Article Jackets head to Miami to take on St. John's

Jackets head to Miami to take on St. John's

KNOXVILLE, TN – NOVEMBER 13: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets guard Michael Devoe (0) takes a shot over Tennessee Volunteers guard Jordan Bowden (23) during a college basketball game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on November 13, 2018, at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, TN. (Photo by Bryan Lynn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Coach Josh Pastner’s Jackets remain on the road this week. After dropping a game to Northwestern in the ACC/B1G challenge, they head down to Florida to play an undefeated St. John’s squad on Saturday. The contest is being called the Air Force Reserve Hoop Hall Miami Invitational and tips at noon EST on ESPNU.

St. John’s is one of 17 remaining undefeated teams in the NCAA and is currently ranked 46th by KenPom. This game will mark the first time St. John’s has played outside of the NY/NJ area this year. The Red Storm currently rank 245th in strength of schedule and their highest rated opponent, according to KenPom, is Rutgers. Despite the poor schedule and their ability to score in bulk (83 points per game), their average margin of victory is only 11.5 points.

The Red Storm are led by dynamic junior point guard Shamorie Ponds who averages 2o points, 5.2 assists, 3.3 assists per game. Going back to 1992-93, he is the only St. Johns player to have a season of 550 points, 100 assists, 65 steals and less than 10o turnovers. He has done it twice. He is joined this year by high scoring Auburn transfer Mustapha Heron, who was granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA. Heron is currently averaging 18.2 points and 6.2 rebounds. He is also shooting 43.5% (23 attempts) on the young season. As a team St. John’s shoots an impressive 38% from three. LJ Figueroa, a budding star for Coach Chris Mullin, shoots 54% from deep on the season.

As mentioned, St. John’s is coached by former Red Storm superstar Chris Mullin. As a player, Mullin appeared in 125 games, averaged 19.5 points and won the Big East Player of the Year award for three straight seasons. His coaching acumen thus far has been a bit underwhelming, having yet to lead his alma mater to an above .500 season in his first three tries. His record coming into the 2017-18 season was 38-60.

This is an interesting match-up for Georgia Tech. The Johnnies are a live by the three, die by the three team and the Jackets currently rank 14th in the nation in three point percentage against at 25.7%. The good guys only give up 59 points per game, good for 16th in the nation. The contrast in styles is one of the most intriguing parts of this contest. St. Johns is 56th in adjusted tempo (KenPom), while Georgia Tech is currently 190th.

The KenPom metric currently gives St. Johns a 73-70 edge. If Georgia Tech can maintain their defensive intensity and put together a complete game on the road they have a chance. The Red Storm have yet to really play anyone of consequence, while the Jackets have played two opponents inside the top 50 (Kenpom) and both on the road. The Jackets hold the edge as far as being battle tested.

Georgia Tech needs to defend and they need to shoot it. Stop me when this sounds familiar. It is always a grab bag when this program goes on the road. I guess we will just have to see what we see.

 

[WrongShadeOfGold]

You think we’d beat ga state ? I’m not sure we can beat uga , if we do it won’t be as bad as ga st did , do your homework pal

I don't know if we would beat them or not but anointing a 5-3 team that just lost to Liberty by 26 as the clear cut best in state is a bit premature. You have to consider the competition.

 

[dtm1997]

I don't know if we would beat them or not but anointing a 5-3 team that just lost to Liberty by 26 as the clear cut best in state is a bit premature. You have to consider the competition.

And you should also not cherry pick the most recent game and current record.

Level of competition is certainly a factor that keeps it from apples to apples, but when you look at their body of work over the past several years and compare it to the other in-state programs, let me know who ends up in best standing.

It ain't us and I'm pretty sure it won't be UGA.

 

[lv20gt]

And you should also not cherry pick the most recent game and current record.

Are you really saying that using their whole record is cherry picking?

How the two teams were 2 years ago, or even last year, doesn't really impact which team is better this year.

 

[Connell62]

Wow. Came on this board to discuss a good basketball game and I scroll through this thread and all I see is a bunch of Dudes indulging in a bitter pity party like a clutch of high school girls after a party where none of them got asked to dance.

We're talking about Brian Gregory, seriously? BRIAN GREGORY?

I guess I'll go talk basketball with myself....

"So Wasp, what did you think of that game by Ponds?"

It’s a damn shame too, and it’s the same group after every loss. I’ve had to stay away because the crying in this thread is too much.

 

[Connell62]

If y’all are happy or ok with how the b-ball season isn’t going then you’re not a true fan

You must have fallen and bumped your damn head! Because we’re not crying like the sky is falling. Yeah, we blew a big lead, we lost a game we should have won, but I don’t believe that our program is broken or that the season is over. We’ve clearly got somethings we need to clean up and work on. Face it, we’ve got a young team that is still learning how to close out games, and our offense is inconsistent at best.

