#UWiscy (not our kind) coming to town Wed 9:15 EST tip

[D-man44]

One thing I love about Pastner's teams is the respond to adversity well and i don't see much quit. Wisconsin took a double digit lead when Davison took over for a minute. After that point tech outscored them the rest of the game.

 

[CuseJacket]

Mike Devoe was a baaaad man. And that wasn't even a Nike ball.

As others have mentioned, I found our last few possessions frustrating. I wasn't a fan of the shot selection in the last minute, but I can't fault the play calls in terms of what we were trying to accomplish.

I have been wondering about our freshmen and have wanted to see their play against P6 competition. After two contests my way-too-early analysis is this: I love their energy, I think they can be deadeye shooters this year, and they seem to have good positive attitudes. Deebo has found success with the classic Pastner "violent cuts" as well.

With that said, they are typical freshman in two ways:

1. They aren't great defenders. They aren't terrible, but they are a liability in many situations.
2. They aren't great and frankly look uncomfortable putting the ball on the floor against high end, pressure competition.

The good news is they can be immediately accretive from deep in catch and shoot situations. That may be ok for this roster mix if Devoe, Ush, Sturdy and Sneak can penetrate and kick. Until then, I have tempered expectations on what we will get from them. This is ok and in the long-term the two mentioned look like high ceiling potential guys.

 

[MountainBuzzMan]

It just ain’t gonna happen man. He doesn’t have the athleticism. He’s serviceable on D, but we are seriously handcuffed at the 5 right now, and mildly handcuffed at the 1.

That said, this team can make the tourney. We get 15 out of Jordan tonight and we win easy. Gotta get more consistency from him or need someone else to emerge. Parham coming back is going to help more than we think.

It is early and one thing that we have shown consitantly year after year is the ability to develope a big man. He won't turn into lammers, but we will see noticiable improvement throughout the year at the 5 position. So way too early to make these types of claims

 

[Golden Tornadoes]

The Wisconsin players looked like they were a fish out of water... flopping all over the place

 

[CuseJacket]

 

[SandySpringsJacket]

That’s a fair point of slowing them down but I don’t think we needed to slow down. That is Wisconsin’s game. I don’t think it was by choice…they like to grind and they have pretty sound transition defense. Also, Davis didn’t look worn down to me on that beautiful block on Devoe in crunch time

Also, why not have Usher on the elbow or high post and run it through him if we are going to do that offense? He did it some last year when Moses got in foul trouble and he did a good job. He has much better vision and touch than Howard and he can hit that middle range jumper. Howard offers nothing from the position and is stuck being a handoff guy but is more likely to drop it/pick up an offensive foul/or hold it for 10 seconds while waiting for someone to save him. I would say that is not very creative and more importantly, not smart. Put him in a position where he is comfortable and more free and can get offensive rebounds.

We did score more than I anticipated. Though, I think that was more because of Devoe going off and hitting deep threes, shaking his guy lose, and creating his own shots…not the sets. If we wanted to get them tired, we should have been running our shooters around countless screens. Everyone knows that is so annoying to guard. But yet we continue to be post centric on offense and run it through the big, where we lack depth and that play making ability like a Lammers/Moses.

Good point. I noticed they left Howard all alone at the top when he had the ball daring him to shoot which it make hard to run the offense.

 

[gte447f]

Watch pastner’s post game presser. He is so much different than he was a couple of seasons ago when all the r** b*** crap was going on. So much more relaxed. He’s doing and saying a lot of the right things. He acknowledges and thanks the home crowd and especially the students. All of the media coverage (badger coverage and national, not just local) I have read from last night’s game mentions the student section and the raucous atmosphere and home court advantage. I know it didn’t result in a win, but it made a difference and people noticed. Pastner says it and I read elsewhere that GT usually slots about 900 student tickets and last night they let in 2100 students. That’s awesome. I wish we were selling out, but if we’re not, go ahead and let the entire student body in the place!

One more thing, listen to what pastner says about his team’s hard nosed, blue collar, grind it out work ethic, and how he thinks it aligns with and resonates with our students (and alumni) and what they go through to “get out” of Tech. He gets it. (P.s. I think this speaks to our sidewalk fans also. I don’t want to leave them out.)

 

[okiemon]

On the very next possession they came down and their center set a clearly moving screen on our guy and he got open for a three.

That one sequence (BS foul, then no call then 3) helped decide the game.

I don’t usually waste time or breath criticizing the refs as we tend to use that as an excuse for losing, but last night I found myself thinking several times that the officiating crew must have been on the B1G payroll.

 

[kg01]

Gotta be one of the most frustrating games to watch. I can't imagine having to play against that team every year.

As a ref, don't you have enough personal pride to not allow yourself to constantly get baited into flop fouls(sic)? Don't you have enough professional experience to notice foul-fense when you see it? Do you enjoy being fooled? Does it feel good to you? Somebody tell me.

Anyway. Good on us for not giving up. That quality is fun to watch. Michael Angelo Devoe plays with a 'tude and I love it.

Smith finally seems to be getting it going. We have to be able to take advantage of his skillset. Not a good shooter, but he can use his athleticism to make plays and be a pesky defender.

Can Moore bottle up whatever it is he was on during that 3-4 minute stretch when he looked like Lebron Durant out there?

