Wofford - Tonight (12/6)

Peacone36

Helluva Engineer
Messages
10,500
Location
Maine
My concern is whether or not the AA has learned from past mistakes? Not denying that CJP had a good and "better than expected" year... If Gregory had been let go after his third year (which wasn't practical due to financial obligations caused by the Gaily and Hewitt contract extensions) then our program would be two years ahead of where it is now.

They did learn. Pastners contract is still very program friendly
 

slugboy

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,491
Honestly from the moment Josh got injured my expectations (which were not that high to begin with) changed radically.
My goal before the season was a return to the NIT (understand that GT was one of the last 2 teams to get an invite last year and was nearly left out).
GT won 17 regular season games (16 against Div 1 competition). Anything in double digits wins last year was going to satisfy me.
i was sort of expecting a regression to the mean this year so anywhere from 14-17 wins would be satisfactory. i never saw NCAA as a strong possibility. That would require basically everything going right for a second straight year, that seldom happens and certainly hasn't happened to this point.

Last night game largely fell on 3 issues.
Poor defensive rebounding, poor offensive execution, and a player going nuts from 3-pt range.
...

The thought was it would take 3 recruiting class to get the program out of the woods and on more stable ground. This year's FR class is the first of those. We have 2 more to go (with the second one nearly complete).

It's frustrating and I certainly wasn't a Pastner fan when he was hired, but we have to be patient to an extent and let the rebuild play out. if in season 4 or 5 it isn't working we can make a move, but we have to get to that point first and the staff is going to have pretty long string to get there.

That's a fantastic write up--I wish I'd written it. That said, Pastner's might have found things a lot easier if he'd "regressed to the mean" last year instead of this year.

I thought last year would have given Pastner a longer leash with fans, but it looks like it raised expectations more than anything.

The Hawks are also having a struggle of a year, but to me they're more fun to watch on offense because they have an offensive identity, even if they don't have many (uninjured) players. I watch GT because they're "my team". There is some defensive identity, but to my eye, the offense just doesn't seem to have something above and beyond the players.
 

ramblinwreck1378

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
625
That's a fantastic write up--I wish I'd written it. That said, Pastner's might have found things a lot easier if he'd "regressed to the mean" last year instead of this year.

I thought last year would have given Pastner a longer leash with fans, but it looks like it raised expectations more than anything.

The Hawks are also having a struggle of a year, but to me they're more fun to watch on offense because they have an offensive identity, even if they don't have many (uninjured) players. I watch GT because they're "my team". There is some defensive identity, but to my eye, the offense just doesn't seem to have something above and beyond the players.
And because you're able to salivate over the prospect of Bagley Jr. joining that crew next year.
 

SecretAgentBuzz

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
804
Location
ends of the earth
Well, that was not fun to watch. But just so you know...I woke up this morning to find that GT had lost (to Wofford? Wha?) and still watched the game. Buckets Magee went crazy and we did not make enough plays (the walk before the dunk and the held ball really hurt).

We are really inconsistent on offense (product of playing too many freshmen?). At times, we make beautiful passes on back-door cuts and work the ball around well....other times, we look timid and haphazard. I am hoping that, like last year, this team will come together later in the season and we will forget all about these horrible losses. I am also hoping that these next few weeks will give Lammers some time to heal and the rest of the team some time to look into the mirror and see what they can improve. This one hurt, but I am nowhere near ready to give up on this team. They will improve.
 

BeeRBee

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
236
That's a fantastic write up--I wish I'd written it. That said, Pastner's might have found things a lot easier if he'd "regressed to the mean" last year instead of this year.

I thought last year would have given Pastner a longer leash with fans, but it looks like it raised expectations more than anything.

Pastner's made that point a couple of times that I've heard - that other coaches told him he screwed up by winning too much the first year and raising expectations.

On another point, I feel dumb but I didn't realize until I listed to the postgame audio that Justin Moore did not make the trip in order to focus on academics in advance of finals. That was one less piece the team had available.
 

MiracleWhips

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
583
The "Ron" jokes are funny but in all honesty you have to call a spade a spade some day. Pastner is clearly getting exposed. BRING BACK LABERRIE
 

alagold

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,732
Location
Huntsville,Al
This team has ALWAYS been one real injury to big Ben in DEEP DEEP s---. There is no inside OFFense (ex Tad a 6-2,guard) and next to no DEF rebounding.See tonight.In fact, unless we get some big rebounding animal next yr will be worse on DEF than this yr.
Hopefully ,experience will help soon but now in any AWAY game--furgettaboutit-
 

Bruce Wayne

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,870
That's a fantastic write up--I wish I'd written it. That said, Pastner's might have found things a lot easier if he'd "regressed to the mean" last year instead of this year.

