Article Jackets Look to "Get Right" vs Clemson

Jackets Look to "Get Right" vs Clemson

Following a short hiatus, guard Brandon Alston is available again for the Jackets (photo courtesy of Glenn Beil, USA TODAY Sports)

Georgia Tech is flirting with dipping under .500 for the first time this season on Wednesday night

This league is such a gauntlet. Only in the Atlantic Coast Conference is it a relief to play the 45th ranked team in KenPom. A team that still ranks just about middle of the pack in the ACC in every defensive category. A team that just blitzed you a mere three weeks ago.

Clemson comes to town on Wednesday sporting a modest two game winning streak (Pittsburgh and Wake). Both games were played at Littlejohn where the Tigers generally take care of business. The Tigers are a less impressive 1-4 in true road games this season though and have yet to put one in the left hand column on the road since before Christmas.

Marcquise Reed continues to put up numbers for the Tigers, averaging a career best 19.1 points per game, but he is not receiving a ton of support. Through eight league games this year, only Elijah Thomas is averaging double figures (13.5) alongside Reed, who leads the Tigers at 17.8 points per game in ACC play.

Shelton Mitchell’s senior season has continued to go unexpectedly. The typically solid southpaw is averaging a pedestrian 7.3 points and 3.3 assists in over 30 minutes per game. His historic reliability from behind the arc has also fallen off. Mitchell shot 45.3% two seasons ago and 36.8% last year. This season, he has fallen all the way to 28.4% and even further in conference play to 25.9%.  In fact, on the season, Clemson ranks 271st in three point field goal percentage.  They are, however, one of the best rebounding teams in the country, so defensive rebounding could be a pivotal part of this contest.

Whether it be the competition or simply the performance, Haslam has Clemson’s two most recent games as two of their three best performances on the season.

KenPom predicts the game at 63-62 in favor of Clemson, while Haslam has it at 62-58 in favor of the kitties as well.

It’s difficult to get too confident as a Georgia Tech fan right now. The Yellow Jackets have not scored more than 61 points in any of their last six games and suffered defeat in five of those six. The solutions aren’t exactly rocket science as we just played a heck of a schedule the last few weeks. That said, James Banks and Curtis Haywood II simply need to play better. In his last three games Banks is averaging 5.3 points and 4.o rebounds along with 4 fouls in 25 minutes. He has also blocked only two shots.

Haywood is just too deep in his own head right now. In his last five games he is shooting 4% from behind the arc. He is obviously a much better shooter than that and a lot of the looks have been clean. He just needs to shoot his way out of it. Something else that could be happening is that he could be hitting the wall. Don’t forget that he only appeared in 15 games last season before undergoing surgery on his leg. Recovery from that surgery affected his conditioning from what we heard out of preseason practice. We are now 21 games into the season and he may be hitting that freshman wall a year late.

I honestly don’t have any idea what to expect, folks. At a minimum I’m looking for continued development from our young guys and continued health from our leaders. Hopefully we get to pick up the win.

 

[wreckrod]

I'm not a basketball coach, but I think everyone, players AND staff, needs a mental reset. Partner should have everyone skip practice today and go ride go karts or play paintball or something completely unrelated to basketball.

Then come back the next practice and go ok, let's start over. Everyone just hit layups. Then mix and match your players for 2 roughly equal teams and let them play but without any plays or coaching. It needs to be fun.

Game plan on defense for the next opponent, but on offense keep concepts super simple. If they're playing man then run some man beater sets, and if they're playing zone overload one side. They just gotta relax and quit thinking. Don't coach anyone to pass or to not pass, just let the game come to them.

