Notre Dame - 1/13

[lv20gt]

Does this team have a shot at a decent season and possibly an NCAA bid? At this point it's still hard to say, but these next four games in January will be very telling. Go 2-2 before the Duke game and they have a shot as the schedule gets easier. 1-3 and we can chalk-up another season in the ACC cellar.

When has any GT under gregory been close to making the NCAAs? We don't have a realistic chance this year playing the way we are. Last year the ACC got 6 teams in and all had at least 10 ACC wins, and one 10-8 team was left out. The year before 6 teams, all winning 10 and a 9-9 team left out. Year before that only 4 each having won at least 11 and an 11-7 team was left out. losing 9 in conference pretty much kills any chance we have at an NCAAT bid. The back 8 of our schedule has 4 road games and games against Pitt, UL, ND, and CUx2. With the level of play and consistency, or lack thereof, this team has shown, 5-3 in that stretch is about the best we can hope for. If we can do that then we would need to go 4-2 over our next 6 to hit 10-8 in conference. But quite frankly I don't see us winning either 4 of the next 6 or 5 of the last 8.

 

[Peacone36]

You two are smarter than that. You think those coaches are the top coaches because they act like lunatics every now and again? or is it that they are great recruiters, have top notch staffs and have their teams prepared to go out there and stomp on teams night in and night out?

Don't get me wrong, working the refs is an integral part of coaching but saying we lost last night because BG was hoarse doesn't hunt. I guess you could point to that as an item on a list of things he doesn't do well, but overall he's just not an ACC caliber coach.

 

[GaTech4ever]

I thought Lammers was a force on D in the 1st half, then didn't get on the floor nearly as much in the 2nd. I feel like the same thing happened this year against Pitt, with Jackson having a solid 1st half and not playing as much in the 2nd. Someone please correct me if I am not remembering that correctly. I also don't get Q and Heath both being in the game late when they weren't giving us anything.

We have to run more plays for Smith. Him forcing up shots to get in his rhythm hurts us, but I can't blame him and want him to keep shooting. Just wish we could help him out more.

 

[AE 87]

You two are smarter than that. You think those coaches are the top coaches because they act like lunatics every now and again? or is it that they are great recruiters, have top notch staffs and have their teams prepared to go out there and stomp on teams night in and night out?

Don't get me wrong, working the refs is an integral part of coaching but saying we lost last night because BG was hoarse doesn't hunt. I guess you could point to that as an item on a list of things he doesn't do well, but overall he's just not an ACC caliber coach.

I'm not sure to whom you are addressing this post. Both Cuse and I have explicitly said that we did not lose because of the refs.

 

[CuseJacket]

You two are smarter than that. You think those coaches are the top coaches because they act like lunatics every now and again? or is it that they are great recruiters, have top notch staffs and have their teams prepared to go out there and stomp on teams night in and night out?

Don't get me wrong, working the refs is an integral part of coaching but saying we lost last night because BG was hoarse doesn't hunt. I guess you could point to that as an item on a list of things he doesn't do well, but overall he's just not an ACC caliber coach.

Not sure if I'm one of the two you're referencing. In complete agreement. Also don't think anyone has pinned BG's voice as the primary reason for losing. I think the broader point is the coaches at the top have mastered both big and small things. This is a medium/small thing that is visible, so we talk about it.

Preparedness and recruiting goes without saying. Both have been beaten to death well before last night. I'll just add that I think GT's issues with preparedness are both mental and physical, so basically room for improvement in everything. Starts at the top as you say. Re: recruiting... always helps to have better players. The players we had last night could have been enough if the myriad of other issues were corrected.

 

[Peacone36]

I thought Lammers was a force on D in the 1st half, then didn't get on the floor nearly as much in the 2nd. I feel like the same thing happened this year against Pitt, with Jackson having a solid 1st half and not playing as much in the 2nd. Someone please correct me if I am not remembering that correctly. I also don't get Q and Heath both being in the game late when they weren't giving us anything.

We have to run more plays for Smith. Him forcing up shots to get in his rhythm hurts us, but I can't blame him and want him to keep shooting. Just wish we could help him out more.

We do run Adam off screens but our guys our are usually late getting him the ball. He can't be already standing in the spot you have to hit him just before he gets to the spot. If he is already stationary then the defender has more than likely already gotten off the screen and recovered. Smith is like Sundance, or other great shooters in recent years(Plavich, Cooney, Stiggers, Young) he likes to move while he's shooting.

 

[Peacone36]

I'm not sure to whom you are addressing this post. Both Cuse and I have explicitly said that we did not lose because of the refs.

Someone suggested it early in the thread. I was more addressing the comparison of how those coaches mentioned differ in working the refs than BG. While it is certainly something, it's not what separates those others from him. I may have misinterpreted what was said by who.

Good discussion this morning.

 

[RedPete]

When has any GT under gregory been close to making the NCAAs? We don't have a realistic chance this year playing the way we are. Last year the ACC got 6 teams in and all had at least 10 ACC wins, and one 10-8 team was left out. The year before 6 teams, all winning 10 and a 9-9 team left out. Year before that only 4 each having won at least 11 and an 11-7 team was left out. losing 9 in conference pretty much kills any chance we have at an NCAAT bid. The back 8 of our schedule has 4 road games and games against Pitt, UL, ND, and CUx2. With the level of play and consistency, or lack thereof, this team has shown, 5-3 in that stretch is about the best we can hope for. If we can do that then we would need to go 4-2 over our next 6 to hit 10-8 in conference. But quite frankly I don't see us winning either 4 of the next 6 or 5 of the last 8.

