bigsands
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Sadly, our one and dones are senior transfers.
Wake Game Thread
- Thread starter McCamish Maniacs
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Sadly, our one and dones are senior transfers.
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My read on the game:
As mentioned earlier, too many close in shots missed. When you have issues scoring points, these shots have to be made. Cox sometimes looks like he's not sure where the hoop is located.
We were up by 12 at the half, but Wake could not buy a shot early. They were getting good looks and simply missing. Then we started the second really hot before cooling off a lot. Those two spurts were the difference. Otherwise, Wake outscored us by eight points. This Jekyll and Hyde personality is troublesome, especial when we find our nadir in the final five minutes of close games.
If I were a Wake fan I would call in to the Danny Manning show this week and ask him why he was playing GT man-to-man. As it turned out, the strategy worked pretty well for Wake. We got very few offensive rebounds as a result and our bigs were not very effective offensively. But, we got a lot of open looks today that we don't normally get.
So, what happened is our outside shooters found their game. What seemed different today was our 3-point shots did not seem to be panic shots as the 35-second clock was expiring. Bolden and Q had several catch and shoot opportunities that seemed to flow nicely with the pace of the game.
The defense pushed Wake to the shot clock limit several times and harassed their guards the entire game. I also thought Cox/Mitchell/Sampson kept Thomas at bay very well. And this was maybe the worst game I have seen Codi Miller-McIntyre play.
All-in-all a good game. The question always comes back to our ability to make shots. I think, otherwise, we are actually a good enough team that we ought to be 9-2 in the conference. Why are we failing when it matters most in these close games? Certainly shooting deficiencies are part of the problem, but we have failed on defense during some of those final five minutes of horror in close games. And, we can be very sloppy with the basketball at times. We do not lack the ability, but something in this puzzle is not fitting.
As mentioned earlier, too many close in shots missed. When you have issues scoring points, these shots have to be made. Cox sometimes looks like he's not sure where the hoop is located.
We were up by 12 at the half, but Wake could not buy a shot early. They were getting good looks and simply missing. Then we started the second really hot before cooling off a lot. Those two spurts were the difference. Otherwise, Wake outscored us by eight points. This Jekyll and Hyde personality is troublesome, especial when we find our nadir in the final five minutes of close games.
If I were a Wake fan I would call in to the Danny Manning show this week and ask him why he was playing GT man-to-man. As it turned out, the strategy worked pretty well for Wake. We got very few offensive rebounds as a result and our bigs were not very effective offensively. But, we got a lot of open looks today that we don't normally get.
So, what happened is our outside shooters found their game. What seemed different today was our 3-point shots did not seem to be panic shots as the 35-second clock was expiring. Bolden and Q had several catch and shoot opportunities that seemed to flow nicely with the pace of the game.
The defense pushed Wake to the shot clock limit several times and harassed their guards the entire game. I also thought Cox/Mitchell/Sampson kept Thomas at bay very well. And this was maybe the worst game I have seen Codi Miller-McIntyre play.
All-in-all a good game. The question always comes back to our ability to make shots. I think, otherwise, we are actually a good enough team that we ought to be 9-2 in the conference. Why are we failing when it matters most in these close games? Certainly shooting deficiencies are part of the problem, but we have failed on defense during some of those final five minutes of horror in close games. And, we can be very sloppy with the basketball at times. We do not lack the ability, but something in this puzzle is not fitting.
OldJacketFan
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Oriental echos a lot of my questions about this team. I'll be the first to admit I've drifted away from BBall for a lot of reasons so I haven't watched a lot of it in the last several years. I saw good hustle and effort today. A lot of team basketball, so I'll ask the question of more involved fans here. Why is this team's record as it is? Based on what I saw today it just doesn't fit.
AE 87
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For the season, we've shot 42%, 27% from 3. Today we shot 46%, 45% from 3. That's part of it.
New Old Guy
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I was there today (again) and I think we looked a lot better. Outside shots were falling (even though we must have missed a half dozen from point blank range). As mentioned above, Wake could not hit a thing early, and that helped us build a lead and kept the pressure off. The crowd was a little better too, especially considering how we have played recently.
This team is hard to figure out. If I was one of the ranked ACC teams, I would not want to play Georgia Tech in the tourney. Maybe we can put together a few wins to close out this screw ball season.