 

[slugboy]

I haven’t looked at the box score yet, but my feeling is that this game was a lot like the last Clemson game. To me, the big factor was that they dominated our front court. They blocked shots, slapped the ball down, and bullied us in the paint.
I think they’re a bad matchup for us, but as far as I saw, we did nothing tactically to make up for it. AD would just go body to body and lose. Same with Banks. Why not have Banks screen for AD to give him a jumper 6’ from the basket ?
I’m not a great basketball tactician (I’m not a basketball tactician at all), but this looked like the entire plan was “beat your man”, and we couldn’t.
I know these coaches know basketball, but we still see these kinds of games.
I’ll look at the box score later.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gte447f]

Guards certainly do. Was only able to watch the first half last night but they are completely lacking confidence right now. That really sucks because while I like AD and Banks they aren't the type of guys you can center an offense around. We absolutely need Jose/Devoe/Haywood to get going and if they don't I don't really see any way the offense gets on track this year. I'd much rathers ee us try and make a concentrated effort to get our guards some opportunities rather than center our offense around post ups. We should still obviously do it, but it needs to be a supplementary aspect of our offense rather than the primary one.

I felt the same way after the first half last night. AD and Banks are a good option to score in the post, but they aren't good enough to be the only option. And, I love the old school jump hook , but I felt that if we take the majority of our shots with our backs to the basket, opposing defenses can live with that and will give us that all night. The guards needed to be more aggressive in either getting their own shots or working without the ball to get shots. They didn't do either. I don't think they are really that capable of getting their own shots off the dribble (except maybe Devoe a little bit), so that means they need to be working without the ball off screening and cutting to get open jump shots or open paths to the basket. Jose moves off the ball a little, though he rarely gets any open looks as a result of it, and Haywood and Alston hardly move at all. Way too much standing still. This has to be on the coaches. I cannot understand a coaching staff that can watch lack of ball movement and player movement to this degree and be ok with it.

 

[kg01]

I'm not a basketball coach, but I think everyone, players AND staff, needs a mental reset. Partner should have everyone skip practice today and go ride go karts or play paintball or something completely unrelated to basketball.

Then come back the next practice and go ok, let's start over. Everyone just hit layups. Then mix and match your players for 2 roughly equal teams and let them play but without any plays or coaching. It needs to be fun.

Game plan on defense for the next opponent, but on offense keep concepts super simple. If they're playing man then run some man beater sets, and if they're playing zone overload one side. They just gotta relax and quit thinking. Don't coach anyone to pass or to not pass, just let the game come to them.

That's actually a great idea. They can't get out of their own way.

I wonder if this is a byproduct of CPast being so overly demonstrative lately. I think we all saw it as a good thing when they were playing well but it may have reached the point of diminishing returns (making things more mentally taxing).

 

[gte447f]

I haven’t looked at the box score yet, but my feeling is that this game was a lot like the last Clemson game. To me, the big factor was that they dominated our front court. They blocked shots, slapped the ball down, and bullied us in the paint.
I think they’re a bad matchup for us, but as far as I saw, we did nothing tactically to make up for it. AD would just go body to body and lose. Same with Banks. Why not have Banks screen for AD to give him a jumper 6’ from the basket ?
I’m not a great basketball tactician (I’m not a basketball tactician at all), but this looked like the entire plan was “beat your man”, and we couldn’t.
I know these coaches know basketball, but we still see these kinds of games.
I’ll look at the box score later.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You are exactly right about the strategy seeming to be, "just beat your man", specifically Banks and AD in the post. For the last several games, Pastner's stated strategy has been to "punch it down low". It's a fine strategy, but it can't be your only strategy. You have to be able to adapt if the other team is adapting to what you are doing. Teams are recognizing that we are getting all of our offensive production from the low post, and are adapting to stop us. Banks got out physicalled by Clemson. That is not a surprise. He struggles against physical defenders. He gets pushed off the block and too far outside, he looses the ball a lot if there is traffic or contact, and he has trouble finishes at the rim in traffic though contact (lots of missed bunnies and dunks). AD has some nice moves and footwork, and can handle most people who defend him one on one, but teams collapse on him and defend him with double and triple teams. With this "punch it down low" strategy of late, both these guys are black holes; once the ball goes in there, it doesn't come back out, regardless of what the defense is doing. Teams are now happy to let us through it into the post and play us 2 on 1 or 3 on 1 to force a turnover or bad shot from one of our bigs, with little danger of getting burned by them finding an open teammate.

