UCLA season opener

SidewalkJacket

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I did not see any of the action, but looked at the box score and read what you guys have said so far. After the week our program has had, to lose by 3 to a ranked team without 3 key players (2 likely starters) is incredibly encouraging.

From an Xs and Os standpoint, did we still run everything through BL at the high post? Did we run match-up zone type stuff on D?
 

Peacone36

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Did you guys notice that we shot 80% from the line? Did we do that in any game last year?

Thoughts:
Alvarado is ticker and stronger than he was in high school. He seemed like a veteran late in the game last night
Moore played like he did last year. I thought he planned shoot 10K shots in the off-season.
Moses has to play differently than he did last night or he will spend a lot of time on the bench.
I thought Cole played pretty well, but his D has to improve.
CBG was/is a mystery.

Our spacing on the final shot got really screwed up. Not sure if it was Jose, but someone was in the wrong place and made the shot more difficult.

A double/double for Lammers is nice against a good team. They were able to double team him because we never had enough guys on the floor who can score.

Overall I thought we played pretty well given we were short handed. And ESPN made a huge deal about UCLA being short handed. F**k, they were missing three guys who have never played a college game, and we had two of top three returning scorers out.

Hopefully we will hear something soon about Tad and JO. We need them badly.

I knew we shot well but not that well. I haven’t looked at the box score yet. It felt like they shot 80% from the floor in the first half. ****ing Welsh just doesn’t miss and Wilkes was on fire. Throw in that Russian on the baseline and enough already...
 

Peacone36

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I did not see any of the action, but looked at the box score and read what you guys have said so far. After the week our program has had, to lose by 3 to a ranked team without 3 key players (2 likely starters) is incredibly encouraging.

From an Xs and Os standpoint, did we still run everything through BL at the high post? Did we run match-up zone type stuff on D?

Yes to the first
We played a lot of switch heavy m2m.
 

ATL1

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I'm expecting a lot of games like that early in the season. Hopefully as the seasons goes along they'll improve and these tough loses become W's.
 

SteamWhistle

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Lammers will get drafted.
All 4 of the Freshman can play.
Alston needs to slow down and play more under control and he will be a good player off the Bench.
AD is finally ready for ACC Minutes, but wtf was up with him shooting 3s.
Jos3 is a gamer, thought that last 3 was going in.
 

jacketup

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This is the same GT basketball team that can't shoot we have seen for at least a decade. I wondered why posters thought that Okogie and Jackson would have helped, given that neither is exactly a lights out shooter. Then I looked at the box score and saw that 2 of the starters were 0-9. Add a third starter and it goes to 2-18. Okogie and Jackson aren't great shooters, but they aren't that bad.

I still don't understand why we don't recruit kids who can shoot. Some of them aren't great athletes who get noticed at camps and get star ratings, but with the 3 point rule you have to have them. A bunch of mid-majors make a living with those kids. Having at least one or two would be a good idea.
 

dtm1997

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Lammers will get drafted.
All 4 of the Freshman can play.
Alston needs to slow down and play more under control and he will be a good player off the Bench.
AD is finally ready for ACC Minutes, but wtf was up with him shooting 3s.
Jos3 is a gamer, thought that last 3 was going in.

I didn't even notice AD take 3s, but I'd ask the same question.
 

awbuzz

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Does anyone know if Buzz got Santa Claus to give him a ride to make it back to the GT campus so that Buzz could make it to the football game today?
 

orientalnc

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This is the same GT basketball team that can't shoot we have seen for at least a decade. I wondered why posters thought that Okogie and Jackson would have helped, given that neither is exactly a lights out shooter. Then I looked at the box score and saw that 2 of the starters were 0-9. Add a third starter and it goes to 2-18. Okogie and Jackson aren't great shooters, but they aren't that bad.

I still don't understand why we don't recruit kids who can shoot. Some of them aren't great athletes who get noticed at camps and get star ratings, but with the 3 point rule you have to have them. A bunch of mid-majors make a living with those kids. Having at least one or two would be a good idea.
I would like to add Moore's 0-6, making it 2-24 for those four guys. No wonder Lammers got double teamed. I think there was a stretch of a few minutes where those four sharp shooters were on the floor together.
 

