LibertyTurns
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That would be great news.
Get out the Flea Spray; GT Traveling to the pound Friday Night Lights! GT@uGa
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gt24
Jolly Good Fellow
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i hope you are right. my concern is i see numerous "near turnovers" against non-P5 competition. hopefully we continue growing and those do not turn into real turnovers vs P5 competition. UNC, LSU, Wisconsin, USC all before xmas break. not much time for "gradual" improvement. as YI has pointed out several times, we are not forcing many turnovers... so any increase in our own turnovers will be especially significant.
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I was sitting on the first row behind their court side seats and experienced some of the same. I was sort of surprised at their crowd, they had a great environment which made the victory even sweeter!
augustabuzz
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Verification or lack thereof: GM (1) 14, (2) 16, (3) 10, (4) 15. Maybe it was because I was so appalled at the 1st 2 games. Or, maybe because there was some improvement in the next 2 games with a rise in the last game albeit against far superior athletes when compared to previous opponents.
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Did you see some of the big plays he made in the second half? That pass to Usher was a dart. Three-Quarter court bounce pass for a dunk in transition. Then he had the rim-rocker dunk on the bounce pass from Devoe.
He and Rodney really stepped up down the stretch. Deivon is getting better and better, and I won’t be surprised to see his minutes go up. CJP will earn his money splitting those mins once Bubba gets back.
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I just re-watched the uga basketball game. Smith is OK. No question that he has room to be better, but Cook is a 5th year senior who schooled Deivon a few times. I love his energy.
tsrich
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Cook is a 6th year senior. I think the announcers said he had the 2nd most career minutes in the country. I'm ok with Smith getting schooled by old man tricks a few times
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I only played basketball for fun—my sports were football, wrestling, and track. So, for those of you who know the ins and outs of the game better than I do, a couple of questions.
- UGA shot about 50% from the floor AND with their 3’s. I’m tempted to say that they were just hot, and it looked that way to me. Last year, giving up 78 would usually mean a loss. Some of their 3’s were from way outside. Were they really having that good a night, or were there problems with our defense?
- We had a lot of players score in single digits, with Usher and Devoe carrying the team (especially Devoe, who had a monster game). For the other players, was it just that Devoe was hot and was taking most of the chances, or were they getting shut down?
- Devoe looked fantastic, but the offense outside of him looked like the other players weren’t comfortable in their roles or something. I’m not sure how to express it, but it didn’t look fluid. Was it tough defense, or am I mistaken, or have we not gelled yet?
Golden Tornadoes
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So I will preface this response with the fact I never played college bball, but did play all four years in high school and started 3 of them with my freshman year being the 6th man.
Ugag was simply hot. There were a couple times when our rotations were just a tad slow and guys had open shots. Also, you have to think that when we switch to a 1-3-1, the corners are the soft spot in the zone and it's hard to rotate over to them which leads to open corner three's which they managed to hit. But I do want to stress that those are the designed weak spots in the zone so it's almost as if we are giving that shot to them in order to lock the middle up and force turnovers. I knew they were hot when their PG hit a 30 footer with a hand in his face. At that point IIWII and you just fight through it.
I think the last two questions have a similar answer, when you see a guy as hot as Devoe was, you give him the ball and get out of the way. The dude was straight up balling and getting you buckets. When that happens, you call every play for him, you let him own the pick and rolls, and you just set up shop somewhere in his vision so that he can kick it out to you if need be. In rivalry games, you turn to your leaders to carry you as its usually an atmosphere that doesn't get replicated very often. Devoe and Usher are guys who have been there and had experience in these kinds of games so you naturally lean on them to calm the team and provide the energy needed to bring back the win.
Rivalry games typically show tight defense with hard fouls and high energy. You have to really get into your bag to create chances because simple crossovers and no-looks won't work so easily. So a mixture of all that ends with some of the guys looking uncomfortable and the offense seemingly stalling at times. I noticed their offense doing the same thing at times too. Deivon and Deebo had their moments to shine, but they also looked like they needed to grow a little more before they could make massive contributions in a big time game like we had.
Hopefully this helped some.
lv20gt
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The past two years we basically had the same sort of ways of winning most games. It was the same guys and we were rarely going to win unless 3 of Jose, Moses, Mike, Ush, Banks were on.
This year that isn't really the case. We can have a more balanced approach with guys like Coleman, Kelly and Smith stepping up and giving more, but we also have the potential to ride Mike and Ush to a win the way we really didn't even last year. If you look at everyone except Mike they still shot 52.6% collectively scoring 51. Everyone except Kyle shot at least 50%. If Mike plays an average game that still puts us in the high 60s that gives us a chance to win IF we can get the defense we usually have which we still need to work on.
The key to me is that Mike has always been a guy who has played to make the right play. He doesn't usually force the issue to try and "get his". Against UGA he was taking over, and based on results it was the right call. Against Stetson and Lamar he was more setting up others while contributing a good bit himself, and again, the results were pretty good. We are going to live and die this year by his judgement on the best way to approach a game and the ability of other guys to step up when Mike determines that the best course of action is to try and create for others.
