Georgia Tech at Duke, Jan 26, 9pm, ESPN

[tsrich]

Not having James Banks is killing us. God I wish we didn’t appeal that first year. We got destroyed on the glass.
Jose is now become my second favorite GT basketball player ever! Might even pass Kenny before the year is done. I’ve never seen a kid give as much as him on the floor! I selfishly hope he and Moses use that free year next season. Of all the kids, he just seems like the type that would want it.
Devoe...... Idk if he’s halfway out the door or what but he looks like he just doesn’t want it anymore. Head down all the time, terrible decisions most of the time. He went from expecting big shots from him to being completely shocked if he makes something happen. Major disappointment.
Usher looked good in spurts. High motor all the time. I swear he should play Tight End lol.
Bubba is playing great all around ball. I’d like to see him use the free year as well.
Just a disappointing loss to a team we should have beaten by 10+....
Saturday vs FSU is an absolute must win!

Devoe was 6-6 from 3 a couple of games ago. We don't put him in position to do what he does best so he has to have a hot shooting night to make a real impact.

I was OK sitting him tonight. His shot was off and it was affecting all of his game. Not sure why we didn't try him again after 3-4 min on the bench

 

[kg01]

Devoe was 6-6 from 3 a couple of games ago. We don't put him in position to do what he does best so he has to have a hot shooting night to make a real impact.

I was OK sitting him tonight. His shot was off and it was affecting all of his game. Not sure why we didn't try him again after 3-4 min on the bench

Too many times, I see him tryna take dudes off the bounce. That ain't for him. Give the dude as many catch 'n shoot opportunities as he can stomach, please.

Sadly, our screens are horrible which is probably why the offense struggles and breaks down a lot.

That said, we didn't deserve to lose like that and Duke didn't deserve to win. There's I said it. Don't @ me, bro's.

 

[RyanS12]

Too many times, I see him tryna take dudes off the bounce. That ain't for him. Give the dude as many catch 'n shoot opportunities as he can stomach, please.

Sadly, our screens are horrible which is probably why the offense struggles and breaks down a lot.

That said, we didn't deserve to lose like that and Duke didn't deserve to win. There's I said it. Don't @ me, bro's.

This! His spot is the corners or the wing. When he’s on he’s deadly there. The problem is, he’s trying to take guys off the dribble and he’s not quick enough. He’s also not athletic enough to explode at the rim. We need to get him open in his spots and let’s him spot up and shoot. Have him run baseline and set a pick to get him free.
We need someone other than our 5’10” PG be our leading scorer.

 

[SecretAgentBuzz]

Just finished watching the replay.

Things I like:
-Usher and Moore hitting 3s. That really makes us sooo much better on offense when we have wings that can hit those shots.
-Alvarado trying to singlehandedly keep us in the game and win it. At one point, I said, "I don't care if you have to score 40 points, just keep doing that!" He really is playing so well right now. Unfortunate that he lost the ball on a key possession at the end. I know he hates losing.
-Moses Wright working hard all night. He plays so hard, and you can tell he was running on fumes at the end.

Things I don't like:
-Moses Wright playing 40 minutes. I know he is good, but we have got to take our chances with Saba or Howard for a few minutes each game.
-Poor shooting in the first half. If we would have shot like we have been shooting, we would have been up by 10 at the half instead of down by 8. It was that bad.
-Devoe's lack of effort. Driving into walls, leaving his man on defense. I don't blame Pastner for sitting him--it was warranted by the way Devoe was playing. I would have rather had Moore or Sturdivant.
-The refs. I've come to expect this treatment at Cameron, and we all knew it was coming when Coach K complained about the lack of free throws he team was shooting. Still, though, its extremely frustrating to have that charge called on Usher when he went around that guy but the blocking called on Sturdivant at the other end when the Duke player went right into him. And then down the stretch....my goodness. Put them in the lane and listen for the whistle. It was AUTOMATIC. Ugh.

For us, we played a poor game. We shot poorly and we didn't defend as well as we have been. And yet, we still had a chance to steal one at Cameron Indoor. Not bad, but we will need to start finishing some of these if we want to make the tournament.

 

[OG-T]

That is NOT a good Duke team. Any player on Tech would agree this was a major fail - losing this game was worst than GaSt or Mercer because of it being sandwiched between Va and FlaSt. Someone needs to show DeVoe some JJ Resdick college video to show how hard real shooters need to work without the ball. We only can be max successful with the good DeVoe, but he doesn’t seem to have 1/2 the heart of Jose. Don’t understand. Devoe could show out as best player on floor, but he just seems so predictable - and when he puts his back to defense really bad things seems to happen out of that spin, it’s painfully obvious he’s going to spin back left, he does not go right. Just smh knowing all his talent is looking mediocre. Hope he snaps out of it and just finds that hunger that Jose and Usher have. We need it.

