What has surprised you so far this year?

MtnWasp

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998
Beating Duke is an obvious one, right?

How about Kelly's talent on the boards? Where did that come from?

George being a starter?

Where did Coleman's shot go?

Abram playing Solo Poole-level wild and getting 3 days in the dog house?

Playing so much worse on the road than at home?
 

AUFC

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Had no idea how much promise Ndongo would show. It wasn’t until CDS mentioned him in a press conference that I began to believe he’d actually see meaningful minutes this season. Pretty unusual for a freshman big.

George obviously, he looked so bad in the exhibition game I thought he’d only play with the walkons.

Sacko’s defense has been a major plus.

We’ve got some great freshman pieces.

Nothing wrong with Deebo’s shot. He’s had a couple bad games in a row but he’s still shooting 35% from 3. He’ll pull it together.
 

78pike

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864
I'm surprised at how good a rebounding team we are. We out rebounded Penn State by 22 today. I knew we had some length but not a lot of big bodies. I'm also very pleasantly surprised at the amount of depth we have on the team. Depth that will get even better once Terry returns.
 

Ramblingon

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CDS has a pretty good feeling on Gapare. Great effort by all today. Good ball movement. Does anyone have any idea on Terry's return?
 

Northeast Stinger

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Not surprised by the depth but way pleasantly surprised at how athletic we look. We are rough around the edges and make a lot of mistakes but we seem to be as athletic as any team we’ve played.

Sturdivant is smart and generally plays within himself but, to me, there is a fall off in athleticism when he comes in. Put George, Ndongo, Reeves, Kelly and Gapare on the court and you have a multi-dimensional team that can adjust on the fly.
 

yjfan

Jolly Good Fellow
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CDS has a pretty good feeling on Gapare. Great effort by all today. Good ball movement. Does anyone have any idea on Terry's return?
Was a tthe garden yesterday- saw terry walking around with the guys at the shoot around at the half- he looked good and in shape - but did not take a shot.-- not sure what it all means. can he red shirt this year and return next year or has he aged out?
 

iopjacket

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806
Having two freshman starters. One of the freshmen starters skipped his HS senior season. Abam is not one of the best players on the team. Gapare having a great game against Penn State. Hopefully he has started a trend of playing good basketball.

Wing's play is not carrying the team. Terry's injury, Abam's slow start, and more energy expended playing man to man defense have contributed. Getting Terry back will help, maybe a lot.
 

forensicbuzz

21st Century Throwback Dad
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Having two freshman starters. One of the freshmen starters skipped his HS senior season. Abam is not one of the best players on the team. Gapare having a great game against Penn State. Hopefully he has started a trend of playing good basketball.

Wing's play is not carrying the team. Terry's injury, Abam's slow start, and more energy expended playing man to man defense have contributed. Getting Terry back will help, maybe a lot.
No he didn't. He reclassified from '23 to '24 and then back to '23 when he got the GT offer.
 

RamblinRed

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George is easily the biggest surprise. With Sturdy and Abram I didn't expect George to play much at all, much less start.

Ndongo and Gapare have both shown huge upsides, though we are likely a year away from seeing the potential realized on a conistent basis.

Reeves has been a better all-around player to this point than I expected.

Our play in the paint both offensively and defensively has been better than I expected so far. George is really good at setting up lobs and interior passes.

Sacko has shown some nice defensive instincts.


On the other side of the ledger.
I did not expect Kelly to be struggling shooting so much. (33% FG, 25% 3FG). If you had told me that before the season started I would have expected us to be 3-6, not 6-3.

Abram being a complete non factor to this point. I had expectations he might be a starter and at the least would be a 20-25 mpg guy

You can never know what is going to happen with injuries but obviously not having Terry available is a big negative as well. IMO he is probably our best pure shooter so not having him hurts our ability to space the floor more.
 

orientalnc

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George is easily the biggest surprise. With Sturdy and Abram I didn't expect George to play much at all, much less start.

Ndongo and Gapare have both shown huge upsides, though we are likely a year away from seeing the potential realized on a conistent basis.

