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

[dtm1997]

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.

@kg01

 

[g0lftime]

Devoe is more of a spot shooter. He is very left handed and teams are forcing him to go to his right. Shooters will occasionally have off nights and he had one last night. It's the nature of the beast. Some nights the shots don't drop. I just think he doesn't show his emotions and he has to be frustrated. Coach K had said going into our game that he was losing games at the foul line and obviously they were out to create fouls and get to the foul line which the refs were more than happy to accommodate. We were tired late and they were dribble driving which caused reach-in fouls plus we made critical turnovers with less than 2 minutes to play and a couple of bad shots. Bubba pulled one out of his rear that kept us close but then turnovers and fouls killed us. Jose must have been tired even though he gave it everything he had. Tough loss.

 

[lv20gt]

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.

Recruiting mistake? Dude averaged 16 as soph and is still shooting 40+% from the three this year despite the recent slump. He was averaging 20 a game in ACC play prior to the UVA game. This happens literally every time he has an off game or two where armchair psychologists read way too much into things.

 

[Sheboygan]

Recruiting mistake? Dude averaged 16 as soph and is still shooting 40+% from the three this year despite the recent slump. He was averaging 20 a game in ACC play prior to the UVA game. This happens literally every time he has an off game or two where armchair psychologists read way too much into things.

Just a thought. I hope you are correct. I was reacting to :

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.

 

[first&ten]

The fatigue excuse is weak. We should have been up 10 at half and extended the lead to where it didn’t matter. I’m not sure if it was game plan or execution, but that was the worst offensive effort we’ve put together in a while against a fairly pedestrian defensive effort from Duke. Not much to be happy about after that showing.

Bingo!Tech had a chance to expand the lead inthe 1st half, too many one & dones withno follow up rebounds. The players let this one get away.

 

[Techster]

Couple of patterns are starting to form over the last couple of games:

Teams are OK letting Moses shoot outside of 15 ft. He's missing them way more than he's making them, and teams are fine with the makes.
Teams are going at Bubba and isolating him 1v1 because they have a huge mismatch on him.

Moses and the staff want him to be a stretch 4/5, but he's not shooting well enough to be that: 6-17 against UVA, 6-17 against Duke. Both games were close, so those 15+ ft misses hurt.

Bubba does a LOT of little things that help the team, but he's an obvious mismatch to attack on the defensive end. Jose to a certain extent, but Jose is so crafty with his hands and speed that you risk a turnover when you attack him. Bubba is also a good shooter, so you kinda have to live with the mismatch with everything else he brings to the table.

We need to address those because ACC coaches see what other coaches are doing and they imitate it.

Devoe...man, I'm not sure what to say. The most frustrating thing for me about Devoe is his dribbling into the teeth of the defense and either losing the ball, or totally halting our ball movement. He's definitely been an enigma this season. REALLY good player, or really frustrating to watch.

I said it during the chat, but we really need to take advantage of Usher's athleticism more. If there's a player in the ACC that can keep up with him, I've yet to see it. One thing I'd like to see Usher work on is drawing fouls going to the basket. He's a good free throw shooter, so it's to our benefit if he does get fouled. Sometimes though, he so quick he kinda separates himself from getting fouled.

We got outrebounded 43-28 last night. Duke had second and third chances to score and IMO that was the difference. We need to give Moses some help...give him at least 2-3 minutes each half and we have to live with whatever happens when Saba or Howard are in.

Khalid Moore...baller. Need to give him more minutes, and he may be the answer to Bubba being a mismatch liability. He's not the shooter Bubba is, but he can score in other ways Bubba can't.

We have to find ways to score if our outside shots are not falling. Usher is one way that we need to work on, and Wright not sitting at the top of the key is another. I'd like to see Wright at least receive the ball at the top of the key and take his man off the dribble...he's pretty athletic and had a decent handle. Maybe he opens up some shots for others when the defense collapses on him.

FSU is next. TOUGH TOUGH matchup for us. I'm not sure we have a matchup advantage anywhere against them. At least it's at home. It's a hold my breathe game for me.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Rewatched some of the game. Too many drives to the baskets where we got fouled but it wasn't called. Tie game with 1:30 left. @ Duke. We were there with a chance. Just like against Virginia. Just a few too many mistakes.

