GT vs. UTRGV

[RamblinRed]

Overall it is hard to be disappointed with where the team is.
Both AD and Jose are playing under what i expected them to and Cole has been injured (and Devoe is trying to work back into playing condition) - but the team is taking care of business against lesser teams. That is all you can ask at this point.

Curtis the last couple of games has started to look like the player from mid-December last year. More aggressive. it was reported he was the one in the huddle chastising the team not to play lacksadaisical and there can be no Wright St games.

This team is going to grow as the season progresses. Right now 20% of min are going to SR and 22% to JR.
Devoe is the guy (along with Jose to a lesser extent) that will create. Curtis has some capability there as well.

Banks is interesting. He is basically a rebounder/defender guy right now. On one hand it would be nice if they could have redshirt him as a yr with Reveno would probably be great for his offense. But he is avg a rb every 2.5 min and a block every 7 min. AD is the one that looks like he can make offensive plays in the post but he has to be able to stay on the court and channel his emotions in a positive way.

Brandon, Jose, Curtis and Mike can all take open threes whenever they get them as far as i'm concerned and i expect Shembari based on his 2 yrs at TN will get there as well after a slow start.

This team has a long ways to go, but there are flashes of what it can become. The SO class is really the backbone of this program right now.

 

[gtpi]

anybody have a link to the video of the game last night? i forgot we played and i missed it. also durex iptv does not carry acc network that the game was shown on last night.

btw durex iptv kicks tail big time. $14 bucks for all the sports you could ever want to watch and some.... except for a few blips.

 

[slugboy]

Thanks for the summaries. I tuned in during the second half, and I think the team was starting to coast at that point. I didn’t get to see what was apparently a really good first half.

I thought this team would be high scoring and low defense, but they’ve been heavy on defense


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jim Prather]

Sloppy? We apparently didn’t watch the same game. We held them to 11 pts in the first half and 22% for the game. That’s good enough for second lowest FG% ever against GT.

Nothing sloppy about that Jim!

I will certainly never complain about a win and anytime you hold a team to 11 points in a half you are doing something right! It just felt like nearly every time they went down the floor they could have had a really clean look at a 3, but did not have the confidence to take the shot. I just felt like I was saying to myself "Damn if that were <insert ACC school here> we would have been screwed." nearly every trip down the floor.
I guess my take on it is that they played really well given the level of competition, but I don't think that level would be competitive once we get into conference play. To be fair, I do believe that CJP was experimenting with lineups and having players who may not even sniff the floor in January get minutes.

 

[orientalnc]

Overall it is hard to be disappointed with where the team is.
Both AD and Jose are playing under what i expected them to and Cole has been injured (and Devoe is trying to work back into playing condition) - but the team is taking care of business against lesser teams. That is all you can ask at this point.

Curtis the last couple of games has started to look like the player from mid-December last year. More aggressive. it was reported he was the one in the huddle chastising the team not to play lacksadaisical and there can be no Wright St games.

This team is going to grow as the season progresses. Right now 20% of min are going to SR and 22% to JR.
Devoe is the guy (along with Jose to a lesser extent) that will create. Curtis has some capability there as well.

Banks is interesting. He is basically a rebounder/defender guy right now. On one hand it would be nice if they could have redshirt him as a yr with Reveno would probably be great for his offense. But he is avg a rb every 2.5 min and a block every 7 min. AD is the one that looks like he can make offensive plays in the post but he has to be able to stay on the court and channel his emotions in a positive way.

Brandon, Jose, Curtis and Mike can all take open threes whenever they get them as far as i'm concerned and i expect Shembari based on his 2 yrs at TN will get there as well after a slow start.

This team has a long ways to go, but there are flashes of what it can become. The SO class is really the backbone of this program right now.

Evaluating this team right now is problematic. Our competition has been too weak (except for Tennessee) for any meaningful judgment. That said, your expectations for AD and Jose were higher than mine. I think Jose is just about where I expected and AD is a bit ahead. Against Tenn, ECU and UTRGV, AD played a total of 58 minutes and only collected six personal fouls. I was doubtful he could play defense and stay in games. He also looks physically stronger. I am optimistic he will be a key player for us this year if we exceed expectations as a team.

We're playing a more upbeat style, so TPG are going to be higher this season than in recent years. Also, the youth of this team will be an issue at times. But, last year we average 68 possessions per game and were ranked number 320 in Div 1. This year we average 76 possessions and are ranked #83. If we look out of sorts at times remember, our team is trying to learn a new offensive philosophy and develop the trust it takes to be a team. It will take time.

Edit: We are turning the ball over almost 20% f our possessions. That is about the same as last year. We really need this number to come down.

Thanks for your insight. We all appreciate very much that you post frequently.

 

[MtnWasp]

While I have a minute while the turkey roasts and the collards tenderize.... Good golly the house smells like heaven. Lots to be thankful for...

11-42 at halftime is a score that I'd expect from Duke, but only Duke seems to be able sustain that for both halves. Krzyzewski must put something in is team's Gatorade. Good to see Gonzaga and Few take Duke. Few built Gonzaga in a similar fashion that Pastner is trying to build GT. I'm good with that. Anyway, I turned the game off midway through the second half because of all the fouls and lack of focus from GT.

They didn't publish the +/- stats from the game for some reason on rambinwreck.com, but if I were to guess, I think Moses Wright would have won on that stat. He was tremendously active on the defensive end in his 23 minutes, shot 5 of 8 from the field and didn't turn the ball over despite handling the ball way more than most feint of heart Gt fans would like. He needs to up his rebound numbers, but he is a key guy, and he and Devoe are fluid players who create. I love that!

I like Devoe more as creator than shooter. His shot is rather hard and flat, but I still hope he gets hot from outside. But I think Devoe is best getting into the lane and causing havoc. Consistent with his high school film, he is crafty, if not explosive, around the bucket.

Alston continues to be a bulldog. Can he sustain the production when we the competition ramps-up? I hope so.

Phillips is a big disappointment so far. This was his worst game yet and he is bogging down the offense. With the other guards playing better than he is, he needs to pick-it-up to sustain his minutes when we start playing the grown-ups.

I think that Banks is going to really help us against the good competition, but only on the boards and defense. His hands are just awful. I wish we had sat him out this year because he is taking minutes from Gueye and Ogbonda, both of whom are better offensive players and I think Ogbonda has better offensive up-side. Ogbonda *might* have developed into a player who could have helped not only this year but next. But now, I don't see Ogbonda getting the minutes he would have needed to get comfortable. That means that he doesn't only not develop this year, I think he will be less effective if he chooses to stay next season as well.

I think we start to see Devoe and Alvarado playing more minutes together as the cup-cake slate winds down. Those two being comfortable with each other is critical for making any hay in the ACC. Going into the season, I thought that Alvarado would be the creator and Devoe would be hunting his shot, but now I wonder if it won't be the other way around. Let Devoe penetrate and let Alvarado spot-up for kick-outs.

I want to see Haywood sustain his play for two halves. He could be really good if he sustains the high level of play.

Gueye is only faintly reminiscent of the player he was when he got to GT. He is way smoother and has pretty reliable hands right now. If had twenty more pounds on him, he would be a real handful.

I expect that Pastner will use the Prarie View game to ready the team for two tough road games at Northwestern and St. Johns. That means we should see the key players playing more minutes together so that they can gel as a unit.