GT Hoops General Topics

73CAV

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
30
yeah. With scrubb going pro, expect regression from both
Years ago, I quit trying to predict where Hamilton and FSU might finish. If I thought they would compete for the conference title, they would struggle to break .500. If I thought they would be middle of the pack, they'd earn a double bye. Of course, all this might be related to a lack of knowledge on my part, but they almost always confound me. IMO, they are the least predictable of teams.
 

slugboy

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,522


It’s a short quote, so it’s easy to take it in a bunch of different directions but,
1. On systems having to fit you players: I think UVa and some other schools have done a really good job recruiting good players that fit their systems. At the end of the Hewitt era through now, we’ve recruited good players but not necessarily to fit our systems (we’ve had missing pieces), so I’m glad he’s adapting.
I think it would be better if we could have a system and find great players that fit all the needs, so we could learn it better and better each year, but that hasn’t been the situation here over about the last 15 years.
2. He talks about systems and strategies being less important than effort. He’s probably trying to get something out of his team. I think that for stretches that effort can overcome a system on offense or defense. However, players get worn out and tired, and when they’re giving 100% and still don’t succeed the effort will flag.
You want a good system so you don’t wear out your players, and so they have something more to give in the last half of a game.
The systems are one of the main places that coaches put players in a position to succeed. I hope we refine that this year so that the players know what they need to do and get instinctual about running their plays.
3. Good to see an interview with Pastner. We’ll have to bring the Pastner style watch back now.


@Techster — KA’s comments are pretty cool.

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YlJacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,261
Just to pick a bit - I thought his comment was "on defense" effort was more important than scheme. And assuming that you are at least competent with scheme I agree with him - for defense. Whatever scheme you run requires the second and third rotations, help/recovery, rebound etc. that is all about effort. That is essentially the same whether you are running a conservative pack line type of D or more an aggressive 60 min of hell pressing D - with the obvious increase in energy required to do the full court press. Both are still about effort to help and recover and rotate and rebound and ....

I don't think it is as much a differentiator on offense - recognizing that you still have to work. It is more about skill, movement, and yes scheme. I didn't think he was saying it was but won't die on that sword.

I thought he was also pretty astute to point out that effort on the defensive end is often tied to success on the offensive end. It is ungodly hard to get consistent effort on the defensive end when shots are not falling on the offensive end. In fact, some of the most impressed I have been with Pastner has been when we continued to play really hard defense while our offense sucked sooooo baaaaddddd. That was impressive.

With all that, he is still going to have to change the defensive scheme next year given that we won't have an all ACC defensive center for the first time since he has been here. Going to have to be much better at stopping penetration and will have to get good at doubling the post - whether it comes from the weak side (ala UVA) or from the ball side - we are going to have to help the center instead of looking for the center to erase every mistake. That will take energy. Hope we can improve our scoring enough to overcome what I expect to be a slightly worse defense and as he said keep our energy on defense at a high level.
 

Techster

Helluva Engineer
Messages
18,244
With all that, he is still going to have to change the defensive scheme next year given that we won't have an all ACC defensive center for the first time since he has been here. Going to have to be much better at stopping penetration and will have to get good at doubling the post - whether it comes from the weak side (ala UVA) or from the ball side - we are going to have to help the center instead of looking for the center to erase every mistake. That will take energy. Hope we can improve our scoring enough to overcome what I expect to be a slightly worse defense and as he said keep our energy on defense at a high level.

This will be the first year the staff has to deal with a true freshmen center. When they came in, Ben Lammers was here and had 2 years of college experience. The staff quickly turned him into an All ACC player the first year. After Lammers, Banks transferred in. He had 2 years of experience at Texas. Same story...another All ACC center.

It will be interesting to see how fast they can develop Saba or Meka (and Meka may be more of PF on this level). Moses Wright may be a good indicator, but even then Moses was so raw and inexperienced coming out of HS that I think it's not a good indicator. Plus, Moses is really a PF.

In another thread I wrote about how I think Saba will be a lot better than we think. After watching tape of his HS games at Prolific Prep, he was just not a good fit there in terms of showcasing his skillset. Prolific Prep was always going to be about the play of their guards and wings. They had elite level talent there and their style of play resembled more AAU type basketball than the organized offensive sets he'll see at GT and on this level. Although I don't think he's going to be All ACC caliber his first year, I think he'll definitely be a plus presence on the defensive end while contributing put backs and offensive boards on the offensive end. I would be shocked if he wasn't getting 20-25+ minutes a game.
 
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Peacone36

Helluva Engineer
Messages
10,505
Location
Maine
A fundraiser event on twitch, 3MW is hosting a bunch of smart CBB guys while watching the final four games from the last 4 years over a 24 hour marathon. Parrish is on now. Goodman and Vecenie have already been on

 
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