Reeves has been a better all-around player to this point than I expected.

Our play in the paint both offensively and defensively has been better than I expected so far. George is really good at setting up lobs and interior passes.

Sacko has shown some nice defensive instincts.


On the other side of the ledger.
I did not expect Kelly to be struggling shooting so much. (33% FG, 25% 3FG). If you had told me that before the season started I would have expected us to be 3-6, not 6-3.

Abram being a complete non factor to this point. I had expectations he might be a starter and at the least would be a 20-25 mpg guy

You can never know what is going to happen with injuries but obviously not having Terry available is a big negative as well. IMO he is probably our best pure shooter so not having him hurts our ability to space the floor more.
These are my surprises as well. I would add one more. Entering the season most of us were anxious about the newcomers, but nine games in and one of our returning starters from last year starts in 2023. Granted, Terry would likely be starting if he was playing. Coleman accpeting his sixth man role has enabled us to get Reeves a lot more minutes and he has blossomed.
 

Tourneybound20

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
89
Nothing surprises me anymore lol...but what I've observed makes me think this could be a really good team come March.Depth...we have a lot of it.When Terry gets back he'll add much needed stability,decision making and scoring to the mix.Our frontcourt, in its current incantation is intriguing up to this point as Ndongo,Sacko and Gafara all appear to be maturing gradually. Claude has been a disappointment imo thus far...thought he'd be able to finish at point blank range better but I like him adding frontcourt depth as the more talented younger guys get his minutes moving forward.I love what Dowuona brings to the table in his 15-20mpg a mobile athletic 6'11" guy who plays hard and smart.He gives us that depth I mentioned and we're always physically imposing out there regardless of the mix up front.I like that aspect of this team knowing the ceiling is far away with those 3 young bigs.Kelly is giving us some big moments but I see him even more dynamic as the season progresses.Deebo has been solid on both ends,kid plays hard and when he gets it going can take a game over with his shooting.I actually like his minutes where they are with so many personnel option CDS has.Kyle has been steady and I like the fact he's looking for his offense.If Terry can regain his form I think that becomes a luxury with less attention being paid to him.Obviously Abrams has been a disappointment but I saw a revelation a few games back.CDS played him off the ball and he looked fantastic. I think the kid can play,he definitely can shoot it...nice too have him available.Nait George will be a star...maybe by the end of THIS year.He's starting to hunt for his pull up and he's really starting to probe defenses in a Tony Parker like manner.Needs to simply mature and get the str/con popping!Kid plays with "old man" pace just needs to get a little stronger with the ball.The number of nice lobs he's thrown show he's got that elite feel for the game at such a young age.But the guy who has been the difference maker is Kowacie... NBA player...3 and D...bouncie as hell,fast twitch finisher.Super creative,elite body control with the ability to slow all that down and use footwork and touch to attack the rim and make plays.Up to this point he's been a consistent 3 PT marksman and an active defender in the passing lanes and on the boards.Nice to have an elite athlete,who plays hard an does the little things too.Throw it all in a blender and I think there's potential for a real fun run down the stretch.Comes down to how fast George,Ndongo and now Gafara can mature and get consistent cutting out things that cost you games vs.good teams.After actually MAKING FREE THROWS and WINNING vs.PSU I got off the couch,went to the closet and looked to see if I could find my gold dancing shoes...there still there...dusty but there.
 

tbglover

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
741
Had no idea how much promise Ndongo would show. It wasn’t until CDS mentioned him in a press conference that I began to believe he’d actually see meaningful minutes this season. Pretty unusual for a freshman big.

George obviously, he looked so bad in the exhibition game I thought he’d only play with the walkons.

Sacko’s defense has been a major plus.

We’ve got some great freshman pieces.

Nothing wrong with Deebo’s shot. He’s had a couple bad games in a row but he’s still shooting 35% from 3. He’ll pull it together.
Definitely George cause he looked overwhelmed in that exhibition game to the point where I was hoping that he had the patience to stick around next season cause this year would be a wash for him.
 
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