St. John’s is a good team with a load of talent and future NBA player in Ponds. Chris Mullins is a good coach and they took Banks away and forced to hit shots or create off the bounce and we could do it. The refs called a tight game and they lived at the line and made us pay.

Take the cry baby **** elsewhere please. Don’t ruin a good forum with constant “Pastner sucks, our Program sucks” drivel.

 

[Connell62]

Being happy or ok is different than being rational or grounded in reality. The latter affords you the ability to keep a cool head about the current state of the program.

Count me in the latter. There are things I'm not happy about, there are things I think are on schedule for the program.

Happy or not though, getting fired up with the complaints or accusations of people's fanhood is a worthless effort. You think someone is pouring out Kool Aid, then give them a cogent rationale why they're wrong. If you can't do that, then you'll just find yourself on everyone's ignore list before too long.

Knowledge

 

[THWG16]

If we had some good recruits coming in I’d feel a whole lot better . Look I’ve been a fan of this b-ball team since 1985, I’ve been thru a lot , all I’m saying is I’m worried about the future & I know I’m not the only one

 

[AE 87]

You must have fallen and bumped your damn head! Because we’re not crying like the sky is falling. Yeah, we blew a big lead, we lost a game we should have won, but I don’t believe that our program is broken or that the season is over. We’ve clearly got somethings we need to clean up and work on. Face it, we’ve got a young team that is still learning how to close out games, and our offense is inconsistent at best.

St. John’s is a good team with a load of talent and future NBA player in Ponds. Chris Mullins is a good coach and they took Banks away and forced to hit shots or create off the bounce and we could do it. The refs called a tight game and they lived at the line and made us pay.

Take the cry baby **** elsewhere please. Don’t ruin a good forum with constant “Pastner sucks, our Program sucks” drivel.

The form of his post is a troll. It makes a broad sweeping generalization which disparages other fans as holding a position they don't have. It's a troll because it's designed to elicit an emotional response since the substance doesn't apply to anyone but applies to everyone whose viewpoint is characatured.

Despite the stated rules against trolling, the moderators promote this style.

In the football forum, I responded to such a post asking for evidence anyone held such a position, and critiqued the style of posting.

The person responded with a personal attack, and I pointed out that it was a personal attack.

A moderator then suggested that i was equally at fault.

So, I then reported the offending posts as breaking the rules against trolling. A moderator responded that nothing was done, suggesting that I reply by asking for supporting evidence (the very thing I had done to start with).

TLDR: don't expect these kind "so many fans are blind" or "most of you accept mediocrity" posts to slow down. They may function as trolls, but they are moderator approved.

 

[THWG16]

You da man

 

[dtm1997]

If we had some good recruits coming in I’d feel a whole lot better . Look I’ve been a fan of this b-ball team since 1985, I’ve been thru a lot , all I’m saying is I’m worried about the future & I know I’m not the only one

And it's perfectly reasonable to have such concerns and reasonable to know what would dissuade those concerns.

That said, there are plenty of us here who have been through a lot with this program, love parts of its history, and want to see it successful in the future. It doesn't change the fact that, short of leaving of his own volition, getting busted for some sort of serious violation, or maybe managing to have the single worst season in GT history, CJP is going to get time to prove he's the driving force for that success or he's not.

I'm not asking anyone to like CJP or believe he's the solution. I am asking people to accept reality about him being here and support the players & the program.

 

[alagold]

I don't like to lose--at all.I've watched Tech bball for 50 yrs CLOSELY. Getting Banks on this team actually made this yr a POSSIBLE representative showing.Between youth and inexperience, no proven shooting,and little bigs talent at all--we were hurtng.This is a not a formula for success.
So losing to an undefeated team AWAY by 3 is a surprise (not really pleasant but ok).I think there is hope for maybe better than 2 conf wins which I saw originally.One game at a time.
Now CJP has go recruit better.

 

[CINCYMETJACKET]

I don't like to lose--at all.I've watched Tech bball for 50 yrs CLOSELY. Getting Banks on this team actually made this yr a POSSIBLE representative showing.Between youth and inexperience, no proven shooting,and little bigs talent at all--we were hurtng.This is a not a formula for success.
So losing to an undefeated team AWAY by 3 is a surprise (not really pleasant but ok).I think there is hope for maybe better than 2 conf wins which I saw originally.One game at a time.
Now CJP has go recruit better.

Well, not really an "away" game, as St. John's is a lot further from Miami than Tech is. But we all know that Tech fans travel well, so...

If I had to put W's & L's down on our schedule before the season, I would have had L's against TN, NW, and St. Johns. So not really a surprise at this point. Disappointing loss on Saturday, yes, but not unexpected.

Just hope we continue to improve. And no losses to the Grambling State type schools that just shouldn't happen.

 

[ESPNjacket]

I'm not asking anyone to like CJP or believe he's the solution. I am asking people to accept reality about him being here and support the players & the program.

I hated the hire but CJP has done nothing but win me over to give him a chance. I didn't get to watch the St. John's game until today. I made the mistake of viewing social media and boards like this prior to viewing. I expected it to be much worse than it was.

