Tip Off Tomorrow Miami of Ohio

[GT11]

If you are disappointed with the Tuesday result, just be happy you are not an Arizona State fan. UC Riverside. At the buzzer from 70 feet for the win!

Or Virginia after losing to Navy. Mercer beat Duke. Basketball is the sport where anybody can beat anybody at anytime.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

LOL...I told ya'll it wouldn't take but one loss while we were trying to find our way for them to show up again. Heck, some never even left!!

Agree with you 100%, we got all we could have hoped for from Rodney. He really turned it up down the stretch, and I think that he only gets better as the season goes on.

I thought not having Bubba's experience on the floor really hurt us last night. As you mentioned, MOH had experience all over the floor while we are still fitting pieces together.

#2 (Lairy) probably has a lot tougher time with Bubba guarding him. He would have been on the floor to help us get better shots at the end as well.

IMO, we must have more offense from the PG spot. We need DS and KS to be better 3-11. They need to be penetrating and getting lay-up's. Too many jumpers from them last night.

Finally, you are absolutely right, Usher and Khalid MUST be better offensively. Otherwise, we will struggle to score until our young guys grow up. Thought Usher should have gotten the basket more often.

Unfortunately, I've pretty much come to the realization that Khalid just isn't an offensive threat. He will flash occasionally, but we cannot rely on his offensive production.

While I thought we would do enough to win this game, I also said I wouldn't be surprised if we got shocked. It's going to take us a few games for all the new pieces to gel.

That said, it was far from a terrible game. Credit to MOH for hanging in and winning it late.

Everyone needs to calm down and back away from the ledge.

THIS

 

[Northeast Stinger]

As I’ve said on other threads, I am uncomfortable calling out specific players. So let me say this, we have an older experienced player that several of you seem to think is one of our better players. I don’t think he is that good and I predict he will be replaced in the rotation by a younger player as the season progresses.

 

[Root4GT]

I agree there was no excuse last year. But this isn’t last year. It’s frustrating to lose, but you still need to look at the team realistically.

The parts that really frustrated me were Usher forcing those shots at the end and Devoe getting himself into no man’s land without an outlet…and yeah, those guys are seniors and should know better. But you can’t blame the entire loss on those two moments.

The team will get better.

If we lost to a ranked team I would agree. We lost to an average MAC team. Can’t have those losses and aspire to be an NCAAT Team.

We have several tough OOC games upcoming. If we aren’t significantly improved we will lose at least 4 more OOC games.

That puts us in the position of basically needing to win the ACCT again to go dancing.

 

[Silk3]

If we lost to a ranked team I would agree. We lost to an average MAC team. Can’t have those losses and aspire to be an NCAAT Team.

We have several tough OOC games upcoming. If we aren’t significantly improved we will lose at least 4 more OOC games.

That puts us in the position of basically needing to win the ACCT again to go dancing.

I think they are better then an average Mac team

 

[Connell62]

If we lost to a ranked team I would agree. We lost to an average MAC team. Can’t have those losses and aspire to be an NCAAT Team.

We have several tough OOC games upcoming. If we aren’t significantly improved we will lose at least 4 more OOC games.

That puts us in the position of basically needing to win the ACCT again to go dancing.

Most people, including many on this board, haven't been to optimistic about our chances of making the dance any way.

I know we're all still on a high from last season, but every season / team is different, and it would take a lot going right for us to dance.

That's not to say that it can't still be a good year or that we will suck. All we can ask for is to put ourselves in position to be in consideration.

 

[Root4GT]

Most people, including many on this board, haven't been to optimistic about our chances of making the dance any way.

I know we're all still on a high from last season, but every season / team is different, and it would take a lot going right for us to dance.

That's not to say that it can't still be a good year or that we will suck. All we can ask for is to put ourselves in position to be in consideration.

True. Now add in striking out in the early signing period and likely losing Devoe and Usher after the season the future isn’t as rosy as it was last April. High probability of sliding back to a lower half ACC Team.

 

[Root4GT]

I think they are better then an average Mac team

Based on what? A 9-8 Conference team last year with the same cast? They appeared to have one very good player and a bunch of role players. You might be right but we look more bad than they looked good.

 

[GTbball2016]

True. Now add in striking out in the early signing period and likely losing Devoe and Usher after the season the future isn’t as rosy as it was last April. High probability of sliding back to a lower half ACC Team.

It’s incredibly important that Smith and Coleman show the can play at this level as the season progresses

 

[slugboy]

Considering that 3/5ths of the starting lineup didn’t start last year and we’re a traditionally slow starting team, and we rely on a lot of individual shot creation, you could see us stumble out of the gate. We did.
Add in that Miami-Ohio brought back their seniors, and tripping up was more likely.
We should have won, but we tend to end the season a lot stronger than we start it.

I will look for players outside of Devoe and Usher to grow and develop through the season. If that happens fast enough, we have an NCAA shot

 

[tsrich]

Considering that 3/5ths of the starting lineup didn’t start last year and we’re a traditionally slow starting team, and we rely on a lot of individual shot creation, you could see us stumble out of the gate. We did.
Add in that Miami-Ohio brought back their seniors, and tripping up was more likely.
We should have won, but we tend to end the season a lot stronger than we start it.

I will look for players outside of Devoe and Usher to grow and develop through the season. If that happens fast enough, we have an NCAA shot

This is the part the coaches have to find a way to fix. Otherwise we're going to spend a lot of years on the wrong side of the bubble due to bad OOC losses.

 

[Root4GT]

This is the part the coaches have to find a way to fix. Otherwise we're going to spend a lot of years on the wrong side of the bubble due to bad OOC losses.

This is the issue at hand. Frankly if we had not won the ACCT we were not a 100% lock for the NCAAT last year depending on how other conference tournaments played out. We were a 9 seed last year even with the ACCT automatic bid. The OOC loses were the primary reason. At some point, this is year 7, Pastner needs to figure out how to win early games against lesser teams. 6 years is a long time to rinse and repeat!

 

[MidtownJacket]

DOOOOOOOMMMMM, DDOOOOOOMMMMM AND GLOOOOOOOMMMMM!

Not good we went out and laid an egg in the opener, but c'mon GT Nation - a little faith please. We ran a lot of guys (lesson learned) and the young guns were more young than gun, but this talk of misery and despair is unbecoming of us. CJP has shown a willingness to shake things up and try new things (look at our shift in offensive philosophy or lineup approach for player minutes) and this year he is trying some new stuff live like playing a longer rotation, playing more man than zone, pushing tempo etc.

There are trade offs for these things, if we want to get out and run then there is going to be more one on one create your own shot stuff, the half court steady rotation sets we ran alot with Jose last year don't work in transition basketball. We finish in the top 4 of the conference and we are dancing. I am calling it now that we will be there, and have confidence in this staff and roster. We stay health and we will be fine.

We get another crack at it tonight.

 

[YlJacket]

If you are going to do Gloom and Doom you have to do it right.

 

[JacketOff]

No thread for the Hatters? Glad we finally dominated a middling mid major like we should. 47% from 3 is very nice, but likely unsustainable. Worried anybody who can run a big lineup out against will crush us inside.

 

[CLM]

Need to be able to get better big man recruits

 

[D-man44]

Need to be able to get better big man recruits

I mean Saba was nearly a 4 star with offers from Illinois, USC, Vandy. He Just seems to be more than a 1-year project.