in 2020 due to NCAA sanctions) and are the wild card of the ACC thanks to their two-guard ACC attack. Jose Alvarado and Michael Devoe aren't household names, but they'll pace Georgia Tech to another good ACC showing. Josh Pastner managed to go 11-9 in the conference last season and notch its second-best win percentage in the league since 1995-96, which is ASTOUNDING.

 

[orientalnc]

I'll post this here since it concerns our conference as well:

College basketball 1-357 rankings: Here are the projected best 68 teams for the 2020-21 season

Matt Norlander's annual ranking of every Division I team in the nation, in order, from No. 1 to No. 357

www.cbssports.com

60. Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets can aim for the 2021 postseason (after not being eligible for postseason play in 2020 due to NCAA sanctions) and are the wild card of the ACC thanks to their two-guard ACC attack. Jose Alvarado and Michael Devoe aren't household names, but they'll pace Georgia Tech to another good ACC showing. Josh Pastner managed to go 11-9 in the conference last season and notch its second-best win percentage in the league since 1995-96, which is ASTOUNDING.

This is probably a reasonable pre-season spot for us, but I really think we have a chance to be above this considerably by tournament time. We have a number of guys with nice resumes for ACC play. That was not true a couple of years ago, but the recruiting Pastner has done elevated our roster a lot. While we may get beaten by double digits a few times this year, I honestly believe we can compete with anyone in the ACC. I am not looking for any "feel good" losses.

A lot of the meat in these preseason rankings are reputation based. Our 5th place finish in the ACC last year has not sunk in with people trying to rank 357 teams.

 

[slugboy]

This is probably a reasonable pre-season spot for us, but I really think we have a chance to be above this considerably by tournament time. We have a number of guys with nice resumes for ACC play. That was not true a couple of years ago, but the recruiting Pastner has done elevated our roster a lot. While we may get beaten by double digits a few times this year, I honestly believe we can compete with anyone in the ACC. I am not looking for any "feel good" losses.

A lot of the meat in these preseason rankings are reputation based. Our 5th place finish in the ACC last year has not sunk in with people trying to rank 357 teams.

Last year seems so long ago (even though it was really earlier this year). We went 17-14, without playing in the ACC tournament. The team averaged 68.6 points scored (254th ranked scoring offense) and 66.4 points given up per game (94th). Our KenPom last year was #64, so at least one system had us as borderline NCAA worthy.
This year, KenPom has us at #73. I don’t know why—we’re largely the same team—but we did lose an important post player in Banks.
Between injuries and other factors, such as Usher being out until the 2020 calendar year, I don’t think we gelled as a team in the first half of the season. The last several games of the season were good though.
If we pick up and improve from where we finished the season, we could make a lot of noise this year. I just hope we can get more outside scoring from players other than Devoe, and that our front court can do some damage in our favor on both ends.

 

[Silk3]

I'll post this here since it concerns our conference as well:

College basketball 1-357 rankings: Here are the projected best 68 teams for the 2020-21 season

Matt Norlander's annual ranking of every Division I team in the nation, in order, from No. 1 to No. 357

www.cbssports.com

60. Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets can aim for the 2021 postseason (after not being eligible for postseason play in 2020 due to NCAA sanctions) and are the wild card of the ACC thanks to their two-guard ACC attack. Jose Alvarado and Michael Devoe aren't household names, but they'll pace Georgia Tech to another good ACC showing. Josh Pastner managed to go 11-9 in the conference last season and notch its second-best win percentage in the league since 1995-96, which is ASTOUNDING.

I think we are way better than 60. No one will give us any respect though because we haven't been good in so long. Hopefully we crack the top 25 during the year. When was the last time we were ranked during a season?

