Is the Ft. Myers Tip-Off still on?

[OG-T]

When has Howard not been terrible?

He had a 3- to 5-game stretch last year before ankle injury where he was putting up #s, and looking more athletic. Then, that ankle injury. From my seat, the difference is hard rebounding and then run the floor hard to catch on break in paint. If he sets up at high or low post, he has no go-to move. Be Luke Schensher. Run floor hard from cup to cup and do not bring the ball down, just catch high, finish high and flush it, get fouled, or if it’s blocked, then repeat the sequence. In half court, use him as a picket fence, and roll to bucket, occasional post up to keep D honest. He’s not an elbow player; last year, this year or next year, he’s just not - it’s on Coaches, IMO.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Just think how we would have done if we'd have scored in the 6 minutes of the game and not spotted them 19 points to start!

 

[SecretAgentBuzz]

Really disappointed in the loss and hoping this was our one "What was that?" early season loss.

What I liked:
-Active hands on defense led to 13 steals and forced 19 turnovers. Despite giving up some open looks and more offensive rebounds again(14!), our defense looks pretty good. There is not one real "weak link" that other teams can attack.
-Maxwell seemed to get in a good rhythm and had his best game so far. We need his offense.
-Smith played well again (except for the front rim free throws). He is a surprisingly good passer and a pesky defender. I thought he was fouled on the last play but the ref swallowed his whistle.
-We took care of the ball really well. Only 5 TOs? I'll take that every game.
-The team showed good resolve coming back from 19 down.

What I didn't like:
-If we had a weak link on defense, he left the game after six minutes and never went back in. Utah saw quickly that, when we were in zone, they could pull Howard out to the perimeter, and that meant easy baskets/offensive rebounds all day. I still don't know what Howard's deal is. I asked after the last game if he was hurt, and I would ask it again here.
-I like Franklin's game, but I just don't think we can win with him at the 5 for 31 minutes. We need Howard, or even Meka or Cyril to step up and give us something substantial inside.
-Horrible shooting night. Poor misses from multiple guys. Where is the great shooting team that Pastner promised?
-I agree with those who say we should run more plays to set up our shooters. We have some good penetrating guards, but we rely too much on someone beating his man.
-This team never should have been 19 down to Utah. It almost felt like we used all of our energy to crawl back and then ran out of energy at the end.

The good news is that we can immediately flush this game with the next one tonight. The bad news is that our undefeated season is lost.

Go Jackets!

 

[iopjacket]

If Meka can't play, we are going to have to play Cryil some, even if he is not ready. Franklin is a good athletic forward, but playing center at 6’7” is tough against most teams. Hopefully Howard gets his game back, but he still needs a backup.

 

[RamblinCharger]

This team has had the same problems for about a decade. No one can score in bunches and no one can shoot. The FT shooting was horrible, but not something I would expect to be that bad consistently, but the offense hasn’t looked good in a long time. CBB today isn’t played in the 60s. You need shooters in todays game and our guys aren’t hitting shots. Utah is not a good team. I think this will be another long season unfortunately.

 

[Fatmike91]

Really disappointed in the loss and hoping this was our one "What was that?" early season loss.

What I liked:
-Active hands on defense led to 13 steals and forced 19 turnovers. Despite giving up some open looks and more offensive rebounds again(14!), our defense looks pretty good. There is not one real "weak link" that other teams can attack.
-Maxwell seemed to get in a good rhythm and had his best game so far. We need his offense.
-Smith played well again (except for the front rim free throws). He is a surprisingly good passer and a pesky defender. I thought he was fouled on the last play but the ref swallowed his whistle.
-We took care of the ball really well. Only 5 TOs? I'll take that every game.
-The team showed good resolve coming back from 19 down.

What I didn't like:
-If we had a weak link on defense, he left the game after six minutes and never went back in. Utah saw quickly that, when we were in zone, they could pull Howard out to the perimeter, and that meant easy baskets/offensive rebounds all day. I still don't know what Howard's deal is. I asked after the last game if he was hurt, and I would ask it again here.
-I like Franklin's game, but I just don't think we can win with him at the 5 for 31 minutes. We need Howard, or even Meka or Cyril to step up and give us something substantial inside.
-Horrible shooting night. Poor misses from multiple guys. Where is the great shooting team that Pastner promised?
-I agree with those who say we should run more plays to set up our shooters. We have some good penetrating guards, but we rely too much on someone beating his man.
-This team never should have been 19 down to Utah. It almost felt like we used all of our energy to crawl back and then ran out of energy at the end.

The good news is that we can immediately flush this game with the next one tonight. The bad news is that our undefeated season is lost.

Go Jackets!

Good:
- ZONE: this is as early in the season that we've seen the zone be effective. In years past we've gone to mid/late December before the zone was good.

Bad:
- FREE THROW SHOOTING: This is coachable. My son's 6th grade team shoots free throws better than this. Stay in the gym after practice every single day until you hit 3 in a row 3 times.
- SHOT SELECTION: We jacked up so many awful shots it's insane. We have the wrong people shooting from the wrong spots on the floor. This is also 100% coachable. Either take the right shots or sit. "where is the great shooting team we were promised?" - it's all in the shot selection. Stop taking rushed NBA 3's.

/

 

[jacketup]

34.8/21.7 shooting percentages for the game. Two starters didn't score. Another Pastner team that plays good D but can't score the ball. Do they practice offense?

55% from the line. One measure of a well coached team is free throw shooting. If you can't coach anything else, you teach FTs. It's just practice, practice, practice.

