Pregame Thoughts

[sutomcat]

Once again, we find ourselves matched against a team that is playing their best ball of the season. And the game is on the road, where the team has struggled all season. It has been a challenging season and this game is going to be tough to win.

GT has a small team. They have the big center (Wright), a small forward (Usher or Moore), a big guard (Devoe), and then a couple of really small guards with Alvarado and Purham. Alvarado is generously listed at 6’0 and Parham listed at 5’10, but both appear smaller.

This can cause matchup problems with Syracuse. Especially when we go with our big guard lineup,

When we played them last year, Pastner had similar issues with us, and he surprised me by covering Guerrier with Alvarado most of the game. I expect we will see this again. If they try to play this off, I hope to see Marek positioned at the high post, with Guerrier at the low post, and to attack this mismatch relentlessly if we get it. If Wright elects to stay down low to double Guerrier, Marek should take the shot, Otherwise, lob it to Q and get the easy basket over the little guy.

When Kadary and Buddy are in together, what does Pastner do with Kadary? Who does Parham cover? My guess is that Parham is going to cover JGIII when he is in, and get switched to AG when Kadary comes in. I expect Devoe, GT’s best defender, will be assigned to Buddy all game long. Usher or Moore will get AG initially.

If we are able to exploit the mismatches well, Pastner might be forced to play with Moore and Usher at the same time, and Parham our Alvarado might have to play less, which will hurt them offensively. Usher has had major problems getting into foul trouble and we need to exploit that weakness if we can.

Anyway, we really make it hard to GT to matchup with Kadary in the game. Something to watch for. How will Josh handle things, and how well we will be able to exploit the mismatches? I think this is our best hope to win the game. There are going to be a lot of possessions where we have a huge size advantage at at least one position, sometimes 2 or 3. A lot of the burden for identifying the mismatches and getting the ball to the right place will fall on Kadary. I think we need a big game from him to have a chance.

 

[20plus]

I enjoyed the read! Many good points and observations but...

“Parham or Alvarado might have to play less” Alvarado 100% will not play less!

 

[hoopsupstate]

Good read. I have zero expectations of winning today. The only consistent thing about this team is that they have been non competitive on the road this year against good teams.

 

[GTLurker]

Once again, we find ourselves matched against a team that is playing their best ball of the season. And the game is on the road, where the team has struggled all season. It has been a challenging season and this game is going to be tough to win.

GT has a small team. They have the big center (Wright), a small forward (Usher or Moore), a big guard (Devoe), and then a couple of really small guards with Alvarado and Purham. Alvarado is generously listed at 6’0 and Parham listed at 5’10, but both appear smaller.

This can cause matchup problems with Syracuse. Especially when we go with our big guard lineup,

When we played them last year, Pastner had similar issues with us, and he surprised me by covering Guerrier with Alvarado most of the game. I expect we will see this again. If they try to play this off, I hope to see Marek positioned at the high post, with Guerrier at the low post, and to attack this mismatch relentlessly if we get it. If Wright elects to stay down low to double Guerrier, Marek should take the shot, Otherwise, lob it to Q and get the easy basket over the little guy.

When Kadary and Buddy are in together, what does Pastner do with Kadary? Who does Parham cover? My guess is that Parham is going to cover JGIII when he is in, and get switched to AG when Kadary comes in. I expect Devoe, GT’s best defender, will be assigned to Buddy all game long. Usher or Moore will get AG initially.

If we are able to exploit the mismatches well, Pastner might be forced to play with Moore and Usher at the same time, and Parham our Alvarado might have to play less, which will hurt them offensively. Usher has had major problems getting into foul trouble and we need to exploit that weakness if we can.

Anyway, we really make it hard to GT to matchup with Kadary in the game. Something to watch for. How will Josh handle things, and how well we will be able to exploit the mismatches? I think this is our best hope to win the game. There are going to be a lot of possessions where we have a huge size advantage at at least one position, sometimes 2 or 3. A lot of the burden for identifying the mismatches and getting the ball to the right place will fall on Kadary. I think we need a big game from him to have a chance.

Yo GT fan here that was lurking as the name indicates but decided to respond. First I'll just say I don't want this to come off as brazzingly confident, y'all can certainly win today. But I do want to give some insight as I think a few things you said are a bit off.

We are definitely small, and in playing UNC, Louisville, and FSU which are giant teams, is was almost funny how different the sizes were, but we are fast and have really good defensive hands so we've done a good job limiting the damage of being undersized. That said it could/should still be a thing Cuse tries to exploit.

Devoe is not GT's best defender. Don't get me wrong he's still solid, but the award definitely goes to either Alvarado or Khalid Moore. Usher is also very good. Devoe I'd say is 4th or 5th with Wright. Moore doesn't get a ton of minutes mainly because he is a liability on offense a lot of the time. Had his best offensive game of his career against VT this week imo.