 

[GT_EE78]

I'm not worried at all about the returning starters having a good season assuming good health.
the 5th starter and bench play will be critical.
need Usher,kalid and maybe sturdivant to hit a good % from3.
moving up from 60th to 30th is certainly possible.
should be enough for dancing

 

[dtm1997]

 

[RyanS12]

I'm not worried at all about the returning starters having a good season assuming good health.
the 5th starter and bench play will be critical.
need Usher,kalid and maybe sturdivant to hit a good % from3.
moving up from 60th to 30th is certainly possible.
should be enough for dancing

Yea, If we stay completely healthy and we’re anywhere around 60 this year it’ll be pretty disappointing.

 

[orientalnc]

I'm not worried at all about the returning starters having a good season assuming good health.
the 5th starter and bench play will be critical.
need Usher,kalid and maybe sturdivant to hit a good % from3.
moving up from 60th to 30th is certainly possible.
should be enough for dancing

Adding to your thoughts: Siba and Howard do not have to be Banks at the 5 spot. What they have to do is play smart defense, have good hands and finish plays when they are open. I am optimistic that one or more of the young guys will step up and be stable backups.

Also look for us to play Moses at the 5 with Kalid at the 4. Or Usher at the 4. We will have to score in the 70s this season because our inside defense will not be the same without Banks. But we should be constantly pushing the pace. Especially with our guard depth.

The player I want to see on the floor is Tristan Maxwell. He was a star in NC high school basketball and has the skill to be a force at Tech.

 

[GT_EE78]

Adding to your thoughts: Siba and Howard do not have to be Banks at the 5 spot. What they have to do is play smart defense, have good hands and finish plays when they are open. I am optimistic that one or more of the young guys will step up and be stable backups.

Also look for us to play Moses at the 5 with Kalid at the 4. Or Usher at the 4. We will have to score in the 70s this season because our inside defense will not be the same without Banks. But we should be constantly pushing the pace. Especially with our guard depth.

The player I want to see on the floor is Tristan Maxwell. He was a star in NC high school basketball and has the skill to be a force at Tech.

That's a good way to say it. Even lammers really didn't provide a lot of quality minutes as a frosh/soph.
bigs can take time to develop. it took about 5 years to train chinsure to stand still with arms straight up.
maybe 5-7 pts,6-10 boards,2-3 blocks from the pair will be enough.
mostly just be playable at this level so we don't have to go small at the wrong time
i think we'll be Ok on offense if they not big scorers.

 

[dtm1997]

 

[RyanS12]

I’m starting to get the feeling the season won’t happen. At least not be completed unless it’s pushed to a spring season. March April May.
Michigan is shutting down effective Wednesday. The high school football playoffs, which are in the qtr finals have been cancelled too....

 

[orientalnc]

I’m starting to get the feeling the season won’t happen. At least not be completed unless it’s pushed to a spring season. March April May.
Michigan is shutting down effective Wednesday. The high school football playoffs, which are in the qtr finals have been cancelled too....

This is something to monitor. The virus is running crazy right now.

 

[augustabuzz]

Get well soon Coach! Looking forward to seeing you on court side.

 

[dtm1997]

 

[Deleted member 2897]

I'll post this here since it concerns our conference as well:

College basketball 1-357 rankings: Here are the projected best 68 teams for the 2020-21 season

Matt Norlander's annual ranking of every Division I team in the nation, in order, from No. 1 to No. 357

www.cbssports.com

60. Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets can aim for the 2021 postseason (after not being eligible for postseason play in 2020 due to NCAA sanctions) and are the wild card of the ACC thanks to their two-guard ACC attack. Jose Alvarado and Michael Devoe aren't household names, but they'll pace Georgia Tech to another good ACC showing. Josh Pastner managed to go 11-9 in the conference last season and notch its second-best win percentage in the league since 1995-96, which is ASTOUNDING.

This would be an extremely awful finishing rank outside of having a significant injury bug or some other extenuating circumstance. We get almost everybody back from last year, who finished the year 12-3 when healthy and finished 5th out of 15 in the ACC, arguably the strongest conference in the country.

#30 - #40 is about the limit of where we'd want to finish up, which would imply something between 18-9 or 17-10 in a 27 game season with our strength of schedule. That would imply something like 11-9 in ACC play and 6-1 out of conference.

