Clemson

[techgrad]

I have been impressed since his first day here of Pastner being willing to say he made mistakes at Memphis and would learn from them. One thing he mentioned was it cannot be just about the stars, you had to build a team. i think at Memphis he might have tried to hard to be like Cal and bring in stars.

That is very good to hear.

 

[Peacone36]

No matter how we finish the rest of the year I feel good Knowing we are scrappy and competitive, and Josh Pastner has us heading in the right direction.

Having seen some more games recently I think we can clip Wake and BC. Wake shouldn't be as bad as they are, but, they are. If we can get NCST on Sunday we could be lookin at 5 conference wins which I thought was an impossibility a short time ago

 

[RamblinRed]

NC ST will be interesting to watch this Sunday.

They ought to be a desperate team. Don't know if that is good or not.

They are very different home vs away.
Away they are 0-4 in true road games, 2-1 neutral (with wins over St. Joseph and Montana st and a blowout loss to Creighton).
At home they are 10-0 with 7 blowout wins including one over VT.

if this was a home game i'd feel pretty good, on the road, not so much.
GT is a start of a three game home stand for NCST (also includes Pitt and Wake) that they likely need to sweep.

 

[GTJason]

So I'm by no means an expert but personally I find I am way less anxious when we go to the free throw line, and I yell way fewer obscenities at this team than I have in the past. Questions like WTF was that? and comments such as you f'n moron are only occasional (like the pass to AD when he was working on his social skills last night - this is not a jab everyone is entitled to a mental lapse and I'm so happy it happens as rarely as it has this year).

I think as CJP has said, we have zero room for error. We essentially played a perfect game of basketball last night. We are going to live and die by the other team shooting the 3. We did a great job at least contesting the open guy a little last night in the 2nd half. Teams that move the ball well and have consistent shooters will likely pick us apart, but a lot of teams don't have that. They have streaky guys like Clemson and the more we wear on them the more they will try to force something which helps us

 

[kg01]

Lot of folks have lots of negative things to say about Cal - some valid and a lot not. But the thing they overlook about Cal and now about K as well is that it takes both a strong personality and a lot of gravitas to be able to mold a bunch of high talent thoroughbred players into a team. Get them to give up things they think are in their interest for the good of the team. It is a real skill.

Doesn't surprise me that CJP likely got caught up in that dynamic when he was there. And more to the point tells you a lot that Memphis went out and got someone like Tubby who would arguably be better equipped to handle the political dynamics. IMHO that adds some credibility to the idea of CJP getting in over his head.

As an AAU coach I do take umbrage at Memphis's past play being akin to AAU basketball. I would contend AAU has a lot more structure than they did

Man, I knew there was something I didn't like about you. Just kidding.

Good points made here. Agree that one of Cal's biggest attributes is the ability to corral those young thoroughbreds (as you called them).

Also agree it's interesting that MEM went with Tubby to handle the politics there. MEM may appear to be a mid-major type to the uninformed, however, it's not that. There's a lot of money in and around that program IIUC. It takes a strong personality to (word of the day) corral everything surrounding it and that city.

Tubby's first misstep IMHO was in his re-hiring of the Lawson dad. He put himself right back in their pocket.

 

[Peacone36]

Does anyone know the Senior Lawson's resume? Maybe his employment is warranted (no im not buying it either)

 

[kg01]

Does anyone know the Senior Lawson's resume? Maybe his employment is warranted (no im not buying it either)

Yeah. His "resume" is fathering 3 (well really 2 IMHO) D1 prospects and coaching a little HS/AAU.

 

[Fatmike91]

This is a a ton more PRODUCTIVE motion... cuts to basket, off of screens, not just running in circles.

CJP said in the post game that they practiced motion and cutting (all offense) in the last practices. It definitely showed.

/

 

[GTpdm]

So I'm by no means an expert but personally I find I am way less anxious when we go to the free throw line, and I yell way fewer obscenities at this team than I have in the past. Questions like WTF was that? and comments such as you f'n moron are only occasional (like the pass to AD when he was working on his social skills last night - this is not a jab everyone is entitled to a mental lapse and I'm so happy it happens as rarely as it has this year).

I hope you mean "at the TV/radio, when I'm st home", rather than "at the team, when I'm at the game"... I, too, feel the urge to do both, but I try to restrict myself to the former...

