House Money!

[dtm1997]

The thread to keep reminding us what we've got so far this season...

 

[Peacone36]

There are so many better scenes with Emmy Rossum in Shameless...

 

[dtm1997]

There are so many better scenes with Emmy Rossum in Shameless...

Yeah, but no other ones came up in a search for "house money" on Giphy. Also, I stuck to SFW.

 

[Techster]

Clemson is what it is...tough place for us, and our team wasn't fully healthy.

Wake was winnable, but Lammers had a bad game. That's the first time I can remember when Ben's "off game" wasn't another 10 point 15 rebound 5 blocks type game. It goes to show us how important Lammers is for us.

The only disappointment is we lost a lot of momentum in terms of the good press that was building. The good thing is we have to VERY winnable games at home to get the flavor of winning back for our guys. One game is a conference game so we can get back to 0.500 in the standings.

If anyone is feeling disappointed in the past two games, that's actually a good thing. Our expectations have change because of real improvement, as opposed to being apathetic and being distant on what GT basketball does. I'd rather have the feeling of disappointment when we lose games because that just means we have expectations of a team with hope, as opposed to the feeling of hopelessness we've had around here in past seasons.

 

[99jacket]

Wh

Clemson is what it is...tough place for us, and our team wasn't fully healthy.

Wake was winnable, but Lammers had a bad game. That's the first time I can remember when Ben's "off game" wasn't another 10 point 15 rebound 5 blocks type game. It goes to show us how important Lammers is for us.

The only disappointment is we lost a lot of momentum in terms of the good press that was building. The good thing is we have to VERY winnable games at home to get the flavor of winning back for our guys. One game is a conference game so we can get back to 0.500 in the standings.

If anyone is feeling disappointed in the past two games, that's actually a good thing. Our expectations have change because of real improvement, as opposed to being apathetic and being distant on what GT basketball does. I'd rather have the feeling of disappointment when we lose games because that just means we have expectations of a team with hope, as opposed to the feeling of hopelessness we've had around here in past seasons.

What worries me about yesterday is Lammers showed that he can be bullied and intimidated yesterday. The way he let Collins shove him around was alarming, although admittedly the refs helped Collins in being able to do that. Every time Lammers tried to flash to the FT line to catch that hi post pass Collins would bump him out to the 3 point line. Those few feet make a huge difference on the geometry and ability to make passes on cuts. Hopefully that ends up being a one time and anamoly and not the formula for knocking Lammers and GT off their game.

 

[forensicbuzz]

I think teams are starting to figure out how to attack us defensively and offensively (if they have the proper match ups). Combine this with fatigue, injuries and illness, and we have a recipe for what happened the past two games. Watching FSU and ND, I was amazed at how well we were scoring for a team that didn't have scorers, how well we were shooting for a team lacking outside shooters. These past two games I saw a ton of shots that clanged off the iron that we had been making. If those shots go in, both games are very, very different. Our shooting was atrocious to start the game yesterday, yet we were even with WF. Had we been making our open shots like we have been, the first half score may have been similar to the FSU score. The officiating didn't help, but we the last two games we've been missing many of the shots that have been keeping us in other games.

After watching us play the first half of the ACC season, my expectations of our team have changed. These past two games are what I expected the entire season to be. It will be interesting to see how this team rebounds from a couple of off-shooting nights. It will be interesting to see how CJP and staff adjust to our up-coming opponents.

 

[sidewalkGTfan]

All I keep thinking is that we have players logging serious minutes right now that probably wouldn't get off of the bench on most ACC teams and if they did it would be for very little PT. Even a guy like TJ, who was highly recruited out of HS, is very inconsistent for us. It's a small miracle CJP and staff have gotten 5 conference wins out of this squad.

When I walked out of LJVMC yesterday, I told the wife that I couldn't wait to come back there in 2-3 years when we roll in there was some real talent, which I have no doubt CJP will bring.

 

[Peacone36]

Yeah, but no other ones came up in a search for "house money" on Giphy. Also, I stuck to SFW.

No i know. I ugh, nevermind.

 

[RyanS12]

The VT game is one we might look back at as the game that could keep us out of the tournament. If we manage to go .500
Also the way JO attacked the rim at the end of the game in the final min or two is what he needs to do more. He wasn't going to be stopped. He seems to have an attitude to his game but it's not there for 40 min. This is no way a knock on him. I think it takes a little bit to get him to play with that edge. Once the game slows down for him he's going to be an all ACC type player.

 

[McCamish Maniacs]

Wh

What worries me about yesterday is Lammers showed that he can be bullied and intimidated yesterday. The way he let Collins shove him around was alarming, although admittedly the refs helped Collins in being able to do that. Every time Lammers tried to flash to the FT line to catch that hi post pass Collins would bump him out to the 3 point line. Those few feet make a huge difference on the geometry and ability to make passes on cuts. Hopefully that ends up being a one time and anamoly and not the formula for knocking Lammers and GT off their game.

I don't think he was intimated. He was trying to avoid fouling out since every time he breathed on Collins it was a foul.

 

[CuseJacket]

Remember this thread from April 2016?
What is your definition of success for the next 3 years?

Another healthy dose of perspective and where we are today, relative to most expectations.

 

[Peacone36]

Lammers wasn't intimidated by Collins. TV Ted jobbed us. I never blame the refs but yesterday was absolutely ridiculous

 

[99jacket]

I don't think he was intimated. He was trying to avoid fouling out since every time he breathed on Collins it was a foul.

