Tennessee

[Peacone36]

You can watch a little more closely you will see more (and better) offensive sets being run. The play that got Lammers a bucket in the first half was a beautiful play.

 

[GTJake]

The people saying last night's team looked pretty the same as last year's didn't watch very much Tech basketball last season.

As I said with a few exceptions, mainly being on offense pushing the ball up court in transition.
Last year we also showed a little promise with our OOC schedule, then hit a block wall in the ACC.
On our last possession I thought we should have pounded the ball inside to Jacobs, if he doesn't score maybe he draws the foul instead of throwing up a desperation 3pt shot as the shot clock expired ??

 

[dtm1997]

Side note... Any one else noticing those block shot to outlet passes by Lammers?

 

[LibertyTurns]

You can watch a little more closely you will see more (and better) offensive sets being run. The play that got Lammers a bucket in the first half was a beautiful play.

You don't have to watch closely. It's very apparent we're running the offense differently.

I'm ecstatic we changed from last season. Even if we end up winning less games which I predict will be nearly impossible it's a far better team to watch.

 

[AE 87]

Some of y'all know basketball better than I, but I got optimistic last year after beating georgie and northwestern, shooting 44+%. We beat Vandy shooting 38%.

So beating TN while shooting 39% doesn't jump out at me as a big difference in results, regardless of difference in style. Adam Smith shooting 1 of 8 from 3pt line strikes me as too much like what I've come to expect from CBG coached team.

 

[GTJason]

Maybe that's on me since I said 7 in chat and here. I watched some of the first half, watched a show with my wife and then came back when we were 7 down. When I saw that, it was like, football deja vu.

No, I watched the game on DVR (grad school or I'm live and at least observing the chat - can't stand recorded games) and the announcers kept saying "at one point UT had a 7 point lead, then the after show before the LSU game said the same thing, and then the sports center highlights of the game which made it seem like we ran them off the court said the same thing. I know it's not a big deal, but I thought i was going crazy so I had to pull it up. I remember thinking we need a bucket because if we get down double digits we're done.

FWIW last year's team came back from large deficits a few times but always seemed to find a way to lose. I think the thing to take away from this game is other teams aren't always going to shoot as bad as UT did, and we're not going to always shoot as bad as we did.

 

[Peacone36]

Some of y'all know basketball better than I, but I got optimistic last year after beating georgie and northwestern, shooting 44+%. We beat Vandy shooting 38%.

So beating TN while shooting 39% doesn't jump out at me as a big difference in results, regardless of difference in style. Adam Smith shooting 1 of 8 from 3pt line strikes me as too much like what I've come to expect from CBG coached team.

I'm the most non-optimistic fan here. Eventually Adam Smith will return to the median. He lead the conference in 3pt shooting last year

 

[GT_B]

I'm the most non-optimistic fan here. Eventually Adam Smith will return to the median. He lead the conference in 3pt shooting last year

I think a little bit of his struggles might be that there wasn't a ton of set plays for perimeter shooting. To me its very obvious there has been a very large focus on getting our post players isolated and in good positions to score, which is great because we have good post scorers. I didn't see a lot of plays set up for Smith to get open for 3. Most of his looks came from kick out from a rebound or just swinging the ball around.

 

[CuseJacket]

Some of y'all know basketball better than I, but I got optimistic last year after beating georgie and northwestern, shooting 44+%. We beat Vandy shooting 38%.

So beating TN while shooting 39% doesn't jump out at me as a big difference in results, regardless of difference in style. Adam Smith shooting 1 of 8 from 3pt line strikes me as too much like what I've come to expect from CBG coached team.

I'm the most non-optimistic fan here. Eventually Adam Smith will return to the median. He lead the conference in 3pt shooting last year

I'll add that shots came easier, regardless of outcome. MGH wasn't a one-man show. In fact he was able to get to the basket easier during parts of the game as a result of attention elsewhere. The offense was noticeably better. To draw a football analogy, calling out the shooting percentage yesterday feels a lot like blaming CPJ for every fumble vs. VT. We missed a few tip backs and chippies around the rim that will go in just by "getting back to the mean" as Peacone said.

