This team will surprise some

lv20gt

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RamblinCharger said:
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).
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I was one of the more positive ones and even I have to eat crow.
 
coolhaji33

coolhaji33

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coolhaji33 said:
College basketball will be very "young" next year...nationally straight across the board...what I meant by powerhouse was more inter conference...the power is spread evenly...I feel unc won't be a world beater,duke is young...I think Miami,Clemson,fsu and state will be in good shape relatively speaking...Virginia loses a lot of experience and firepower but still will be in the top half of the division...like I said...I think with the talent we have we'll be able to run up and down with most of those teams...do we have blue chip talent to close games...no...do we have a handful of battle tested guys with upsides who'll keep things interesting...hell yeah...I'm hedging toward us competing rather than laying down...that's just me...to be honest I've never seen a tech team under any coach lay down and get smashed.Yes we've been down...had some vanilla years under cbg...but what he did was instill a work ethic in regards to player development and comprehension of the game....the returnees know how to play the game...especially Heath who'll predominantly have the ball in his hand.They most likely won't see post season play but will be far more competitive than there final record.
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coolhaji33 said:
Peacone the only way you can identify talent is if it's dunking on your face or some scouting service tells you there a # star lol...I use my eye test which has 40 years of use.Ben Lammers will be one of the he's bigs in school history by the time he finishes...my eyes and brain know this..because I'm a former player...who knows that Lammers took a back seat to the big personalities we had up front in his first 2 years...Mitchell,Cox...Jacobs was so overated...guards could post him up...Lammers was better than all f them last year but spent too much time on the bench his freshman year setting his curve back.next year will be a completely different person...that's what happens when a kid matures and he's talented.You can't see the hidden potential of half these guys because there not being written and spoken about.I will be reminding you all I told you so.
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coolhaji33 said:
I can also tell you I don't need a ranking next to Josh okogies's name to know he's going to be a great player...there's to many x-factors to predict wins and losses...to most...there awful...but most don't really no anything when it comes down to it.
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I'm happy to say most of this came to fruition...took some heat for being optimistic...one thing I can say for sure though...the feeling I got today winning was something I know we ALL shared today and that's great.The guys are playing some really good ball,all around and what can we say about the staff.Things are really looking up.Together we swarm...
 
RamblinCharger

RamblinCharger

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I didn't think we really brought our A game today, probably B game, but we outplayed ND for probably 75% of the game. If we can hit just a couple more open jumpers and we can get 15-20 from Jackson AND Okogie... watch out. We could be really good. I'd love for us to have someone to back up Lammers at some point. The poor guy doesn't need to play 40 minutes. That's exhausting. If we could just get 6-8 minutes for him to sit every game we would be in good shape.
 
GTHomer

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RamblinCharger said:
I didn't think we really brought our A game today, probably B game, but we outplayed ND for probably 75% of the game. If we can hit just a couple more open jumpers and we can get 15-20 from Jackson AND Okogie... watch out. We could be really good. I'd love for us to have someone to back up Lammers at some point. The poor guy doesn't need to play 40 minutes. That's exhausting. If we could just get 6-8 minutes for him to sit every game we would be in good shape.
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I think AD is to the point where he can give 4-6 minutes each game for Lammers to get a blow. He has been throughout the season. Hopefully this game was an anomaly with respect to how the minutes were handled.

FWIW, they are still young. When they played AAU, you could sometimes play up to 3 games a day if you made it to the championship.
 
Connell62

Connell62

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coolhaji33 said:
I'm happy to say most of this came to fruition...took some heat for being optimistic...one thing I can say for sure though...the feeling I got today winning was something I know we ALL shared today and that's great.The guys are playing some really good ball,all around and what can we say about the staff.Things are really looking up.Together we swarm...
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I gave you a bunch of **** about Josh Heath, and he has quietly had an excellent season.

He hasn't produced many points, but he has been steady as hell running the point and on defense!!

Good call!
 
LawTalkin Jacket

LawTalkin Jacket

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I have been a Heath-hater too. He never had confidence, always left shots short at the end of a shot clock, but he looked full of confidence on Saturday and maybe had his best game.
 
coolhaji33

coolhaji33

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LawTalkin Jacket said:
I have been a Heath-hater too. He never had confidence, always left shots short at the end of a shot clock, but he looked full of confidence on Saturday and maybe had his best game.
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I was concerned about his injury...wasn't sure how long and how much of a detriment it was going to be.I'm glad to say he's 100% and has got enough reps that all the rust's off and he's acclimated to his teammates.If you've noticed Moore has taken a backseat to Heath and actually Corey.The rotation seems to have been trimmed over our last two...a good move by CJP...we need efficiency now and can't afford "freshman" mistakes.Heath doesn't have to score double figures every night for us to thrive...he just needs to continue to space the floor,keep the offense fluid and enter the ball into the post with precision...he is a ridiculously good passer and he's poised.I'd expect more of the same as the season unfolds and his scoring to go up some from here on in.It's no secret to anyone...it's crunch time now...it's on...every possession counts...us against the world mentality...they will be focused and going hard.Glad we got the steady and heady Heath with the rock.
 