 

[brandon_cox]

Here are some comments from ESPN Insiders on GT:

Borzello: I think Georgia Tech could be an NCAA-tournament-caliber team this season. The Yellow Jackets lose only James Banks from a starting lineup that went 11-9 in league play and finished fifth in the ACC. They have arguably the best and most experienced backcourt in the conference in Jose Alvarado and Michael Devoe, and they bring back Moses Wright down low.....Gasaway: First, a hearty "amen" to everything Mr. Borzello said about Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets scored more points than they allowed in ACC play last season for the first time in (goodness) 13 years. The performance trajectory is positive in Atlanta at last.....An Anonymous Scout: "Georgia Tech is sneaky good because of their guard play. You could make the argument [that Jose] Alvarado and [Michael] Devoe are as good a pair of guards as anybody has. That makes for a really good college basketball team. I don't know if that makes them a Sweet 16-caliber team, but it makes them a challenge to play against."

Two Insiders picked us to finish 7th. two picked us 8th and one picked us to finish 11th.

ACC predictions: Duke's mega-talented again, UNC's primed to bounce back

As the countdown to the 2020-21 college basketball season continues, ESPN's conference predictions series moves to the ACC.

www.espn.com

 

[orientalnc]

Here are some comments from ESPN Insiders on GT:

Borzello: I think Georgia Tech could be an NCAA-tournament-caliber team this season. The Yellow Jackets lose only James Banks from a starting lineup that went 11-9 in league play and finished fifth in the ACC. They have arguably the best and most experienced backcourt in the conference in Jose Alvarado and Michael Devoe, and they bring back Moses Wright down low.....Gasaway: First, a hearty "amen" to everything Mr. Borzello said about Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets scored more points than they allowed in ACC play last season for the first time in (goodness) 13 years. The performance trajectory is positive in Atlanta at last.....An Anonymous Scout: "Georgia Tech is sneaky good because of their guard play. You could make the argument [that Jose] Alvarado and [Michael] Devoe are as good a pair of guards as anybody has. That makes for a really good college basketball team. I don't know if that makes them a Sweet 16-caliber team, but it makes them a challenge to play against."

Two Insiders picked us to finish 7th. two picked us 8th and one picked us to finish 11th.

ACC predictions: Duke's mega-talented again, UNC's primed to bounce back

As the countdown to the 2020-21 college basketball season continues, ESPN's conference predictions series moves to the ACC.

www.espn.com

So, the best the insiders see for us is 7th in the ACC, but we are not quite a Sweet Sixteen team in the NCAA Tournament? I need to be educated about the math here.

 

[RyanS12]

I think the lack of success over the last 10+ years has the “experts” in a show me first mode. I think everyone that knows college basketball knows we have the potential to be a top 5 Acc team and quite possibly a sweet 16 team, but they’re not sold on the coaching and the on court product quite yet.

 

[Connell62]

So, the best the insiders see for us is 7th in the ACC, but we are not quite a Sweet Sixteen team in the NCAA Tournament? I need to be educated about the math here.

You’re smart enough to know to take anything these guys say with a grain of salt. That said, I’m still not sure that we replicate our ACC finish from a year ago.

Regardless of who is coming back, it’s still a new team that has to put it together. While I’m expecting big things from our squad, I’m trying not to put too lofty of expectations (Sweet 16) on them.

I just want to make the tournament. We got the pieces, now we gotta put them together.

 

[CuseJacket]

We are a hard team to project.

Last year we crapped the bed early, in part due to injuries, with some inexcusable performances mixed in.

Then, when we were healthy, we won a lot of games over the last 15 games. Problem is, only one of those wins was against a NCAAT team. The rest were NIT or worse.

My personal assessment is during the last 15 games we looked like a classic bubble team on the court, ignoring W/L outcomes.

Now mix in our recent past of general inconsistency, and it makes sense to me why the media does not make the leap to surefire NCAAT squad, let alone a Sweet 16 projection.

Cautious optimism for me.