This team is hard to figure out. If I was one of the ranked ACC teams, I would not want to play Georgia Tech in the tourney. Maybe we can put together a few wins to close out this screw ball season.
GT_ATL
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It's not the ranked teams that need to worry about us; they're still a notch above us even with our improved play. It's the bubble teams like NC State or Syracuse before their ban that should be terrified of the bad loss thundering towards them at 100 MPH if they face us in the tourney.
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I think some are being overly harsh about this game. GT outplayed Wake significantly.
No one seems to remember that GT had its best player on the bench for the last 8 minutes of the half and expanded its lead - despite being awful from the foul line (40% in the first half) and mising 5 layup/short shots.
They completely took away Wake's dribble drive game and took Thomas out of his game so badly that Manning benched him the last 15 min of the game. If Hudson hadn't gone off for Wake this would have been a 20 pt game at halftime. MGH made up for sitting the first half by scoring 8 pts in the first 3 minutes of the second half, effectively ending the game.
This team has been playing better the last 2 weeks. it has played quicker as Jorgy has gotten more comfortable. Players are getting better looks and not surprisingly making more shots. Still a mediocre offensive team, but at least not a heinous one. They also played alot of zone in the second half.
I'll have a couple of stories from the Alumni game afterwards later.
Still need to see if we can win a close game.
No one seems to remember that GT had its best player on the bench for the last 8 minutes of the half and expanded its lead - despite being awful from the foul line (40% in the first half) and mising 5 layup/short shots.
They completely took away Wake's dribble drive game and took Thomas out of his game so badly that Manning benched him the last 15 min of the game. If Hudson hadn't gone off for Wake this would have been a 20 pt game at halftime. MGH made up for sitting the first half by scoring 8 pts in the first 3 minutes of the second half, effectively ending the game.
This team has been playing better the last 2 weeks. it has played quicker as Jorgy has gotten more comfortable. Players are getting better looks and not surprisingly making more shots. Still a mediocre offensive team, but at least not a heinous one. They also played alot of zone in the second half.
I'll have a couple of stories from the Alumni game afterwards later.
Still need to see if we can win a close game.
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I also want to add that basketball is a game of runs. Your goal is to have more and longer runs than your opponents. You can't choose to just take a run or two out and say that outside of that you were outscored.
I will say this team looks quite different than the one I saw against BC 2 weeks ago. The offense looks alot more smooth. We'll see where it goes from here, but that's nice to see even if its only for a week or two. Alot less tentative on offense - screens are still an issue.
I'll also mention that one post on the Wake board brought a big smile to my fave (and one I think we are going to see alot more of over the next 3 years) - "I had that Sh*t Jorgenson"
After today GT has 2 players shooting 40% from three in ACC games - MGH and Jorgy, one shooting 39% - Q, and one shooting 38% - Bolden.
Bolden has been a big part of the difference the last couple of weeks. He has been a solid performer both offensively and defensively. He did an excellent job on Miller-McIntyre today. He will take a shot every now and then that makes you cringe, but he plays better when you allow him to play aggresively.
GT has shooters. But they needed to perform and now they need to continue to perform. It's just one win and I need to see us win a close game, but i'm happy that the team hasn't packed it in and I hope they continue to get better. That NCSU loss just galls me - literally gave a win away.
I will say this team looks quite different than the one I saw against BC 2 weeks ago. The offense looks alot more smooth. We'll see where it goes from here, but that's nice to see even if its only for a week or two. Alot less tentative on offense - screens are still an issue.
I'll also mention that one post on the Wake board brought a big smile to my fave (and one I think we are going to see alot more of over the next 3 years) - "I had that Sh*t Jorgenson"
After today GT has 2 players shooting 40% from three in ACC games - MGH and Jorgy, one shooting 39% - Q, and one shooting 38% - Bolden.
Bolden has been a big part of the difference the last couple of weeks. He has been a solid performer both offensively and defensively. He did an excellent job on Miller-McIntyre today. He will take a shot every now and then that makes you cringe, but he plays better when you allow him to play aggresively.