 

[smokey_wasp]

Really rooting for Pastner but it's hard to see how he gets his head back above water at this point. Wonder what those 3 big recruits thought of what they saw?

 

[GTJake]

The only thing I can say (I guess for the record) is ... I watched the whole game.
And to add, starting to wonder if CJP has lost it ???

 

[MiracleWhips]

The only thing I can say (I guess for the record) is ... I watched the whole game.
And to add, starting to wonder if CJP has lost it ???

define it?

 

[Peacone36]

The only thing I can say (I guess for the record) is ... I watched the whole game.
And to add, starting to wonder if CJP has lost it ???

I think by the video that @dtm1997 posted that Pastner is just as frustrated as all of us

 

[GTJake]

define it?

We are not improving and CJP looks confused ... don't get me wrong I'm not a CJP hater and hope he can turn it around, but it seems to be going in the wrong direction and IMO he need to get his recruiting swag back in a hurry !!

 

[H-Wade]

I think by the video that @dtm1997 posted that Pastner is just as frustrated as all of us

Yeah that was the most defeated he's ever sounded since he's been here.

 

[gte447f]

I'm not a fan of CJP calling out specific players in these press interactions. Every now and then is fine, but when your guys are obviously in a mental mess is not the right time. "We need so-and-so to be better" is not a strategy, it's a hope. He said the same thing about Lammers constantly last season. I know he doesn't do it with ill will, but I don't think he is considering the harm it may do to the guys' psyche. It is not helping.

 

[dtm1997]

I'm not a fan of CJP calling out specific players in these press interactions. Every now and then is fine, but when your guys are obviously in a mental mess is not the right time. "We need so-and-so to be better" is not a strategy, it's a hope. He said the same thing about Lammers constantly last season. I know he doesn't do it with ill will, but I don't think he is considering the harm it may do to the guys' psyche. It is not helping.

I agree with you and not sure he did it here, but often times he'll speak about a specific performance that wasn't great and follow it up with how & why that player will be better in the future.

 

[kg01]

I agree with you and not sure he did it here, but often times he'll speak about a specific performance that wasn't great and follow it up with how & why that player will be better in the future.

I sense you're drifting to the dark side, dtm. Resist. The jedi needs you.

 

[dtm1997]

I sense you're drifting to the dark side, dtm. Resist. The jedi needs you.

Here's my view...

I live in the reality CJP is likely getting 5 years due to his contract.

I believe there are scenarios he can turn it around and still succeed at GT. My hope is that he does achieve one of these scenarios.

If I see certain players leave GT after this season, I will be the first to say Pastner should be fired and it's just a matter of time before it can happen, given buyout realities. I did the same when Carter decided to transfer.

I remain extremely pissed DLaB is gone and thrilled Bud Petersen is out. Bud had plenty of bigger fish to fry, but if you can't be a proponent of athletics, at least don't be an impediment. You'll never convince me DLaB deserved more than a 1 year suspension. At most!

I think between the two new assistants, one is absolutely showing his worth & hard work, while the other may not prove to be adding enough value. My preference is to keep the former and let the latter be judged at year end.

Always & unequivocally support our student athletes. Provide a constructive criticism the way YLJacket or ESPNJacket do about our offense, but if you're about to type something ****ty about a player, think twice. Then, if you're still gonna do it, STFU and GFY.

The bottom line is that I'm not for or against CJP at this point. The trend is not good and I think we're on pace for a change after year 5, but in the meantime I'll continue to support our players, hope for the best, and tell the whiners to cut a fat check (or a fatter check) if you're so distraught about the performance. Money talks, Bull**** walks.

 

[MidtownJacket]

Here's my view...

I live in the reality CJP is likely getting 5 years due to his contract.

I believe there are scenarios he can turn it around and still succeed at GT. My hope is that he does achieve one of these scenarios.

If I see certain players leave GT after this season, I will be the first to say Pastner should be fired and it's just a matter of time before it can happen, given buyout realities. I did the same when Carter decided to transfer.

