Senior Day vs Wake Forest

[orientalnc]

One other thought. GT has played alot more man the last few games. i'm guessing this is due to lack of practice in the 1-3-1 zone for Evan and Moses. Even having to guard out of position those 2 play better in man right now than the zone.

Staff seemed to have settled into some changes with the current group of players. More man, first moving Josh O on the ball and then realizing that wasn't working so putting him back off the ball.
Today they played Wake's pick and roll completely different than they did in Winston-Salem.

I agree with you 100% about Cole & Wright not knowing their roles in the 1-3-1. I think that is why they were not playing earlier. Props to CJP for working with the talent he has rather than trying to force his preferences on the team. I do not think it would have changed much for our results, but they are finally coming around after sitting for 3/4 of the season.

 

[RamblinRed]

I agree with you 100% about Cole & Wright not knowing their roles in the 1-3-1. I think that is why they were not playing earlier. Props to CJP for working with the talent he has rather than trying to force his preferences on the team. I do not think it would have changed much for our results, but they are finally coming around after sitting for 3/4 of the season.

i think even if we had gone to more man earlier they would have not played any more than they did.
Andy Demetra suggested about a week ago it was because they had been in this player development program since early Jan that they are able to play in games now. Basically implied that if they hadn't been in that program and had just been in regular practices they wouldn't be ready to play ACC games right now.

It's also clear that Evan after recovering from his slow start (missed most of pre-season practice with illness and an injury - started practicing 3 days before the first exhibition) he has caught up to Moses and passed him for now. Moses is a better athlete, may have more upside, but Evan is more skilled right now and seems to grasp things quicker on the court right now. Both give me reason to think that in 2 yrs they could be valuable players for this program.

 

[JackFan]

i think even if we had gone to more man earlier they would have not played any more than they did.
Andy Demetra suggested about a week ago it was because they had been in this player development program since early Jan that they are able to play in games now. Basically implied that if they hadn't been in that program and had just been in regular practices they wouldn't be ready to play ACC games right now.

It's also clear that Evan after recovering from his slow start (missed most of pre-season practice with illness and an injury - started practicing 3 days before the first exhibition) he has caught up to Moses and passed him for now. Moses is a better athlete, may have more upside, but Evan is more skilled right now and seems to grasp things quicker on the court right now. Both give me reason to think that in 2 yrs they could be valuable players for this program.

I’ll be surprised if Moses doesn’t redshirt next year. We will have a lot more depth, and he clearly needs time to mature and learn the game. He has really regressed at the end of the year, while Cole has continued to improve. I think that probably speaks to the limited time Moses has played competitively compared to his peers, so the extra year would really benefit him.

 

[MWBATL]

I’ll be surprised if Moses doesn’t redshirt next year. We will have a lot more depth, and he clearly needs time to mature and learn the game. He has really regressed at the end of the year, while Cole has continued to improve. I think that probably speaks to the limited time Moses has played competitively compared to his peers, so the extra year would really benefit him.

While I like that idea, it was my understanding we are going to be quite thin on the frontline next year. No bigs coming in, and we lose Lammers. If you redshirt Wright (which would be a good idea), that would leave us with....Cole and AD and....who else?

I expect we’ll play a 3 guard game next year, but you need more than 2 bigs, don’t you?

 

[ramblinjacket]

I’ll be surprised if Moses doesn’t redshirt next year. We will have a lot more depth, and he clearly needs time to mature and learn the game. He has really regressed at the end of the year, while Cole has continued to improve. I think that probably speaks to the limited time Moses has played competitively compared to his peers, so the extra year would really benefit him.

Prepare yourself to be surprised.

 

[dtm1997]

I’ll be surprised if Moses doesn’t redshirt next year. We will have a lot more depth, and he clearly needs time to mature and learn the game. He has really regressed at the end of the year, while Cole has continued to improve. I think that probably speaks to the limited time Moses has played competitively compared to his peers, so the extra year would really benefit him.

I'll be surprised if he does redshirt because we'll probably need him to put in minutes at the 4, maybe the 3, and possibly even the 5.

 

[jeffgt14]

It's amusing you guys think we have all this great talent coming in next year. We should be appreciative to still have Alston next year. We'll need him.

 

[dtm1997]

It's amusing you guys think we have all this great talent coming in next year. We should be appreciative to still have Alston next year. We'll need him.

