Hawaii Diamond Head Classic

[Bogey]

If he wins, nobody is going to miserable. We want wins....he's not doing that and is showing no sign of making that happen. I'm sorry, but some of you might annoyed about the all the complaining on this board, but what exactly do you expect with a 5-6 record before Christmas?

I know that, it was a tic post that I shouldn't have made.

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[Buzzbomb]

Nice championship win by Houston over Washington. Coming from behind.

 

[Ramblingon]

FYI: Houston just beat no. 21 Washington 75-71 to win the tournament title. Doesn't make our loss look so bad.

 

[Fatmike91]

FYI: Houston just beat no. 21 Washington 75-71 to win the tournament title. Doesn't make our loss look so bad.

Houston is #25 in KenPom - far from the most frustrating loss this season.

/

 

[YlJacket]

It was frustrating that it took us until halftime to start playing legit defense, but in reality Houston was/is just a better team than we are.

Didn't see much of the second half last night (family dinners do take priority), but I see we ended up with 12 steals and forcing 19 TOs so I expect we were able to really pressure them down the stretch. And I hope it generated some easy baskets.

FWIW I don't think Hawaii is an ACC level team (even this year's ACC) so I don't expect we can press/pressure our way through the ACC. This game isn't really repeatable but still good to beat Hawaii on their home court. Now the fun starts - on to FSU and UNC

 

[jayparr]

It was frustrating that it took us until halftime to start playing legit defense, but in reality Houston was/is just a better team than we are.

Didn't see much of the second half last night (family dinners do take priority), but I see we ended up with 12 steals and forcing 19 TOs so I expect we were able to really pressure them down the stretch. And I hope it generated some easy baskets.

FWIW I don't think Hawaii is an ACC level team (even this year's ACC) so I don't expect we can press/pressure our way through the ACC. This game isn't really repeatable but still good to beat Hawaii on their home court. Now the fun starts - on to FSU and UNC

cory collins the analyst on tv last night said he thought tech could win half our acc games this year, and that having Jose back is making the other players better!!

 

[MiracleWhips]

We need this Wright for the rest of the season

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Moses Wright averaged 17.7 points and 7.3 rebounds Tech’s three games in the Diamond Head Classic, and was voted to the all-tournament team. He connected on 21-of-33 shots from the floor (63.6 pct.) and 10-of-12 from the free throw line (83.3 pct.).

 

[YlJacket]

cory collins the analyst on tv last night said he thought tech could win half our acc games this year, and that having Jose back is making the other players better!!

He's right. We could - especially in this year's ACC. On the other side this gang could lose almost all of them if we don't score points. Unfortunately at this point we really have little idea of what this team is going to be - or could be - but we do know that they have dug a really deep hole if their goal still is to be bubbly this year. Sneaking by a banged up and down UNC is almost a must win game at this point.

 

[Connell62]

cory collins the analyst on tv last night said he thought tech could win half our acc games this year, and that having Jose back is making the other players better!!

I think that you meant Cory Alexander. He knows our team and personnel very well having some many of our games last year.

Our defense will keep us in every game. It will all come down to offensive execution and making some deep balls.

To your point, he was way more optimistic about our chances than many here. He was also very complementary of Moses Wright.

Glad to see that others are starting to take notice. Moses is playing a high level right now.

 

[slugboy]

Hawaii looked like an OK team, but not within any shot of postseason play. KenPom ranks them #175. Georgia Tech is #101, and will have to improve a lot this year to play in any postseason tournament.
IMHO, Usher looked like the most talented player on the court for stretches yesterday, occasionally yielding out to Devoe. I saw Jose and Usher playing a lot of 1 on 5 basketball in the first half, where they tried to make a series of athletic plays past everyone to score. However, there wasn’t a lot of team play from us in the first half. Usher has only played a few games with the rest of the team, and it doesn’t look like he gels with scheme yet; it’s more of a “best 5 players on the floor” plan of action.
After the Flagrant 2 that ejected Usher and put us behind the 8 ball, we started to play more plays and less playground basketball, and eventually turned a deficit into a safe lead. (I felt safe with about 30 seconds to go).
We’ll need to step up substantially to have a good ACC record. In the meantime, we had a trip to Hawaii


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[Connell62]

Hawaii looked like an OK team, but not within any shot of postseason play. KenPom ranks them #175. Georgia Tech is #101, and will have to improve a lot this year to play in any postseason tournament.
IMHO, Usher looked like the most talented player on the court for stretches yesterday, occasionally yielding out to Devoe. I saw Jose and Usher playing a lot of 1 on 5 basketball in the first half, where they tried to make a series of athletic plays past everyone to score. However, there wasn’t a lot of team play from us in the first half. Usher has only played a few games with the rest of the team, and it doesn’t look like he gels with scheme yet; it’s more of a “best 5 players on the floor” plan of action.
After the Flagrant 2 that ejected Usher and put us behind the 8 ball, we started to play more plays and less playground basketball, and eventually turned a deficit into a safe lead. (I felt safe with about 30 seconds to go).
We’ll need to step up substantially to have a good ACC record. In the meantime, we had a trip to Hawaii


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I view it a little differently.. While we definitely didn't beat any powerhouses (we did lose to a good Houston team), 2-1 on the trip is what I expected. It seems that we found ourselves a little bit on the trip. Effort and intensity was there in every game. Even in the first halves where we didn't look great on the offensive end, our defense played well except a 4-5 minute stretch against Houston where Grimes went crazy on us.