I think as CJP has said, we have zero room for error. We essentially played a perfect game of basketball last night. We are going to live and die by the other team shooting the 3. We did a great job at least contesting the open guy a little last night in the 2nd half. Teams that move the ball well and have consistent shooters will likely pick us apart, but a lot of teams don't have that. They have streaky guys like Clemson and the more we wear on them the more they will try to force something which helps us

Perfect? I didn't see anything close to that. But if you mean "at the top of our potential as a team," I'd agree. And what makes me happy about that is: (1) "at the top of our potential" is higher than I would have predicted for this season; and (2) we have reached that point in two out of four ACC games, already.

 

[MWBATL]

FT shooting and shooting from the field are two different things. One is mechanical and repetitive and can be taught--and is taught by good coaches. The other seems to be something that you either have or you don't. It can be improved, but only within limits the vast majority of the time.

I know...my point was that we were a lousy and unreliable FT shooting team most of the time under Hewitt and we often complained about that fact...and the defense was that you really couldn't coach FT shooting. I agree with you that you can, and in fact it seems this staff does.

 

[Texwood]

Couple of things

First parts of this roster are much better than anyone expected- especially Lammers and Okogie. I don't think anyone expected Lammers to be in all ACC discussion and Okogie is playing better than his rep would suggest. Still not an ACC level roster but it has pieces

Second the defense has been much better than anyone could have expected. While the zones CJP throws in are neat and at times effective this is still a man based team anchored by Lammers. Their help rotations last night were impressive

The third is the Princeton like offensive scheme has put them in position to attack and they have done so. We don't have real shooters so the alternative is to attack. It is a very nice scheme for this team and leads to the free throw advantage we have had

CJP and his staff get credit for this. It is well thought out and executed. It is the kind of stuff I did not think CJP could do based on watching his Memphis teams.

We are going to get athletically and talent overwhelmed in some games going forward. And teams are going to pack it in on us and force us to shoot - zone and packed man. So it will be interesting to see how we adjust. But without a doubt so far so good

It's difficult for me to imagine coming across a more succinct and accurate description of the reasons behind our surprising season thus far. Wish the print media that covers GT athletics could possess such skill.

 

[Beehive]

CJP can flat out coach!!! Can't wait until he gets a little more talent!!! Sky is the limit!!!!

 

[Peacone36]

It's difficult for me to imagine coming across a more succinct and accurate description of the reasons behind our surprising season thus far. Wish the print media that covers GT athletics could possess such skill.

Hey. Where is the Minotaur?

 

[CuseJacket]

Just got caught up on the thread. Lot of interesting ideas here. Frankly I am glad that we finally have a discussion... it says a lot about the energy coming back into the program.

A few additional thoughts re: how are we 2-2.

First, I want to acknowledge how unexpected and impressive the results are thus far compared to my expectations. Preseason I set an ACC over/under of 1.5 wins, thinking that the 1 or 2 wins would be anomalies in randomly catching lightning in a bottle, let alone convincing/no doubt wins this early. This was 90% due to the roster inherited. Hopefully we can keep the momentum. We should expect a few more real duds given our offensive limitations. Hopefully that doesn't dispirit the team or recruiting. I'm inclined now to think that CPast won't let it happen, but there's still a long road to hoe.

A few other random things to throw into the mix

• We did not take UNC's best shot. Let's not kid ourselves. We still earned the W though.
• For that reason, in a way beating Clemson was more impressive to me. The Tigers brought energy, and we brought more.
• CJP mentioned this in the postgame presser and it's worth reiterating. Our guys know their roles. Last year we had 6'9" PFs who can't shoot, shooting mid range jumpers with no repercussion. Wasted possessions. This year our slashers know to slash, our shooters (relatively speaking) know to shoot. And defensively we are dialed in and cohesive in a number of sets.

Projecting forward, I am intrigued by the discussion around coachability of Memphis players vs. GT players. As others have stated, we currently have a roster with zero ego. My caution to throw into the wind is, eventually we will get the top recruits that come in with different expectations. Those players may or may not be closer to the Memphis variety than those we proudly call Tech guys. No doubt a different type of coaching required at that level. I am watching a hall of fame coach who just came off a final four, coaching 4* and 5* talent, fizzle due in large part to a bad mix of "I need to get mine" and "NBA is watching", among other things. Regardless as @Peacone36 said, right now I hope we keep the same staff, something I had serious reservations about preseason, and I'll be interested to see how the future shakes out. If we continue trending up, mixing together good players is a good problem to have.

