Finishing strong

RhoChi

RhoChi

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
607
So I've noticed a common weakness of our team this season is inability to finish our games that we are a. Leading at half or b. Barely behind. We have lost a number of winnable games in the last minutes due to lack of either stamina or mental focus. How do we combat this going forward and can we recover this season and potentially make it to the NCAAT if at all possible?
 

lv20gt

Helluva Engineer
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5,581
The key isn't finishing strong. We've had games where we have done that. ND, FSU, UNC. The problem is you can't really expect it every time. The key is building the lead up earlier in the game and taking advantage when the other team is struggling more. We lost the Clemson and UVA games because we couldn't extend the lead early.
 

RyanS12

Helluva Engineer
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5,084
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Flint Michigan
lv20gt said:
The key isn't finishing strong. We've had games where we have done that. ND, FSU, UNC. The problem is you can't really expect it every time. The key is building the lead up earlier in the game and taking advantage when the other team is struggling more. We lost the Clemson and UVA games because we couldn't extend the lead early.
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Almost did it today too. We’re having issues maintaining leads late. I’m sure it’s a depth and fatigue issue but we get really careless and sloppy when we have a lead at 10 or more. Fortunately, the next two games, BC and @Miami are teams nowhere near as good as the last 5 we’ve played. This is probably the easiest stretch of our schedule.
 

gt24

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
354
RyanS12 said:
Almost did it today too. We’re having issues maintaining leads late. I’m sure it’s a depth and fatigue issue but we get really careless and sloppy when we have a lead at 10 or more. Fortunately, the next two games, BC and @Miami are teams nowhere near as good as the last 5 we’ve played. This is probably the easiest stretch of our schedule.
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regarding leads... what i cant figure out is if it is us, or if it is the quality of the competition. are we failing to extend leads into double-digits because of our own issues/mistakes, or are we going on runs to take leads, and then quality/tough opponents go on their run to claw back. idk.

speaking of quality/tough opponents... people say the ACC is down this year. but is that simply because there are no top-5 ranked teams that are locks for the final 4, and bc neither duke nor unc nor syracuse are ranked? seems to me that although there might not be a national championship contender, the top half of the ACC is pretty damn strong this year. it is only "down" in the sense that it is not the best conference in the country; but that doesnt mean that the teams and quality of play are not strong.

if you are a quality mid-tier team from any other P5 conference getting more love and accolades, do you want to play a lower-seeded ACC team in the first game of the NCAA tourney this year in a 7-10 or 6-11 or 5-12 matchup? GT with its crazy schedule fiasco? Duke with 15 5-stars late in the season? Pitt with Champagnie? ND with its outside shooting capabilities? UNC or Clemson with some tough players/matchups and quality wins through the season? (not suggesting all those teams will all make the tourney, just arguing many tourney teams would hate those first round matchups.)
 

RyanS12

Helluva Engineer
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5,084
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Flint Michigan
gt24 said:
regarding leads... what i cant figure out is if it is us, or if it is the quality of the competition. are we failing to extend leads into double-digits because of our own issues/mistakes, or are we going on runs to take leads, and then quality/tough opponents go on their run to claw back. idk.

speaking of quality/tough opponents... people say the ACC is down this year. but is that simply because there are no top-5 ranked teams that are locks for the final 4, and bc neither duke nor unc nor syracuse are ranked? seems to me that although there might not be a national championship contender, the top half of the ACC is pretty damn strong this year. it is only "down" in the sense that it is not the best conference in the country; but that doesnt mean that the teams and quality of play are not strong.

if you are a quality mid-tier team from any other P5 conference getting more love and accolades, do you want to play a lower-seeded ACC team in the first game of the NCAA tourney this year in a 7-10 or 6-11 or 5-12 matchup? GT with its crazy schedule fiasco? Duke with 15 5-stars late in the season? Pitt with Champagnie? ND with its outside shooting capabilities? UNC or Clemson with some tough players/matchups and quality wins through the season? (not suggesting all those teams will all make the tourney, just arguing many tourney teams would hate those first round matchups.)
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Yea I’m with ya on the acc perception. I think outside of UVA, it’s pretty balanced all the way down. I have a feeling you’ll see 4-6 acc teams in the sweet 16, maybe more.
If GT is an 11 seed, I think we will make everyone seeded 6,3 & 2 very nervous to see us.
This feels like a year that you’re gonna see some low seeds in the sweet 16/elite 8.
 
Connell62

Connell62

Helluva Engineer
Featured Member
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3,092
gt24 said:
regarding leads... what i cant figure out is if it is us, or if it is the quality of the competition. are we failing to extend leads into double-digits because of our own issues/mistakes, or are we going on runs to take leads, and then quality/tough opponents go on their run to claw back. idk.
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The answer is simple... at least over these last few games. We had first half leads at UVA (7pts) and Clemson (9pts) and couldn't extend.

In both games, it was our inability to make open 3's. We missed so many open looks. The lead could have/should have been at least 14-16 points both cases.
 

Deleted member 2897

Guest
JacketRacket said:
He's going from this tweet:

I've looked around and haven't found any other sources to corroborate it though (and by now there'd be at least one).
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I went to Boston colleges website, and while this may be true, I don’t see that the team has formally made any statements.
 

THWG16

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
811
I think some way some how we got to get atleast 17 wins, of course that would have to mean atleast 1 win in the conf tourney if we don't get ncstate rescheduled, the Clemson game really really hurts cause a quad 1 win would've went very far.
 
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