Loyola Chicago (8) vs. Georgia Tech (9), Friday, 4pm ET, TBS

[GTbball2016]

Comes down to this. Jose, Mike and Ush scored about their average and we lost by 9. Is Moses worth a 10 point swing in our favor in a game like this? Probably

I think he makes a bigger difference on the boards, to be honest. We rebounded as poorly as possible.

 

[smokey_wasp]

I think he makes a bigger difference on the boards, to be honest. We rebounded as poorly as possible.

Yeah I agree. In that regard, he may have been worth more than +10 in this game

 

[lv20gt]

Its the NCAAT in a nutshell. We shot our season high best from the floor the last time I looked and still lost. Any team can get hot and shoot with their eyes closed from 3 and they’re unbeatable. Happens every tournament multiple times.

They weren't really super hot from 3. They were 40% which is good, but not spectacular. FWIW, I believe their TO% today would be pretty in line with what you would expect based on their %s and ours. They won because we went tiny ball and got punished for it on the boards and a lack of contest at the rim (when they did get to it). It was super predictable.

Moses averages 17 and what did Howard get - 2 or 4? Not for lack of effort, but just couldn’t get it done today.

Howard played 8 minutes. Moses averaged 35. Moore gave us 8 points and 1 rebound in 31 minutes. Bubba played 38 minutes and gave us 6 points, although he did pull down 5 rebounds.

The truth is, for this game, with Moses out, the decision to not prioritize getting Howard/Saba more game experience and get them prepared killed us. We got killed on the boards and it was the most predictable thing on the earth because for 32 minutes we went tiny ball. And before someone argues "did you watch them play, that's why they didn't play more". Yeah. I did. I also watched Moses Wright play 17 mpg as a freshman and 19 mpg as a sophomore when he wasn't ready also. And it very much helped him. Every one of our core players, Mose, Jose, Mike, Jordan played through their issues and are better off because of it. And as far as next year, I absolutely do not want a mediocre demarco cox/nick jacobs level grad transfer. Commit to developing the bigs we have and let them play through their mistakes like those that came before them.

Now for the year the gamble paid off and we won an ACCT, but it absolutely was a killer decision for us this game.

 

[D-man44]

They weren't really super hot from 3. They were 40% which is good, but not spectacular. FWIW, I believe their TO% today would be pretty in line with what you would expect based on their %s and ours. They won because we went tiny ball and got punished for it on the boards and a lack of contest at the rim (when they did get to it). It was super predictable.



Howard played 8 minutes. Moses averaged 35. Moore gave us 8 points and 1 rebound in 31 minutes. Bubba played 38 minutes and gave us 6 points, although he did pull down 5 rebounds.

The truth is, for this game, with Moses out, the decision to not prioritize getting Howard/Saba more game experience and get them prepared killed us. We got killed on the boards and it was the most predictable thing on the earth because for 32 minutes we went tiny ball. And before someone argues "did you watch them play, that's why they didn't play more". Yeah. I did. I also watched Moses Wright play 17 mpg as a freshman and 19 mpg as a sophomore when he wasn't ready also. And it very much helped him. Every one of our core players, Mose, Jose, Mike, Jordan played through their issues and are better off because of it. And as far as next year, I absolutely do not want a mediocre demarco cox/nick jacobs level grad transfer. Commit to developing the bigs we have and let them play through their mistakes like those that came before them.

Now for the year the gamble paid off and we won an ACCT, but it absolutely was a killer decision for us this game.

Dear lord back to the playing a short bench thing. There is absolutely no guarantee GT is here if you are sitting players more.

 

[GTbball2016]

It’s harder to develop some players than others obviously. Moses has quick twitch ability way more than others. Howard is never going to be an offensive stud.

 

[UgaBlows]

Krutwig had a meh game, i personally think Moses would have feasted on him, 15+ points and 10 rebounds at least

 

[lv20gt]

Dear lord back to the playing a short bench thing. There is absolutely no guarantee GT is here if you are sitting players more.

Man, it's almost like I said....