 

[AE 87]

My 2 cents, if worth that ...

I was 60-40 inclined toward chalking up the UNC game to them just playing Djitte (pun intended). However, our play against LOLvl and CU has shown that our D may actually deserve even more credit. Still, we haven't really guarded the 3pt line that great in any of our games, but Duke (and to a lesser extent LOLvl in the 1st half) really made us pay for it. I expect that some may disagree, but I actually think the emphasis that CBG put on developing D intensity has helped us this year. CPast, by his own admission, didn't spend much time installing D over the off-season. I think he probably benefited from this having been the emphasis of CBG. TIFWIW

As has been said, the major improvement on D has been how multiple we've become. So far, we're gaining some advantage by forcing opposition to take some beats to figure out what D we're in and how they're going to attack it.

More importantly from this fan's perspective is that we actually look like we know what we're doing on O. For most of the years of CPH and CBG, it seemed like we were just throwing it around looking for an open shot or just throwing up an early shot. Most of our trips down the floor just look a lot more intentional and thoughtful to my non-expert eyes.

While I typically think that you've got what you've got with Jrs and Srs, I wonder if Jax and Q might actually become more consistent shooters. Once they fully realize that we don't really have any other option this year so that they're going to get their minutes, maybe they'll just relax and settle in. I don't expect it, but I wonder.

 

[CuseJacket]

My 2 cents, if worth that ...

I was 60-40 inclined toward chalking up the UNC game to them just playing Djitte (pun intended). However, our play against LOLvl and CU has shown that our D may actually deserve even more credit. Still, we haven't really guarded the 3pt line that great in any of our games, but Duke (and to a lesser extent LOLvl in the 1st half) really made us pay for it. I expect that some may disagree, but I actually think the emphasis that CBG put on developing D intensity has helped us this year. CPast, by his own admission, didn't spend much time installing D over the off-season. I think he probably benefited from this having been the emphasis of CBG. TIFWIW

As has been said, the major improvement on D has been how multiple we've become. So far, we're gaining some advantage by forcing opposition to take some beats to figure out what D we're in and how they're going to attack it.

More importantly from this fan's perspective is that we actually look like we know what we're doing on O. For most of the years of CPH and CBG, it seemed like we were just throwing it around looking for an open shot or just throwing up an early shot. Most of our trips down the floor just look a lot more intentional and thoughtful to my non-expert eyes.

While I typically think that you've got what you've got with Jrs and Srs, I wonder if Jax and Q might actually become more consistent shooters. Once they fully realize that we don't really have any other option this year so that they're going to get their minutes, maybe they'll just relax and settle in. I don't expect it, but I wonder.

Agree with a lot of your observations. The last paragraph... my thought was if Q and Jax don't already realize this, I'm not sure it's coming.

Then I saw this quote:

“I’m really having fun out there, honestly,” Stephens said. “Last year’s team was fun, too. We had a lot of exciting moments and some good times, but I think we’re having great times now, too. I think it’s my aggressiveness. And then just the leash that you have is let out with the team that we have now.”

Q is playing huge minutes. It doesn't seem like he hesitates to put up shots. I think he just is what he is.

With Jax, I think there's more of what you're suggesting, particularly given his fluctuation in minutes. I think his game is better served attacking and then letting the outside shots come when they come. Perhaps greater success (and energy) getting to the bucket will in turn give him confidence to "just play".

 

[Beehive]

It's amazing to me the improvement of the players that played last years!! I can see the difference in the coaching!!!! Can't wait until we land a few blue chippers to go with the ones that are already coming in!!

 

[AE 87]

Another thing to watch: CPast has said that Reveno was responsible for scouting both UNC and CU, which seems to include basic game plan.

 

[MWBATL]

Another thing to watch: CPast has said that Reveno was responsible for scouting both UNC and CU, which seems to include basic game plan.

I agree. It seems clear to me there is a serious team effort going on here, both amongst the staff and the players.

I have always thought that Hewitt's success st GT was due to his assistants the first couple of seasons. Once they left, we were never the same. Head coaches are CEO's (or should be) and the question I have is whether Pastner put this staff together, or whether the former AD did?

 

[MikeJackets]

I can't believe Jerry Palm of CBS Sports website has Clemson as a #9 seed for the NCAA Tournament in his 1/13/2017 Bracketology. I don't think Clemson is that good.