I'm not worried about rebounds, at least not yet. Gregory has a track record there. I'll also call on observations I've made watching Syracuse, also an undersized team this year, as it relates to last night's game:

1. With Syracuse chucking more 3's it seems there is a higher percentage of long rebounds. This sometimes plays to the benefit of smaller/quicker/scrappier teams. In the 2nd half our bigs swallowed their fair share of those that came down around the basket. That's obviously somewhat anecdotal on my part. Even with a perfectly round basketball sometimes the ball doesn't bounce your way.
2. Syracuse was an average ACC team last year as proven by their 9-9 record. Remember that crapfest at McAmish? I'd saying they're about the same this year with a few tradeoffs. GT to me is noticeably better than Syracuse right now offensively. And I feel better about GT's ability on defense particularly given Gregory's track record and our size.

I've made other points elsewhere in the thread that aren't worth repeating. At the end of the day I'm starting to believe there's confirmation bias all over the place in this thread, including my own. We have a small sample size right now and plenty of us will turn out to be wrong. To be expected at this point in the season.

 

[okiemon]

Really nice to not blow this game tonight, but I'm kinda ticked about the end of game execution. I honestly feel we were the better team tonight and we were because we won, but we need to take the next step and not have the mental breakdown that caused us to win by 2 with UTK having the last shot to in or tie, instead of a 5, 7, or 10 pt win.

Need to keep working.

Agreed. The only thing they had better than us was their SEC-speed.

 

[ramblinwreck1378]

k,
it was too poor Offensive teams that basically threw up a shot and then went to rebound it--the shooting was horrendous
probably the only reason we won was that dude missed 2 FTs at end,they shot 50% and we 60%
it was a win (in a close game for a change)but little coaching seen in this, remember we beat Vandy last yr also but we didn't follow through on season

What's wrong with your keyboard?

 

[AE 87]

I'm the most non-optimistic fan here. Eventually Adam Smith will return to the median. He lead the conference in 3pt shooting last year

Clearly you're not the most non-optimistic fan here. CBG has always wanted to push the ball on O, and we can do that now better than before.

However, our offensive sets in the half court look largely the same to me.

 

[ramblinwreck1378]

Clearly you're not the most non-optimistic fan here. CBG has always wanted to push the ball on O, and we can do that now better than before.

However, our offensive sets in the half court look largely the same to me.

Except now we have post players that know post moves and can/want to put the ball in the basket. Demarco Cox/BBC are much different players than Nick Jacobs.

 

[orientalnc]

So far, all my optimistic thoughts have been validated except one. Our perimeter defense is still an issue.

Offensively we are getting better shots and the shorter shot clock does not appear to be causing us problems. Jacobs and White are better on offense than Cox and Sampson, and about the same defensively. Also, Lammers is making real contributions this year. I agree that MGH is not carrying as much of a burden , and that several of his moves to the hoop were a lot easier than last year. Smith is a proven shooter and 1-8 is an outlier for him.

Travis and Josh took only four shots between them, hitting none. That needs to change. If they cannot make outside shots, they need to do something else. Travis especially, as he's a liability on defense. We don't have many options for the point, so these guys need to step up. We are otherwise a pretty solid team and not many teams get NCAA bids with poor pg play.

We missed a lot of shots last night, but VERY few were ill-advised. For the most part, I am OK with how we played last night. Tennessee is not a great team, but Barnes has them playing better than last year and I predict this will look like a good win later in the season. We have some issues to deal with, but I am OK with where we are right now. Two games coming up that we should win by double digits, but both teams have some players. East Tennessee can shoot the lights out.

