Apathy has set in... Miami 2/9 Game Comments

[awbuzz]

What a disingenuous statement. Meka played 15 minutes. Howard 2. Saba 0. We went tiny ball for 23 minutes. That's not what any are asking to see except those that are desperately clinging on to the small ball nonsense.

Well Meka most likely would have paid a lot more minutes if he had not picked up that fourth foul at the very end of the first half.

Like most here, I really wish we knew what the heck is up with Saba not getting any time. Assuming part especially for this game that he seems to be a bit slow a foot.

 

[ChristoGT]

I'm sorry. You can blame me for the loss. I forgot my self-imposed exile from watching games for the betterment of the team. Turned it on and we're up 6. Kept it on til the bitter end.

We definitely could use a big out there. We had several good drives to the basket and then pitched out deep for three's (that didn't fall), but the lob to a big guy on a pick-and-roll where Smith/Devoe/Sturdivant drove in and drew defenders was set up on several occasions . . . if we had a big you could lob to and let him jam it home. The guards also had a number of open shots inside the paint where the same 3 drove in to a point and three Miami defenders collapsed (like they thought we were going to lob in off the pick and roll) leaving the dribbler open for a short 2. I think only one time did we capitalize on that when Smith put up a nice 12 footer. Instead our guard pitched back out and reset the play. Lastly, our guys need to learn the flop as good as Miami as we got called for several charges that were borderline but Miami did a good job of overacting it.

 

[Steverc]

I can't wait for that big game with NC State next week. It should be a thriller.

 

[GTbball2016]

What a disingenuous statement. Meka played 15 minutes. Howard 2. Saba 0. We went tiny ball for 23 minutes. That's not what any are asking to see except those that are desperately clinging on to the small ball nonsense.

The BC win was a negative in the sense Pastner thinks small ball was why they won. It’s ridiculous how much every opposing big goes off on GT.

 

[Root4GT]

Hey, who you calling apathetic?

This one was there for the taking. We played them close for most of the game, but fouls absolutely killed us. Remember when I said after the Clemson game something like, "When the refs let us play aggressive defense and we hit open shots, watch out!" Well, the refs were horrible in this game and called touch fouls and unexplainable fouls all game long, and we did shoot well...but only for the first half. The result was inevitable.

Here are some notes:
-27 fouls against GT, 15 fouls against Miami. This disparity is not because were we behind at the end, and not because we were more aggressive than them. We were constantly being called for ticky-tack fouls and they got away with the same stuff. I don't know how Sturdivant can drive to the basket, get position for the layup, get contact from the defender on his back, and get called for an offensive foul (his 5th!). To quote the millennials, "I can't even."
-Not only did foul trouble hurt (sitting Usher, Sturdivant, Meka, etc. when they were playing well), but Miami got to the bonus really quickly in both halves and that neutralized some of our advantage on defense. They got 26 foul shots.
-Despite the fouls (some of which, I admit, were legit fouls when we were too aggressive), I thought our defense was mostly good. Miami is good at working the ball around, have lots of guys that can get to the basket, and lots of guys that can shoot. Defending them well is hard. The biggest one that hurt us was Waardenburg...
-And he was the reason you didn't see much of Howard. No need for a offensively-challenged banger, when their big guy pops out for threes and doesn't score inside a lot. Miami is small and quick and it was the perfect chance to see more of Meka. Neither he nor Howard are going to score much, but you saw Meka's skill in this game protecting the rim. Finally, when we needed offense, Pastner said, "forget it," and just put Moore/Usher in the middle.
-I wish we would run more sets to get Kelly and Deebo free for outside shots.
-Once again, the PG spot was not an issue. Combined line: 18 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 5 TOs. You want a better Assist/TO ratio, but that is still a good line. These guys are both improving and playing well. I love the way Smith gets rebounds--he has some serious hops.
-One of the things that killed us in the second half--we stopped making our 3s, even when they were open. 1 of 9 ain't going to cut it. I would love to see Devoe make the extra pass a few more times like he did in the last game.
-Finally, 18 TOs is way too many. We made a few too many ill-advised passes.

This one was going to be tough, being on the road against a good Miami team. We weren't far away (until the last 2 minutes) but we still have a number of areas that need improvement. I wish we could have won, but even with the loss...I'll keep cheering. Go Jackets!

A lot of good info in this, however blaming the refs is BS. We foul more than anyACC Team and have the worst FT differential in Conference for a reason. We comity bunches of stupid fouls and we are very poor at attacking the basket. Only Usher does that and often he is out of control drawing offensive fouls.

As they say we are what our record says we are this year, a bad ACC team in a very down year for the conference.

 

[Connell62]

why pastner left Mecca in with less than a minute to go knowing he would be ahead or close at half is beyond stupid. He does need to get racked over the coals for that one. Especially if he had decided he wasn't going to play Howard after the first half. that decision arguably turned the game. Risk that wasn't worth taking.

