Jackets vs. LSU 12/11, 6PM

[gte447f]

LSU did not look like a good TEAM to me. They played bad, sloppy, undisciplined, playground/AAU style basketball. A good TEAM playing with sound fundamentals could have smoked them. Unfortunately, GT got forced into playing the same bad, sloppy, undisciplined, playground/AAU style of basketball and we got smoked because they had superior athletes to us.

We played great defense for the 1st 15 or so minutes of regulation and that pushed us ahead by 15 points. But we were already playing way too sloppy. We missed some easy shots around the basket and we missed some free throws which didn’t help, but it was the turnover’s that killed us. We had 15 turnovers at half. We were shooting about 55% at half and they were shooting only 30% but we were only up by 4 points and they already had 4 more shots than us mainly because of the out of control turnovers.

In the second half it was more turnovers and also losing tons of offensive boards. The net result was they took 14 more shots than us. They got a ton of fast break and second chance points in the second half.

I hate to say it, but I also saw what looked like some lazy, half-hearted defensive effort by our guys, even our veterans, down the stretch when it was apparent that the game was out of reach.

It doesn’t get any easier. Our next game against USC is supposedly the hardest game in this stretch of 4 based on their undefeated record and their top 15 ranking. I hope Pastner can make some adjustments and get our guys playing a bit better. Unfortunately, this 4 game OOC stretch is shaping up to really impact our season in a negative way. I was really hoping for a good season, for the fans and for our seniors. I’ll be in McCamish from here on out cheering for the best. Go Jackets!

 

[augustabuzz]

if only basketball games were only the first half we’d be undefeated. Just haven’t been able to keep it for a full 2 halves in most of these games. Hoping as the season goes on that’ll change.

I knew we were done for the night with 5 min. left in the 1st half. That's when we lost our legs. I watched the rest of the half and listened to most of the second. But, I had the flu also and it took me an additional 2 1/2 weeks to get back to strength after all symptoms were gone. They should recover quicker than me.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I knew we were done for the night with 5 min. left in the 1st half. That's when we lost our legs. I watched the rest of the half and listened to most of the second. But, I had the flu also and it took me an additional 2 1/2 weeks to get back to strength after all symptoms were gone. They should recover quicker than me.

And, as even basketball novices like me know, once you lose your legs, you also lose the stroke on your shots.

 

[Root4GT]

And, as even basketball novices like me know, once you lose your legs, you also lose the stroke on your shots.

Face facts. We are not a good BB team this year. We have been beaten by the 3 pretty good teams we played, blown out by two of them. We lost to an average MAC team. We have beaten a bunch of nobodies.

Besides Devoe going off we have no offense.

The ACC is a poor conference this year as it was last year.

Frankly there is nothing encouraging on our team play to date.

 

[GTbball2016]

Face facts. We are not a good BB team this year. We have been beaten by the 3 pretty good teams we played, blown out by two of them. We lost to an average MAC team. We have beaten a bunch of nobodies.

Besides Devoe going off we have no offense.

The ACC is a poor conference this year as it was last year.

Frankly there is nothing encouraging on our team play to date.

Even the wins were way too close against a lot of bad teams (not including UGa).

 

[gte447f]

Face facts. We are not a good BB team this year. We have been beaten by the 3 pretty good teams we played, blown out by two of them. We lost to an average MAC team. We have beaten a bunch of nobodies.

Besides Devoe going off we have no offense.

The ACC is a poor conference this year as it was last year.

Frankly there is nothing encouraging on our team play to date.

In those 2 blowout losses, we were up by 9 and 15 points midway to late in the 1st half. What say you? Personally, I think it demonstrates that we were not completely outclassed in either of those losses, and frankly, could have won them both if we had played the right way for a complete game, especially the LSU game more so than the UNC game. It’s still frustrating, because every game that we’ve lost we could have just as easily won, except maybe UNC, and even that one was not a foregone conclusion. I like the momentum that Pastner seems to be building, but his teams have consistently demonstrated a couple of bad trends, namely starting every season slowly and racking up multiple bad losses, and also not demonstrating the killer instinct necessary to play a full game and put teams away when we have them in on the ropes.

