Well I just finished watching Green Bay and ETSU. I knew the outcomes but had to watch.
On Green Bay... that was a bad team. Call it fatigue or whatever, that was the worst performance from a scrub team I've seen all year. Nothing to learn there other than GT took care of business and impressed me again on offense. Concerned about lack of defense from our guards, but that's no big deal yet, right?
ETSU... that's called s****ing the bed. Lack of urgency from the team and coaches. This is not a game where you hope the players figure it out. This is a game where a good coach gets in their grill and gets them going... midway thru the first half. Absolutely no reason for ETSU to be in the game.
Other thoughts on the debacle:
- Guard play is horrendous defensively. Why is Jorg even in the game guarding their PG with 5 seconds remaining? It's not his strength. That's on the coach.
- How is it even possible that on a last-second defensive play, up 2, we allow a STEP-IN three off a switch with our big guy inside the arc? This was off of a timeout... are you kidding me? Coaching. We're talking about basic fundamental game-situation preparedness.
- If you're going to foul up 3, you don't do it with 8 seconds left and the opposing PG standing at half court. Debate the merits of the foul/no foul all you want, that was terrible timing and execution. Completely unprepared for the situation.
- Did I mention our guard play is terrible defensively?
Look, at the end of the first half I thought ETSU was tricky athletic. Looked at their roster and saw transfers from Indiana (2), Missouri (1), Wichita State (1), and Cincinnati (1). That ain't bad. But they were the prototypical "we got athletes and we're going to wing it like we're on the playground". And it worked.
I've not seen us get beat down court after a made GT basket so many times in a single game. That kind of stuff gets cut off by good high school teams. One time ETSU's PG went the length of the court 1 on 3 and got a mostly uncontested lay-up. You know what was most disappointing? No sub was coming in for any of the beaten GT players and not a single one of those guys heard a thing from the coach. Accountability can't wait until after the game.
Rant over. Thanks for listening. I still think we can be a solid NIT team. Syracuse looks worse, so I need something to cling to.
