FSU @ GT 1/30/2021

CuseJacket

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As of now this stands as a quad 1 win with FSU at #18, before today's result is factored in. They will drop and could teeter around that #30 mark the rest of the season, which could tip this into a quad 2.


For that reason, we really want FSU to do well and stay on the right side of the 30-mark.

There are probably four quad 1 opportunities remaining on our regular season schedule:
  • Feb 1 @ Louisville (#47 in NET; criteria is top 75 on the road)
  • Feb 10 vs. Virginia (#5 in NET; criteria is top 30 at home)
  • Feb 13 @ Clemson (#50 prior to today's loss to Duke)
  • Feb 23 @ Virginia Tech (#42)

We are currently 1-2 in quad 1 games. For NCAAT chances, I think we need to grab at least two of the remaining four, provided we hold serve everywhere else, meaning we finish 3-4 in quad 1 games. If we can nab 3 of the remaining 4, which is a tall order, I think we tip from bubbly to feeling good on selection Sunday.

As I say that, who knows if we'll actually play the games as scheduled. Another reason today was huge.
Today’s update in NET:
  • We jumped from #60 to #55
  • FSU dropped from #18 to #24
And as an example of how things can change quickly, following Duke’s throttling of Clemson:
  • Clemson dropped from #50 to #60
  • Duke jumped from #79 to #62
The direct impact to us is that our loss to Duke ‘looks better’ as it’s now a quad 1 loss, as opposed to quad 2.
 

Deleted member 2897

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The key rankings for the committee are supposed to be NET. We are ahead of Duke who doesn't really have any high end wins other than us unfortunately. And we are behind UNC for the reasons you stated. Our issue is we started out so badly that we got hosed in all of the rankings and are having to work our way up. IMHO it is more about those first 2 games than the pause we had. If we had won the first 2 games and then had the same pause we would be solidly in bubble range.

Duke beat Clemson by 26 yesterday.
 

Techster

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I like that we started to take it to FSU in the 2nd half (which I annoyingly repeated in chat 😁). We didn't just settle for outside jumpers or 3's. Especially Moses Wright. We shot 26 FTs against FSU, compared to just 6 against UVA (Moses ZERO FT versus 17 FGs), and just 5 against Duke (Moses ZERO FTs versus 17 FGs). Moses has a good post game, and the strength to power through double teams. He'll get the calls if he works the post. I don't mind him taking outside shots every now and again, but he can't settle for them like he has been in our recent losses. Moses should never leave a game without taking free throws.

Devoe with a nice bounce back game...especially the second half. His first half he continued his recent slump, but turned it on the second half. We are different team when Devoe is playing to his potential. Still needs to quit picking up his dribble in the middle of the lane and just attack the rim or dish it off...which he started doing late in the 2nd half and good things happened. Defenses are definitely keying on that as we're seeing defenders leave their man to double Devoe to tie the ball up. Good on Pastner to implore Devoe to keep shooting and making plays.

Jose Alvarado. What more can we say about him. It's a joy to watch every game he plays in. His grit, determination, and willing the team to push through reminds me a LOT of Matt Harping. Like Harpring, Jose is taking the other team's best shots and he's bouncing off the floor and giving it right back to them. That MJ Walker collision was BS...you could see Jose going full steam ahead with eyes focused on the ball, MJ walker just wanted to take Jose out. Jose is NYC PG...if you've played pick up in NYC, you know you don't get fouls ever...even if you do get fouled and your head bounces off the court. Jose had the best answer possible for FSU going at him...just score and make plays. Dude leaves zero on the court every game. BTW...these refs needed to start paying attention, Jose is NOT getting many foul calls.

Usher didn't have the best game scoring-wise, but we definitely needed his energy and athleticism against FSU on the defensive end. He's so quick to close space. If we can get him going as well, GT is a different team...but it's good that we have 5 guys who can go for 15+ in any given game.

Good to see Howard get some minutes. Got some rebounds, but more importantly, gave Moses some time to take a breather.