I thought last year would have given Pastner a longer leash with fans, but it looks like it raised expectations more than anything.

The Hawks are also having a struggle of a year, but to me they're more fun to watch on offense because they have an offensive identity, even if they don't have many (uninjured) players. I watch GT because they're "my team". There is some defensive identity, but to my eye, the offense just doesn't seem to have something above and beyond the players.
Tech does when they are actually making their "violent" cuts.

Long stretch in 2nd half at Wofford, after getting to a 10 point lead, that they ran the offense more like the stuck in mud style of yore. Lack of depth really hurts them in last 1/4 of the game in this manner. They slow down, start watching instead of moving on offense, and they just don't have enough of the skills (creating one's own shot or drives) to afford to slow down like that.

But even then, if more than just Lammers would BLOCK SOMEONE out, the results would be much better. Q is missed on the boards most, maybe.
 

Bogey

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,725
Frustrating loss to say the least but we need to keep things in perspective. With Lammers playing hurt, Okogie not playing at all, and a bunch of freshmen playing with a lot of hesitation, it certainly does cause us to look ugly at times. But STILL we are much better than were last year at this time. With guys who look afraid to shoot, a lot of pressure is put on Tadric to over play, so I can’t be too critical of him, except for those 2 free throw misses with Grambling. The first one hit the FRONT of the rim if I remember correctly. And the Alston foul/no-foul was the stupidest play I remember seeing in college basketball. But, it’s going to get better I do believe. Last year, I had not watched any basketball for years, hate being not competitive in any sport But with a new coach coming in, I thought I would give our new coach a try and watched us play UGA on TV which absolutely confirmed my opinion of GT basketball. As one of my UGA golf buddies said after that game, “we are bad but y’all are terrible”. So, a month or so goes by and with ND coming to town, my son, also a Tech grad, offers me a ticket. At first I decline, did not want to witness a carnage, but he insisted since he was taking a client who was an avid ND fan, who had played college ball at a smaller school and he wanted me to meet this guy. Plus he said we had beaten some really good ACC teams, which I really could not believe after the game I watched. Well, I did go and was astonished at the difference in play that we showed from the UGA game. I became a Pastner fan, not only for first season results, but the passion he brings to GT basketball. I still have strong belief and high hopes that CJP can lead us in the right direction in the coming years. I am looking for proof of that when we play the leg humpers later this month.
 

jbix80

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
961
Pastner's made that point a couple of times that I've heard - that other coaches told him he screwed up by winning too much the first year and raising expectations.

On another point, I feel dumb but I didn't realize until I listed to the postgame audio that Justin Moore did not make the trip in order to focus on academics in advance of finals. That was one less piece the team had available.
Is this for real? While I appreciate his desire for academics, isn't he on an athletic scholarship??? Welcome to college! Learn to juggle a few things at once...it's going to happen the rest of your life.
 

MiracleWhips

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
583
Simplistic comments, with little analysis and big on speculation. Sounds exactly like Ron ...
Little analysis? Can you not notice the change in GT's game play ever since his suspension. Can you not notice the lack of motion in the offense. The simplistic play calling from the offensive end? May I suggest you go back and watch some film?
 

MiracleWhips

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
583
Here's my biggest frustration, and it's made worse cause it feels like I watch the same show at GT regardless of the sport: our coaching decisions in games lately just sucks.

How many games does Haywood have to CLEARLY be our best shooter and be gun-shy before CJP realizes he needs to encourage the kid to pull the trigger? We are wasting a valuable asset there. He should be taking every one of ADs shots. Haywood catches passes 5-10 times a game and looks at the basket, and I'm thinking SWISH THATS MONEY WAIT WHY ARE YOU HESISTATING and he passes it.

Which goes hand in hand to my next point: how much does AD have to be a black freaking hole on offense before coach puts a leash on him and says don't you dare shoot anything outside 8 feet???

I mean I definitely know WAY more about football coaching than basketball. And I don't know a dang thing about football. But when I watch us do stupid things over and over it's exasperating. Like Cuse begging for a press against Grambling. Or me turning this game off because I'm like dude they want to have Magee shoot it and we look clueless about how to stop 1 guy.

I'm frustrated not because of our W/L record, I'm frustrated because we look bad. We don't look well coached. And I thought that was the whole point of bringing in Pastner. I'm not off the Pastner bandwagon but he's doing me a fierce concern with his poor in game coaching.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Half of the people in this forum are too blinded by Pastner's passion to see that he's failing to actually COACH. Pastner had enough weapons to close out that game with Wofford. Up 10 points with 5 minutes left, no excuse.
 
Top