This team will surprise some
- Thread starter gtbync
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mstranahan
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Completely agree you can disagree with my opinion. You start casting aspersions and you cross lines. Like I said, if things remain as they have generally been on this board, I'm happy to hang out. Sarcasm and banter is part of what makes it fun. There's also helpful info, particularly the hot lists which give me a quick snapshot of who we're after, who's opting elsewhere, who commits, etc.
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Bro, I got no dog in this fight, and I do not have the mental stamina to get involved, but if I am being honest, I stopped after reading the first line!!
I'm one of the biggest Tadric fans here, have been since before he joined the squad, but he has NEVER been a catch and shoot guy! NEVER...
He shot 17% from 3 as a freshman and 27% as a sophomore. He's been troubled with poor shot selection and rarely plays to his strength which is getting to the basket.
Naturally his #'s will rise because he is a bigger focal point of the offense, but how did you arrive at your projections? You really think that he is going to go from 4.7ppg to nearly 17? What are you smoking dude?
I'm all about good hoops discussion, but using hoops terminology and insight cannot always make the case. You're wrong on this one.
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McCamish Maniacs
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I always read it as Michael Strahan
Maybe its Mark Stranahan.... Michael Stranahan... Maurice Stranahan....?
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Tadric Jackson scored 17 points only once in the last two years. Never more than that. I think he will improve his production this year over last, but something fundamental has to change to make that kind of improvement. Maybe a more fluid offense and an open court philosophy will be what he needs. That could also lead to him making more mistakes.
A part of me has always thought Tadric missed being the best player on the floor. He came to Tech as the Ga HS POY and found himself playing 3rd or 4th fiddle on a team that was not very good. That probably felt pretty uncomfortable. I can even see him thinking maybe the coach and his teammates should focus more on him than they did. That could cause a young man to have uneven allegiance to the everyday toil of improvement. We'll see if CJP can bring out the best in Tadric. I certainly hope he can.
A part of me has always thought Tadric missed being the best player on the floor. He came to Tech as the Ga HS POY and found himself playing 3rd or 4th fiddle on a team that was not very good. That probably felt pretty uncomfortable. I can even see him thinking maybe the coach and his teammates should focus more on him than they did. That could cause a young man to have uneven allegiance to the everyday toil of improvement. We'll see if CJP can bring out the best in Tadric. I certainly hope he can.
mstranahan
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Mick Stranahan. Character in a Carl Hiaasen novel.
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The one thing I wanted to respond to on this thread from the last couple of days was the opinion suggesting Tadric is a better offensive player than MGH. I'm sorry but that is simply not supported by anything empirical or from watching both play since there HS years.
MGH is a better offensive player at all 3 levels than Tadric.
He's a better shooter from 3-pt range than Tadric and has been both in his HS career and in college (I followed both in HS and both were outstanding HS players, but MGH's senior year as a scorer was so impressive).
MGH is a better scorer off the dribble and at the rim. MGH has better ballhandling skills than Tadric (dribbling, passing and court vision) and uses that to penetrate to the basket. Tadric is more likely to lose the ball when he penetrates. Tadric is a more explosive athlete - but MGH is stronger in body build and in taking care of the ball and is able to score through contact better.
Also, MGH was better at drawing fouls and is a better FT shooter.
There is not a single offensive skill where i would rate Tadric as better than MGH.
MGH is a better offensive player at all 3 levels than Tadric.
He's a better shooter from 3-pt range than Tadric and has been both in his HS career and in college (I followed both in HS and both were outstanding HS players, but MGH's senior year as a scorer was so impressive).
MGH is a better scorer off the dribble and at the rim. MGH has better ballhandling skills than Tadric (dribbling, passing and court vision) and uses that to penetrate to the basket. Tadric is more likely to lose the ball when he penetrates. Tadric is a more explosive athlete - but MGH is stronger in body build and in taking care of the ball and is able to score through contact better.
Also, MGH was better at drawing fouls and is a better FT shooter.
There is not a single offensive skill where i would rate Tadric as better than MGH.
MWBATL
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Ummm, Kentucky says "hello". But to your point, that's not "a lot".
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I am not sure 5* recruits add to a team or subtract. If there is a sense that they are a one & done from the very beginning, there had better be an uptick in the number of wins. Otherwise the guys who worked hard and stayed with the program do not want their PT impacted just to benefit the star recruit's NBA draft status. Example: Did Ben Simmons help or hurt LSU last year? Did Brandon Ingram help or hurt Duke? Or, a better question might be, did either make any difference in the outcome of their teams' season? In Duke's case, Coach K just signs a couple more 5* guys. But these guys are not part of the program in any sense that I understand.
Now, there are definitely tactical reasons to recruit these kids. From the standpoint of rebuilding our program, getting Sexton would be a huge boost, as it would show other kids that Tech is back in the business of top level basketball.
mstranahan
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I really don't like the OAD phenomenon, but we're stuck with it. I miss the days when you knew the players on other ACC teams almost as well as you did those on your own team. These days, it's just different. There's no doubt Okafor, Jones & Winslow were the reason Duke won it all in '15, but in '14 (Parker) and '16 (Ingram), they had a pretty bare cupboard of upperclassmen and one stud. Both teams had good but not great years. UNC has had several highly touted recruits come in, underachieve expectations early and stay for 3 or 4 years (Barnes, McAdoo, Henson, Paige, Brice Johnson, etc).
Given that the rules won't change soon, I'd love to see us build a solid base of kids who are in it for 3 - 4 years and then sprinkle in a super stud every couple of years. Sexton would be a great beginning, but I fear we're too late for him. If we whiff on big names in '17, we can still start building the foundational players (adding to Okogie, CMatt, etc) and go for the stud in '18
Given that the rules won't change soon, I'd love to see us build a solid base of kids who are in it for 3 - 4 years and then sprinkle in a super stud every couple of years. Sexton would be a great beginning, but I fear we're too late for him. If we whiff on big names in '17, we can still start building the foundational players (adding to Okogie, CMatt, etc) and go for the stud in '18
AE 87
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You are more optimistic (not hard?) than me on recruiting 2018 if we blank on 2017. I think it will be hard for CPast to recruit off of this year on the court. If we have another down year next year, I think it becomes dire. Jmo
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Agree. We need to see some results (improvement) with the 2017 class. But, I think the three kids CBG signed were a good group. Granted, one of those guys was not likely to stay with Tech due to grades, but Okogie and Mathews look like solid players. However, even with Moore, that cannot be our standard going forward.
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BeeRBee
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I wold say the Ohio coach was also prophetic, except he insisted he had a good team.
That is also an interesting thread to re-read.
https://gtswarm.com/threads/ohio.10826/
gtbync
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sometimes players respond to different coaches.
RamblinCharger
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Just read the beginning of this thread haha. A lot of people are happily eating crow, or already have. What a great surprise this team has been. If we make the tournament this year this might end up being my favorite GT team ever just because no one believed they'd be any good (me included).