GT has shooters. But they needed to perform and now they need to continue to perform. It's just one win and I need to see us win a close game, but i'm happy that the team hasn't packed it in and I hope they continue to get better. That NCSU loss just galls me - literally gave a win away.
alaguy
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87,
yep--that's really ALL of it, we shoot anywhere like that in any game and we win 5 more
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@RamblinRed. I agree with almost everything you post here. And, I agree basketball is a game of runs. That said, the only difference is us making shots during those stretches we don't usually make. It happened in the Miami game as well. I have not seen every game, but the close games we lost are missing those "we can't miss" times while the opponent is playing like the KA pledge team.
I agree with you that the offense seems to be more efficient now. Even in the losses to State and Duke, we played much better than before the BC game. One thing I think is happening is that Jorgenson is pushing the tempo a lot more now. I think that style of play suits our talent more. If we had better spacing on breaks we could be even more effective.
As I said before, this was a good win. We needed it. Now. A road win at VT would be nice.
I agree with you that the offense seems to be more efficient now. Even in the losses to State and Duke, we played much better than before the BC game. One thing I think is happening is that Jorgenson is pushing the tempo a lot more now. I think that style of play suits our talent more. If we had better spacing on breaks we could be even more effective.
As I said before, this was a good win. We needed it. Now. A road win at VT would be nice.
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Oriental.
I don't think we have any major disagreements. Also remember that we pulled our starters with over 3 min left and a 21 pt lead. It was basically an even game for about 30 min, GT dominated for 7 min and Wake beat our scrubs for 3.
GT had a good gameplan for this one. They worked really hard to push Thomas out and they also clogged the lane so CMM couldn't drive (knowing he's not a good shooter). Hudson looked great for Wake out there. Beautiful shooter, lots of confidence. GT finally decided they needed to pay more attention to him about 10-12 min into the game. Through 30 min he had half their points.
Road win at VT would be nice. That will not be easy. They are playing small ball and we haven't handled that well.
It doesn't change my opinion about what I think should happen, but it was nice to see GT play much closer to the potential that I think this team has.
RamblinRed
I don't think we have any major disagreements. Also remember that we pulled our starters with over 3 min left and a 21 pt lead. It was basically an even game for about 30 min, GT dominated for 7 min and Wake beat our scrubs for 3.
GT had a good gameplan for this one. They worked really hard to push Thomas out and they also clogged the lane so CMM couldn't drive (knowing he's not a good shooter). Hudson looked great for Wake out there. Beautiful shooter, lots of confidence. GT finally decided they needed to pay more attention to him about 10-12 min into the game. Through 30 min he had half their points.
Road win at VT would be nice. That will not be easy. They are playing small ball and we haven't handled that well.
It doesn't change my opinion about what I think should happen, but it was nice to see GT play much closer to the potential that I think this team has.
RamblinRed
New Old Guy
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Another thing that I noticed during the game is that our guys, especially Cox, were focused on making Thomas try to score with his right hand. And he could not. He got very frustrated, and was so ineffective that Manning pulled him late in the game. Good scouting and good defensive post play (although this weakness in Thomas's game is pretty well known).
LibertyTurns
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Every year there's one game that sets up perfectly for my lock of the year- this year it was Wake. Perfectly positioned for a blowout and that's exactly what we got.
GT's historical performance in the game after the lock of the year is very, very poor. Previous years there have been good follow thrus, but more than 80% of the time we crap the bed.
GT should demolish VT on the road tomorrow. Same as Wake we should have a comfortable 20pt lead in the 2nd half and trade baskets the rest of the way for an easy victory. Scrubs should get quality time. Odds are against this happening even though VT is undermanned, playing their 3rd game in 8 days, etc.
Again, history is not on our side. It's likely to be a close one even though it shouldn't. I wouldn't risk a red cent on this one. We already had our annual "bet the house" on this game and GT delivered a predictable performance. This one's a coin flip. Really a shame because GT is a much better team.
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During the post game CBG calls out Bolden for improved D. He said that 2 years ago they drove around campus looking for someone he could defend. Pointed out that sometimes we a player plays better D that it seems that their shots seem to get better.
I noticed that the guards have done better with their dribble penetration the last 2 or 3 weeks. Obviously I think that that helps a lot.
I noticed that the guards have done better with their dribble penetration the last 2 or 3 weeks. Obviously I think that that helps a lot.
McCamish Maniacs
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From ACC Digital Network:
McCamish Maniacs
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