I have some observations:

- This team is going to take a full two months to get comfortable in the new offense. This isn't unusual and should be expected.

- The lineup that gives us the best chance to win in December will not be the same in March. CJP needs to manage that and it won't be simple.

- Having this lineup play the level of defense they have to this point is a tribute to the culture. Early season defense in college basketball can be a challenge.

- There is some obvious talent among the young guys. Give them a chance. This "we don't have talent" stuff is factually incorrect and bad for the program. If you don't see talent from Moore and Devoe you need to adjust what you look for in young players. In December of 1995 talk radio in Atlanta was consumed with callers declaring that Marbury would never play in the NBA, forget leave early. If you didn't hear it, just trust me. After the Mt. St. Mary's loss, dwag fans who barely knew a basketball was round took over talk radio at that time with this proclamation. Don't prematurely elaborate.

 

[Connell62]

There is some obvious talent among the young guys. Give them a chance. This "we don't have talent" stuff is factually incorrect and bad for the program. If you don't see talent from Moore and Devoe you need to adjust what you look for in young players. In December of 1995 talk radio in Atlanta was consumed with callers declaring that Marbury would never play in the NBA, forget leave early. If you didn't hear it, just trust me. After the Mt. St. Mary's loss, dwag fans who barely knew a basketball was round took over talk radio at that time with this proclamation. Don't prematurely elaborate.

Nice post ESPN, it was a frustrating game for sure, but as you point out, it wasn't nearly as bad as you would believe after reading post from some here.

Also agree with you about the talent. That's why comments like "we only have 2-3 ACC caliber players" just burns me up. It's just a dumb comment. First, it's a knock on our guys, but mostly, it's just incorrect.

I'm sure people said the same thing about Ben Lammers as a freshman too. The guy looked like he had two left feet when he first got minutes.

Moses, Khalid, and Devoe are going to be really solid pieces for us over the next few years. To me, Moses has looked like a different player over the past few games, and Moore is growing up in front of us.

 

[AE 87]

I hated the hire but CJP has done nothing but win me over to give him a chance. I didn't get to watch the St. John's game until today. I made the mistake of viewing social media and boards like this prior to viewing. I expected it to be much worse than it was.

I have some observations:

- This team is going to take a full two months to get comfortable in the new offense. This isn't unusual and should be expected.

- The lineup that gives us the best chance to win in December will not be the same in March. CJP needs to manage that and it won't be simple.

- Having this lineup play the level of defense they have to this point is a tribute to the culture. Early season defense in college basketball can be a challenge.

- There is some obvious talent among the young guys. Give them a chance. This "we don't have talent" stuff is factually incorrect and bad for the program. If you don't see talent from Moore and Devoe you need to adjust what you look for in young players. In December of 1995 talk radio in Atlanta was consumed with callers declaring that Marbury would never play in the NBA, forget leave early. If you didn't hear it, just trust me. After the Mt. St. Mary's loss, dwag fans who barely knew a basketball was round took over talk radio at that time with this proclamation. Don't prematurely elaborate.

I'm sympathetic to these opinions.

I certainly agree that we don't come out and play D as consistently decent as we have by accident.

My lingering concern is that for a team which our coach says will live or die by the 3pt shot we neither have a consistent 3 pt shooter nor have we shown the ability to hit the 3 as a team even when they're open. It has looked to me that our most consistent 3pt shooters are Haywood and Alston, but we don't seem to run plays for them. Alvarado seems to hit 3's mostly within the flow of the game under crunch, but we ran plays for his shot against St. John, and that suggests that CJP must see something else in practice than what we've seen in the games. Before the season began, iIrc, CJP said that we're looking to shoot 43% from 3pt. We're hitting 43% FG, 31% 3pt.

With that being said, I also agree that it does appear that how good we'll be as a team will depend on the development of Devoe and Moore. And, yes, they need time, so let's wait and see.

Go Jackets

 

[MiracleWhips]

Personally I believe our front court is the best part about our team this year

 

[ESPNjacket]

Personally I believe our front court is the best part about our team this year

I'm shocked Mrs. Wright.

 

[MiracleWhips]

I'm shocked Mrs. Wright.

Ah, Not quite. I know a few folks on the team though. Nice to know I lost Ron status tho

 

[mstranahan]

Nice to know I lost Ron status tho

You did?

 

[GT_EE78]

hey , halftime of that St J game was the midpoint of our OOC season.
So, who do we think is performing above,at or below expectations?
Here's my two cents worth .... (yea it does depend on what ur expectations were but sharing that would make this too easy)
above - Alston,Banks,Moore
at expected - Jose,Gueye,Ogbondo,Moses
below- everyone else
note- Cole gets N/A or a pass due to injury time

all CPJ has todo is use these two practice games to hone rotation to beat hawgs n dawgs and we'll all be more upbeat going into acc play ..
10-3 wouldn't be bad
who is doing well??