Georgia Tech - Game Discussion

Thought that stretch in the second half was the best stretch we played all year.  We had a nice stretch last night and against Bucknell but what made today better is that we actually played into an identity as a unit, and this needs to be what we play to all year:

Pressing, rim protecting and attacking the basket.

I think its safe to say that this big lineup of Obekpa, Sampson and Sanchez all being on the floor at the same time is not working out.  Obekpa needs the heaviest minutes at the 5, Sampson needs heavy minutes at the 4 and Sanchez can be the guy to give both a breather when needed.  We also need to have him at the high post offensively.  He isn't in a good enough position to make plays when hes playing out by the arc.  I think a large part of the reason he's struggling is because his role hasn't been defined.  I also think he needs to be in better shape, which is another reason why we need to stagger his minutes.  He might not keep up for all that long in a pressing style.  I still believe that he's highly skilled though and we need to get him a nice amount of minutes.

 Jakarr was much better in the second half but there are still some highly frustrating aspects to his game.  He's very soft around the rim and constantly doesn't finish plays that he should.  He needs to get tougher and stronger.  He also seems to be allergic to using the backboard.  He would be a much higher percentage finisher if he used the glass more.  He does so well when there's space for him to operate through the lane but as soon as there's a crowd in there, he really struggles.

Branch definitely showed out much better today.  I think he really excels from the pressing style and that got him going. 

Rysheed will get there and I also think that this style will help to spark something. It's safe to say he was overhyped coming in, especially with where his mind may be at with the stuff going on back home with his mother.

D'Lo and Dom provided the energy when we had nothing going (including intensity) during the first 25 minutes of this game.  D'Lo is really good at making that little drop off pass when he gets into the lane.  While he isn't a PG, he has definitely shown better playmaking abilities.

We have to keep working on our ballscreen defense.  When we're in man to man we are tested with ballscreens on most possessions. 

I know Lav said after the game that the press was just going to be one aspect of what we do defensively, but it really needs to be our MAIN aspect off of made baskets.  It's time to stop with the experimenting of the big lineups and such and go with what our identity should be, and what we saw in the second half tonight was it.  Glad we were able to play well in that stretch and have a reason to feel good about ourselves going into this week.

Agree that we should press more.  It plays to our athleticism, length and depth -- and of course since we are not a great shooting team (and I don't see that changing unless Jordan and/or Sanchez help in that area), the press enables us to get out in the open floor.

Branch or Jordan need to play more with Harrison.  Our best lineup right now is one of the points, Harrison, Dom, Sampson and Obekpa.  We can use Hooper in spots -- when teams zone us and when we can get him some looks.  He showed the past 2 games that he can knock down the three ball and we have no one besides Harrison who can really do that (and his shooting has been spotty).  Orlando will work his way in and I hope/expect more.  And as far as I'm concerned Greene should be brought in to provide offense when Harrison is out.  I know it worked to an extent versus Penn St., but I don't think that a back court of Greene and Harrison getting the most minutes together is the answer.

Branch did well & glad Jordan got some decent time.

Branch played his best game of the year by far, he needs to continue to dribble penetrate. Completely different team if we play aggressive and take the ball to the hoop.

Quote from: Poison on November 30, 2013, 10:54:57 PM

Quote from: MCNPA on November 30, 2013, 10:44:19 PM

Quote from: Poison on November 30, 2013, 10:35:19 PM

Quote from: MCNPA on November 30, 2013, 10:28:27 PM

Agree with Moose wholeheartedly on this one.  If we want to have a reasonably good résumé, we need to at worst, win the rest of our OOC matchups besides Cuse.  Beating Cuse and winning out would be optimal, but not likely considering out inconsistency.  I think 9-3 with a loss to Cuse is most likely at this point.  It's not where I wanted us to be, without any signature OOC wins, but we still have a chance to do even better.

If we go 9-3, we'll be on pace for an nit bid. This season is put up or shut up time. I'm sick of never being ready for the season to begin. Every time Lavin says that Jan/Feb we could be really good, it makes me wonder what the hell we're doing up until then? Why the hell aren't we good now? We're experienced, deep and talented, and leaves one answer: the coaching.