Here's who played last night for Duke.
DJ Steward: 5-star
Matthew Hurt: 5-star
Jalen Johnson: 5-star
Jeremy Roach: 5-star
Mark Williams: 5-star
Wendell Moore: 1st 4-star (0.9898 on 247)
Joey Baker: 4-star (0.9887 - top 50)
Jaemyn Brakefield: 4-star (0.9846 - top 50)
Henry Coleman: 4-star (0.9808 - top 50)

5 5-stars and 9 top 50 guys.

 

[WrongShadeOfGold]

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

Go back and watch the final 30 seconds when Duke is shooting free throws. That's not a personality, that's a guy that is frustrated with his role.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

I said it during the chat, but we really need to take advantage of Usher's athleticism more. If there's a player in the ACC that can keep up with him, I've yet to see it. One thing I'd like to see Usher work on is drawing fouls going to the basket. He's a good free throw shooter, so it's to our benefit if he does get fouled. Sometimes though, he so quick he kinda separates himself from getting fouled.

To your point, lots of highlights like these lately:

 

[lv20gt]

Go back and watch the final 30 seconds when Duke is shooting free throws. That's not a personality, that's a guy that is frustrated with his role.

Frustrated with his role, or frustrated because he had a second straight bad game?

This is the same BS we've seen before and it was wrong the other times too.

 

[WrongShadeOfGold]

Frustrated with his role, or frustrated because he had a second straight bad game?

This is the same BS we've seen before and it was wrong the other times too.

I certainly hope you are right and he stays and has a monster season next year. My bigger concern is who is going to step into the Alvarado leader, lift up his teammates, role next year? We are gonna be hurting without his leadership.

 

[kg01]

Couple of patterns are starting to form over the last couple of games:

Teams are OK letting Moses shoot outside of 15 ft. He's missing them way more than he's making them, and teams are fine with the makes.
Teams are going at Bubba and isolating him 1v1 because they have a huge mismatch on him.

Moses and the staff want him to be a stretch 4/5, but he's not shooting well enough to be that: 6-17 against UVA, 6-17 against Duke. Both games were close, so those 15+ ft misses hurt.

Bubba does a LOT of little things that help the team, but he's an obvious mismatch to attack on the defensive end. Jose to a certain extent, but Jose is so crafty with his hands and speed that you risk a turnover when you attack him. Bubba is also a good shooter, so you kinda have to live with the mismatch with everything else he brings to the table.

We need to address those because ACC coaches see what other coaches are doing and they imitate it.

Devoe...man, I'm not sure what to say. The most frustrating thing for me about Devoe is his dribbling into the teeth of the defense and either losing the ball, or totally halting our ball movement. He's definitely been an enigma this season. REALLY good player, or really frustrating to watch.

I said it during the chat, but we really need to take advantage of Usher's athleticism more. If there's a player in the ACC that can keep up with him, I've yet to see it. One thing I'd like to see Usher work on is drawing fouls going to the basket. He's a good free throw shooter, so it's to our benefit if he does get fouled. Sometimes though, he so quick he kinda separates himself from getting fouled.

We got outrebounded 43-28 last night. Duke had second and third chances to score and IMO that was the difference. We need to give Moses some help...give him at least 2-3 minutes each half and we have to live with whatever happens when Saba or Howard are in.

Khalid Moore...baller. Need to give him more minutes, and he may be the answer to Bubba being a mismatch liability. He's not the shooter Bubba is, but he can score in other ways Bubba can't.

We have to find ways to score if our outside shots are not falling. Usher is one way that we need to work on, and Wright not sitting at the top of the key is another. I'd like to see Wright at least receive the ball at the top of the key and take his man off the dribble...he's pretty athletic and had a decent handle. Maybe he opens up some shots for others when the defense collapses on him.

FSU is next. TOUGH TOUGH matchup for us. I'm not sure we have a matchup advantage anywhere against them. At least it's at home. It's a hold my breathe game for me.

I think I agree with everything you wrote. I was nodding along with all of it but then I realized I was nodding off because it was so long. Ohhhhh ..

Totally kidding, you deserve that dig and you know it. You hit on a number of our issues. From Moses shooting woes, to Bubba's frame woes, to Devoe's woes woes. When we lose, each of those are on display.