Beyond that he tried to find a way to score with Miami and it worked for about half the second half. After that they moved the zone and simply beat the zone inside and out. Would be great to have James Banks again but we don't have him. FWIW the game was in the 70s so it wasn't our defense getting blown out.

We can see flashes of the potential in our young uns but they are not there yet. On the other side to the defense we only scored 70 which isn't enough against Miami. Unless you think Banks makes it a 65-60 game.

We held them to 22% from 3 which is generally the way to beat them. On the other hand they had 12 more free throws than us and made 9 more than we did. Some of those are calls I still don't understand but to be fair more of them are simply us being sloppy or out of position on D. That is a big/major part of why we lost the game.

I am trying not to have apathy at this point but I have to say it is hard. And while I like some of the young uns we have, it is also hard not to look to next year and not see the same kind of holes in the roster that are keeping us from dancing this year.

Good stuff Y...I think that you hit it right on the head. Losing Meka was a HUGE. Our defensive energy is so much better with him in the game.

I know that CJP goes against traditional thinking in regards to playing with fouls, but he should have pulled him. Also, I would prefer a better mix of small ball with the traditional line-up.

As I mentioned in chat last night, I understand why he stayed small for long (we needed offense), but our best line-ups the past few games has been: Smith, Coleman, and Meka.

In terms of next year, our roster will look a good bit different. Expect us to be as aggressive as anyone in the portal. It won't surprise me if we sign 3 from the portal.

I think we'll target someone like Jordan or a stretch 4 type in the mold of Moses, but shot blocking will definitely be on the menu! We're missing that more than anything.

 

[augustabuzz]

Hey, who you calling apathetic?

This one was there for the taking. We played them close for most of the game, but fouls absolutely killed us. Remember when I said after the Clemson game something like, "When the refs let us play aggressive defense and we hit open shots, watch out!" Well, the refs were horrible in this game and called touch fouls and unexplainable fouls all game long, and we did shoot well...but only for the first half. The result was inevitable.

Here are some notes:
-27 fouls against GT, 15 fouls against Miami. This disparity is not because were we behind at the end, and not because we were more aggressive than them. We were constantly being called for ticky-tack fouls and they got away with the same stuff. I don't know how Sturdivant can drive to the basket, get position for the layup, get contact from the defender on his back, and get called for an offensive foul (his 5th!). To quote the millennials, "I can't even."
-Not only did foul trouble hurt (sitting Usher, Sturdivant, Meka, etc. when they were playing well), but Miami got to the bonus really quickly in both halves and that neutralized some of our advantage on defense. They got 26 foul shots.
-Despite the fouls (some of which, I admit, were legit fouls when we were too aggressive), I thought our defense was mostly good. Miami is good at working the ball around, have lots of guys that can get to the basket, and lots of guys that can shoot. Defending them well is hard. The biggest one that hurt us was Waardenburg...
-And he was the reason you didn't see much of Howard. No need for a offensively-challenged banger, when their big guy pops out for threes and doesn't score inside a lot. Miami is small and quick and it was the perfect chance to see more of Meka. Neither he nor Howard are going to score much, but you saw Meka's skill in this game protecting the rim. Finally, when we needed offense, Pastner said, "forget it," and just put Moore/Usher in the middle.
-I wish we would run more sets to get Kelly and Deebo free for outside shots.
-Once again, the PG spot was not an issue. Combined line: 18 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 5 TOs. You want a better Assist/TO ratio, but that is still a good line. These guys are both improving and playing well. I love the way Smith gets rebounds--he has some serious hops.
-One of the things that killed us in the second half--we stopped making our 3s, even when they were open. 1 of 9 ain't going to cut it. I would love to see Devoe make the extra pass a few more times like he did in the last game.
-Finally, 18 TOs is way too many. We made a few too many ill-advised passes.

This one was going to be tough, being on the road against a good Miami team. We weren't far away (until the last 2 minutes) but we still have a number of areas that need improvement. I wish we could have won, but even with the loss...I'll keep cheering. Go Jackets!

Greensboro's MO the whole year.

 

[lv20gt]

As I mentioned in chat last night, I understand why he stayed small for long (we needed offense), but our best line-ups the past few games has been: Smith, Coleman, and Meka.

Played a line up because we needed offense and ended up scoring less points.

 

[jayparr]

Good stuff Y...I think that you hit it right on the head. Losing Meka was a HUGE. Our defensive energy is so much better with him in the game.

I know that CJP goes against traditional thinking in regards to playing with fouls, but he should have pulled him. Also, I would prefer a better mix of small ball with the traditional line-up.

As I mentioned in chat last night, I understand why he stayed small for long (we needed offense), but our best line-ups the past few games has been: Smith, Coleman, and Meka.