That's not true.  Our bread and butter will still be our conference play.  We enter conference play with a 9-3 OOC record, with losses to two top 10 programs and an OT loss to PSU, the is solid even if unspectacular.  The conference slate is by far the most important factor.  Don't get me wrong, I'd rather enter league play with a signature win over Cuse and 10-2 record, but that's a tough haul.  Cuse improving rapidly as well. 

Need to hold serve at minimum with 9-3 and enter Big East slate playing good basketball.  Our league is winnable.  That's when there will be no excuse time. 

Our conference might only present 2/3 opportunities over ranked opponents this year. If we win 10/11 conference games, we're on the bubble. And that's unacceptable.

Which is why we can't win only 10 conference games.  Conference play is still where almost all team's earn their NCAA seats.  The bubble teams sweat it out because they weren't good enough in conference play.  If we are on the bubble, two losses to top 10 teams like Wisconsin and Cuse aren't going to kill us.  We have to avoid low RPI losses at all costs though, so can't afford slip ups vs trap teams like Fordham etc.

We also have the conference tourny to build our resume.   10 wins in conference play might just put us on the bubble if were 9-3 OOC, but a string of wins in the Conf tournament would easily fix that.    I'm not worried.  There will be opportunities as the season goes on.   Who knows where Villanova Georgetown Marquette will be ranked when we play them. 

Let's right our own ship so when we play those teams we're firing on all cylinders.    Our rpi will be just fine if we do well in our conference games. 

Lavin is the best second half coach in college basketball

  Nice Win, in a Consolation round of a tourney in our Hometown.. A loss to GT would have been awful.. Lavin, I thought, did a much better job of rotating his line-ups thru out the game. It was smart of him to recognize guys were tired from the OT loss and got fresher troops in there,i.e Jordan and Branch..

I agree with those who think Greenie and DLO are not a winning BackCourt  combo. They are poor distributors of the ball,as they are scorers, not creators.  Jordan and Branch are much better in running the offense.

DLO was 12-13 from FT line. Too bad he didn't do it the night before..


Anybody catching the Nova games has to be impressed with 2 wins over highly ranked opponents.Right now, the Cats are likely the best BE team.. You have to be impressed by how hard they play ALL game.. We should borrow some of their work ethic, especially to start games. They had 5 guys in double figures against Iowa, a good team itself.

We will have tough BE games against them, G'town, Creighton, Butler, Marquette, Providence.. Splitting with these upper tier teams will be important in deciding our post season play..Xavier is struggling, Seton Hall  is tough in NJ. We need 2 W's against DePaul.

Hope and Prayers will be needed against Syracuse, a tough foe for us..Their Zone requires a lot of ball movement into/thru the post and good outside shooting, rebounding.. Maybe if everyone steps up to new heights.

  Nice Win, in a Consolation round of a tourney in our Hometown.. A loss to GT would have been awful.. Lavin, I thought, did a much better job of rotating his line-ups thru out the game. It was smart of him to recognize guys were tired from the OT loss and got fresher troops in there,i.e Jordan and Branch..

I agree with those who think Greenie and DLO are not a winning BackCourt  combo. They are poor distributors of the ball,as they are scorers, not creators.  Jordan and Branch are much better in running the offense.

DLO was 12-13 from FT line. Too bad he didn't do it the night before..


Anybody catching the Nova games has to be impressed with 2 wins over highly ranked opponents.Right now, the Cats are likely the best BE team.. You have to be impressed by how hard they play ALL game.. We should borrow some of their work ethic, especially to start games. They had 5 guys in double figures against Iowa, a good team itself.

We will have tough BE games against them, G'town, Creighton, Butler, Marquette, Providence.. Splitting with these upper tier teams will be important in deciding our post season play..Xavier is struggling, Seton Hall  is tough in NJ. We need 2 W's against DePaul.

Hope and Prayers will be needed against Syracuse, a tough foe for us..Their Zone requires a lot of ball movement into/thru the post and good outside shooting, rebounding.. Maybe if everyone steps up to new heights.

Seton Hall lost at home today to Fairleigh Dickinson who is one of the worst teams in D1 despite being the best team in NJ. Beating SHU twice is a must if we are going to be serious about dancing come march.

Lavin is the best second half coach in college basketball

Can we re-hire Norm to coach first halfs with Lavin coming in for the second half?