Overall, this was a game where we didn't shoot all that well, but we grinded out a win. We did a lot of the little things that added up to a big win. 13 steals (6 from Moses, 5 from Jose). Got to the FT line 26 times (made 19 of them). Won the TO battle (14 to FSU's 20), and we kept rebounding close (31 to FSU's 37)...which IMO, is a HUGE win for us given the number of size mismatches FSU had versus us.

Quick turn around against UL on Monday. Louisville is coming off a close loss to Clemson, but they'll have more rest time than us.

Winning is much better than losing...let's get another W this Monday!
 

orientalnc

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Duke beat Clemson by 26 yesterday.
The margin in that game surprised, but not the result. I could be proved wrong, but Clemson looks like they have completely deflated. Has Brownell lost them?

Our margin over FSU and the VPI win at home v. Virginia got lots of ink, but I think Duke may be a bigger story. All those 5* guys finally know each other's names and no other team can match their overall talent.
 

LibertyTurns

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Hello to all the people who **** on Mike Devoe over a couple of bad games.

Eat **** & die.

Good evening sirs!
Great win yesterday & Devoe managed to have a better game. I know he’s not a 6 for 6 shooter from 3 pt range but he is one of our key scorers & he needs to shoot.

I’m probably in this pile you’re referring to but his dribbling into the lane & picking it up when he’s double teamed is aggravating as is his recent propensity to pass up open shots. He needs to work to find an open spot and shoot even when he’s missing. Yesterday Alvarado passed up a wide open 3 to force him to finally shoot. Lastly he seems to pout a lot. Maybe he’s not & he’s really an upbeat energetic guy.

I‘m not sure what the answer is. Perhaps CJP is teaching him to dribble into double teams in the lane and pass up open shots? I personally hate it when he starts to dribble into the lane. I don’t know what the success rate is but it’s probably 15%. Either he’s not getting it or he’s doing what he’s told, neither is good.
 

Deleted member 2897

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The margin in that game surprised, but not the result. I could be proved wrong, but Clemson looks like they have completely deflated. Has Brownell lost them?

Our margin over FSU and the VPI win at home v. Virginia got lots of ink, but I think Duke may be a bigger story. All those 5* guys finally know each other's names and no other team can match their overall talent.

Their potential reminds me of the Fab5. Won the whole thing as a 6 seed.
 

slugboy

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I’m not sure whether this is just my perception, but it seems like players other than Alvarado are bringing the ball up the court more than last year, and even more than earlier in the season. I saw Usher and Devoe and others kind of playing point for a bit.

I pulled up a quick list of dribble-drive offense plays. We’re running them. When Devoe or others dribble in, it’s to drive to the basket, or pull defenders to you and kick out or pass to Moses or another player cutting to or near the basket.

Maybe Devoe should be taking more shots from behind the arc instead of penetrating, but it sure looks like he’s playing what the team is practicing.

While we’re on the topic, Usher was having some fun dribbling the ball up last night and showing off some fancy moves.
 
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This is simply amazing. We are simply warriors at defending our home court, and I guess I should have noticed hiw well we've played at home over the last 2 seasons but this came out of nowhere for me.

That said, I really wish we could do better on the road as 1 road win is probably worth about 2 home wins in RPI. We are 0-3 on the road so far this season and 3-7 over the last 10. A win at Louisville tomorrow could gain us about 10 spots in RPI I imagine.
 

orientalnc

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Great win yesterday & Devoe managed to have a better game. I know he’s not a 6 for 6 shooter from 3 pt range but he is one of our key scorers & he needs to shoot.

I’m probably in this pile you’re referring to but his dribbling into the lane & picking it up when he’s double teamed is aggravating as is his recent propensity to pass up open shots. He needs to work to find an open spot and shoot even when he’s missing. Yesterday Alvarado passed up a wide open 3 to force him to finally shoot. Lastly he seems to pout a lot. Maybe he’s not & he’s really an upbeat energetic guy.