 

[OG-T]

And that bald ref was a POS. That Sturdivant blocking call was atrocious. 22FTs to 5FTs - ya, that seems like balanced officiating. Even Pastner in the postgame when asked about the refs said, next question, I don’t want to get in trouble. It’s a joke because it’s understood league-wide that the home cooking is expected part of a game at Cameron. Wish the refs would grow a pair for once when they see Rat Face.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

I still want to know how it’s possible for Pastner to miss out on big man recruiting so much the last two seasons. He knew this was supposed to be their competitive year and not having someone ready to contribute is the type of roster management that gets someone fired.

Saba was top 100 nationally. He’s a true freshman, and sometimes it takes a bit to develop.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Well on the bright side, Devoe is coming back again next year.

 

[RyanS12]

Well on the bright side, Devoe is coming back again next year.

IDK why but I get a feeling he’s gone whether it be going and playing professionally somewhere or hitting the portal. No inside info, just a feeling.

 

[WrongShadeOfGold]

IDK why but I get a feeling he’s gone whether it be going and playing professionally somewhere or hitting the portal. No inside info, just a feeling.

I thought the same thing last night. He sits down the whole stretch and then CJP puts him in to watch the other team hit the clinching free throws. He does not look like he wants to be here.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

I thought the same thing last night. He sits down the whole stretch and then CJP puts him in to watch the other team hit the clinching free throws. He does not look like he wants to be here.

He sure did a couple nights ago. But yea, lots of ups and downs. Not sure how you can hit every shot one night and then seemingly appear sick ot under the weather.

 

[KeystoneJacket]

No moral wins at this stage of the game and too many losses.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

No moral wins at this stage of the game and too many losses.

Losing to Florida State, Virginia, and Duke (all on the road) isn’t the problem. If we were 3-3 in the ACC and 9-3 overall, we’d be right where we hoped we might be. We have almost no margin for error because of Mercer and GaSt. Gotta likely go 12-8 in the ACC, which means 9-5 from this point. Gotta get 4 wins over 0.500 likely...so if we don’t reschedule/play all the games that could mean having to go like 7-3 going forward.

 

[orientalnc]

We did not lose this game at the end. It was lost in the first half. Good shots were not falling and we took some really bad shots in desperation.

I think we (The Swarm) mixed too much Kool-Aid after the Virginia game and failed to consider that we were playing at a level we could not likely sustain.

 

[RyanS12]

Losing to Florida State, Virginia, and Duke (all on the road) isn’t the problem. If we were 3-3 in the ACC and 9-3 overall, we’d be right where we hoped we might be. We have almost no margin for error because of Mercer and GaSt. Gotta likely go 12-8 in the ACC, which means 9-5 from this point. Gotta get 4 wins over 0.500 likely...so if we don’t reschedule/play all the games that could mean having to go like 7-3 going forward.

We need to get the other two games back. Both a winnable games. Pitt is up and down and so is nc st but both are teams we can beat.

 

[slugboy]

We did not lose this game at the end. It was lost in the first half. Good shots were not falling and we took some really bad shots in desperation.

Agreed.

The first half had so many shots bounce off the rim or back iron, and the passing led to some terrible looking turnovers.

If we had looked similar in the first half to the team that played Virginia, Duke would have been down by a good bit at halftime.

Maybe the blue bloods aren’t the teams to do it against, but finding a break for Wright is important. Khalid Moore played 27 minutes and Moses played 40. We could have used even more of Moore.

 

[lv20gt]

I thought the same thing last night. He sits down the whole stretch and then CJP puts him in to watch the other team hit the clinching free throws. He does not look like he wants to be here.

People have been saying this since he got here. That's just his personality.

 

[Sheboygan]

Losing to Florida State, Virginia, and Duke (all on the road) isn’t the problem. If we were 3-3 in the ACC and 9-3 overall, we’d be right where we hoped we might be. We have almost no margin for error because of Mercer and GaSt. Gotta likely go 12-8 in the ACC, which means 9-5 from this point. Gotta get 4 wins over 0.500 likely...so if we don’t reschedule/play all the games that could mean having to go like 7-3 going forward.

Exactly. When will we learn that ALL the games count ( albeit some more than others )? The discrepancy in FT shooting is ridiculous , but it was not unexpected. Gotta be mentally tough, no excuses.

 

[Sheboygan]

People have been saying this since he got here. That's just his personality.

Recruiting mistake ? Obviously I don't know the guy, but sometimes it's about more than statistics. Chemistry is extremely important especially when only 5 guys can be on the court at one time. You can't have 5 main scorers, you need complementary role players, and maybe Devoe doesn't like that role.

 

[g0lftime]

We don't run shooters off screens like Bobby used to do.

That is NOT a good Duke team. Any player on Tech would agree this was a major fail - losing this game was worst than GaSt or Mercer because of it being sandwiched between Va and FlaSt. Someone needs to show DeVoe some JJ Resdick college video to show how hard real shooters need to work without the ball. We only can be max successful with the good DeVoe, but he doesn’t seem to have 1/2 the heart of Jose. Don’t understand. Devoe could show out as best player on floor, but he just seems so predictable - and when he puts his back to defense really bad things seems to happen out of that spin, it’s painfully obvious he’s going to spin back left, he does not go right. Just smh knowing all his talent is looking mediocre. Hope he snaps out of it and just finds that hunger that Jose and Usher have. We need it.