What are you talking about?

 

[lv20gt]

It's amusing you guys think we have all this great talent coming in next year. We should be appreciative to still have Alston next year. We'll need him.

Next year we'll have Jose, Devoe, Okogie, Haywood, Phillips, Moore, and Sjolund for guards and wings in addition to Alston. Alston has very little point guard ability, notice how he almost never handles the ball despite only having 3 guards, has poor off ball movement, and is in general doesn't look to make plays, either for himself or others on the offensive end. He's solid defensively but certainly not a lock down defender, and is a weak rebounder. I think at best he'll be the 6th guard/wing behind the first 5 I mentioned. Unless we just are dead set on going small I don't really see a role for Alston on next year's team in terms of game time.

Also as far as redshirting goes, we don't have the bodies or experience to redshirt Wright.

 

[jeffgt14]

What are you talking about?

The numerous people saying we don't need Alston and have the ability to redshirt Moses.

Take away Alston & Moses and we would have 5 players returning with any significant playing time this year: Jose, Okogie, CGB, Cole, and AD. Devoe very likely is good enough to play significant minutes and could likely start.

We talk as if Phillips is some huge upgrade from Alston. He could be but we don't know what we'll get from him. It's not reasonable to assume any of our other incoming freshman are capable of contributing right away. We have some promising guys coming in but I'd only slot Devoe in the sure thing category.

 

[YlJacket]

Phillips isn't a freshman. He has a track record in the SEC with TN. Few expect him to start but do expect he is an upgrade on Alston.

I have seen a lot of discussion on Alston but even as one who thought Moses would redshirt this year, I haven't seen anyone say he would next year.
2 things about Moses - he is way up and way down in different games and today we are evaluating after a down game. So I take today's comments with a grain of salt.
If you do want to redshirt Moses next year either or likely both of Ogbondo and Sjolund have to hit. I don't see Moses as a 5 in any situation but if Ogbondo doesn't come back ready to play (a reasonable assumption at this point) and AD is the only 5, then we will need bodies to play some sort of extended zone to try to hide our deficiency.

 

[lv20gt]

The numerous people saying we don't need Alston and have the ability to redshirt Moses.

Take away Alston & Moses and we would have 5 players returning with any significant playing time this year: Jose, Okogie, CGB, Cole, and AD. Devoe very likely is good enough to play significant minutes and could likely start.

We talk as if Phillips is some huge upgrade from Alston. He could be but we don't know what we'll get from him. It's not reasonable to assume any of our other incoming freshman are capable of contributing right away. We have some promising guys coming in but I'd only slot Devoe in the sure thing category.

Even by your own words Alston would be the 5th perimeter player at best on our team next year. In reality it's more likely to be 6th because while Phillips isn't a huge upgrade he's a better defender and ball handler than Alston and both of those are more valuable as a 5th option especially since we won't have Ben to help with the facilitating. Also, not sure why you say it isn't reasonable to assume are other freshmen are capable of contributing right away. The last two years Okogie, Jose, and Haywood have all contributed significantly more their freshman year than Alston has this year. I think its very likely at least one surpasses him before the end of next year.

Moses is a different situation. Barring very late additions we won't have the depth to redshirt him even if we wanted to.

 

[Peacone36]

Phillips is clearly an upgrade from Alston IMHO....

 

[AE 87]

I think AD, Moses, and Cole have all shown decent D on the perimeter this year. It will be interesting to see how they develop over the offseason, but that's decent length.

 

[RamblinRed]

I agree with Pea, Phillips is likely to be a upgrade from Alston and could very easily be about a net neutral with Tad. Phillips won't score as much as Tad, but he is a much better defender (was considered TN best defender) and better ballhandler and a better shooter (both from FT line and 3-pt line).

i see Phillips as a guy that can avg 8 ppg in ACC games, defend the opponents best perimeter player, provide secondary ballhandling support and shoot in the upper 30s from three. Remember this is a guy that started roughly 1/3 of his SEC games in his first 2 season. He has multiple 16 pt games in SEC play and an 18 pt game and has made as many as 4 threes in an SEC game.

i think Moses needs to be developed as a 3. Watching him in warmups working with Coach Reveno and the other bigs he doesn't look comfortable in a big man type game. He is more comfortable playing out and facing the basket. I actually loved one play he had yesterday even though he didn't score. He had a wide open three with Wake daring him to shoot. instead of taking hit he drove toward the basket and took a closer range shot - he missed it, but it was a good decision.

