Villanova

[Tech93]

We are at best an average team with a below average coach. I hope one day GT can field a decent basketball team. I do not think it happens until we get the right coach.

 

[RyanS12]

Our wings and post played are ACC level players. Our pg guards are MAC level. Today was the difference between a team that will lose in the second round of the ncaa tournament and a team that will lose in the second round of the nit. Pg play and overall back court speed was the difference. I still think we win out in OOC play. Maybe drop 1 more tops but I think we finish with 6 maybe 7 ACC wins.

 

[collegeballfan]

PG is the problem in my eyes. Just slow. Ugly game for GT. We are a long way from being a Nova type team.

 

[Peacone36]

PG is the problem in my eyes. Just slow. Ugly game for GT. We are a long way from being a Nova type team.

I mean everyone knew that though right? We are hoping for an NIT birth and they are pretty much a lock to be in the 2nd weekend (or as much of a lock as a team can be) they tighten up their defensive rebounding they could be a FF team that's how good Arcidiano and Brunson are in my eyes.

Would have loved to seen Standord upset them because I think we could have put the lumber to the Cardinal and gotten a nice win.

 

[orientalnc]

I don't think there is a realistic fix for our PG problems. It's bad enough on offense, but on D it's downright offensive. Fortunately, we won't face many teams with a backcourt like VU's.

 

[MWBATL]

All I know is that this coaching staff seems to have a lock on the scoring drought. To be fair, in years prior anyone could lock us down and the result was a scoring drought, now it is only the better teams (like East Tennessee State) that can do that to us.....yeah, who am I kidding?

We kept saying before that if we had some outside shooting we would be able to open up the middle a bit. Well, we now have Adam Smith, and even Marcus Georges-Hunt, occasionally. Oh wait....that hasn't worked so well, and oh by the way, they'll both be gone next year...what will we do then? Rely on Q and Tadric to shoot treys?

It is simply so sad to me that our ceiling in this program is to fight like heck to maybe, just maybe, if everything breaks right, get to 0.500 in ACC play. For a year. Then like back down to the cellar again.

Is there anyone in the AA with a brain who wonders why McCamish is empty so often? Seriously?

Sorry to be such a bummer, I am just so sad about the state of our basketball program. I also wish for guys like Marcus Georges-Hunt, who looks to me likes he plays his heart out and leaves everything on the court and has done so for 4 years, I wish a better result for him. I respect the heck out of what he (and just about all of his teammates) have done....but jeez, coaches and administrators...get a clue!

 

[Connell62]

All I know is that this coaching staff seems to have a lock on the scoring drought. To be fair, in years prior anyone could lock us down and the result was a scoring drought, now it is only the better teams (like East Tennessee State) that can do that to us.....yeah, who am I kidding?

We kept saying before that if we had some outside shooting we would be able to open up the middle a bit. Well, we now have Adam Smith, and even Marcus Georges-Hunt, occasionally. Oh wait....that hasn't worked so well, and oh by the way, they'll both be gone next year...what will we do then? Rely on Q and Tadric to shoot treys?

It is simply so sad to me that our ceiling in this program is to fight like heck to maybe, just maybe, if everything breaks right, get to 0.500 in ACC play. For a year. Then like back down to the cellar again.

Is there anyone in the AA with a brain who wonders why McCamish is empty so often? Seriously?

Sorry to be such a bummer, I am just so sad about the state of our basketball program. I also wish for guys like Marcus Georges-Hunt, who looks to me likes he plays his heart out and leaves everything on the court and has done so for 4 years, I wish a better result for him. I respect the heck out of what he (and just about all of his teammates) have done....but jeez, coaches and administrators...get a clue!

Do you know how many times we have been .500 in the ACC in the last 25 years? The scoring drought isn't just on the coaches, players have to make open looks and exhibit better discipline when selecting shots. Yesterday, when we got down, we started taking quick, I'll-advised shots, and Nova is the type of team that will make you pay for that.

We played one of the better teams in the country, arguably the best backcourt in the country, and that will cause us problems. Thought Nova had a good gameplan defensively, and when we couldn't make the treys we were making against Arkansas, it was tough to stay in the game. I still think we will be okay, but we need to do a better job of finding a basket when the other team turns up the dial defensively.

 

[Peacone36]

I don't think there is a realistic fix for our PG problems. It's bad enough on offense, but on D it's downright offensive. Fortunately, we won't face many teams with a backcourt like VU's.

I see what you did there

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Villanova is a legit top 10 team. This loss didn't hurt near as bad as ETSU.

 

[dtm1997]

I was hopeful to not lose by 20 yesterday. We didn't.

Nova had the best player on the court in Brunson and they're basically playing 2PGs & 2CGs almost at all times. Couldn't penetrate or get the ball down low & when we did, their guards collapse to mitigate potential for their post players to get in foul trouble. They also seemed to have mental telepathy on offense because they kept causing the same double team to open up the man covered by our post player for a 3. FWIW, I saw Villanova, with essentially the same team last year, take VCU to wood shed about the same way.

We had stretches of solid play. We couldn't maintain it. MGH & Smith shot lights out against Arkansas, didn't against Villanova. Smith looked tentative at times. Jacobs got in to some foul trouble again and when he did take shots, they just didn't fall. They were ok shots, but his touch was off and he didn't get bounces.

Yesterday was a good examination of where we aren't. Let the team assess that and see where they can get better if they want to accomplish their goals. If they can't figure it out, they won't accomplish their goals.

 

[orientalnc]

I know there are point guards out there. We just need to get them to GT.

 

[slugboy]

'Nova's defense is exceptional. I'm not clear what we are trying to do on offense.

/

That's what last year looked like

 

[MWBATL]

Do you know how many times we have been .500 in the ACC in the last 25 years?

Thank you for giving me that perspective and reminding me. In point of fact we have been above 0.500 only twice since 1990-1. I was surprised by that fact. We have achieved 0.500 only 6 times in that stretch and 3 of those were in the first 4 years of that tine period), meaning we have been below 0.500 17 times. And the last time we even got to 0.500 was 9 seasons ago!

Looked at another way, in the last 19 seasons, we have been above 0.500 twice, at 0.500 3 times, and below 0.500 14 times. of those below 0.500 seasons, we have been 7-9 (which I will call competitive) 4 times...so in 19 seasons, we have bene "competitive" 9 times, and "not competitive" (6-10 or worse) 10 times. Our last "competitive" season was 6 years ago, which is the longest drought in our basketball history as far as I can tell.

I had honestly forgotten how bad we are in basketball. However, even with how bad we have been in basketball, we are in an epic stretch of being non-competitive. This year has the possibility of breaking that stretch, as I guess we have a shot at 8-10 in the league (which I would call competitive).