GT just beat undefeated Illinois.

GT just beat undefeated Illinois.

Our RPI just shot through the roof.  Love it!

Certainly helps

Right now we have no bad losses.  We need to keep it that way.  An OT loss to Penn State isn't going to kill us in any way.  need to beat Fordham which is agenda number 1.  Beating Cuse would be special for us, but I'm not going to count on that.  They'll probably be a top 3 team nationally when we play them unless they slip up.  We just can't afford any slip ups.  The g-tech win was a solid one though, and their win over Illinois today helps.

Right now we have no bad losses.  We need to keep it that way.  An OT loss to Penn State isn't going to kill us in any way.  need to beat Fordham which is agenda number 1.  Beating Cuse would be special for us, but I'm not going to count on that.  They'll probably be a top 3 team nationally when we play them unless they slip up.  We just can't afford any slip ups.  The g-tech win was a solid one though, and their win over Illinois today helps.

No impressive wins either. Bucknell in a tail spin btw. We have our work cut out for us, but agree one step at a time.i

Funny, I was following the Penn State/Pitt game, but this w for Georgia Tech is actually bigger win than beating Pitt. Good for Tech.

Quote from: MCNPA on December 03, 2013, 10:32:35 PM

Right now we have no bad losses.  We need to keep it that way.  An OT loss to Penn State isn't going to kill us in any way.  need to beat Fordham which is agenda number 1.  Beating Cuse would be special for us, but I'm not going to count on that.  They'll probably be a top 3 team nationally when we play them unless they slip up.  We just can't afford any slip ups.  The g-tech win was a solid one though, and their win over Illinois today helps.

No impressive wins either. Bucknell in a tail spin btw. We have our work cut out for us, but agree one step at a time.i

Impressive wins are great and all, but as we discussed, the conference schedule is where tourney teams are made.  There were plenty of years where guys like Boeheim wouldn't even schedule tough OOC games and wouldn't leave upstate NY before conference play.  It didn't adversely effect them.  Now, if we have bad losses, that can hurt us come tourney time.  If we go in to our conference schedule with losses to 2 Top 10 teams and an OT loss to Penn State which we should have won at the FT line, we'll be fine.  Again though, gotta earn it our league.  Don't get me wrong, I'd love to beat Cuse and don't think it is out of the realm of possibility, but not the we haven't played a full game. 

There were plenty of years where guys like Boeheim wouldn't even schedule tough OOC games and wouldn't leave upstate NY before conference play.  It didn't adversely effect them. 

Syracuse has won 20 plus games (21, 23, 24) three times this century and gone to the NIT based upon their weak OOC schedule.

Quote from: MCNPA on December 03, 2013, 11:53:55 PM

There were plenty of years where guys like Boeheim wouldn't even schedule tough OOC games and wouldn't leave upstate NY before conference play.  It didn't adversely effect them. 

Syracuse has won 20 plus games (21, 23, 24) three times this century and gone to the NIT based upon their weak OOC schedule.

Understand.  But those seasons they probably had some bad losses.  SJU's OOC isn't tremendously weak.  Just have to avoid losing to the weaker teams.  Losing to top 10 opponents won't hurt much at all in the grand scheme come tourney selection time.  Losing to Fordham or Columbia would.

Quote from: Foad on December 04, 2013, 10:05:25 AM

Quote from: MCNPA on December 03, 2013, 11:53:55 PM

There were plenty of years where guys like Boeheim wouldn't even schedule tough OOC games and wouldn't leave upstate NY before conference play.  It didn't adversely effect them. 

Syracuse has won 20 plus games (21, 23, 24) three times this century and gone to the NIT based upon their weak OOC schedule.

Understand.  But those seasons they probably had some bad losses.  SJU's OOC isn't tremendously weak.  Just have to avoid losing to the weaker teams.  Losing to top 10 opponents won't hurt much at all in the grand scheme come tourney selection time.  Losing to Fordham or Columbia would.

You are still correct. He missed the dance 3 times. And if I recall, some of those wins, were tacked on in the NIT. His formula for getting his team ready by March overall, has been pretty damn good. It's been better than anything we've seen, even during our glory years. I think it's safe to say that he knows what he's doing.

Have to play a tough non conference schedule , because even though we play in the big east. Their is no big east anymore