GT (+8.0) vs. #10 Virginia Tech

[boger2337]

One time after a VPISU free throw, Alston went to switch sides and the VPISU free throw shooter stiff armed him when he came through. I stood up like “how is that not a foul?” And a VPISU fan (a third I haven’t mentioned yet) started yelling at me that it’s a technical foul to walk into the lane between free throws. I don’t know if it is or isn’t, I thought you could switch sides with one of your teammates. But that’s up for the Refs to make a call on. The opposing team doesn’t have the right to throw stiff arms. And why was that guy yelling at me at an away court where he is a guest? Bold moves on their behalf.

Refs had a WEIRD game last night. Odd fouls were being called and things that should be called were not. I'm glad the fans started chanting "You Suck Ref" or whatever they said. Show your displeasure. Once or twice duringthe night the ref looked at me in the stands and I took my glasses off and offered them to him.

 

[YlJacket]

One time after a VPISU free throw, Alston went to switch sides and the VPISU free throw shooter stiff armed him when he came through. I stood up like “how is that not a foul?” And a VPISU fan (a third I haven’t mentioned yet) started yelling at me that it’s a technical foul to walk into the lane between free throws. I don’t know if it is or isn’t, I thought you could switch sides with one of your teammates. But that’s up for the Refs to make a call on. The opposing team doesn’t have the right to throw stiff arms. And why was that guy yelling at me at an away court where he is a guest? Bold moves on their behalf.

It's not a technical foul to cross the lane between free throws as long as the ref has not handed the ball to the shooter. Then it is simply a violation and another chance at the free throw. I didn't see it but I don't think there would be a call for a dead ball foul if the shooter touched/arm barred the opposing player walking across the lane. Depending on the severity what I would expect is the ref to make a point to go say don't do that or I will call a technical as I don't think a foul works in that scenario. But he should make a point to do the cut it out part.

 

[Connell62]

Heading in the right direction, after 11-12 years ... congrats, you are definitely a patient man !!

What do the last 11-12 years have to do with this team or this staff or the trajectory of the team?

 

[kg01]

... the Negative Nellies are out in full force?

This is totally unfair, c62. I haven't even posted yet.

Seriously though, this was actually a fun watch when you consider we're supposed to get blow'd out. I predicted we'd win this game and they almost made me Nostradamus.

As I watched the game, I'm thinking "Aw man, VPI ain't that good. How're they ranked top-10?" But then I recall thinking the same about Tenn and St Johns. At some point, I gotta admit we're doing some things right.

Really and truly (despite my reservations about overall direction), if you take this year in a vacuum, our coach isn't doing a bad job. Now that we're playing faster, we're kinda easy on the eyes. Too bad our shooting isn't consistently high-level.

I hate that we put so much on Alvarado. He needs help. I figured Phillips would be that but it appears that ain't happening. Devoe is coming along slowly. Once the fire is lit in him, he'll be a good one for us.

Banks needs to rev up his motor but he's been a godsend.

When AD reared back to heave up that corner 3 and it became clear he was actually going to shoot, I had a stroke-attack (combination stroke and heart attack). kg04 looked at me like I was a mad man.

 

[YlJacket]

Heading in the right direction, after 11-12 years ... congrats, you are definitely a patient man !!

It is actually 3 as you can't pile the sins of GT on top of Pastner. The other 9 we get to own.

If you want to say Buzz and arguably Keets have pulled off turnarounds in shorter periods - knock yourself out. They have - recognizing Keets had a better base to build on. The rebuild from Pastner has been slower than others and this year is a step back with Okogie going to the pros. His on court coaching has been much better than I expected but the recruiting has been less. He and the AD agreed on the timeline back. Longer than I would like but you can see the pieces parts that have the potential to come together. Last night wasn't an example of bad things - as much as it was frustrating - but rather an example of the team needing growth in its core players and a couple of either projects or recruits to emerge to help.

 

[Hjacket]

Isn't it amazing that so many teams have their worst shooting night when they play us. I guess it is just luck or a crazy coincidence. Couldn't be our poorly coached, untalented team, could it?

 

[GTJake]

What do the last 11-12 years have to do with this team or this staff or the trajectory of the team?

