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Georgia Tech at Virginia, Jan 23, 8pm, ACC Network
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<blockquote data-quote="CuseJacket" data-source="post: 776147" data-attributes="member: 274"><p>Your post reminded me of something I've been thinking since the game, both the comments on Usher and the "refreshing"-ness of our performance.</p><p></p><p>That is, we've come out of the 2 week break like gangbusters. We've taken it to another level, imo, to prove that we've made the necessary leap from last year to solidify ourselves as a NCAAT-caliber team. It's almost as if we got in our preseason practice that we missed due to non-contact, and it's finally paying dividends and showing up on gameday.</p><p></p><p>I've been and still remain in the cautiously optimistic group that this will carry forward. I didn't see much prior to our hiatus to suggest we were materially better than the end of last year, when we were playing like a bubble team i.e., no slam dunk to make the tournament this year. If we carry forward what we've put on tape the last 2 games, we will cement our bid without much sweat.</p><p></p><p>As I've tried to parse through thoughts around how sustainable our performance is over the last two games, a few thoughts:</p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>Positive:</strong> In the past, it's felt like when we lose a game to a top team, we lost the game. In this case, it felt like the opponent taking it from us. While we had some bad possessions in the final stretch, we weren't victimized by our own reckless abandon and carelessness. We still made things difficult for the opponent. That is a huge step forward.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>Positive: </strong>We are getting contributions from a variety of players. Jordan has elevated his output to All-ACC. Khalid had some efficient minutes offensively, clearly finding his spots and not forcing it. We were highly competitive without getting much from Moses and Mike offensively. In the past we could have preordained the outcome as a rout by the opponent with just 16 points from those two.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>Reason to remain cautious: </strong>We've shot 60%+ from three the past two games. While I think we are a better three-point shooting team than in the past, we will not continue at that clip. Period. Imagine for a second that we make 3 fewer threes and have 9 points fewer. That means we shoot just 50% against Clemson and 40% against Virginia, both still above average clips. That materially changes the feel of both games. Caveat: The good news is our ball movement and shot selection has been much better. So it's hard to complain about the looks. But still, no team averages 60%+ over the course of a year. There are only 11 teams shooting above 40% on the year right now, and only 1 of those comes from a P6 (Baylor).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>Reason to remain cautious: </strong>It's two games. To stay on the trajectory of the right side of the bubble requires consistency. We've all seen it before where we string together mini-streaks, ultimately to revert back to the level of the competition. I hope this last week is a sign that we will assert our will going forward. The guys have demonstrated they can against better competition. That doesn't mean there won't be clunkers, but it doesn't take a basketball savant to see how much more efficiently we're playing on the whole and the preparedness/energy from which that comes.</li> </ol><p>Without dragging this out too much further, the other normalizing affect is Covid risk, as well as normal season injury risks. That is, we should probably expect a meaningful guy or two or three to miss games. While I don't have data to support this feeling, it feels like some of our forthcoming and past competition has had more occurrences than we have to-date, and it's not only affected who they put on the court for specific games, but when those guys return they are not always in peak performance. Hopefully our guys stay safe and we sift through the messiness unscathed, but it's impossible to know how or when we will be affected.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CuseJacket, post: 776147, member: 274"] Your post reminded me of something I've been thinking since the game, both the comments on Usher and the "refreshing"-ness of our performance. That is, we've come out of the 2 week break like gangbusters. We've taken it to another level, imo, to prove that we've made the necessary leap from last year to solidify ourselves as a NCAAT-caliber team. It's almost as if we got in our preseason practice that we missed due to non-contact, and it's finally paying dividends and showing up on gameday. I've been and still remain in the cautiously optimistic group that this will carry forward. I didn't see much prior to our hiatus to suggest we were materially better than the end of last year, when we were playing like a bubble team i.e., no slam dunk to make the tournament this year. If we carry forward what we've put on tape the last 2 games, we will cement our bid without much sweat. As I've tried to parse through thoughts around how sustainable our performance is over the last two games, a few thoughts: [LIST=1] [*][B]Positive:[/B] In the past, it's felt like when we lose a game to a top team, we lost the game. In this case, it felt like the opponent taking it from us. While we had some bad possessions in the final stretch, we weren't victimized by our own reckless abandon and carelessness. We still made things difficult for the opponent. That is a huge step forward. [*][B]Positive: [/B]We are getting contributions from a variety of players. Jordan has elevated his output to All-ACC. Khalid had some efficient minutes offensively, clearly finding his spots and not forcing it. We were highly competitive without getting much from Moses and Mike offensively. In the past we could have preordained the outcome as a rout by the opponent with just 16 points from those two. [*][B]Reason to remain cautious: [/B]We've shot 60%+ from three the past two games. While I think we are a better three-point shooting team than in the past, we will not continue at that clip. Period. Imagine for a second that we make 3 fewer threes and have 9 points fewer. That means we shoot just 50% against Clemson and 40% against Virginia, both still above average clips. That materially changes the feel of both games. Caveat: The good news is our ball movement and shot selection has been much better. So it's hard to complain about the looks. But still, no team averages 60%+ over the course of a year. There are only 11 teams shooting above 40% on the year right now, and only 1 of those comes from a P6 (Baylor). [*][B]Reason to remain cautious: [/B]It's two games. To stay on the trajectory of the right side of the bubble requires consistency. We've all seen it before where we string together mini-streaks, ultimately to revert back to the level of the competition. I hope this last week is a sign that we will assert our will going forward. The guys have demonstrated they can against better competition. That doesn't mean there won't be clunkers, but it doesn't take a basketball savant to see how much more efficiently we're playing on the whole and the preparedness/energy from which that comes. [/LIST] Without dragging this out too much further, the other normalizing affect is Covid risk, as well as normal season injury risks. That is, we should probably expect a meaningful guy or two or three to miss games. While I don't have data to support this feeling, it feels like some of our forthcoming and past competition has had more occurrences than we have to-date, and it's not only affected who they put on the court for specific games, but when those guys return they are not always in peak performance. Hopefully our guys stay safe and we sift through the messiness unscathed, but it's impossible to know how or when we will be affected. [/QUOTE]
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