Tech Season Previews 2021-22

slugboy

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The Duke Basketball report gives us an outside view:


Main points:
  • Pastner did a great job last year
  • Jose and Moses are “irreplaceable”
  • We have talent, but who is the floor leader to bring everything together?
 

tsrich

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All reasonable points. We're just hoping the program has stockpiled enough raw talent to slide back a bit as they develop vs falling back into the pit of dispair.
 

YlJacket

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That is a really good overview. I think the one thing I would push back on is Sturdivant - he did a lot more late in the year and especially during the ACC tourney than just a rotation player.

But the overall point that this team has a lot of parts but has to replace 2 key/"irreplaceable" playmakers is spot on. Large range of variability on this year's product.
 

lv20gt

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I think it's a fair overview. Good balance between highlighting the importance of what we lost while also going over some reasons to stay positive from a roster standpoint.

All reasonable points. We're just hoping the program has stockpiled enough raw talent to slide back a bit as they develop vs falling back into the pit of dispair.

I'm hoping, and probably more optimistic than some, that we won't take a step back at all, at least not from a season long perspective. Last year started on such a bad foot that it's likely even if the team takes some time to gel this year they could walk into the ACC schedule with a better OOC situation. This year is going to push the get old stay old theory.

While Jose and Moses leaving hurts, we could realistically, and likely imo, have a starting line up of Sturdivant, Devoe, Moore, Ush, Howard which is 3 seniors and 2 juniors. That is like the textbook situation from that philosophy that should allow for the upperclassman to step into bigger roles with the prior year's leaders leaving and their spots being filled by others. I also think that while our starting 5 likely won't be as good, our bench should be more effective with more options to help out in different ways. Guys like Coleman for more scoring, Smith to push tempo, Bubba to bring in another experienced ball handler, Meka to either go a bigger line up at the 4 with Ush at the 3 or a small ball line up and play as a more mobile 5, and Saba for a better option for a big to still be able to space the court some. Not that each will be needed in every game, but we have a lot of tools to help.
 

orientalnc

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Neither Howard or Saba or Meka is going to resemble Moses at the 5, but they don't have to if the other parts come together. I have seen quite a few videos of the guys playing pickup games this summer and Saba is in the mix with them. I still feel he is only a role player at this point, but he may be a reliable role player. Howard is capable on the offensive end but is foul prone on the other. If we can get 20 minutes from Howard, 12-15 from Saba and Meka, then maybe Moore and Usher can give us minutes in a small ball lineup. That didn't work well in the NCAAT, but it was a last minute fix. We have months to prepare for it this year.
 

slugboy

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I don't think Krutwig was All-American, but he was a good collegiate center.
I think he was good for his system. I don’t even remember him being the biggest thorn in our side in that game. But mostly we didn’t play well in that game except in brief spurts.

I looked back. We didn’t get many foul calls—and the difference in fouls alone would cause enough points for the loss. We were horrible from three, and almost all of our rebounds came from Usher, Parham, and Devoe. Howard only played 8 minutes; Khalid Moore was our “big man”, and he only scored 8 points and got 1 rebound. Usher probably had the only good game for any GT player. Devoe was good. Alvarado had a fairly bad game when we needed a good one from him.

Here’s the Loyola summary from that game—Krutwig was probably the least impactful of their starters

21A69EC0-522B-4BBF-B224-7D2E4B2A3AA3.jpeg
 

YlJacket

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I don't think Krutwig was All-American, but he was a good collegiate center.

Third team AP All American


Trying to forget the game but I do recall our D was predicated on helping against him which caused a lot of other breakdowns. We were out of system adjusting. And as Slug said, we didn't play well adjusting on either side - especially offense.
 

orientalnc

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Third team AP All American


Trying to forget the game but I do recall our D was predicated on helping against him which caused a lot of other breakdowns. We were out of system adjusting. And as Slug said, we didn't play well adjusting on either side - especially offense.
Good find. I stand corrected.
 
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