Article Jackets Host ECU on Friday

Jackets Host ECU on Friday

Josh Pastner’s Jackets to host ECU on 11/16

Fresh off a hard fought game against Tennessee, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will host the Eastern Carolina Pirates on Friday night. The game will be broadcast on ACCNE at 7:30pm.

So who is Eastern Carolina? Well aside from being the largest school in North Carolina and being known as the NC “party school”, they are currently making their way into the conversation as the up and coming program in the American Athletic Conference. The ECU program made a fantastic hire during the offseason, luring Florida Gulf Coast coach Joe Dooley away from Fort Myers.

Dooley spent time in the Bill Self coaching tree prior to his hiring at FGCU. He was widely known to be one of the Jayhawk’s most effective recruiters early in the Self era, credited with landing players such as Cole Aldrich, Tyshawn Taylor and Mario Chalmers. In 2013 he left Lawrence for Fort Myers for his second head coaching position, replacing Andy Enfield after he departed for USC. In five seasons at FGCU he made the NCAA tournament twice and the NIT twice. He won 21 games or more in all five seasons and never finished worse than second in the Atlantic Sun Conference. He departed the Eagles with a 114-58 record.

The interesting thing about Dooley is that he was actually the Head Coach of the Pirates before this season. He led the purple and black from 1995-1999 after Eddie Payne departed for Oregon State. During his first stint at ECU, Dooley went 57-52.

The Pirates come into the GT game with a 2-1 record, averaging 79 points per game. ECU also played Lamar early in the 2018-19 season, a game in which they needed overtime to win. ECU has an ACC flavor as Dooley brought on former Virginia Tech Assistant Coach Steve Roccaforte, who in turn brought former Hokie Seth LeDay with him. He’s also bringing former Hokies Tyrie Jackson and Khadim Sy in for the 2019 class.

LeDay has led the Pirates through the first three games, averaging 16.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Freshman Jayden Gardner and sophomore K.J. Davis give Dooley a nice duo to back up LeDay, combining to score 25 points and snag better than 12 rebounds per contest early in the 2018-19 season.

The straw that stirs the drink is senior point guard Isaac Fleming. The former Hawaii Rainbow Warrior has been a fantastic addition to the Pirate program, averaging 12.2 points, 4.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game through 33 games. Fleming is solid but does not provide an outside threat, shooting less than 28% from deep over the course of his career.

Strangely enough, one of Georgia’s own is the player that concerns me. Freshman Tae Hardy, a Miller Grove product, has played well early for the Pirates. The 6’3″ guard averages 9 points, 2.7 rebounds, an assist and a steal per game early in his career. He likes to jump passing lanes and get out in the open court. He could be a huge X-factor in this game.

At the end of the day it’s hard to predict what we will see here. This is a new coach with a new program who has yet to stock the pond with his players. Dooley keeps the tempo pretty low and doesn’t historically play a ton of defense (according to KenPom).

Given the most recent performance by the Jackets against Tennessee, I can’t imagine the spread is going to be crazy. I do like the Jackets to cover in this contest if the spread is set at single digits. East Carolina is not Tennessee. I think this is the game where Jose Alvarado and Shembarri Phillips both get right.

 

[lv20gt]

Having to watch it late because work but my thoughts are as follows.

Very slow start offensively. Some decent looks that didn't fall, but I still wish Jose would take control more. Length on defense still looks to be a big plus. Also saw the potential to pile on points quickly as by scoring 22 points in a 5 minute stretch featuring several threes.

I love the way this team plays defense. This may not be a NCAAT team, but I feel like we'll have a NCAAT level defense.

Thought Devoe looks more comfortable and played much better. He shot is so smooth when it is on. Really seemed under control and calm.

This was the Haywood we need. More assertive and obviously productive. Even early on it looked like he was looking for his a bit more.

I can see why Banks was a 5*. I can also see why he didn't play much at UT. Lots to work with but also lots of work to do. For the second game in a row he tried to throw it down emphatically and had it bounce off the rim. Like the intent, but sometimes finesse is needed more than power.

Jose is a sneaky little **** defensively, and I mean that in the best possible way.

Gueye had a solid game but not great. I do think the threat of him scoring down low will be important.