 

[YlJacket]

He had a 3- to 5-game stretch last year before ankle injury where he was putting up #s, and looking more athletic. Then, that ankle injury. From my seat, the difference is hard rebounding and then run the floor hard to catch on break in paint. If he sets up at high or low post, he has no go-to move. Be Luke Schensher. Run floor hard from cup to cup and do not bring the ball down, just catch high, finish high and flush it, get fouled, or if it’s blocked, then repeat the sequence. In half court, use him as a picket fence, and roll to bucket, occasional post up to keep D honest. He’s not an elbow player; last year, this year or next year, he’s just not - it’s on Coaches, IMO.

We are going to need Howard's big body at multiple points this year. As much as I like I love Franklin's motor and explosiveness, teams like UNC are just going to make him look like the undersized PF he is. Though a lot of games Franklin is going to be all we need. But back to Howard, as you are getting at, we have to use him for what he is - a big body with a sub par set of hands. High pick and rolls with emphasis on rolling hard to the basket. And more than just using Howard more appropriately, I think it will spread out our offense in a way it needs - create a much more open lane for driving and hopefully create some advantageous switches on the high screens. Get the defense moving a lot more than they are now. I think this could/should help our overall shot selection as well.

On the other side, Howard has to come with a whole lot more energy/motor than he has so far. He got pulled for a lack of energy last night followed by a marshmallow attempt at a close in shot when he did get the ball down low. As you said, don't worry about getting it blocked just go hard and let the chips fall where they may. But most of all - like Luke - bring the energy/motor to the game so it isn't such an obvious difference between Howard and Franklin as it is now.

 

[slugboy]

I thought we hired Brian Eskildsen for offensive coaching. We seem to be in a rut there

 

[YlJacket]

I thought we hired Brian Eskildsen for offensive coaching. We seem to be in a rut there

Our offense looks a lot like the last several years. I was hoping to see some changes. We have run some limited open sets with Howard in particular staying in the dunker position. We haaven't run any high pick/roll sets that I remember. I would love to see us run some stuff that swings the ball side to side instead of just top of the key and attempts to help some of our more thick legged wings get advantageous switches to help them penetrate and get shots.

 

[Rzunz]

This team has had the same problems for about a decade. No one can score in bunches and no one can shoot. The FT shooting was horrible, but not something I would expect to be that bad consistently, but the offense hasn’t looked good in a long time. CBB today isn’t played in the 60s. You need shooters in todays game and our guys aren’t hitting shots. Utah is not a good team. I think this will be another long season unfortunately.

In general I agree about CBB today, however the second game (2 P5 teams) was played in the 50’s. I think it’s a game to game deal, but agree, we have to hit open shots, finish at the rim, and make freebies with more regularity.

 

[Rzunz]

We are going to need Howard's big body at multiple points this year. As much as I like I love Franklin's motor and explosiveness, teams like UNC are just going to make him look like the undersized PF he is. Though a lot of games Franklin is going to be all we need. But back to Howard, as you are getting at, we have to use him for what he is - a big body with a sub par set of hands. High pick and rolls with emphasis on rolling hard to the basket. And more than just using Howard more appropriately, I think it will spread out our offense in a way it needs - create a much more open lane for driving and hopefully create some advantageous switches on the high screens. Get the defense moving a lot more than they are now. I think this could/should help our overall shot selection as well.

On the other side, Howard has to come with a whole lot more energy/motor than he has so far. He got pulled for a lack of energy last night followed by a marshmallow attempt at a close in shot when he did get the ball down low. As you said, don't worry about getting it blocked just go hard and let the chips fall where they may. But most of all - like Luke - bring the energy/motor to the game so it isn't such an obvious difference between Howard and Franklin as it is now.

Do we see Martinov at any point this season?

 

[MWBATL]

If you look at the past 30 years there are not many seasons where we had a winning ACC record.

I do agree. However, I will argue that the ACC was a MUCH stronger conference for most of those years.

 

[slugboy]

Do we see Martinov at any point this season?

Only in mop up duty, I expect. It's Meka I'm looking for.

 

[leatherneckjacket]

Sloppy play, poor decision making, bad shot selection, and lapses on defense cost us in our drought to start the game as well as at the end. If there are parts of the game where you do not want to go cold it is the beginning and the end of each half. Proud of the team to fight back and take the lead. Just wish we would play at the same level for the entire game and not in spurts.

 

[alagold]

A bit scary, not good at something we hoped would be a strength--shooting. Having low TOs ,stealing the ball, and limiting their 3 pt shooting is good but without pts in the basket, you are going to LOSE. Like tonight and Utah is not a good team really.

 

[78pike]

Only in mop up duty, I expect. It's Meka I'm looking for.

Everyone seems to think Franklin is too small to play the post in the ACC. Meka is about the same size and much weaker on offense. Not sure he is a solution to the problem.

 

[iopjacket]

Only in mop up duty, I expect. It's Meka I'm looking for.

I agree, but where is Meka? Pastner said his injury isn't serious, but he has played less than a minute so far this year.

 

[Steverc]

Do we see Martinov at any point this season?

I assume he is a project. If he was a polished 7 footer, he would not have come to Tech.

 

[gte447f]

I agree, but where is Meka? Pastner said his injury isn't serious, but he has played less than a minute so far this year.

Meka could probably help on defense and rebounding, but he is such a liability on offense that it just about offsets any contribution he might make on the other end. That may be why he is not playing, or it might be injury.