 

[alagold]

It was obvious from game 1 that we did not have a front-ct to rebound vs big teams.Didn't really show up until few games. Add that to TOs and bad FT % and you have no chance.
Will we beat out pitt who supposedly has a REALLY bad team if MD goes down.?.

 

[Tech93]

Unfortunately we will end the season below 500 this year. We just don’t have the right pieces.

 

[awbuzz]

I think that is the playbook on defeating GT this year. Make anyone else on the team beat you, just blanket Devoe.

It has to be on top of the defensive playlist that's for sure.

 

[CuseJacket]

 

[JDjacket]

It's a long season, but these games could hurt our resume come selection sunday...

Eh... they won’t help but I don’t think they’ll hurt as much as you think because most of these 4 games in the stretch will be Q1 losses or wins. Not damaging as far as selection Sunday resumes go but losses don’t move the needle for us either.

 

[AUFC]

I think a lot of you guys are forgetting that the team is going to get better as the season goes on. Is this a tournament team now? Probably not. And we should try to minimize the number of losses in early season play. But if Rodney gets better, and 1 of Deivon/Kyle find their stride and take lead, and Deebo can become a double digit ppg scorer, and Miles starts hitting his 3s, etc.......

My point is, I think we have the potential to be really competitive. We will have a better idea of who this team is when mid January and the start of February rolls around. Do you remember what happened to Moses Wright in February 2019? The coaches on our staff have a proven track record and there's no reason we can't get a guy or 2 to make similar progress.

Just enjoy the ride. Watching these guys hustle and win 50/50 balls for 2-4 hours is the highlight of my 168 hour week.

 

[Root4GT]

In those 2 blowout losses, we were up by 9 and 15 points midway to late in the 1st half. What say you? Personally, I think it demonstrates that we were not completely outclassed in either of those losses, and frankly, could have won them both if we had played the right way for a complete game, especially the LSU game more so than the UNC game. It’s still frustrating, because every game that we’ve lost we could have just as easily won, except maybe UNC, and even that one was not a foregone conclusion. I like the momentum that Pastner seems to be building, but his teams have consistently demonstrated a couple of bad trends, namely starting every season slowly and racking up multiple bad losses, and also not demonstrating the killer instinct necessary to play a full game and put teams away when we have them in on the ropes.

So for the final 25+ minutes we were out scored by 25+ points twice. That says way more then getting an early lead. A blowout is a blowout.

 

[Root4GT]

I think a lot of you guys are forgetting that the team is going to get better as the season goes on. Is this a tournament team now? Probably not. And we should try to minimize the number of losses in early season play. But if Rodney gets better, and 1 of Deivon/Kyle find their stride and take lead, and Deebo can become a double digit ppg scorer, and Miles starts hitting his 3s, etc.......

My point is, I think we have the potential to be really competitive. We will have a better idea of who this team is when mid January and the start of February rolls around. Do you remember what happened to Moses Wright in February 2019? The coaches on our staff have a proven track record and there's no reason we can't get a guy or 2 to make similar progress.

Just enjoy the ride. Watching these guys hustle and win 50/50 balls for 2-4 hours is the highlight of my 168 hour week.

If we aren’t competitive in the very down ACC we are in big trouble. The overall conference’s OOC performance has been really bad this year.

 

[GTJason]

I think Howard developing is the key to this season. He plays around the rim like he's 6" shorter than he actually is and has the agility of someone 6" taller than he is. I know he's trying to not draw the offensive foul and his agility isn't something we're going to fix quickly but if you back someone into that circle make them pay! Missing layups and even dunks is one thing but the big guy shouldn't be getting stuffed. Good news is I think he has the ability. We'll find out whether he can figure out when to turn it on

 

[forensicbuzz]

I think Howard developing is the key to this season. He plays around the rim like he's 6" shorter than he actually is and has the agility of someone 6" taller than he is. I know he's trying to not draw the offensive foul and his agility isn't something we're going to fix quickly but if you back someone into that circle make them pay! Missing layups and even dunks is one thing but the big guy shouldn't be getting stuffed. Good news is I think he has the ability. We'll find out whether he can figure out when to turn it on

I don't care if he scores, per se, I'm more interested in his defense and rebounds. We need him to own the boards and shut down other bigs. If he does that, I don't care if he ever scores a point. The problem is he's not doing the other two things I think he needs to be doing.