As a fan, everything, it's not the trajectory of the team, it's the trajectory of the program.
Realizing we've had multiple AD's during that stretch and it's not totally on this team, as I said earlier, in year three of this staff's tenure, I thought we'd have a little more talent around than what I saw last night.
I don't get to see the team play that often, as I live across country and maybe some guys had an off-night (and also I'm not giving up) ... but IMO it's time to start seeing some progress.

 

[RamblinRed]

Haven’t gotten to see the game yet but let me post a couple of thoughts.

Looking at the teams before the game you should expect an ugly looking game.
GT is #17 in D efficiency and VT is #21. These are 2 outstanding defensive ball clubs. Generally when you get two really good defensive clubs playing when neither are great offensively it looks pretty ugly and it sounds like it did.

It’s pretty obvious that TO and allowing too many offensive rebounds hurt alot. Too many missed FT’s as well.

Comparing what GT did last night against what other opponents have done against VT is really doesn’t look that bad.
GT shot above avg from the field and the 3-pt line against VT’s defense both overall and in their ACC games.
GT had slightly more TO’s than VT has forced for the whole year (18 vs 16.1) but fewer than they have forced in their 2 ACC games (20.5 avg).
Defensively, VT was held below their avg in every category.

This is what happens when you go from playing a horrible ACC defensive team to a great ACC defensive team.
While it stinks to lose a game against a Top 10 opponent that was winnable, at this point with a team that is primarily FR and SO, it’s more about learning, taking your lumps and getting better.

Sounds like Banks had a tough game offensively. He’s had a few of those, but he’s had some good ones as well. He’s already alot better offensively then he was in November and given he had almost no offensive game when he came here that is a good start. Part of me wishes he had been redshirted this year – it would mean a worse record this year, but the next 2 years with him and then Usher coming in for those as well would have made this a really forward looking team.

In a year Jose and Mike are going to be a heck of a backcourt.
It’s hard for FR and SO to play like JR and SR. FR and SO are playing over 60% of all the min on this team, that is by far the highest percentage in Pastner’s 3 years and the first year where it is over 50%. His first year had the lowest %, not a surprise that was the most successful team.
As the FR and SO age this program should get better – or else Pastner will be in trouble. But this year is mainly about taking your lumps and growing up.

 

[senoiajacket]

This loss wasn’t heartbreaking, it was infuriating. So many missed opportunities, save the bank 3 by Roberson and the poor officiating.

Good
- Alvarado played with such toughness and kept us in the game in the first half
- Defense was exceptional - agree they snagged way too many rebounds but it’s tough to rebound out of a zone, especially when a lot of misses are from 3
- Crowd was amazing. Just unbelievable

Bad
- Missed at least 4 point blank layups (3 - James, 1 - Gueye) - 8 points would have been helpful last night
- Carelessness was costly - a lot of turnovers that you can’t have, especially ones where your PG steps on the sideline with no one within 8 ft of him
- Purpose on offense wasn’t there - a lot of purposeless dribbling, driving the shot clock down, and being forced into taking a bad shot

Overall, this game was something we’ve all seen before. Huge missed opportunity to steal one from a top 10 team at home - we have to start operating differently. We’ll keep missing out on these potentially great moments and opportunities to position ourselves for success in the league until we change the way we do things and become a more disciplined basketball team, especially on the offensive end.

We will lose the majority of close/one possession games in the league because we have no one with the skills to create their own offense. How many games do you see that come down to the last possession that are won when running a set offensive play? Almost never.

Jose is the closest we have to a creator, but he doesn't really have that skill set and at crunch time if he is the only one close to it, other teams will not let him beat them. I think that is why he didn't have the ball in his hands on our last possession.

It could be (and is) argued that "they are young and will get better in close games". There is some truth to that. DeVoe will make his free throws at crunch time as he matures. Others will step up. Until we have a creator/go to guy though (or maybe a couple of them) ...... I don't see us winning very many close ones.

 

[Connell62]

This is totally unfair, c62. I haven't even posted yet.

Seriously though, this was actually a fun watch when you consider we're supposed to get blow'd out. I predicted we'd win this game and they almost made me Nostradamus.

As I watched the game, I'm thinking "Aw man, VPI ain't that good. How're they ranked top-10?" But then I recall thinking the same about Tenn and St Johns. At some point, I gotta admit we're doing some things right.