We still have a lot of work to do offensively and we have to shoot it better from deep, but I think that playing three games so close together helped us out. With Usher and Jose back, we are still defining roles and gelling, and we need for them to play and practice as a unit as much as possible. For the first time since NC State, we played with some cohesiveness in the second half last night.

Someone said a few games back (Chason maybe), we need to see more sets with the high pick-n-roll, it looked really good. If James and Bubba play like they did last night, we have a shot to turn the corner. Bubba finally looked comfortable as he was able to relax and be himself. His game is not all about the deep ball.

I know that this isn't a popular opinion right now, and I understand why, but I think that this team will continue to get better.

 

[jayparr]

I think that you meant Cory Alexander. He knows our team and personnel very well having some many of our games last year.

Our defense will keep us in every game. It will all come down to offensive execution and making some deep balls.

To your point, he was way more optimistic about our chances than many here. He was also very complementary of Moses Wright.

Glad to see that others are starting to take notice. Moses is playing a high level right now.

Thank you for the reply and of course my mistake!

 

[orientalnc]

I view it a little differently.. While we definitely didn't beat any powerhouses (we did lose to a good Houston team), 2-1 on the trip is what I expected. It seems that we found ourselves a little bit on the trip. Effort and intensity was there in every game. Even in the first halves where we didn't look great on the offensive end, our defense played well except a 4-5 minute stretch against Houston where Grimes went crazy on us.

We still have a lot of work to do offensively and we have to shoot it better from deep, but I think that playing three games so close together helped us out. With Usher and Jose back, we are still defining roles and gelling, and we need for them to play and practice as a unit as much as possible. For the first time since NC State, we played with some cohesiveness in the second half last night.

Someone said a few games back (Chason maybe), we need to see more sets with the high pick-n-roll, it looked really good. If James and Bubba play like they did last night, we have a shot to turn the corner. Bubba finally looked comfortable as he was able to relax and be himself. His game is not all about the deep ball.

I know that this isn't a popular opinion right now, and I understand why, but I think that this team will continue to get better.

I agree with your post and would add that we are frustratingly inconsistent. At times last night I thought a decent high school team might give us a game, then we went on that ear at the end and looked like the team we can be.

Usher is a nice addition to our roster, but I wonder if he is feeling like he has to prove it on every possession. When he left the game we started playing a little more like a team and less like the shirts in a playground game.

 

[Bogey]

I like to watch Usher play, he really enjoys the game, and ever so positive. Still trying to find himself with this team. He is getting a lot of rim outs (similar to golf lip outs), but I am sure they will soon be falling his way.

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[GT11]

I like to watch Usher play, he really enjoys the game, and ever so positive. Still trying to find himself with this team. He is getting a lot of rim outs (similar to golf lip outs), but I am sure they will soon be falling his way.

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Usher plays with such high intensity. Played that way in high school. He can not and will not be intimidated, he works to intimidate the other team. He energy is infectious

 

[bos]

Usher plays with such high intensity. Played that way in high school. He can not and will not be intimidated, he works to intimidate the other team. He energy is infectious

He hasn't changed much since high school. You need guys like him on the team when everyone else is lackadaisical. Unfortunately, being aggressive hurt him yesterday as he got ejected (which was soft on the refs part).

 

[Techster]

Usher easily looked like the most athletic and explosive player on the floor last night for both teams. You can tell he hasn't found his rhythm and how he fits in within our team...yet. That will come in time. Probably why Pastner continues to play him heavy minutes...you can't fit in and find your place if you're sitting on the bench. Once he starts to gell and his game flows within our framwork, this could be a REALLY good team. Sometimes you need to take a step back to get 2 steps forward.

Anyone else want to bring up the James Banks/Moses Wright issue? We may have a twin towers issue...both good players, but I'm not sure they work together well on the floor at the same time. Banks is the better defensive anchor, but Moses's offensive game is really hard to keep off the floor (btw...can you believe we're saying that about Moses?). Banks looks like his offensive game has taken a step back, and he also seems a step slow on both ends. Moses is playing with a lot of confidence, and he's rewarding the coaches with VERY productive minutes...probably the most productive overall player we have right now.

The pieces are there for us to be a Top 8 ACC team...our guys just need to figure it out before it's too late.

 

[orientalnc]

The flagrant foul was the correct call, but it should have been a double foul. That's what stimulated Usher's takedown.

 

[Fatmike91]

I view it a little differently.. While we definitely didn't beat any powerhouses (we did lose to a good Houston team), 2-1 on the trip is what I expected. It seems that we found ourselves a little bit on the trip. Effort and intensity was there in every game. Even in the first halves where we didn't look great on the offensive end, our defense played well except a 4-5 minute stretch against Houston where Grimes went crazy on us.

We still have a lot of work to do offensively and we have to shoot it better from deep, but I think that playing three games so close together helped us out. With Usher and Jose back, we are still defining roles and gelling, and we need for them to play and practice as a unit as much as possible. For the first time since NC State, we played with some cohesiveness in the second half last night.

Someone said a few games back (Chason maybe), we need to see more sets with the high pick-n-roll, it looked really good. If James and Bubba play like they did last night, we have a shot to turn the corner. Bubba finally looked comfortable as he was able to relax and be himself. His game is not all about the deep ball.

I know that this isn't a popular opinion right now, and I understand why, but I think that this team will continue to get better.

This team got better in Hawaii and we left the island better than before the trip.

/

 

[GT11]

The flagrant foul was the correct call, but it should have been a double foul. That's what stimulated Usher's takedown.

The trip before they let the guy from Hawaii get away with more than what Usher did