Special shout out to the guy @dtm1997 for fairly warning us about that one kid. As usual, I ignored dt's warnings and I got burned. I was not mentally ready for how much I loathed that kid by halftime.

And whichever of you it was that took that slow-motion, player control foul/beer spill, identify yourself so we can properly point and laugh. I mean, how unathletic was that guy in that moment? And what were you doing that you got completely blindsided? Yikes, man.

 

[gte447f]

I don’t usually waste time or breath criticizing the refs as we tend to use that as an excuse for losing, but last night I found myself thinking several times that the officiating crew must have been on the B1G payroll.

100% agree. I’m the same way. Complaining about a call here or a call there is silly because it’s a fast paced game and it’s impossible to make all the right calls. Buuuuuttt…… last night the officiating was flabbergasting.

 

[gte447f]

Michael Angelo Devoe

For the win!!!
Somebody get to work on the T-shirts.

 

[lv20gt]

The good news is they can be immediately accretive from deep in catch and shoot situations. That may be ok for this roster mix if Devoe, Ush, Sturdy and Sneak can penetrate and kick. Until then, I have tempered expectations on what we will get from them. This is ok and in the long-term the two mentioned look like high ceiling potential guys.

One big difference between Coleman/Kelly and freshmen versions of Jose and Mike are that Jose and Mike had to force the issue. We needed it as a team to have any chance. We don't need Coleman or Kelly to force the issue. We do need them to make the shots that the offense generates for them because eventually some teams will over commit to stopping Devoe and others will have tp o make the shots when it is there turn. Eventually they will get more comfortable pressing more.

 

[kg01]

For the win!!!
Somebody get to work on the T-shirts.

Just put M.A.D. on the shirts 'cause that dude plays angry.

 

[Golden Tornadoes]

For somebody that might be in the know, I loved seeing the students on tv last night as I watched the game. Others have commented about how many more students were there than usual and I think Pastner said there were 2100. Did we run a special promotion for student turnout last night? Maybe an email sent to them with an offer kind of how Pastner did in his first couple of seasons here? Just genuinely curious. Even still, loved them showing up and making noise!

 

[AUFC]

For somebody that might be in the know, I loved seeing the students on tv last night as I watched the game. Others have commented about how many more students were there than usual and I think Pastner said there were 2100. Did we run a special promotion for student turnout last night? Maybe an email sent to them with an offer kind of how Pastner did in his first couple of seasons here? Just genuinely curious. Even still, loved them showing up and making noise!

They didn't cap student attendance last night (because the arena wasn't sold out, why turn people away?) and it made a huge difference.

One thing I wanted to mention and someone else alluded to with regards to Deivon - we were awesome on the 50/50 balls last night (and got absolutely robbed on one jump ball that was ruled a foul but I digress). The energy was awesome.

 

[OG-T]

If Deivon Smith can consistently hit the 7 foot pull up jumper and the driving layup, everything will open up for him. He blows by and gets defender on hip, and is so close to finishing the deal. Once he masters slowing that final moment of focus, he will be reliably a 10 point+ guy, with drive and kick opening even more.

Also, Ush came back for things like having the ball in his hands with the game on the line - damn, hurts to see first chance fall short. Feel it’s the last time it will fall short. His best ball is ahead, we’ll need it.

 

[Formerlybis]

Hey, badger fan here. I won't comment on the game because I know I hate hearing from the opponent's fanbase after a loss, but I will say how much I admire Devoe. Every time he would make a shot, my reaction was "CRAP!" followed a half-second later by "man, he's good". I agree that you'll need some secondary contributions, but you seem like a solid, solid team. Good luck the rest of the way.

 

[bke1984]

It is early and one thing that we have shown consitantly year after year is the ability to develope a big man. He won't turn into lammers, but we will see noticiable improvement throughout the year at the 5 position. So way too early to make these types of claims

To be clear I’m not saying he won’t develop. I’m saying that right now we are handcuffed and need him to develop or we will struggle.

 

[RyanS12]

Hey, badger fan here. I won't comment on the game because I know I hate hearing from the opponent's fanbase after a loss, but I will say how much I admire Devoe. Every time he would make a shot, my reaction was "CRAP!" followed a half-second later by "man, he's good". I agree that you'll need some secondary contributions, but you seem like a solid, solid team. Good luck the rest of the way.

Hell of a game. Felt like a 8/9 game in the NCAAT! I live in Michigan so I catch a few of your games. Really impressed how well coached they are and how well they’re playing. Before the season I kinda had this penciled in as a GT win but after “Maui” I knew this was going to be a tough out. My only complaint was the officials. Some of the calls were ehh…. But other than that it was a great game minus the outcome lol. But as a college basketball fan, it was fun to watch Devoe and Davison trade buckets.

 

[ChasonBaller]

For somebody that might be in the know, I loved seeing the students on tv last night as I watched the game. Others have commented about how many more students were there than usual and I think Pastner said there were 2100. Did we run a special promotion for student turnout last night? Maybe an email sent to them with an offer kind of how Pastner did in his first couple of seasons here? Just genuinely curious. Even still, loved them showing up and making noise!

They let them go into the surrounding section finally. Hopefully they do it more in the future. Without a doubt for 9 o’clock games because you know a lot of people won’t come unless they live in Midtown. The most empty section tonight was the gold club section…