SecretAgentBuzz
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Happy New Year, GTSwarm! Since we have hit a bit of a new year lull in the season, I thought it would be a good time to check in on the numbers and see how the team is doing so far. Feel free to add your analysis to my amatuer take as well.
Record: 8-4 (1-0)
-This is probably around where we thought we would be. The UMass-Lowell loss was balanced out by the Duke win.
Rankings: 110 (NET), 109 (SRS), 41 (RPI), 112 (KenPom).
-Obviously, the RPI is an interesting outlier, but all of the other rankings put us outside the top 100. Many of these ratings include preseason polls and expectations, so there is still a possibility of a lot of movement here.
Projected Record: 15-16 (8-12)--according to Team Rankings.
-Clearly, we haven't shown enough to get a very positive ACC schedule prediction, but if we've shown anything...its been volatility and inconsistency! If we play like we did against Miss St. and Duke, we could end up much better. My prediction is more like 18-13 (11-9) which would be a good start to CDS career at GT and would give us some positive momentum moving forward.
Strengths: #1: Rebounding. This is somewhat surprising since we aren't a huge team, but between Claude and Ndongo as well as Kelly's newfound hunger for rebounds, we are doing quite well on the boards. We are 15th in the country in ORBS and 19th in total rebounds per game. (You could argue that the ORB opportunities are vast because of our weaknesses...) #2: 3-point defense. Believe it or not, we are holding opponents to 28.3% from outside the arc and that is good for 27th in the country.
Weaknesses: #1: 3-point shooting. We are a miserable 332nd in the country (out of 362) with 28.5%. Whether it is out-of-rhythm shooting, bad looks, or the wrong people taking the shots, I really can't say. Obviously, Kelly has been in a poor shooting slump, but as a team, this has been our biggest weakness. #2: Free-throw shooting. We've been up-and-down here, but overall, a 67.5% from the charity stripe is not very good (287th in the country).
MVP so far: Baye Ndongo. He has really impressed me on both offense and defense. Not only is he athletic, but he has great touch around the basket, great feel for positioning and rebounding, and he passes pretty well for a big guy, too. He blocks and alters a lot of shots, sets a lot of screens on offense, and is always good for a few putbacks per game. He has taken on some really good big men on other teams and not only held his own, but outplayed them. He does not look like a freshman. He has the highest box plus/minus for the team at 8.0 (which, for context, would be the highest BP/M for any GT player since Alvarado's 8.1 in 2020.
LVP so far: Amaree Abram. Man, he's had a tough season. His current Box plus/minus is -7.8. Absolutely no part of his game has looked good this season, and it makes me wonder if he has off-the-court issues that might be bothering him. We know he is a better player than this, and we are hopeful that CDS can pull it out of him, but so far, it hasn't been pretty.
So, what say you? Are we where you thought we would be? Ahead? Behind? And what's your prediction for the rest of the season?
Go Jackets!
Record: 8-4 (1-0)
-This is probably around where we thought we would be. The UMass-Lowell loss was balanced out by the Duke win.
Rankings: 110 (NET), 109 (SRS), 41 (RPI), 112 (KenPom).
-Obviously, the RPI is an interesting outlier, but all of the other rankings put us outside the top 100. Many of these ratings include preseason polls and expectations, so there is still a possibility of a lot of movement here.
Projected Record: 15-16 (8-12)--according to Team Rankings.
-Clearly, we haven't shown enough to get a very positive ACC schedule prediction, but if we've shown anything...its been volatility and inconsistency! If we play like we did against Miss St. and Duke, we could end up much better. My prediction is more like 18-13 (11-9) which would be a good start to CDS career at GT and would give us some positive momentum moving forward.
Strengths: #1: Rebounding. This is somewhat surprising since we aren't a huge team, but between Claude and Ndongo as well as Kelly's newfound hunger for rebounds, we are doing quite well on the boards. We are 15th in the country in ORBS and 19th in total rebounds per game. (You could argue that the ORB opportunities are vast because of our weaknesses...) #2: 3-point defense. Believe it or not, we are holding opponents to 28.3% from outside the arc and that is good for 27th in the country.
Weaknesses: #1: 3-point shooting. We are a miserable 332nd in the country (out of 362) with 28.5%. Whether it is out-of-rhythm shooting, bad looks, or the wrong people taking the shots, I really can't say. Obviously, Kelly has been in a poor shooting slump, but as a team, this has been our biggest weakness. #2: Free-throw shooting. We've been up-and-down here, but overall, a 67.5% from the charity stripe is not very good (287th in the country).
MVP so far: Baye Ndongo. He has really impressed me on both offense and defense. Not only is he athletic, but he has great touch around the basket, great feel for positioning and rebounding, and he passes pretty well for a big guy, too. He blocks and alters a lot of shots, sets a lot of screens on offense, and is always good for a few putbacks per game. He has taken on some really good big men on other teams and not only held his own, but outplayed them. He does not look like a freshman. He has the highest box plus/minus for the team at 8.0 (which, for context, would be the highest BP/M for any GT player since Alvarado's 8.1 in 2020.
LVP so far: Amaree Abram. Man, he's had a tough season. His current Box plus/minus is -7.8. Absolutely no part of his game has looked good this season, and it makes me wonder if he has off-the-court issues that might be bothering him. We know he is a better player than this, and we are hopeful that CDS can pull it out of him, but so far, it hasn't been pretty.
So, what say you? Are we where you thought we would be? Ahead? Behind? And what's your prediction for the rest of the season?
Go Jackets!