Alston, Wright, and Phillips all had solid game, if unremarkable

Moore has a good amount of freshmen mistakes but I like his athleticism and feel on the defensive end. Don't think Sjolund will be much of a factor this year.

We actually have a good lineup for small ball this year with Jose, Devoe, Haywood, and Phillips, with Gueye at the 5 and I imagine Banks would also be a good option in that situation.

Overall, through 3 games, I think we have shown pretty much what I hoped, but also what I expected. This team can make a living on the defensive end, and for once we have guys capable of hitting the outside shot. I think we'll be very inconsistent in that regard both game to game, and during games though. It should be fun watching these guys develop over the course of the year. I think there is a chance for this team to gel and make a splash this year.

 

[GTJason]

Devoe was awesome. He and Alvarado are going to be terrors on the court together when they get comfortable playing with each other.

 

[dtm1997]

 

[slugboy]

Ken Seguira’s recap: https://www.ajc.com/sports/college/georgia-tech-pummels-east-carolina/x80qURxcFmSOhLNyDRlCBM/

Cole is day to day with an ankle injury (from UT?)

Haywood lit into the team in the first half for being lackadaisical. Last year’s Grambling State game was referenced

Lots of threes. They were ugly early, but started hitting. We need to figure out how to warm up faster. We never really got our shots going against UT, and it took 10 minutes against ECU. After that, we were good. Giving teams that kind of head start won’t work against better competition

Wright had a decent game.

Sjolund improved over his UT and Lamar games. If he keeps improving, I think we will see more of him, but right now I don’t think he’ll be ready for ACC play. That would take a ton of improvement.

Our wings haven’t progressed as far as our guards. I don’t know if that’s a coaching thing or a scheme thing, but that’s where I think we need to improve to do well in conference. ACC teams will beat us up there, and I think UT did too.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Peacone36]

My thoughts, I’ll list concerns first

• This was the first time in CJP era thag I can remember when I thought coaching could cost us a game. We get up by 26 and he calls off the dogs with 12 to go and puts in a lineup that includes Banks, AD and Moses. Screw around with AD and Moses in the perimeter and see how fast 25 becomes 10. And why pull Curt? Kid is having his best night as a college player and you sit him for 5-6 in the middle of the second half. Hit the gas, win by 50
• Banks is rushing a bit. Wants to make a huge impact immediately. It’ll come, and it did later on with a nice no look from Jose for a slam.
• We are so guard heavy we can never put our best five in the court of Jose, Alston, Phillips CGB and Devoe.

What I liked

• I never thought I’d be a Brandon Alston guy but he is playing better than I ever thought he would. Gotta give credit where it’s due, through three games @connell62 looks brilliant in that prediction
• Devoe, Alvarado and CGG. Love this trio. Jose was all over the place last night and Devoe and Curt shot it really well.
• Love that Pastner left Moore in the game after that horse **** flagrant.
• AD just keeps hitting that little hook over the left shoulder. If he could get a little deeper he’d be damn near unstoppable in spurts.
• I really like Shembari as well. We seem to play a bit more poised when he’s on the court.
• Guard depth haha. The last con is also a pro. We have 5 good guards.

 

[YlJacket]

Question as I got to listen to the game driving up I85 but couldn't watch - did the offense come off of ball movement or our guards simply breaking them down off the dribble? The limited highlight video showed us breaking them down and didn't have much ball movement other than drop off or kick out after the one on one drive. I saw we were decent in assists to made baskets but not so decent in A/TO ration. The A/TO ratio could be kids trying to drive through the whole defense or throwing the ball away trying to move the ball via passing - thus my question.

Beyond that defense sounded good again which I think/hope will be their calling card all season. But if you are going to play solid D you have to rebound and tying a team like ECU on the boards ain't too good - especially when you give up 13 offensive rebounds.

Good win though. Take a win at that margin against anyone we are supposed to beat. Even if I was a bit nervous in the first half.

