GT in the NIT

first&ten

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Hand wringing by Tech fans unaccustomed to this: We frittered away a 31 point point lead and barely hung on to win by 17. This bodes ill for future games as USCe outscored our guys by 14 down the stretch. Woe is us! We can't "finish" games!
Ha! this one made me LOL .Only a Tech fan would really get this !!!!
 

Techster

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Hand wringing by Tech fans unaccustomed to this: We frittered away a 31 point point lead and barely hung on to win by 17. This bodes ill for future games as USCe outscored our guys by 14 down the stretch. Woe is us! We can't "finish" games!

Makes you worried for the reserves CBG is bringing into our program. 3rd line ACC players should never give up that many points to 1st line SEC players. I mean, it's SEC basketball!
 

RedPete

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Impressive, but 5 players suspended from USC...

Instead of what-iffing about S.Caroline's 5 suspended players, how about crediting our 5 starters in double-figures last night!! And that was with Lammers, Jackson, Heath, and White getting plenty of minutes too. They looked so good out there passing the ball around and playing so well as a TEAM. Jackets dished 17 assists! In a game where even Q hit 3 from outside(!), there was no beating our boys playing with that kind of chemistry and unselfish basketball.

Incidentally, SDSU got a similar freak performance from bench guy Shrigley, a 29% shooter who nailed FOUR 3's against Washington.
 

RedPete

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Just stop it. We played a great game last night with good ball movement, strong shooting, and a solid inside game. Enjoy the moment folks, and let's celebrate this team for the way they are closing out the year.

IKR they're playing so well lately as a team! All the pieces coming together over down the stretch.

Btw credit to CBG for the strategy vs USCe... With the way we were trying to draw charges early, it was obvious that getting the Gamecocks into foul trouble was a big part of the gameplan, forcing them to use their thin bench.
 

JDjacket

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I'm actually pretty pumped up for this game. I mentioned some of it before, but I realized the number 1 reason this will be a tough game, and that's Fisher. I would say he's the best coach in the NIT at the moment. If we can beat SDSU @ SDSU, I think we take care of the UF/GW winner and take on BYU or St. Marys in the final with my money being on St. Mary's.
 

CuseJacket

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I thought last night was by far the best game we've played down the stretch on both ends of the court. We jumped USCe right from tipoff before depth could even play a factor. With more minutes for our best players, we seem to be more consistent/fluid and are hitting our stride.

The "between the lines" message in the aforementioned is also upsetting me more now. I need to better appreciate living in the moment.
 

MidtownJacket

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Happy to help share the gold colored glasses!

I know we will need to take a calculated look at the body of work at the end of the season, before making decisions about the future of this staff, but for now we are playing lights out, and it is super enjoyable!
 

alagold

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We've waited quite a while for this type performance.Just like the "good ole days" as they say.These might be "the good ole days" soon ,but we can enjoy it now for sure.
 

Connell62

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SDSU opens as 5-point favorites

Told dtm earlier that I thought it would be somewhere between 4 - 6 points. The number is lower than it typically would be because of a.) ACC's performance in the Big Dance, b.) our dismantling of South Carolina last night. All that said, we are definitely playing our best basketball of the year right now. Both the Houston game and the one last night were complete team efforts. Lot of it is due to Adam Smith and Marcus playing lights out, but I don't remember the last time our offense has looked this good, and it has supplemented by spurts of really good defense, and we have owned the boards.

Without a doubt, the crowd will be lit tomorrow night, but our guys are not going to be intimidated at all. I look for us to play with poise and to give ourselves a chance to win it. That said, it will be really tough. Someone above mentioned Fisher and his coaching ability. Great point, he is an excellent strategist and he will come up with a game plan to slow MGH and Adam. We will need contributions from a lot of guys, but if we keep playing for each other and have fun in the process, then we will have an above average shot at the upset.

Our boys are FINALLY playing with some belief!!
 

orientalnc

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I suspected it would take a while for out transfers and "been here's" to reach this stage of confidence in each other. It just took longer than I expected, but mainly it was because we did not have a PG. Once CBG moved Marcus to the point everything else fell in place. And Lammers has played far better than I expected as his minutes increased. Maybe his minutes increased because he was playing better in practice. Either way, we have four guys in the rotation down low who can rebound and play OK defense. Jacobs and Chuck can score more than I thought and they are true brutes on the glass. All in all,this is a pretty good team right now. If we had started playing like this in January I think we would be playing this weekend in another tournament.

My primary knock against CBG right now is why did he not try Marcus at the point earlier. Heath and Travis were not cutting it. Ever this year. And that move seems so obvious at this point.
 

RedPete

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I suspected it would take a while... It just took longer than I expected, but mainly it was because we did not have a PG. Once CBG moved Marcus to the point everything else fell in place...
My primary knock against CBG right now is why did he not try Marcus at the point earlier. Heath and Travis were not cutting it. Ever this year. And that move seems so obvious at this point.

Heath was definitely "cutting it" last night and against Houston. Seems obvious that MGH is not a true PG after 3 years at SG, so why would anyone think of moving him there with two on the team already? It was an inspired bold shake-up that worked out.
 

Connell62

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I suspected it would take a while for out transfers and "been here's" to reach this stage of confidence in each other. It just took longer than I expected, but mainly it was because we did not have a PG. Once CBG moved Marcus to the point everything else fell in place. And Lammers has played far better than I expected as his minutes increased. Maybe his minutes increased because he was playing better in practice. Either way, we have four guys in the rotation down low who can rebound and play OK defense. Jacobs and Chuck can score more than I thought and they are true brutes on the glass. All in all,this is a pretty good team right now. If we had started playing like this in January I think we would be playing this weekend in another tournament.

My primary knock against CBG right now is why did he not try Marcus at the point earlier. Heath and Travis were not cutting it. Ever this year. And that move seems so obvious at this point.

Slightly disagree Oriental, not about those two not cutting it, but it Marcus had never played point previously.

The logic is that the more time you spend on the ball, the more time away from scoring the ball. Typically hurts that players offense.

Kudos to Marcus for being a team player and making it look seamless. Had it not turned out so well, the second guessers would have been out in full force.
 
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