GT plays a very shallow bench, really 6 guys getting almost all of the minutes (Alvarado, Devoe, Parham, Usher, Moore, Wright) with 3 other guys getting 5-10 minutes a game (Sturdivant (G), Howard (C), and Gigiberia (PF)). Can almost guarantee the announcers will comment on this if/when someone on our team picks up a 2nd foul, but I'm not sure we've had a player foul out the whole season. If we have, it was likely in the 1st game of the season against Georgia St (4OT). Pastner honestly just doesn't give af about how many fouls players have and will play someone with 3 fouls in the first half or 4 in the 2nd. Announcers often drop the stat that he plays guys with high foul counts more than anyone in the country. We have a lot of experience, and I think that helps solve part of the problem because Pastner can trust them not to be dumb and foul out.

Offensively, we are really good. I think KenPom has us as #19 in the country. However, some of this comes from our really strong ability to force turnovers and there are times when our halfcourt offense can be mediocre. Virginia and VT (1st half) did a good job making us look pretty bad offensively in the halfcourt.

Overall success this season for GT has been pretty dependent on Devoe. If the dude is on, we win every game by 10+. Every game I can remember us losing he was like 1-9 shooting or something. He can be streaky at times, or shoot 6-6 from 3 (see our first Clemson game).

Anyways, just some additional info... hoping for a good game today and definitely hoping y'all don't shoot 70% from 3 or whatever the hell that was in that game last year! haha

 

[20plus]

Yo GT fan here that was lurking as the name indicates but decided to respond. First I'll just say I don't want this to come off as brazzingly confident, y'all can certainly win today. But I do want to give some insight as I think a few things you said are a bit off.

We are definitely small, and in playing UNC, Louisville, and FSU which are giant teams, is was almost funny how different the sizes were, but we are fast and have really good defensive hands so we've done a good job limiting the damage of being undersized. That said it could/should still be a thing Cuse tries to exploit.

Devoe is not GT's best defender. Don't get me wrong he's still solid, but the award definitely goes to either Alvarado or Khalid Moore. Usher is also very good. Devoe I'd say is 4th or 5th with Wright. Moore doesn't get a ton of minutes mainly because he is a liability on offense a lot of the time. Had his best offensive game of his career against VT this week imo.

GT plays a very shallow bench, really 6 guys getting almost all of the minutes (Alvarado, Devoe, Parham, Usher, Moore, Wright) with 3 other guys getting 5-10 minutes a game (Sturdivant (G), Howard (C), and Gigiberia (PF)). Can almost guarantee the announcers will comment on this if/when someone on our team picks up a 2nd foul, but I'm not sure we've had a player foul out the whole season. If we have, it was likely in the 1st game of the season against Georgia St (4OT). Pastner honestly just doesn't give af about how many fouls players have and will play someone with 3 fouls in the first half or 4 in the 2nd. Announcers often drop the stat that he plays guys with high foul counts more than anyone in the country. We have a lot of experience, and I think that helps solve part of the problem because Pastner can trust them not to be dumb and foul out.

Offensively, we are really good. I think KenPom has us as #19 in the country. However, some of this comes from our really strong ability to force turnovers and there are times when our halfcourt offense can be mediocre. Virginia and VT (1st half) did a good job making us look pretty bad offensively in the halfcourt.

Overall success this season for GT has been pretty dependent on Devoe. If the dude is on, we win every game by 10+. Every game I can remember us losing he was like 1-9 shooting or something. He can be streaky at times, or shoot 6-6 from 3 (see our first Clemson game).

Anyways, just some additional info... hoping for a good game today and definitely hoping y'all don't shoot 70% from 3 or whatever the hell that was in that game last year! haha

Last year I thought you were better with Banks you haven’t replaced him? So where you a better team at the end of last year when Jose came back or this year? iIf it’s this year who added production makes you better

 

[Consigliere]

Absolutely will be some mismatches we can exploit, but far too often when there are lineup discrepancies we seem to matchup rather than play to our advantage. If this happens today we may see a lot of Buddy at the 3 if Girard plays well early and one of our forwards struggles. Really don’t want to see that. I think Buddy and Kadary can and will back down or shoot over the smaller GT guards. Would love to see Marek aggressively go to the hoop against Wright using his quickness and get him in foul trouble. Might be a silver lining if we miss a few threes early as I think this is a game we can win in the paint.

 

[jordville]

I was hoping to come across some tickets for today since it is being played in Georgia. Only students, faculty, and family/friends of both teams are allowed.

 

[Ghost]

we are fast and have really good defensive hands

Awe, crap.

Fast is bad enough to read, but good hands too.

Well, if they're low-effort we got this since they're small!!!

 

[Alsacs]

This is a team Buddy can get his shots because they are smaller.
I expect to see Buddy and Kadary back their defenders into the paint.
I am worried about Moses Wright.
He appears to be a better version of Mbala from Buffalo who owned us.

Need energy from Quincy and Braswell to deal with him.