GTHomer

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Listening to the CJP call-in show, he expressed some concern with Moore's shooting. It's something that many of us have already acknowledged however the focus seemed more on FT shooting. CJP did indicated he would count of Moore to continue being a contributor however shooting will be the key thing he will need to work on during the offseason.
 
Techster

Techster

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Techster said:
Tadric has shown some flashes of ability. His problem, IMO, is once he blows by his guy to the basket, the ball can't find its way into the rim. He can get open and create his own shots...those shots just aren't going in. It's going to be a problem if he's "the guy" we're counting on next year. Hopefully, the shots that weren't going in finally go in.

Lammers is probably our best player at this point, and that's because he a pretty good defensive presence. We need some offense next season, not sure he's going to be the answer to that on the offensive end, but at least GT will have a strong defender to protect the rim. Hopefully Reveno's reputation for developing big men adds 5-8 points to Lammer's average per game.

Josh Heath is probably going to have to play a bigger role next year. He's better than most of our fans give him credit for. He's sneaky quick, and has some creativity in his game when he needs it...but I've always thought he deferred more towards the senior guys on the team rather than impose himself on the game. He played hurt towards the back half of last season, so hopefully we get a better version of Heath once he's healthy.

Quintin Stephens has also shown flashes. At this point in his career, I don't foresee him developing any handles and creating mismatches like I thought he would when he was a freshmen. If he can at least dribble his guy down into the post and use his length to create and advantage, I'd take that. I think he lost some confidence last season, but maybe he is who he is.

I've got no clue about any of the freshmen or any of the other guys on the roster. Haven't seen much of them to make a judgement either way. The key to next season will be those 4 guys I mentioned, and our staff "coaching them up". Unfortunately, the ACC is LOADED with talent every year and LOADED with very good to Hall of Fame great coaches as well. I'm optimistic about our program, but not as optimistic about next year. As @kg01 stated elsewhere, we're going to go through some bumps...but anyone who starts the "Fire Pastner" movement next year based just on our record needs to have their GT fan card revoked.
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Look at what that jackwagon wrote! Ha! Oh wait...

Since we're all looking in the rearveiw mirror:

Tadric: Pretty much what I thought. Flashes of being an great talent, followed by spurts that make you go hmm. Played an AWESOME game against ND. Love how he's taken the 6th man role with open arms.

Lammers: The defensive presence we thought he would be, and multiply it times 10. Actually became one of the scorers we needed. Easily one of the most improved players in the ACC this year.

Heath: Have always wondered why GT fans never embraced his game. Not the flashy/scoring PG GT has had in the past that we love, but he's always been a steady guy who makes good decisions (seriously he's better 2/1 Assists to TO ratio for his career here). Has been a big contributor this year in terms of eating minutes and taking care of the ball. Will makes plays when he needs to, but still lacking that killer in him to make something happen on his own. Like I said, better than GT fans want to give him credit for.

Stephens: Has blossomed under the new staff. He's not consistently scoring every night, but has contributed in so many other ways. Outside of Lammers, probably the most improved player on the team. Very happy for him.

Others: Heyward has played a pretty vital role for us off the bench and as a part time starter. A good senior season for him. Okogie...yeah, we all saw that coming, right?! Moore as had his ups and downs, hopefully he's getting over the freshmen hump. Matthews as shown flashes when he's playing, but he hasn't been playing.

Overall, I think considering where most of us thought we would be, hard to not call a solid A at this point. Seriously, some of us are talking about THE Dance. Think about that. The staff has been wonderful in terms of on the court product, player development, and is making inroads with elite talent. Pastner has proven most of us wrong...and we're happy he did. BBall is fun again!
 
kyle.smith828

kyle.smith828

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coolhaji33 said:
I'm happy to say most of this came to fruition...took some heat for being optimistic...one thing I can say for sure though...the feeling I got today winning was something I know we ALL shared today and that's great.The guys are playing some really good ball,all around and what can we say about the staff.Things are really looking up.Together we swarm...
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So..... wanna go to the casino?
 

MikeJackets

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I'm very happy and surprised with this team but with the quality of they should be 15-6 right now. I think Josh and the Jackets keep on keeping on and make it to the NCAA Tournament. Do y'all think GT would be ranked right now if they were 15-6?
 
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