ChasonBaller

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I didn't even notice AD take 3s, but I'd ask the same question.
Took a couple of step backs also....I put some of the blame on coach tho for putting him in a situation he obviouly couldn't handle(on offense at least, his defense was solid)
 

mstranahan

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I've only watched first half (I'm not @Peacone36 I need my sleep!). Lammers was a stud. Jose looked more ready for college game than I expected. Moses, Cole and CGB looked like lost freshmen in the part I saw but that's normal for game one, esp against quality opponent.

AD and JMo are spot minute backups once we get Tad and JO back. AD can defend but is useless on O. JO is solid with the ball but no threat to score and steady on D. They both give us reliable ways to give Jose and Ben rest.

Four starters appear locked in (once we get JO and TJ back). Question is fourth starter and rotation off bench. This team has lots of potential but will stumble occasionally due to youth.

Really looking forward to seeing the first game back home
 

LibertyTurns

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Did you guys notice that we shot 80% from the line? Did we do that in any game last year?
I may be mistaken but think it happened a few times in the games we won.

Too bad we didn’t steal a win, but maybe the guys didn’t want to spend a month cooped up at the Ritz?

I wish I had enough in me to make it to halftime. This game was just too late for this old guy and so early reveille to get to football game. Will have to watch the replay.
 

alagold

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I was pleasantly surprised overall.I knew several couldn't shoot and that played out.But the effort was there and no back-down!
Lammers is just amazing.He looked like Bill Walton ironically.
 

RamblinRed

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Will watch the full game later, saw just pieces last night.
A couple of stats stand out to me.

Alvarado, CGB And Cole were 4-11 from 3 - not killer, but not bad at all for FR in their first game against good competition. Rest of team was 0-7.
Alston had 10 pts for us, but it was on 2-9 shooting (we need him to make a few threes) and had 6 TO. The rest of the team had 5 TO combined.
Alvarado is going to be the starter at PG, period. I think Moore is in trouble long term in terms of playing time. Once Tad and JO are back they are going to take alot of min from Moore and Haywood. Then you have Devoe coming in and Phillips coming off a RS, so I don't see his playing time improving next season. Will be interesting to see if he stays 4 years. He is well liked an seems to like GT alot.

Lammers is a dude.
Neither JO or Tad may be deadeye shooters, but both are good enough to help our perimeter scoring alot. JO looked great in that video shooting threes with the cast one - made 7 in a row at one point.
Alvarado is just a gamer. Not a natural shooter but makes shoots when he needs to.
Not surprised Wright had a poor game. He outclassed Faulkner with size and athleticism, won't be easy to do that against better teams. Cole is the more skilled of the two - but missed 8 days of practice, both have nice upside.
All the FR look lost at times - that doesn't bother me that much..
Gueye is excellent on defense - he had 6 rebounds (4 def) and 4 blocks, but simply is not a threat out at the high post on offense. But he will play some because of what he can do on defense. Solid with the ball - 2 asts, 1 TO.

Hope Ogbonda's knee gets better, lots of chatter he had a great summer, bummer he has the MCL.

This could be a completely different team once JO and Tad are back. Right now it is playing big with Moses getting time at the 3, the 4 guards got 92 out of 120 perimeter min.
Once JO and Tad come back i could see that reversing and becoming a small ball team with JO at the 4 for parts of games and less time for Wright and Cole and probably AD (who played 32 last night - second only to Lammers).

Without JO and Tad we played 8 guys 16 min or more.

One more comment in response to an earlier poster. GT is recruiting shooters. Haywood shot 40%+ at Brewster. Cole is a really good shooter - heck made 7 threes in the GA All-Star game. Sjolund is likely one of the best shooters coming into college next season. Devoe is a good 3-pt shooter. But don't expect guys to be great shooters as FR(especially early), they need time to get used to the size and speed of the college game and have it become more instinctual and natural.
 

jeffgt14

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I've only watched first half (I'm not @Peacone36 I need my sleep!). Lammers was a stud. Jose looked more ready for college game than I expected. Moses, Cole and CGB looked like lost freshmen in the part I saw but that's normal for game one, esp against quality opponent.

AD and JMo are spot minute backups once we get Tad and JO back. AD can defend but is useless on O. JO is solid with the ball but no threat to score and steady on D. They both give us reliable ways to give Jose and Ben rest.

Four starters appear locked in (once we get JO and TJ back). Question is fourth starter and rotation off bench. This team has lots of potential but will stumble occasionally due to youth.

Really looking forward to seeing the first game back home
I see Tad still coming off the bench but I would assume he gets starter minutes.
 
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