Really and truly (despite my reservations about overall direction), if you take this year in a vacuum, our coach isn't doing a bad job. Now that we're playing faster, we're kinda easy on the eyes. Too bad our shooting isn't consistently high-level.

I hate that we put so much on Alvarado. He needs help. I figured Phillips would be that but it appears that ain't happening. Devoe is coming along slowly. Once the fire is lit in him, he'll be a good one for us.

Banks needs to rev up his motor but he's been a godsend.

When AD reared back to heave up that corner 3 and it became clear he was actually going to shoot, I had a stroke-attack (combination stroke and heart attack). kg04 looked at me like I was a mad man.

Haha...this is @kg01 after the second 3pt attempt by AD

https://goo.gl/images/VfTJA7

ETA: I suck at posting gif

 

[senoiajacket]

He was trying to fire the ball down most of the court with ~3 seconds left to score. He stepped big to pass big--it was a long pass. He needed to be farther behind the line when he started, but that's probably not how he practices.

In the postgame CJP mentioned that Heywood is who they usually practice those type of plays with, so you are dead-on there. That said, watching on TV, it seemed obvious that he was going to step on the line given where he was standing when he received the ball and knowing he was going to have to stride big to throw it.

 

[GT11]

I know that you are probably aware of this, many here are not, but CJP talks about having limitations on offense, this is exactly what he is referring too.

That's is 100% what is missing, and that is why the loss of Josh Okogie is what is keeping us from being a tournament team this year.

You are correct. It’s not the scheme or lack of coaching. It’s our talent while actually good but young and young mistakes - turnovers by trying to do too much or all themselves. Stay the course and we’ll be ok

 

[bobongo]

In the postgame CJP mentioned that Heywood is who they usually practice those type of plays with, so you are dead-on there. That said, watching on TV, it seemed obvious that he was going to step on the line given where he was standing when he received the ball and knowing he was going to have to stride big to throw it.

Awareness of the boundary lines aren't this team's long suit, as was evidenced in this game.

 

[bobongo]

In the postgame CJP mentioned that Heywood is who they usually practice those type of plays with, so you are dead-on there. That said, watching on TV, it seemed obvious that he was going to step on the line given where he was standing when he received the ball and knowing he was going to have to stride big to throw it.

It didn't matter. By the time the pass was caught in the lane, and he kicked it out behind the three line, and that guy took enough time to set up for a shot that had any chance to go in, the horn would have sounded, 1.8 seconds later.

 

[Peacone36]

Haha...this is @kg01 after the second 3pt attempt by AD

https://goo.gl/images/VfTJA7

ETA: I suck at posting gif

That was me on the first one.

The second one I punched the dog.






not really....

 

[kg01]

Haha...this is @kg01 after the second 3pt attempt by AD

https://goo.gl/images/VfTJA7

ETA: I suck at posting gif

Haha.

Here's c62 tryna post a gif ...

 

[MiracleWhips]

We have enough talent to be a post season team, I was impressed with what I saw except for the late game coaching. This is a team that needs discipline offensively and the amount of unforced errors showed last night. The defense was amazing last night all the credit to the team on that and for those of you who think that VT just "happened" to have a bad shooting night you clearly didn't watch the game. I can honestly see this VT team being an elite 8 team this year and for us to go down to the wire I have to tip my hat to Pastner and Co. Pastner actually has a proven track record of bringing out a much more polished team after the Christmas break and this year is no different. If we play like we did last night(minus the TOs) every night we can honestly beat any team in the ACC... Excet for duke lmao

 

[LongforDodd]

He was trying to fire the ball down most of the court with ~3 seconds left to score. He stepped big to pass big--it was a long pass. He needed to be farther behind the line when he started, but that's probably not how he practices.

My first thought when I saw him wind up to throw that ball down court was that he was going to have to take a big step too close to the line. I could almost hear the whistle blow before the whistle blew.

 

[Connell62]

Haha.

Here's c62 tryna post a gif ...

hahaha...most days!!

 

[Connell62]

It didn't matter. By the time the pass was caught in the lane, and he kicked it out behind the three line, and that guy took enough time to set up for a shot that had any chance to go in, the horn would have sounded, 1.8 seconds later.

Bryce Drew did it with 2.5 left....