 

[orientalnc]

My thoughts, I’ll list concerns first

• This was the first time in CJP era thag I can remember when I thought coaching could cost us a game. We get up by 26 and he calls off the dogs with 12 to go and puts in a lineup that includes Banks, AD and Moses. Screw around with AD and Moses in the perimeter and see how fast 25 becomes 10. And why pull Curt? Kid is having his best night as a college player and you sit him for 5-6 in the middle of the second half. Hit the gas, win by 50
• Banks is rushing a bit. Wants to make a huge impact immediately. It’ll come, and it did later on with a nice no look from Jose for a slam.
• We are so guard heavy we can never put our best five in the court of Jose, Alston, Phillips CGB and Devoe.

What I liked

• I never thought I’d be a Brandon Alston guy but he is playing better than I ever thought he would. Gotta give credit where it’s due, through three games @connell62 looks brilliant in that prediction
• Devoe, Alvarado and CGG. Love this trio. Jose was all over the place last night and Devoe and Curt shot it really well.
• Love that Pastner left Moore in the game after that horse **** flagrant.
• AD just keeps hitting that little hook over the left shoulder. If he could get a little deeper he’d be damn near unstoppable in spurts.
• I really like Shembari as well. We seem to play a bit more poised when he’s on the court.
• Guard depth haha. The last con is also a pro. We have 5 good guards.

I think most of this is spot on. But, I disagree with one point. These early season games against teams in the lower quarter of Div I rankings are the time/place to experiment with lineups. Banks and AD may have to play together some this year. Staff needs to know how that feels. If we cannot hold a lead against ECU with them on the floor, maybe the staff should know that, too.

 

[Peacone36]

I think most of this is spot on. But, I disagree with one point. These early season games against teams in the lower quarter of Div I rankings are the time/place to experiment with lineups. Banks and AD may have to play together some this year. Staff needs to know how that feels. If we cannot hold a lead against ECU with them on the floor, maybe the staff should know that, too.

Well if that’s the case you can’t have Moses out there

 

[GT_EE78]

My thoughts, I’ll list concerns first

• This was the first time in CJP era thag I can remember when I thought coaching could cost us a game. We get up by 26 and he calls off the dogs with 12 to go and puts in a lineup that includes Banks, AD and Moses. Screw around with AD and Moses in the perimeter and see how fast 25 becomes 10. And why pull Curt? Kid is having his best night as a college player and you sit him for 5-6 in the middle of the second half. Hit the gas, win by 50
• Banks is rushing a bit. Wants to make a huge impact immediately. It’ll come, and it did later on with a nice no look from Jose for a slam.
• We are so guard heavy we can never put our best five in the court of Jose, Alston, Phillips CGB and Devoe.

What I liked

• I never thought I’d be a Brandon Alston guy but he is playing better than I ever thought he would. Gotta give credit where it’s due, through three games @connell62 looks brilliant in that prediction
• Devoe, Alvarado and CGG. Love this trio. Jose was all over the place last night and Devoe and Curt shot it really well.
• Love that Pastner left Moore in the game after that horse **** flagrant.
• AD just keeps hitting that little hook over the left shoulder. If he could get a little deeper he’d be damn near unstoppable in spurts.
• I really like Shembari as well. We seem to play a bit more poised when he’s on the court.
• Guard depth haha. The last con is also a pro. We have 5 good guards.

I think you're right that our best 5 are currently the guards. Hopefully we'll see the bigs improve before acc play

 

[MikeJackets1967]

GT had a great win last night over ECU last night I may have my white and gold glasses on but i think GT could possibly go to the NIT Tournament this season

 

[lv20gt]

• This was the first time in CJP era thag I can remember when I thought coaching could cost us a game. We get up by 26 and he calls off the dogs with 12 to go and puts in a lineup that includes Banks, AD and Moses. Screw around with AD and Moses in the perimeter and see how fast 25 becomes 10.

That isn't what happened though. We were up 24 at that point. We proceeded to outscore them 15-7 over the next 7. That's a little different than watching a 25 point lead become 10.

 

[BeeRBee]

Well if that’s the case you can’t have Moses out there

I admit that I was surprised when I saw that lineup out there, but at the game I really didn’t think there was any risk of losing the game at that point.

My only thought is that they think at some point they might need to play a “big” lineup based on matchups, and this was just experimenting as Oriental suggests. But it was whiplash since I think there had been 4 guards out there earlier.

