@Wake Sat 2/4 on ACCN

Peacone36

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Big game both standings was and RPI wise. Really this game could be our season. I think winning this game put this on the bubble With seven to go. But a loss probably puts us in the NIT conversation. Of the remaining road games this one is the most winnable and we have to take advantage of that.
 

YlJacket

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Collins versus Lammers is big. Don't expect Ben gets 25 this week. Others have to get well and step up.
On the road we have to lead with defense and tempo. Wake plays games in the 80s, we play games in the 60s. Most likely if this gets to the 80s we won't do so well.

Biggest issue is ankles and flu. If we are over it then we have a shot as Wake is not a juggernaut by any stretch. But they are a good team and as has been said our margin is small.
 

scotts

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We will play better tomorrow. Win this one and then take care of our business with the rest of our ACC home games and we should be in decent shape.
 

Peacone36

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Collins versus Lammers is big. Don't expect Ben gets 25 this week. Others have to get well and step up.
On the road we have to lead with defense and tempo. Wake plays games in the 80s, we play games in the 60s. Most likely if this gets to the 80s we won't do so well.

Biggest issue is ankles and flu. If we are over it then we have a shot as Wake is not a juggernaut by any stretch. But they are a good team and as has been said our margin is small.

You think they will matchup a lot? I think Q gets that assignment
 

Techster

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Hopefully our boys got a good wake up call last game at Clemson. They maybe better than people thought, but they're still not good enough to not play 100% on every possession and not play within the system. They're not sneaking up on anyone anymore.
 

Connell62

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Hopefully our boys got a good wake up call last game at Clemson. They maybe better than people thought, but they're still not good enough to not play 100% on every possession and not play within the system. They're not sneaking up on anyone anymore.

Techster, did you miss the news of flu and missed practice from ankles? I didn't really see anyone not giving 100%, but I did notice we weren't ourselves.

Speaking of which, does anyone have updates on health? We close to 100%? Hope so.. we will need to be to win this one. Its as big of a game for us as you can get in early Feb.
 

Techster

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Techster, did you miss the news of flu and missed practice from ankles? I didn't really see anyone not giving 100%, but I did notice we weren't ourselves.

Speaking of which, does anyone have updates on health? We close to 100%? Hope so.. we will need to be to win this one. Its as big of a game for us as you can get in early Feb.

Yeah, I saw that. It's early...I meant 100% within our system and focused. I didn't mean to imply guys were loafing out there, though that's what it read like.

Hopefully our boys are 100% healthy.
 

Connell62

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Yeah, I saw that. It's early...I meant 100% within our system and focused. I didn't mean to imply guys were loafing out there, though that's what it read like.

Hopefully our boys are 100% healthy.

No worries.. I felt like that was your point. For what its worth, I agree with you. I was much more confident in our chances of winning when we weren't the media's darling. Not only do other teams come in more focused, our guys see those clippings and that hunger begins to subside a bit. Let's get back to that Us Against the World mentality that helped trigger our squad's buy-in.
 

Techster

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No worries.. I felt like that was your point. For what its worth, I agree with you. I was much more confident in our chances of winning when we weren't the media's darling. Not only do other teams come in more focused, our guys see those clippings and that hunger begins to subside a bit. Let's get back to that Us Against the World mentality that helped trigger our squad's buy-in.

There's a saying on the football side of this board, "GT can't have nice things". It alludes to the fact every time something good happens for us, something bad follows. I was beginning to get that feeling as soon as all these writers and media outlets began giving us good pub. To be fair, it's just one game, and we had some health issues to deal with in a venue that's notoriously tough for us.

We're not going to win every game, especially on the road in the ACC. I'm just happy that we've got a team that feels like we COULD win on any given night and we feel disappointed when we don't. Much better than being apathetic. Such a 180 from the mind prep I had of being disappointed all season.
 

YlJacket

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You think they will matchup a lot? I think Q gets that assignment

I don't claim to be an expert on WF BB but I would think so. The other big they play Mitoglou or whatever doesn't seem as dangerous to me so even though he is a little bigger weight wise I would try to "hide" Q on him and see what happens. Give him guard help if I have to. My sense from watching them some and their stats is that they play a lot of 4 out anyway. So in that case for sure Ben gets him.

We'll see. They do have the ability to go all Brian Gregory on us and play a true double post to try to expose Q on the block. If they do I would not be surprised to see us go zone.
 

mstranahan

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Mitoglu is primarily a stretch 4 on the offensive end, so Q should be able to handle him reasonably well, I think. Collins is a big boy and bangs inside. I think when we go man, Lammers will have him and Q will have Mitoglou. I would expect lots of zone unless the little guys prove they can hit threes consistently.

Also, on our end, Collins has a real propensity to get in early foul trouble. I think if we pound the ball into Lammers early / often and also get strong drives from Okogie / Tadric, we can get him in foul trouble. If we do that, they have to bring Moore in and their effectiveness goes down dramatically.

Crawford is very talented but is mercurial. Runs hot / cold offensively and his effort tends to reflect whether he's making shots or not. If he's hot, they get dangerous. If not, he can hurt them.

I wouldn't blame to much on Q's ankle issue. Every team has banged up players in Feb. Having a good training staff is imperative for Feb / Mar success in hoops. I'm not down on the kids at all.... the fact that Q played almost the whole game on a sore ankle (and Heath played while apparently very under the weather with flu) just reinforces the "team over individual" focus of these kids.
 

Bruce Wayne

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I wouldn't blame to much on Q's ankle issue. Every team has banged up players in Feb.
I think the issues with Q's ankle are threefold: 1) Q has been playing almost entire games, so it is not easy to get him rest for his ankle. 2) He is a known streaky shooter and pretty much only makes threes when it is passed around to him for a catch and shoot. Thus, anything that undermines his comfort at getting set is a problem. 3) we don't have much depth and no real scoring depth so Q's points are critical. Most teams go deeper than 6.
 

jacketup

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I think the issues with Q's ankle are threefold: 1) Q has been playing almost entire games, so it is not easy to get him rest for his ankle. 2) He is a known streaky shooter and pretty much only makes threes when it is passed around to him for a catch and shoot. Thus, anything that undermines his comfort at getting set is a problem. 3) we don't have much depth and no real scoring depth so Q's points are critical. Most teams go deeper than 6.

You shoot with your legs. Yes, keep your elbow in, backspin with your fingers, yada yada, but you shoot with your legs. That's the problem with ankle sprains and shooting.

The only reason I ever went to the infirmary at GT was for ankle sprains. Both sides of my infirmary card said "Sprained ankle playing basketball on campus". If you got checked out they would let you use the whirlpool, which felt really good on a sore ankle.

Lots of players are banged up in Feb. UK's two recent losses were likely a result of their superstar FR PG playing on a sprained ankle.
 

Fatmike91

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I never expects us to win in littlejohn.

Wake is beatable, but their big is really good and I expect him cause Lammers some trouble. That's not common, but it's one of the things that gets us out of wack.

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