I've been begging for Moore to get moore time for a couple seasons now. He's a winning player. I also agree we need to do something to take advantage of Usher's athleticism and his sheer will/grit/want-to. He's a live wire. Sure, sometimes the live wire burns the wrong team but I'll live with his errors of commission which are more palatable than errors of omission.

Maybe it was fool's gold having Devoe have all those high 20-pt games last season. He's a good player but maybe shouldn't be featured. He's crafty enough to score 1v1 but, once teams collapse on him, it gets ugly.

I hope they figure out some counters starting vs FSU.

 

[DvilleJacket]

I just knew we were going to run them chumps out of their on building tonight!!! Felt so confident coming off the UVA game we'd win in a empty Cameron.

 

[Techster]

I certainly hope you are right and he stays and has a monster season next year. My bigger concern is who is going to step into the Alvarado leader, lift up his teammates, role next year? We are gonna be hurting without his leadership.

I like Sturdivant. I think he understands his role this year so he's not doing too much because he defers to Alvarado and Devoe. He has flashes where he does take the reins and gets us where we need to be. He's more like Jarrett Jack in that sense...he's not extrovertly emotional like Jose. Just a different way.

Don't be surprised to see a different Sturdivant next season after Alvarado leaves. It'll be "his" team in terms of running the offense.

 

[TooTall]

Blame me for the loss. I was doing some tax work and didn't turn to the game until the 3 minute mark. I jinxed us. My bad. I am highly superstitious when it comes to games. I don't change seats, go to the bathroom, or tune in late to a game etc if we are doing well. I broke this last night. Forgive GT Nation.

 

[YlJacket]

I like Sturdivant. I think he understands his role this year so he's not doing too much because he defers to Alvarado and Devoe. He has flashes where he does take the reins and gets us where we need to be. He's more like Jarrett Jack in that sense...he's not extrovertly emotional like Jose. Just a different way.

Don't be surprised to see a different Sturdivant next season after Alvarado leaves. It'll be "his" team in terms of running the offense.

IF the new guys coming in are as good of shooters as advertised then Sturdivant's control the ball, pass first approach is exactly what that team will need. We will likely need some more motion/screens for shooters but if he can get the ball to them on time that will work.

 

[Fatmike91]

Blame me for the loss. I was doing some tax work and didn't turn to the game until the 3 minute mark. I jinxed us. My bad. I am highly superstitious when it comes to games. I don't change seats, go to the bathroom, or tune in late to a game etc if we are doing well. I broke this last night. Forgive GT Nation.

Naaah. You're good. We'd rather blame CJP, the Cameron jinx, the refs and Devoe.

/

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Naaah. You're good. We'd rather blame the refs.

/

Watching part of the game again, I'm totally comfortable with this.

 

[Jacketman99]

I have not seen anything to indicate Devoe is frustrated with his role. Anyone implying that is simply reaching for straws. For some reason he has been less consistent shooting the ball this year. While his overall percentages look fine he'll have a 25 point game followed by a 4 point game. We need him to play better more consistently in order to win most games.
Against Duke both teams shot about the same and they turned the ball over a few more times than we did. We got killed rebounding and at the ft line. We were outrebounded by 15 and gave up 11 offensive rebounds. We shot 5 fts to their 22. This simply means they had a tone more chances to score the ball than we did.
We have to find a way to get guys more rest so they are fresher down the stretch. Moses cannot continue to play 40 minutes if we want him to be effective. I have a hard time believing neither Howard nor Saba can give us a minute or 2 in the game.
We need to figure this thing out soon if we want to go dancing. Our margin for error is very thin. Assuming we lose to FSU we would need to go on a crazy run to finish the season to even be in the discussion. The more loses we have the larger the Mercer and GA State loses become.

 

[Fatmike91]

* At some point in the second half, I noticed us running some very interesting 5 out motion. I've never seen us run it before. It looked a little like what Gonzaga is doing. I'd be very curious to see it it's something we continue. I need to go back and watch it again to try to figure out what we were trying to do.

* I think Khalid needs more minutes generally. He's an elite defender and did a nice job on Hurt last night. I'm not sure how capable he would be to guard FSU's oversized point guard, but I'd try it.

/