I have a couple of questions for you guys who were at the game. Was anything wrong with Q or Tadric? Neither played as many minutes as I expected against a rather small lineup. Also, the Vol forum said there was a real "Orange" flavor to the crowd at McCamish. Are students still staying away?

 

[McCamish Maniacs]

So far, all my optimistic thoughts have been validated except one. Our perimeter defense is still an issue.

Offensively we are getting better shots and the shorter shot clock does not appear to be causing us problems. Jacobs and White are better on offense than Cox and Sampson, and about the same defensively. Also, Lammers is making real contributions this year. I agree that MGH is not carrying as much of a burden , and that several of his moves to the hoop were a lot easier than last year. Smith is a proven shooter and 1-8 is an outlier for him.

Travis and Josh took only four shots between them, hitting none. That needs to change. If they cannot make outside shots, they need to do something else. Travis especially, as he's a liability on defense. We don't have many options for the point, so these guys need to step up. We are otherwise a pretty solid team and not many teams get NCAA bids with poor pg play.

We missed a lot of shots last night, but VERY few were ill-advised. For the most part, I am OK with how we played last night. Tennessee is not a great team, but Barnes has them playing better than last year and I predict this will look like a good win later in the season. We have some issues to deal with, but I am OK with where we are right now. Two games coming up that we should win by double digits, but both teams have some players. East Tennessee can shoot the lights out.

I have a couple of questions for you guys who were at the game. Was anything wrong with Q or Tadric? Neither played as many minutes as I expected against a rather small lineup. Also, the Vol forum said there was a real "Orange" flavor to the crowd at McCamish. Are students still staying away?

I'd estimate there were ~600 students there? Bad timing for a game on a Monday night and busiest week of the year for most students

Total attendance was only 5467 according to KQ and he claims about half were Vols fans, although I'd say it wasn't quite that high. Maybe closer to a third? With the way Vols fans travel, when theres only 5000 total fans in the arena, obviously a high percentage of them are going to be Vols fans.

Guess we'll need to string some more wins together before people start coming back. No reason the arena should have been only half full last night

 

[AE 87]

Except now we have post players that know post moves and can/want to put the ball in the basket. Demarco Cox/BBC are much different players than Nick Jacobs.

Maybe so, but I think one of our bigger problems was getting the ball down low vs ACC competition.

Hopefully, we have new offensive sets that we won't show till conference play.

 

[up state jacket]

I think this is why Heath is starting. That said, Smith has a matador personality also. Perimeter defense will be an issue for us all season unless we can find some improvement outside.

Yes our perimeter defense needs work. They don't move their feet very well nor do they help out on the weak side.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Enjoy the OOC as much as possible guys, the ACC is going to be a meat grinder.

Starting with @ UNC on 1/2/16. But if we go 8-10 in the ACC as projected here, https://www.teamrankings.com/ncb/projections/standings/ , I won't be disappointed. So I agree, enjoy each day.

 

[Connell62]

Really nice to not blow this game tonight, but I'm kinda ticked about the end of game execution. I honestly feel we were the better team tonight and we were because we won, but we need to take the next step and not have the mental breakdown that caused us to win by 2 with UTK having the last shot to in or tie, instead of a 5, 7, or 10 pt win.

Need to keep working.

Agreed..There were a lot of positives to point out (like our response when down 9), but there was no reason that we should have been in that position at the end.

That is precisely how we lost so many games last year. We have got to capitalize on opportunities to put the other team away.

Good to get the W but still work to be done because this could have just as easily been a narrow loss like so many last season.

 

[Connell62]

Forgot to add... I'm shocked that no one has mentioned that dime from Tadric on the fast break for the dunk. He left it for James White and the dunk and it was a thing of beauty.

I thought Tadric really played well during that pivotal run when we were down 9. He's dialed the shot selection down a bit, still some work to do, but he is at his best when he plays under control... Great passer.

Also, what about the put-back dunk from James White that was waved off because of the foul underneath the basket?