I remain extremely pissed DLaB is gone and thrilled Bud Petersen is out. Bud had plenty of bigger fish to fry, but if you can't be a proponent of athletics, at least don't be an impediment. You'll never convince me DLaB deserved more than a 1 year suspension. At most!

I think between the two new assistants, one is absolutely showing his worth & hard work, while the other may not prove to be adding enough value. My preference is to keep the former and let the latter be judged at year end.

Always & unequivocally support our student athletes. Provide a constructive criticism the way YLJacket or ESPNJacket do about our offense, but if you're about to type something ****ty about a player, think twice. Then, if you're still gonna do it, STFU and GFY.

The bottom line is that I'm not for or against CJP at this point. The trend is not good and I think we're on pace for a change after year 5, but in the meantime I'll continue to support our players, hope for the best, and tell the whiners to cut a fat check (or a fatter check) if you're so distraught about the performance. Money talks, Bull**** walks.

Loved this post enough that it needed a plus two

 

[kg01]

Here's my view...

I live in the reality CJP is likely getting 5 years due to his contract.

I believe there are scenarios he can turn it around and still succeed at GT. My hope is that he does achieve one of these scenarios.

If I see certain players leave GT after this season, I will be the first to say Pastner should be fired and it's just a matter of time before it can happen, given buyout realities. I did the same when Carter decided to transfer.

I remain extremely pissed DLaB is gone and thrilled Bud Petersen is out. Bud had plenty of bigger fish to fry, but if you can't be a proponent of athletics, at least don't be an impediment. You'll never convince me DLaB deserved more than a 1 year suspension. At most!

I think between the two new assistants, one is absolutely showing his worth & hard work, while the other may not prove to be adding enough value. My preference is to keep the former and let the latter be judged at year end.

Always & unequivocally support our student athletes. Provide a constructive criticism the way YLJacket or ESPNJacket do about our offense, but if you're about to type something ****ty about a player, think twice. Then, if you're still gonna do it, STFU and GFY.

The bottom line is that I'm not for or against CJP at this point. The trend is not good and I think we're on pace for a change after year 5, but in the meantime I'll continue to support our players, hope for the best, and tell the whiners to cut a fat check (or a fatter check) if you're so distraught about the performance. Money talks, Bull**** walks.

You forgot to drop that mic, dt.

Very well-stated. Shockingly you and I agree on like 93% of that. Only difference being one of us thinks the hay is outta the barn and we're just biding time.

'Til then, totally support our guys. Hope for better.

 

[dtm1997]

You forgot to drop that mic, dt.

Very well-stated. Shockingly you and I agree on like 93% of that. Only difference being one of us thinks the hay is outta the barn and we're just biding time.

'Til then, totally support our guys. Hope for better.

Are there scenarios he can still turn it around? Yes.

Are there many more scenarios than when Doctor Strange found 1 winner in 14,000,000 during Infinity War? Yes, but not too many more.

 

[kg01]

Are there scenarios he can still turn it around? Yes.

Are there many more scenarios than when Doctor Strange found 1 winner in 14,000,000 during Infinity War? Yes, but not too many more.

I said resist the dark side, dt. We need you on that wall. We use words like buyouts, budget and ..

.. wait, I'm mixing movie references aren't I?

 

[lv20gt]

You have to be able to adapt if the other team is adapting to what you are doing.

You're not wrong but there isn't always an answer. I think we're trying to focus on getting it inside because Ad and Banks were the ones who were getting some good results. I don't think there is really much that we can do on the offensive end to spark things this year. We can move to more motion, go to a double high post, or try various sets, but I think at the core, right now we don't have guys who can make the shots that we do get, and so they have no confidence. When your entire back court looks like they don't trust themselves to shoot or finish a drive it's not likely that there is a right button to push.

The only thing I could see us maybe wanting to try is taking more chances on defense for steal and runouts, but I fear that would just lead to giving up more points than it produced. I do wish we had scheduled one of those cupcake games in the middle of the year to maybe regain some confidence.