I disagree. He was frustrated by that for sure. But the bigger problem of what I was talking about was when he would come out to catch the pass in the high post he was letting COLLINS shove him. If anything he would have stood his ground, the officials would have been forced to call a foul on COLLINS if he kept pushing. Also, Lammers was a little lazy in his timing. He has been moving to his spot a little early the last couple of weeks. It seems inconsequential at first but having played and coached in high post motion offenses it is actually very important because of what we saw.

 

[Connell62]

I disagree. He was frustrated by that for sure. But the bigger problem of what I was talking about was when he would come out to catch the pass in the high post he was letting COLLINS shove him. If anything he would have stood his ground, the officials would have been forced to call a foul on COLLINS if he kept pushing. Also, Lammers was a little lazy in his timing. He has been moving to his spot a little early the last couple of weeks. It seems inconsequential at first but having played and coached in high post motion offenses it is actually very important because of what we saw.

If you played the post, then you should know that foul trouble can and will completely change your game. The example that you gave is why many thought the officiating was lopsided. You can't "stand your ground" or be very physical when the whistle blows every time you breathe. There's nothing worse than picking up an offensive foul for pushing when you are already in foul trouble. Funny that we weren't getting away with the same "bumps" on the other end.

The simple fact is that Ben has faced bigger and stronger guys than Collins throughout the year and dominated the match-up (see Florida State) In fact, Collins is probably one of the more undersized bigs that he has played, and I think that has as much to do with his struggles as anything. Collins was very good on the pick-n-roll and moving without the ball, and I am not sure that Ben has faced that much this season. Its not much of a secret that Ben needs to add some weight, he's been getting bumped at the high-post all year, but that doesn't equal intimidation..

 

[orientalnc]

Remember this thread from April 2016?
What is your definition of success for the next 3 years?

Another healthy dose of perspective and where we are today, relative to most expectations.

This is an interesting topic for this week. Thanks for the link.

Here was my prediction in that thread. It did not occur to me that year one might earn an NIT bid, but that is still a possibility.

Year 1: match his worst season at Memphis.

2: NIT

3: NCAAT

His worst year at Memphis was last year when they went 19-15 and did not make the NIT. They went 18-14 the year before and also missed the post-season.

 

[99jacket]

If you played the post, then you should know that foul trouble can and will completely change your game. The example that you gave is why many thought the officiating was lopsided. You can't "stand your ground" or be very physical when the whistle blows every time you breathe. There's nothing worse than picking up an offensive foul for pushing when you are already in foul trouble. Funny that we weren't getting away with the same "bumps" on the other end.

The simple fact is that Ben has faced bigger and stronger guys than Collins throughout the year and dominated the match-up (see Florida State) In fact, Collins is probably one of the more undersized bigs that he has played, and I think that has as much to do with his struggles as anything. Collins was very good on the pick-n-roll and moving without the ball, and I am not sure that Ben has faced that much this season. Its not much of a secret that Ben needs to add some weight, he's been getting bumped at the high-post all year, but that doesn't equal intimidation..

I disagree because Collins was clearly the aggressor in that situation Lammers had little to worry about a foul being called on him. It would be extremely hard to justify a call on Lammers when he is being shoved from behind and standing his ground. If they do then Pastner would have a gripe big enough that the conference office would have to act. The bigger problem was that Ben has developed a habit of moving to his spot a little early and therefore telegraphing the offensive set. I think all the minutes have fatigued him physically and mentally and has thrown his sense of timing off. Which is why the injury to AG is such a big deal. I hope we sit him at least 15 minutes against TUSCULUM. I would also like to see Pastner use some offensive sets that involve not having Ben always in the high post. We have used these sets in previous games but for some reason did not show them hardly at all against Wake. I think Pastner's thinking was to draw Collins out of the post but at some point you have to abandon a strategy that clearly isn't working. To me the bottom line on Wake even more than the refs was we looked like a team whose players and coaches are tired and weary. So in my mind this Tusculum game is badly needed at this point.

 

[Connell62]

I agree with @CuseJacket on the minutes issue.. The min. issue is overblown. Sure, I would love for him to be more rested, but they didn't seem to bother him in the previous game where he had a career high 25pts and 9board.

Let's face it, he got into early foul trouble against Wake and was never able to get back into a rhythm and the refs let them play more physical than us. Its not why we lost the game, but that contributed to Ben's poor showing.

The kid had one bad game and you're out him calling him soft, saying that he was intimidated. Come on maaaaan??

 

[ncjacket79]

I disagree because Collins was clearly the aggressor in that situation Lammers had little to worry about a foul being called on him. It would be extremely hard to justify a call on Lammers when he is being shoved from behind and standing his ground. If they do then Pastner would have a gripe big enough that the conference office would have to act. The bigger problem was that Ben has developed a habit of moving to his spot a little early and therefore telegraphing the offensive set. I think all the minutes have fatigued him physically and mentally and has thrown his sense of timing off. Which is why the injury to AG is such a big deal. I hope we sit him at least 15 minutes against TUSCULUM. I would also like to see Pastner use some offensive sets that involve not having Ben always in the high post. We have used these sets in previous games but for some reason did not show them hardly at all against Wake. I think Pastner's thinking was to draw Collins out of the post but at some point you have to abandon a strategy that clearly isn't working. To me the bottom line on Wake even more than the refs was we looked like a team whose players and coaches are tired and weary. So in my mind this Tusculum game is badly needed at this point.

C'mon. You just said "extremely hard to justify" when talking about refs and "gripe big enough that the conference office would have to act" which clearly shows you don't know how this works. First refs don't have to justify anything. They call what they see and if they think the guy standing his ground is moving slightly or using his hands/arms they will call it. Plus the ACC office gets complaints every game. They don't care. At most they may apologize for a call but it's meaningless. When you are in foul trouble you better be more passive or you're asking to foul out.