This year that isn't really the case. We can have a more balanced approach with guys like Coleman, Kelly and Smith stepping up and giving more, but we also have the potential to ride Mike and Ush to a win the way we really didn't even last year. If you look at everyone except Mike they still shot 52.6% collectively scoring 51. Everyone except Kyle shot at least 50%. If Mike plays an average game that still puts us in the high 60s that gives us a chance to win IF we can get the defense we usually have which we still need to work on.
The key to me is that Mike has always been a guy who has played to make the right play. He doesn't usually force the issue to try and "get his". Against UGA he was taking over, and based on results it was the right call. Against Stetson and Lamar he was more setting up others while contributing a good bit himself, and again, the results were pretty good. We are going to live and die this year by his judgement on the best way to approach a game and the ability of other guys to step up when Mike determines that the best course of action is to try and create for others.
MtnWasp
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I was surprised by the fact that UGA had as many good players as they did and that they played as hard as they did. After their roster was decimated from last yer, I thought they would be in rebuild mold but Crean is a real used car salesman and he has assembled a decent team for them.
Second, I was surprised by the atmosphere they had in that arena. The buzz around the football program must have serious crossover because that environment was excellent.
Given those two factors, that could have easily been a loss for GT and the way the game went was a best case scenario for GT. We get an early season challenge like that one with a GT team sorting through lots of new roles, then winning should come down to your veteran carryovers from the Championship team to step-up and carry the team. The fact that Devoe and Ush did that was not only why we won that game, but why fans should feel good about the program looking forward. It means that not all of that Championship flava from last year left with Alvarado and Moses and that Devoe and Ush can pass it along to the next wave as the season progresses.
I'm not really worried about our long term prospects at the PG spot. Both of our guys seem very serious about the game and have good physical tools. We don't need them to be the primary scorers. There will be some growing pains but I think the raw material is there for them to be very successful.
Second, I was surprised by the atmosphere they had in that arena. The buzz around the football program must have serious crossover because that environment was excellent.
Given those two factors, that could have easily been a loss for GT and the way the game went was a best case scenario for GT. We get an early season challenge like that one with a GT team sorting through lots of new roles, then winning should come down to your veteran carryovers from the Championship team to step-up and carry the team. The fact that Devoe and Ush did that was not only why we won that game, but why fans should feel good about the program looking forward. It means that not all of that Championship flava from last year left with Alvarado and Moses and that Devoe and Ush can pass it along to the next wave as the season progresses.
I'm not really worried about our long term prospects at the PG spot. Both of our guys seem very serious about the game and have good physical tools. We don't need them to be the primary scorers. There will be some growing pains but I think the raw material is there for them to be very successful.
Jacketman99
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I see flashes of some of the things that Smith is able to do that is really just innate. Those are the things that have me excited about him and his development. If he works hard he will get better both offensively and defensively but he has a high ceiling.
Jacketman99
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I am hoping our fans come out to support these guys. They really deserve to play in front of a packed house. If 2 top 5 finishes and an ACC championship cannot get fans in the seats I am not sure what will. I am hoping the apathy setting in with the football program is not creeping over to basketball. We have an exciting team with a ton of talented players. We are inexperienced in spots but that adds to the excitement for me at least. I want to see how our staff develops these young guys just like they did the previous core group.
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What you have described imo is the consummate basketball player and teammate. Many (most?) players with his skillset are not content on adapting to changing conditions and taking a 'second fiddle" role when appropriate. Kudos to MD. usually a guy like that has the BB IQ to know when to lead and when to follow,
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Can't agree with this enough - based on tv, Stegman was rocking for this matchup it would be incredibly depressing to come home the next game to echoes bouncing around the bleachers.
I don't care that we are playing.. *rustles paper and checks notes* Charleston Southern tonight. Or that they're from the *frentic typing noises as I google them* ..Big South. We need to show up and show out for the boys tonight.
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By quoting you I am not intimating you are guilty, but just last year Mike was accused, and parroted by many, of frequently driving into the lane, picking up his dribble, and getting trapped. He has not always been viewed as the ultimate team player. Just sayin...
ramblineck
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To be fair to our fan base, most big time programs' stadiums are dead around this time as well. Holiday breaks and playing low tier teams. However, I hope we show up for Wisco and the ACC schedule!
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I was not at the uga game, but watching the game on TV and thinking about the atmosphere in the arena made me remember this column in the Washington Post a few days before. I am not sure if it's still the case, but for a long time all five of the Div 1 schools in Philadelphia played their home games at the Palestra on the Penn campus. I have a friend who went to Penn 1961-1965. During his four years there he missed five games at the Palestra. And they had three, sometimes four, doubleheaders each week during basketball season. And he was referring to games, not doubleheaders. When I worked at Bell Labs in NJ it was a treat to drive over to Philly and watch Penn basketball games. I also got to see Dr J in action. My Smithy girlfriend's brother played for Penn, so we had great seats.
If you are a basketball fan, this is worth reading.
If you are a basketball fan, this is worth reading.
forensicbuzz
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Devoe is officially a junior eligibility-wise. He probably won't stay, but he could come back next year.
MWBATL
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I believe they played all the Big Five Games at the Palestra. However, the other teams in the Big Five (Philly's P5 basketball schools) all have their own home courts for the rest of their season. But for games between the Big Five Teams (Temple, St. Joe's LaSalle, Penn, Villanova) the Palestra was the temple of basketball. That's some top flight b-ball in the Big Five!