PITT - Saturday 2PM (Senior Day)

MidtownJacket

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I know there isn't a lot of good from a L at this point, but I really was proud of the way we fought and clawed back into the game.
 

JDjacket

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Pitt just lost to VT on like under 35% shooting ... Hopefully they have two bad games in a row and don't rebound with better play against us like UL did after losing to Miami
 

lv20gt

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Pitt just lost to VT on like under 35% shooting ... Hopefully they have two bad games in a row and don't rebound with better play against us like UL did after losing to Miami

Well UL just beat us on 36% shooting from the floor and 12% shooting from behind the arc.
 

Connell62

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Looking at the way that the team is playing right now, you just have to say what if. I think that these guys could beat just about any team in the ACC if they're locked in.

I think that a win against Pitt would just about secure an NIT spot, and that would allow us to focus on making a run in the ACC as well. Stranger things have happened..

Just ****s and giggles, anyone think that with a win on Sat. and a surprise run to the ACC Semi's that we would sniff the Bubble? If I'm not mistaken, we would be 20-14.

Would we at least be in the conversation?
 

Gtech24

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Looking at the way that the team is playing right now, you just have to say what if. I think that these guys could beat just about any team in the ACC if they're locked in.

I think that a win against Pitt would just about secure an NIT spot, and that would allow us to focus on making a run in the ACC as well. Stranger things have happened..

Just ****s and giggles, anyone think that with a win on Sat. and a surprise run to the ACC Semi's that we would sniff the Bubble? If I'm not mistaken, we would be 20-14.

Would we at least be in the conversation?
I would think we would be in the conversation, and if we could somehow make it to the finals we would definitely have a solid chance, but at that point we might as well win the ACC and get an automatic bid.
 

Peacone36

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The talking heads had us in their minds recently during our run. An unexpected run in the ACCT might make some people give us a gander.
 

RamblinRed

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I think a run to the ACC finals would likely get a bid, nothing less though.
GT's profile is better than some realize, with ETSU and VT both moving into the Top 100 they are no longer sub 100 losses (the only sub 100 loss right now is the road loss at Clemson). Arkansas could be a top 100 team if they keep winning.

FWIW, below is my favorite site for bid watching (Dance card). The accuracy of this site is unmatched. They have correctly predicted 141 of the 146 at large bids the last 4 yrs. They don't try to seed, just predict who gets in.
http://www.unf.edu/~jcoleman/dance.htm

I also, go look at CBSSports CBS RPI alot. They have a great 'nitty gritty' tab feature that breaks each team down by the factors the committee looks at - road record, neutral record, RPI, wins-losses against the top 25, top 50, top 100, 101-200, 200+.
 

RamblinRed

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I think one more win would basically make GT a lock for the NIT.
There are at least 3 sites that do NIT brackets - BracketMatrix blog, NYC buckets, and DRatings.
On Monday the first 2 had GT as a 2 seed in the NIT. DRatings had GT as its top 4 seed.
The first 2 have not updated since then but DRatings updates daily and currently has GT as its last 4 seed as of this morning. So obviously the loss to L'ville on the road didn't hurt much, which you would expect.
A loss to Pitt would definately hurt some.
One thing to remember with NIT projections are the auto bids. Those are not factored in and generally run between 7-10 per yr. So if you are currently a 7-8 seed in the NIT brackets you are likely on the wrong side.

NIT projections tend to get alot better starting next week as they see which conference champs get auto bids (since almost all of them happen this week or early next week).
 

RamblinRed

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I wish I had more reason to visit these sites than simply I am a big college basketball fan. Been a long time since there was any reason to follow purely as a GT fan.
Hard to believe 2002 was the last time GT won 4 ACC games in a row. I remember that season. That was Hewitt's second year when his big first class (Ish, BJ, Anthony, Luke) were freshman and Akins was Sr. They lost their first 7 ACC games and finally broke through against FSU at home and then won 7 of their final 9. You could tell alot of it was young talent trying to figure out how to win.
 

Connell62

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No kidding.. Just having a sniff of the tourney on the line against Louisville made that game twice as exciting.

I've got a 6 month old son at home.. Hopefully we return to relevancy again before he discovers March Madness.
 

RamblinRed

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The fact GT already has 13 losses hurts.
Dancecard positions can change radically based on who you win and lose to. If GT had beaten L'ville I bet it would have risen a good 15 spots on dancecard putting right around the cut. You can move up or down alot if it is the right win or the wrong loss. Alabama fell more than a dozen spots after losing at home to Arkansas (a sub 100 home loss) last night.

I think GT likely has to win the ACC, but i can see making it by just getting to the finals with the right teams. The teams you play are more important than the pure number of victories you rack up.
If GT could beat Pitt on Saturday and then beat 2 more NCAA likely teams on a neutral court going into Sunday their profile looks very different and all of a sudden much stronger than alot of the current bubble teams.
All of a sudden GT has a profile with likely 6 wins over Tourney teams (6-8 against the Top 50) and a 7-8 road/neutral record including multiple neutral court wins over tourney teams.
It's hugely unlikely to happen, but if that circumstance occurred i think its NCAA chances would be pretty good. Even if it loses in the championship you are still talking likely 6-9 against the Top 50 and 7-9 road/neutral.

At this point i'm just hoping can win one more (getting the first win on Saturday sure would be nice) so we can lock up an NIT slot. I'd worry about anything more after that.
 

Connell62

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That is my thoughts exactly RR.. Tourney is a long shot at best, but I agree that if the unthinkable occurred and we made that run, I don't know how they could say no.

We would be absolutely one of the hottest teams in the country, and we would have a very solid resume with lots of good W's. I'll be content with getting Marcus in to the NIT and a shot at MSG.
 
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