GT vs Nebraska

[Jacketman99]

Ball movement has been on point. They probably just had to break the street ball habits from the last 7 months. Im liking what I see!

A lot of the offseason they were not together as a team like they normally would have been. In a previous interview Alvarado talked about shooting around on an outdoor goal he purchased because he could not use the facilities or be around his team mates. Luckily after a few full practices they look much better on offense and defense.

 

[joehamiltonfan14]

I think had we beaten Georgia State and Mercer then Howard and Saba would be getting more time. It’s just that we have no more margin of error in nonconference, all are must win and we need our best guys on the floor.

 

[tsrich]

I would imagine our bigs are being developed but the coaches felt they were not ready to give us the best chance to win the last 2 games. Pastner's job is to focus on the game at hand and play the players that will give us the best chance to win. I am sure Reveno is working with the guys to get them ready when the time comes. Kudos for a great team effort to win this game Devoe and Moore played great in the first half and carried the team. Alvarado and Wright came alive in the second half. We did a great job keeping turnovers down and forcing turnovers. Good job hitting or fts as well. As for the lineup down the stretch, there is no since in changing if it is working. Those guys had great chemistry on the court. No need to mess with that unless you felt someone needed a breather or the lineup stopped working.

Pastner just doesn't like playing role players 5-8 mins a game. I think that's where you'd see one of the big men play with another coach. A minute or two at a time around breaks to give Wright a break.

 

[Techster]

I pointed this out in the chat, but at one point we had Devoe/Parham/Sturdivant/Alvarado/Moore on the court. That's 4 guards and basically a small forward.

Between Saba/Howard/Didenko you'd think someone should be able to give us a few minutes a game. As others have stated, it would have been hard the past 2 games considering the competition. Hopefully Howard and Saba get runs against some of the lower level teams coming up. Each minute they can play will help when the schedule heads into conference territory.

 

[lv20gt]

My guess at the thought process is neither Kentucky nor Nebraska really had interior players that looked to be too much of a threat especially not centers. We could get away with a 6-7 Usher with his phyiscality against the freshmen against Kentucky, and Nebraska made it pretty clear early they weren't even trying to take it inside. So even going small we probably thought we wouldn't have to deal with traditional post ups that much and when it comes to rim protection, our defense was back to the way it was last year in making it hard for drives to get all the way to the rim. Against FSU they have Koprivica and Gray to deal with along with just generally being the land of giants. I expect Howard at least to see some minutes as just a body to throw at them and make them have to deal with length inside.

 

[alagold]

This is what I expected out of a exp'd team.Come back on the road and win.It looks like we have a bunch of guys that can score which is a change.Lower TOs and decent DEF.We are a threat to many.We still need help in low and REBs. We should be 4-0 probably. yada,yadda

 

[MidtownJacket]

My guess at the thought process is neither Kentucky nor Nebraska really had interior players that looked to be too much of a threat especially not centers. We could get away with a 6-7 Usher with his phyiscality against the freshmen against Kentucky, and Nebraska made it pretty clear early they weren't even trying to take it inside. So even going small we probably thought we wouldn't have to deal with traditional post ups that much and when it comes to rim protection, our defense was back to the way it was last year in making it hard for drives to get all the way to the rim. Against FSU they have Koprivica and Gray to deal with along with just generally being the land of giants. I expect Howard at least to see some minutes as just a body to throw at them and make them have to deal with length inside.

I kept getting the sense that no one could drop Moses or even usher on a flash to the basket offensively against either Kentucky or Nebraska so agree about the low post not needing a traditional 5.

Defense is interesting to me as well since the zone makes feeding the paint harder for other teams and reduces the need for a true run protector

 

[gt02]

Jesus, Dude, chill out and enjoy an actual winning streak against P5 schools

Ignore him. This guy has no credibility since he spent the better part of the last two years dogging on our best player right now.

 

[1979jacket]

Can we win not playing two bigs and depending on Moore and Usher alongside Wright? The game has become 3 point shot dominated so teams are playing less big men so maybe. However when we play UNC and maybe some others, Wright is going to need some big man help. Other ACC teams may also jigger their game lineup to outsize us. I think eventually Howard is going to have to contribute.

 

[Steverc]

FSU starting lineup goes 6-5, 6-6, 6-8, 6-9, 7-1.

 

[lv20gt]

FSU starting lineup goes 6-5, 6-6, 6-8, 6-9, 7-1.

FWIW, if we start Saba our starting lineup would go 6-0, 6-5,6-7,6-9, 7-1

 

[MidtownJacket]

FWIW, if we start Saba our starting lineup would go 6-0, 6-5,6-7,6-9, 7-1

And that 6-0 cat can hoop taller than he measures (which is good, because other than media guides I’m not sure he really breaks 6’).

I don’t think height will be as much of an issue against FSU either because of the way our guys like Usher and Moses move and are Built. They can absorb contact and are pure athlete when they move so have nifty cuts and slashes that their drawn defender likely won’t have the footwork to handle.

Position can sometimes trump size. Throw in our zone D and we have a ballgame.

 

[glandon1960]

Can we win not playing two bigs and depending on Moore and Usher alongside Wright? The game has become 3 point shot dominated so teams are playing less big men so maybe. However when we play UNC and maybe some others, Wright is going to need some big man help. Other ACC teams may also jigger their game lineup to outsize us. I think eventually Howard is going to have to contribute.

Problem on offense with two bigs is it clogs the lane ... You don't want Saba/Howard on wing ... and while Moses has made great strides, I still don't like him out near 3 point line other than screen/handoff/etc ... second big also makes it harder for Moses to get ball down low. On defense, having second big will usually help the rebounding (depending on how other team matches up). I do feel we will need minutes from Saba/Howard in ACC ... Moses will get in foul trouble, we'll need big lineup defensively on occasion, etc. Will be curious to see how FSU/UNC go - they are the two teams we likely need second big the most against.

Note that you could have said same thing before Kentucky with their size ... we did get killed on boards, but I could not imagine how bad their guard play (@20TO) was - and still is.

 

[tsrich]

FWIW, if we start Saba our starting lineup would go 6-0, 6-5,6-7,6-9, 7-1

I think FSU can throw more bigs off the bench as well. In the Indiana game they played off the bench: 6-9, 7-1, 6-6, 6-4, 6-11, 6-8.

That's a lot of depth and a lot of size. Wright is gonna have a long night inside.