In terms of next year, our roster will look a good bit different. Expect us to be as aggressive as anyone in the portal. It won't surprise me if we sign 3 from the portal.

I think we'll target someone like Jordan or a stretch 4 type in the mold of Moses, but shot blocking will definitely be on the menu! We're missing that more than anything.

Yeh, I think Michael would be great!!

 

[Steverc]

Good stuff Y...I think that you hit it right on the head. Losing Meka was a HUGE. Our defensive energy is so much better with him in the game.

I know that CJP goes against traditional thinking in regards to playing with fouls, but he should have pulled him. Also, I would prefer a better mix of small ball with the traditional line-up.

As I mentioned in chat last night, I understand why he stayed small for long (we needed offense), but our best line-ups the past few games has been: Smith, Coleman, and Meka.

In terms of next year, our roster will look a good bit different. Expect us to be as aggressive as anyone in the portal. It won't surprise me if we sign 3 from the portal.

I think we'll target someone like Jordan or a stretch 4 type in the mold of Moses, but shot blocking will definitely be on the menu! We're missing that more than anything.

Top players typically don't transfer. They stay put or go pro. It is the players that can't get any playing time that transfer or the occasional move to get closer to an ailing family member. The idea that a transfer will save the program is misguided.

 

[YlJacket]

Good stuff Y...I think that you hit it right on the head. Losing Meka was a HUGE. Our defensive energy is so much better with him in the game.

I know that CJP goes against traditional thinking in regards to playing with fouls, but he should have pulled him. Also, I would prefer a better mix of small ball with the traditional line-up.

As I mentioned in chat last night, I understand why he stayed small for long (we needed offense), but our best line-ups the past few games has been: Smith, Coleman, and Meka.

In terms of next year, our roster will look a good bit different. Expect us to be as aggressive as anyone in the portal. It won't surprise me if we sign 3 from the portal.

I think we'll target someone like Jordan or a stretch 4 type in the mold of Moses, but shot blocking will definitely be on the menu! We're missing that more than anything.

I too would love another Banks but he tried to score with them rather than have Howard in the game. Though I really don't understand benching Mecca the whole second half - he could have played and Moore wasn't doing anything major out there.

Couple of other things to sort of measure the impact of going small on the defensive end - they outscored us 36 - 30 in the paint. Rebounds were even. Second chance points were even. Walker had 12 points mostly foul line and in. So no doubt having a rim protector would have helped bring paint scoring stat back closer to even. But I don't think it was the biggest issue.

Before the game Pastner was talking about live ball turnovers (pick 6's in his vernacular). We had 18 TOs to their 12. They outscored us 15-11 on points off turnovers and 18 to 6 on fast break points. That is our primary ball handlers giving it up.

I too think we almost certainly will look at at least a 4 and 5 in the portal. I also think we will look for a legit experienced scorer - I like the young uns but as they showed yesterday in the second half, they are still streaky and prone to droughts.

 

[Jacketman99]

Yeah you cannot leave Meka in the game in the first half like that. He is too young and inexperienced. I could somewhat understand if he were an upperclassmen. Turnovers and the foul disparity did us in. We did not value the ball in this game and Miami Is a team that will make you pay.

 

[Jacketman99]

Top players typically don't transfer. They stay put or go pro. It is the players that can't get any playing time that transfer or the occasional move to get closer to an ailing family member. The idea that a transfer will save the program is misguided.

Transfers can make a huge impact. Neither Miami nor Wake would be where they are without major contributors from the portal.

 

[chewybaka]

That 4th foul on Meka with 6 seconds left in the first half really hurt. It seems that Pastner is giving up on Rodney.

Perhaps rightfully so…

 

[alagold]

I too would love another Banks but he tried to score with them rather than have Howard in the game. Though I really don't understand benching Mecca the whole second half - he could have played and Moore wasn't doing anything major out there.

Couple of other things to sort of measure the impact of going small on the defensive end - they outscored us 36 - 30 in the paint. Rebounds were even. Second chance points were even. Walker had 12 points mostly foul line and in. So no doubt having a rim protector would have helped bring paint scoring stat back closer to even. But I don't think it was the biggest issue.

Before the game Pastner was talking about live ball turnovers (pick 6's in his vernacular). We had 18 TOs to their 12. They outscored us 15-11 on points off turnovers and 18 to 6 on fast break points. That is our primary ball handlers giving it up.

I too think we almost certainly will look at at least a 4 and 5 in the portal. I also think we will look for a legit experienced scorer - I like the young uns but as they showed yesterday in the second half, they are still streaky and prone to droughts.

Oh, I think we will look at lots of guys--the real question is who would consider us? Also, who from our team will go portal? Just like with fball/Collins ,this coming yr in bball has HUGE problems connected to it.