Now for the year the gamble paid off and we won an ACCT, but it absolutely was a killer decision for us this game.

 

[D-man44]

Man, it's almost like I said....

Just no reason to say it. Virginia for example plays just as short a bench. Most college teams even high end ones can’t replace rotation talent. ex Ohio state and Tennessee today

 

[LibertyTurns]

19 to 9 fouls, that's some BS. Refs were ****ing awful.

Everyone’s pointing to different things but this is THE stat that mattered today. Early fouls on Moore and Ush limited their defense and rebounding ability. Without Moses we had ZERO depth. The 10 foul differential with our 60% shooting night is 6 extra shots we didn‘t make, 12 pts. Add to that additional time they’re on defense expending energy. Some of those 3’s probably don’t go down. Flip the tables & give us their advantage and that’s 12 buckets, 24 pts plus a ton of rebounding. We lost the whistle battle & hence the war.

 

[smokey_wasp]

Disregard my bad math in my last post. Tequila

 

[lv20gt]

Just no reason to say it. Virginia for example plays just as short a bench. Most college teams even high end ones can’t replace rotation talent. ex Ohio state and Tennessee today

It's not just a short bench combined with team composition. Last year we had a short bench but we had both Banks and Moses. So if one went out we still had at least one front court player. This year we had a short bench with exactly 1 front court player already going small. And we did nothing to account for the possibility of something happening to Moses, which considering the covid situation was likely.

Also, UVA did exactly what I'm talking about. Justin McKoy wasn't a usual rotation player for them, but he still got time early, 70 through their first 4.

 

[gt24]

They weren't really super hot from 3. They were 40% which is good, but not spectacular. FWIW, I believe their TO% today would be pretty in line with what you would expect based on their %s and ours. They won because we went tiny ball and got punished for it on the boards and a lack of contest at the rim (when they did get to it). It was super predictable.



Howard played 8 minutes. Moses averaged 35. Moore gave us 8 points and 1 rebound in 31 minutes. Bubba played 38 minutes and gave us 6 points, although he did pull down 5 rebounds.

The truth is, for this game, with Moses out, the decision to not prioritize getting Howard/Saba more game experience and get them prepared killed us. We got killed on the boards and it was the most predictable thing on the earth because for 32 minutes we went tiny ball. And before someone argues "did you watch them play, that's why they didn't play more". Yeah. I did. I also watched Moses Wright play 17 mpg as a freshman and 19 mpg as a sophomore when he wasn't ready also. And it very much helped him. Every one of our core players, Mose, Jose, Mike, Jordan played through their issues and are better off because of it. And as far as next year, I absolutely do not want a mediocre demarco cox/nick jacobs level grad transfer. Commit to developing the bigs we have and let them play through their mistakes like those that came before them.

Now for the year the gamble paid off and we won an ACCT, but it absolutely was a killer decision for us this game.

i agree that the lack of early and mid-season PT for howard/saba hurt some tonight. i think even with more PT howard/saba during this season, both would still be a full off-season away from giving us what we needed today. impossible to know, but that's where i see them on their development trajectory.

i 100% agree with you on the transfer big point. dont bring in anyone that is not a proven P6 starter. like you, i'd lean toward developing howard saba and meka.

i bet pastner agrees with you about playing howard or saba more this season and developing at least one of them along the way. i think that was his plan. but once we lost those first 2 games, i think all plans for developing depth went out the window. both saba and howard got into those early season games in the first half. but when we lost those first 2 games, i think pastner decided the margin for error on losses was zero, and he was going to ride the top 7 all year long. he was coaching for his job and for simply getting enough wins to get into the tournament. especially knowing that "x" number of games could disappear from the schedule at anytime due to covid, or key players could be out 2 weeks at anytime during acc play. he was simply trying to pile up as many wins as possible before the unknown occurred.