I‘m not sure what the answer is. Perhaps CJP is teaching him to dribble into double teams in the lane and pass up open shots? I personally hate it when he starts to dribble into the lane. I don’t know what the success rate is but it’s probably 15%. Either he’s not getting it or he’s doing what he’s told, neither is good.
I am not sure what point you are trying to make with the criticism of Devoe, but he does not not deserve it. Playing this game is hard. I played two years at the lowest level of college hoops and worked my tail off. The ACC is harder. Much harder. Even in a down year guys like Devoe are among the most devoted athletes. They have earned our praise even when things are not perfect on the floor because the opponents have a say in how well our guys play and the results they are able to achieve. This is not H-O-R-S-E. Michael scored 19 points, had 8 rebounds and 4 assists yesterday and played all 40 minutes. Don't come around here implying he's not giving the game his full effort.

Another thing. CJP and his staff are not teaching them to make bad decisions. If you believe that, maybe you are not pulling for the right team
 

gt02

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Good game. We have a high ceiling. Need Moses to stop shooting threes, as that cost us down the stretch against UVA. And he took several against FSU that were just bad shots.

Also, so many uncalled bad screens by FSU. So frustrating to watch.

Finally, Khalid Moore in the starting lineup was a good addition.
 

LibertyTurns

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I am not sure what point you are trying to make with the criticism of Devoe, but he does not not deserve it. Playing this game is hard. I played two years at the lowest level of college hoops and worked my tail off. The ACC is harder. Much harder. Even in a down year guys like Devoe are among the most devoted athletes. They have earned our praise even when things are not perfect on the floor because the opponents have a say in how well our guys play and the results they are able to achieve. This is not H-O-R-S-E. Michael scored 19 points, had 8 rebounds and 4 assists yesterday and played all 40 minutes. Don't come around here implying he's not giving the game his full effort.

Another thing. CJP and his staff are not teaching them to make bad decisions. If you believe that, maybe you are not pulling for the right team
So you’re saying Devoe dribbling into the lane, getting double teamed & picking up his dribble is by design?

I’m one of the very few on here that watched this team through all the difficulties. Don’t confuse me with the bandwagon fans on here that only started showing up last season when we had some success.

There’s a couple of obvious problems here that are repeating themselves, often. I’m no basketball expert & it’s plain as day to me. CJP has done a great job managing Usher & maximizing his strengths. I just don’t see a similar handling with Devoe. I suppose everyone including the coach should just ignore issues & move along, hope for the best?
 

lv20gt

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I’m not sure whether this is just my perception, but it seems like players other than Alvarado are bringing the ball up the court more than last year, and even more than earlier in the season. I saw Usher and Devoe and others kind of playing point for a bit.

Pastner made it a clear priority to bring in ball handling when he got here. He brought in Jose, Mike, Bubba, and Sturdivant in 4 consecutive classes. Even with the SGs or wings, guys like Maxwell, Coleman, and Kelly all have good ball handling skills. I don't think Pastner wants just one guys completely running the show and bringing the ball up. It pays off for us this year as it allows Jose to play off ball some.

I’m one of the very few on here that watched this team through all the difficulties. Don’t confuse me with the bandwagon fans on here that only started showing up last season when we had some success.

No, you just latch on to one idea, have a huge confirmation bias towards it so you flip your lid whenever it happens and act like it's a much more common occurrence than it actually is.
 

Techster

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So you’re saying Devoe dribbling into the lane, getting double teamed & picking up his dribble is by design?

I don't think there's anything wrong with pointing out mistakes players are making. This one is pretty obvious...I mean, you just have to pull up any game this season to see that Devoe is having issues with this. Other teams are seeing it and it's obvious when defenders consistently leave their man to double down on him as soon as he begins to dribble into the lane. He's either got to find the open guy sooner or just go hard to the basket. I would venture to say half of his turnovers are due to this.

This isn't an insult or character assasination of Devoe...it's just something he needs to clean up. Most of us won't stand for personally insulting players...no place for that.
 
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