GT is going to look to sign the best big man from the grad transfer, HS, or overseas ranks it can find this spring.

I really like the potential of our perimeter depth. Josh, Jose, Curtis, Shembari, Mike, Brandon -that is a nice mix of talent and experience.
For the 4 and 5 spots I see AD as the starting 5, I see Cole as the starting 4 if we go big. I see Evan as the primary 5 backup if we don't find someone who can play there this spring, Moses as a backup 4. Given the perimeter depth we are likely to play some small ball 4 as well. it would be a big bonus if Sylvester could get healthy and be a backup 5.

 

[YlJacket]

I would add 4 to Mose’s target position. Not old school PF but stretch 4. In reality not that different than 3 in a lot of matchups.

I only saw one AAU game but in HS Moses never was required to play in the paint. Enloe allowed him to float the perimeter and jack. Reveno has a lot of bad habits to break. But by his JR year he should be able to be comfortable playing a 4 as well as 3.

 

[alagold]

I agree with Pea, Phillips is likely to be a upgrade from Alston and could very easily be about a net neutral with Tad. Phillips won't score as much as Tad, but he is a much better defender (was considered TN best defender) and better ballhandler and a better shooter (both from FT line and 3-pt line).

i see Phillips as a guy that can avg 8 ppg in ACC games, defend the opponents best perimeter player, provide secondary ballhandling support and shoot in the upper 30s from three. Remember this is a guy that started roughly 1/3 of his SEC games in his first 2 season. He has multiple 16 pt games in SEC play and an 18 pt game and has made as many as 4 threes in an SEC game.

i think Moses needs to be developed as a 3. Watching him in warmups working with Coach Reveno and the other bigs he doesn't look comfortable in a big man type game. He is more comfortable playing out and facing the basket. I actually loved one play he had yesterday even though he didn't score. He had a wide open three with Wake daring him to shoot. instead of taking hit he drove toward the basket and took a closer range shot - he missed it, but it was a good decision.

GT is going to look to sign the best big man from the grad transfer, HS, or overseas ranks it can find this spring.

I really like the potential of our perimeter depth. Josh, Jose, Curtis, Shembari, Mike, Brandon -that is a nice mix of talent and experience.
For the 4 and 5 spots I see AD as the starting 5, I see Cole as the starting 4 if we go big. I see Evan as the primary 5 backup if we don't find someone who can play there this spring, Moses as a backup 4. Given the perimeter depth we are likely to play some small ball 4 as well. it would be a big bonus if Sylvester could get healthy and be a backup 5.

Red,
Wouldn't Sjolund be a likely 4 possible ? I noticed he had 8-10 Rebs in games and some blocks also.I think he would be better than Cole or Moses did coming in as a Fr.

 

[RamblinRed]

Sjolund was recruited to be a stretch 4 that could play in the high post. How much he plays as a FR may depend upon how well he can handle the physicality of college. He needs some serious S&C training. He does have a beautiful jumper though and his film shows a kid who has good athleticism and is not afraid to dunk the ball (reminds me of Evan there).

on the Phillips vs Tad comparison. Here are their SO yr numbers
Tadrick 13.8 mpg, 38.5%FG, 27.7% 3fg, 59.6% FT, 1.2 rpg, 44:30 asst:TO, 16 stl, 3 blk, 4.7 ppg
Phillips 20.9 mpg, 38.4%FG, 37.5% 3fg, 77.3% FT, 3.1 rpg, 52:44 asst:TO, 19 stl, 4 blk, 6.2 ppg

Comparing SO to SO yrs Phillips had a better SO yr overall. If he can make anywhere close to the jump Tad made as a JR he will be a very valuable rotation piece.

 

[iopjacket]

Prepare yourself to be surprised.

If we are going to be surprised, we need some big time recruit or transfer to help up inside to red shirt Wright.

 

[dtm1997]

If we are going to be surprised, we need some big time recruit or transfer to help up inside to red shirt Wright.

Let's redshirt a kid so that they can get really good, have no on-court productivity for a year, hopefully give us 2 better years, then grad transfer out.

There's no benefit anymore towards redshirting kids for developmental purposes.