 

[dullivan]

I’m still so mad, officials were terrible!!! They gave Loyala every benefit of the doubt to the jump balls to the fouls and so on. It was a great season, I should be happier after what we as a fan base have endured for the last ten years. Lots of positives from the season, saw a lot of potential from Howard hopefully he watches the tape and realizes he needs the “want to” for rebounding and toughness, the kid could be special. Usher was the man!!! So happy he came back home to MaTech. Sturdivant will learn from today, again lots of potential. Needless to say I’m so sad for Mosses. With this season it brought back so much hope and promise for the future. Praying all of our seniors come back, if not all the success in the world to those great representatives of GT!!!

 

[gt24]

It’s harder to develop some players than others obviously. Moses has quick twitch ability way more than others. Howard is never going to be an offensive stud.

i think howard has a lower ceiling than others, but i still think he could be a very solid respectable back up big man in the ACC the next 2 years. of course, reveno has proven that he can raise the perceived ceiling of alot of guys, so maybe i'm an idiot for putting a ceiling on what he can do with howard? i think saba and meka pass by howard by next december.

 

[GaTech4ever]

I have to diasgree. If your guards are breaking them down consistently, you score more than 60 against a team without an interior defender. I honestly thought they were our equivalent in terms of athletes. I think we may have won with Moses but that was a quality team that would have been a struggle even with our real #5. However I recognize that this is just my opinion after only seeing them once.

I thought they were really well coached, which made their athletes seem better.

 

[Aanderson1839]

I’m watching these other games and thinking that with Moses and better seeding we are at least a sweet 16 team.

 

[lauraee]

I’m watching these other games and thinking that with Moses and better seeding we are at least a sweet 16 team.

Like Cuse, who are killing SDST

 

[1979jacket]

The early fouls to Moore and Usher hurt us badly. I thought before the game that it might make sense to start Howard to keep Moore out of early foul trouble. Might have been a good call. Loyola center was not talented but wide and savvy and coaxed Moore into a couple of early fouls. The refs were a little ticky tacky as well. But there were definitely some plays near the rim after Moore got two fouls where he appropriately backed off to avoid another foul. Early in the game he was attacking the shooter with some success. In the end however #1 for Loloa won them the game with some big shots and good defense. He was strong. Moses strength would have helped us against him.

 

[bke1984]

They did kill us with those 3’s, but a lot of them came from broken plays when we played good d for 27 seconds. Also Williamson for them was unconscious. It seemed like he couldn’t miss.

Yeah it was pretty much nonsense threes falling at the end of the shot clock that created the spread. Without those that game is really close at the end and could have gone either way. With Moses we win easily I think. Oh well, great season. Pumped to be ACC Champs.

Maybe we get em all back and take another crack at it with more depth.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

i thought howard showed solid growth this year. some fans got too exuberant about his solid game vs miami. he played almost all of that game in the paint (defensively) and did not need to move around the floor much. as i've said elsewhere, he also got a ton of help via post doubles that game. his poor performance today should not have fans giving up on him. he is a sophomore sub, and almost by definition bound to have ups and downs with some ugly games along the way. i like his progress all season. his performances december to march show solid growth. that said, i have thought all year he looks like a very solid respectable backup center for the next 2 years. the kind of veteran backup big man every team needs. i would not be surprised to see meka and/or saba pass by him in terms of development and minutes. they have higher ceilings than howard, imo. (insert a million more responses calling for a transfer big man.)

likewise, kyle is sophomore sub and had his ups and downs this year. today was one of his worst games, i thought. kyle strikes me as a point guard who will play much better and with much greater consistency with heavy minutes instead of the spot minutes or the inconsistent minutes he had this year. i thought no one on the team had a shorter leash from pastner than kyle this year. kyle got yanked after 1 mistake many many times. ever since december i have been high on kyle's future. thought he deserved more consistent minutes this year, but i can also understand pastner in a make or break year going with mostly veteran guards.

I have not commented on Kyle before because I generally like it when posters are encouraging of Tech student athletes. One question I have is his ball handling. His constant crouching seems to limit his vision and most of his bursts of speed seem to be straight ahead with not a lot of crossover or change of direction. Help me with what I am seeing / not seeing.