 

[AE 87]

My thoughts, I’ll list concerns first

• This was the first time in CJP era thag I can remember when I thought coaching could cost us a game. We get up by 26 and he calls off the dogs with 12 to go and puts in a lineup that includes Banks, AD and Moses. Screw around with AD and Moses in the perimeter and see how fast 25 becomes 10. And why pull Curt? Kid is having his best night as a college player and you sit him for 5-6 in the middle of the second half. Hit the gas, win by 50
• Banks is rushing a bit. Wants to make a huge impact immediately. It’ll come, and it did later on with a nice no look from Jose for a slam.
• We are so guard heavy we can never put our best five in the court of Jose, Alston, Phillips CGB and Devoe.

What I liked

• I never thought I’d be a Brandon Alston guy but he is playing better than I ever thought he would. Gotta give credit where it’s due, through three games @connell62 looks brilliant in that prediction
• Devoe, Alvarado and CGG. Love this trio. Jose was all over the place last night and Devoe and Curt shot it really well.
• Love that Pastner left Moore in the game after that horse **** flagrant.
• AD just keeps hitting that little hook over the left shoulder. If he could get a little deeper he’d be damn near unstoppable in spurts.
• I really like Shembari as well. We seem to play a bit more poised when he’s on the court.
• Guard depth haha. The last con is also a pro. We have 5 good guards.

I think we lost early ooc games to lesser teams in each of the last two years where CJP played down the bench. I think we actually look better with our top 7 this year than in the past and can handle having to put them back in if it starts getting too close (like against Lamar).

 

[Novajacket]

I think the slow starts are due to a lot of changes and the team learning to play together. It’s important that we start to develop our offensive identity in the OOC schedule to be ready for the ACC. I think we are already starting to see the defensive identity coming along faster. I think we are head to a better season than last year, but not as good as CJP first year. I want to see these guys develop together and am excited to see what will happen when they do.

 

[CuseJacket]

For the self-proclaimed GTSwarm ice cream connoisseurs...

 

[CuseJacket]

Best athlete on the team: Khalid Moore. He jumps off the screen compared to everyone else. He is ACC ready athletically. If we can harness it this year by getting him up to speed defensively, even if the trade-off is limitations offense, I won't mind seeing him get a lot of minutes this year at the 3 or even the 4, depending on opponent. I really like his upside more than anticipated after seeing the first few games.

 

[YlJacket]

I have not seen enough of Moore to comment, so really a question - would you rate his "athleticism" as more/higher than Moses? quickness/hops/burst speed/etc?

 

[lv20gt]

I have not seen enough of Moore to comment, so really a question - would you rate his "athleticism" as more/higher than Moses? quickness/hops/burst speed/etc?

I'd say Moses has a higher ceiling athletically because you have to factor in length and height. Right now Moore is more coordinated in his movements and looks smoother.

 

[CuseJacket]

I'd say Moses has a higher ceiling athletically because you have to factor in length and height. Right now Moore is more coordinated in his movements and looks smoother.

Agree with the 2nd sentence. For whatever reason I don't personally consider height/length to play a role in "athleticism". Maybe it is by definition in the dictionary, but a 7'6" guy who is just tall but can't move isn't in any conversation, let alone one with Will Bynum, for example. Just my opinion. Moses held the thrown, at least in my mind, coming into the season. I'm interested to see who can get higher off the floor and above the rim.

 

[lv20gt]

Agree with the 2nd sentence. For whatever reason I don't personally consider height/length to play a role in "athleticism". Maybe it is by definition in the dictionary, but a 7'6" guy who is just tall but can't move isn't in any conversation, let alone one with Will Bynum, for example. Just my opinion. Moses held the thrown, at least in my mind, coming into the season. I'm interested to see who can get higher off the floor and above the rim.

I did a terrible job making my point there. I think Moore looks smoother and more coordinated in large part because of the late growth Moses had. I think over the course of the next two years you will see Moses become more used to his body and look smoother. IMO he already does to some degree this year. Once that happens I think you have two very similar athletes, but one will be 3 inches taller, probably ~30 pounds heavier, and with a longer wingspan. While I agree that height alone doesn't make someone a great athlete, I do think it plays a big part in separating great athletes. For instance would Calvin be seen in the same way if he were 6-1? MJ if he were 6-2? Lebron if he were 6-4?