 

[GTbball2016]

I don't care if he scores, per se, I'm more interested in his defense and rebounds. We need him to own the boards and shut down other bigs. If he does that, I don't care if he ever scores a point. The problem is he's not doing the other two things I think he needs to be doing.

Don’t you think we need a little interior scoring though? We have two other positions that aren’t contributing a ton of points. Totally separate, I watched Purdue yesterday and Trevion Williams would be the perfect center in Pastner’s offense.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I don't care if he scores, per se, I'm more interested in his defense and rebounds. We need him to own the boards and shut down other bigs. If he does that, I don't care if he ever scores a point. The problem is he's not doing the other two things I think he needs to be doing.

He seems to lack confidence. Wish we had an “easy” game where we could tell him to cut loose and let him practice playing around the basket, taking shots until he relaxes about it.

 

[gte447f]

I don't care if he scores, per se, I'm more interested in his defense and rebounds. We need him to own the boards and shut down other bigs. If he does that, I don't care if he ever scores a point. The problem is he's not doing the other two things I think he needs to be doing.

You’ve made this point several times now, and in principle, it’s fine, but in reality this lineup is not exploding with points from any of the other positions except Devoe, and when defenses blanket Devoe we need anyone else who touches the ball to be at least a competent threat to score. Lately, Pastner and the players have all been using the exact quote of “equal opportunity offense” to describe our offensive sets and motions. The coaches and the team seem to have an expectation of everybody taking what’s available to them and that should include Rodney scoring when he has the opportunity around the basket. That doesn’t necessarily mean shooting from the elbows or the nail, which a lot of fans want to see, but which simply doesn’t seem to be within his capabilities right now. Dunks, put-backs, and short range jump hooks off post-ups are what he needs to be contributing.

This LSU game he took 11 shots, the most of any one on the team. He only made 3. A big man needs to be up around 50% or better from the floor in the post area. Now, you and I will probably agree that he shouldn’t be our leading shot taker and he shouldn’t be shooting 11 times if he’s only making 27%, but watch the tape and you will see that early on there was a concerted effort to feed him in the post much more than most other games this season, so the coaches seem to have been intentionally trying to involve him in the scoring production. I personally think it was a smart move and a nice wrinkle that worked a couple of times early. I think it was probably in response to some of the negative feedback of Rodney getting stranded at the nail so frequently trying to run the Princeton stuff through him at the high post. The coaches seem to have changed things up to feed him in the low post and it worked a few times early. He needs more confidence.

 

[forensicbuzz]

You’ve made this point several times now, and in principle, it’s fine, but in reality this lineup is not exploding with points from any of the other positions except Devoe, and when defenses blanket Devoe we need anyone else who touches the ball to be at least a competent threat to score. Lately, Pastner and the players have all been using the exact quote of “equal opportunity offense” to describe our offensive sets and motions. The coaches and the team seem to have an expectation of everybody taking what’s available to them and that should include Rodney scoring when he has the opportunity around the basket. That doesn’t necessarily mean shooting from the elbows or the nail, which a lot of fans want to see, but which simply doesn’t seem to be within his capabilities right now. Dunks, put-backs, and short range jump hooks off post-ups are what he needs to be contributing.

This LSU game he took 11 shots, the most of any one on the team. He only made 3. A big man needs to be up around 50% or better from the floor in the post area. Now, you and I will probably agree that he shouldn’t be our leading shot taker and he shouldn’t be shooting 11 times if he’s only making 27%, but watch the tape and you will see that early on there was a concerted effort to feed him in the post much more than most other games this season, so the coaches seem to have been intentionally trying to involve him in the scoring production. I personally think it was a smart move and a nice wrinkle that worked a couple of times early. I think it was probably in response to some of the negative feedback of Rodney getting stranded at the nail so frequently trying to run the Princeton stuff through him at the high post. The coaches seem to have changed things up to feed him in the low post and it worked a few times early. He needs more confidence.

I agree with your comment about if he's going to take the shots, he needs to be more efficient. Absolutely.

My comment this time wasn't about scoring from #5. My point was that scoring isn't what I'm looking for from this year's #5, it's defense and rebounding. My point was that against LSU, we didn't get a lot of either of those two highly important contributions from our 5.