Respectfully disagree. Lots of built-up frustration & hopelessness around here, but I see a team that looks way better than a year ago. This year ACC teams with 10 or 9 conference wins should get bids because everybody did so much better out of conference to boost RPIs. If Tech can make it to 3-5 before losing to Duke & Miami, then they should be good enough to win 6 of 8 down the stretch against that easier schedule and reach 9 ACC wins. If they're 2-6 before Duke then they don't have what it takes.

 

[orientalnc]

We are 1-3 at the point I thought we have that record. I thought the last two games would have flipped the results, but the record is as I predicted. Now we have Four games where we should be able to get three wins if we can play at a "normal" level. Not necessarily like we did against UVA, but like we should be capable of playing most nights.

VT at home is a must win. We cannot be losing to a bottom tier team on our court. Louisville at home is a toss-up and we could beat them with a good game. NC State will be coming off consecutive games against UNC, Pitt, and Duke. In spite of their past successes at home against NC teams, the Pack is staring at 0-7 when we arrive at the end of the month. Our game at Syracuse is still a toss-up in my mind because they have to play Duke, UVA and ND in a row before their game with us. And they will have only one rest/practice day after the ND game. We will flying in with one extra day.

All of those games are winnable, but we will surely drop one of them. I will be very disappointed if we lose more than two. Hopefully we will be 4-4 when Duke and Miami come to Atlanta.

 

[GTJason]

Sorry all, my comment about the yelling at the refs was an observation not an indictment. I post on here rather regularly and usually keep my mouth shut when I have bad things to say. I rarely if ever bash the coach. I was referring to when Auguste was fouled on the shot with 1 second left and the refs didn't even look at him. Watched it again and it didn't cost us the game necessarily but it is a problem it wasn't even reviewed. It was damn close and he didn't even get a look. Maybe we need challenge flags in basketball

 

[MySouthernJacket]

Is it just me, or did MGH look almost scared or like he didn't want to have the ball at the end of the second half?

 

[orientalnc]

Sorry all, my comment about the yelling at the refs was an observation not an indictment. I post on here rather regularly and usually keep my mouth shut when I have bad things to say. I rarely if ever bash the coach. I was referring to when Auguste was fouled on the shot with 1 second left and the refs didn't even look at him. Watched it again and it didn't cost us the game necessarily but it is a problem it wasn't even reviewed. It was damn close and he didn't even get a look. Maybe we need challenge flags in basketball

Challenge flags in basketball would be terrible. It would basically be a vehicle for a coach to call timeout when the opponents have the ball. Terrible. You can forget that ida.

 

[RyanS12]

We looked a little flat last night. This has been a brutal stretch to open league play and 3out of 4 games on the road hadn't made it any better. VT is a huge game Saturday and I think we can pull off another upset against Louisville. That puts us at 3-3 through the first 6 games. I'll take that all day long. Just too bad we couldn't find our touch from outside because that was a road game ready for the taking. ND is a decent team and would've been nice on the resume plus the building was kinda empty. Going to be hard to steal many more away from home. Gotta get them when you can.

 

[Peacone36]

Is it just me, or did MGH look almost scared or like he didn't want to have the ball at the end of the second half?

That would be a first....

 

[AE 87]

Someone suggested it early in the thread. I was more addressing the comparison of how those coaches mentioned differ in working the refs than BG. While it is certainly something, it's not what separates those others from him. I may have misinterpreted what was said by who.

Good discussion this morning.

Well, I think that perhaps a variant of universal vs particular with respect to problems. As you and I have agreed in the past, there are plenty of inadequacies of cBG in the ACC. And the problem of defensive switching that led to Auguste being open for slam dunks several times (by all of our bigs) without correction is part of a systemic universal problem.

However, the problem of the refs in this particular game was a particular tactical issue.

 

[chrsw003]

I cant stand BG's substitutions. He has no feel when to sub people in and out. Its like he decides before the game im going to put this guy in at this minute mark and when he does he usually takes out the guy whos playing well.

 

[chrsw003]

I cant stand BG's substitutions. He has no feel when to sub people in and out. Its like he decides before the game im going to put this guy in at this minute mark and when he does he usually takes out the guy whos playing well.

 

[chrsw003]

Also Mitchel and Jacobs need to learn how to kick the ball out to wide open shooters when everyone collapses on them in the post.

 

[chrsw003]

I guess it should be *shooter since Smith is the only person on the team who can qualify as a shooter. But still they need to kick it out to the wide open people.

 

[ramblinwreck1378]

I thought Lammers was a force on D in the 1st half, then didn't get on the floor nearly as much in the 2nd. I feel like the same thing happened this year against Pitt, with Jackson having a solid 1st half and not playing as much in the 2nd. Someone please correct me if I am not remembering that correctly. I also don't get Q and Heath both being in the game late when they weren't giving us anything.

We have to run more plays for Smith. Him forcing up shots to get in his rhythm hurts us, but I can't blame him and want him to keep shooting. Just wish we could help him out more.

I have absolutely zero issue with Adam putting up shots the way he did last night. Is it the best shot selection sometimes? No. But ask yourself - if he weren't to take that shot, what would we get instead? A 20 ft jumper from Charles or Nick? God forbid a jumpshot from Travis or Josh? I'll take the contested three from the guy shooting 51% from there in conference play.