 

[GTLurker]

Last year I thought you were better with Banks you haven’t replaced him? So where you a better team at the end of last year when Jose came back or this year? iIf it’s this year who added production makes you better

We were a bit better last year on defense as Banks was a really good shot blocker and we have not been able to replace that. To compensate, our defense plays a bit more tightly packed to the basket this year to help, to where as in past years one of our huge strengths was defending the 3, this year I think we are just decent at it and that's probably where the bit of regression has come from.

I do think we are better now than last year, and allow me to make excuses real quick... Georgia St/Mercer losses we hadn't done contact practices in 10 weeks (GT trying to be strict with COVID stuff), so while those obviously are part of our resume, I feel confident GT would win if those games were played after we had started normal practices. The rest of the season (sans the loss @ Louisville) has been night and day from those first two games.

Most of the progression I've seen has been 1. better being at getting steals on defense and getting lots of transition points and 2. just being better overall on offense which has just come from the players being more comfortable with each other after another year (including fewer of our own turnovers) and 3. Really good player development of Usher, Jose, Devoe, and Wright. Offensively Usher and Wright have taken big strides.

 

[sutomcat]

This is a team Buddy can get his shots because they are smaller.
I expect to see Buddy and Kadary back their defenders into the paint.
I am worried about Moses Wright.
He appears to be a better version of Mbala from Buffalo who owned us.

Need energy from Quincy and Braswell to deal with him.

One of the things Hughes did well was to slash inside, initiate contact with the opposing bigs and get them in foul trouble. Marek and Q can do this a little but both tend to fall away from bigs. Hope we can find a way to get Wright in foul trouble. He is their only big. Usher gets in foul trouble more often though.

 

[Bball44]

One of the things Hughes did well was to slash inside, initiate contact with the opposing bigs and get them in foul trouble. Marek and Q can do this a little but both tend to fall away from bigs. Hope we can find a way to get Wright in foul trouble. He is their only big. Usher gets in foul trouble more often though.

Q is due for a big bounce back game, unless he is hurting as some have suggested.

 

[Newhouser]

A game plan emphasizing the Buddy Back Down does not instill confidence.

 

[Alsacs]

A game plan emphasizing the Buddy Back Down does not instill confidence.

It’s just part of taking advantage of mismatch.
I don’t want Buddy doing it every possession.
That kid from NC State Beverly the coaching staff had who ever he was guarding KR or BB post him and it worked.

This is a team we have to negate speed.
Height and backing down could do that.
I am worried about slowing down Wright I expect 20 and 10 from him his game.

 

[721Comstock]

A game plan emphasizing the Buddy Back Down does not instill confidence.

Yeah, that works like 20% of the time.

KEEP DOING IT!!!

And, it takes away the one thing Buddy does positively when he’s not hitting shots.
Spacing.

 

[pearl31]

Once again, we find ourselves matched against a team that is playing their best ball of the season. And the game is on the road, where the team has struggled all season. It has been a challenging season and this game is going to be tough to win.

GT has a small team. They have the big center (Wright), a small forward (Usher or Moore), a big guard (Devoe), and then a couple of really small guards with Alvarado and Purham. Alvarado is generously listed at 6’0 and Parham listed at 5’10, but both appear smaller.

This can cause matchup problems with Syracuse. Especially when we go with our big guard lineup,

When we played them last year, Pastner had similar issues with us, and he surprised me by covering Guerrier with Alvarado most of the game. I expect we will see this again. If they try to play this off, I hope to see Marek positioned at the high post, with Guerrier at the low post, and to attack this mismatch relentlessly if we get it. If Wright elects to stay down low to double Guerrier, Marek should take the shot, Otherwise, lob it to Q and get the easy basket over the little guy.

When Kadary and Buddy are in together, what does Pastner do with Kadary? Who does Parham cover? My guess is that Parham is going to cover JGIII when he is in, and get switched to AG when Kadary comes in. I expect Devoe, GT’s best defender, will be assigned to Buddy all game long. Usher or Moore will get AG initially.

If we are able to exploit the mismatches well, Pastner might be forced to play with Moore and Usher at the same time, and Parham our Alvarado might have to play less, which will hurt them offensively. Usher has had major problems getting into foul trouble and we need to exploit that weakness if we can.

Anyway, we really make it hard to GT to matchup with Kadary in the game. Something to watch for. How will Josh handle things, and how well we will be able to exploit the mismatches? I think this is our best hope to win the game. There are going to be a lot of possessions where we have a huge size advantage at at least one position, sometimes 2 or 3. A lot of the burden for identifying the mismatches and getting the ball to the right place will fall on Kadary. I think we need a big game from him to have a chance.

good points.
they'll probably also employ their various morphing zone configurations quite a bit

 

[Sherman20]

Once again, we find ourselves matched against a team that is playing their best ball of the season. And the game is on the road, where the team has struggled all season. It has been a challenging season and this game is going to be tough to win.

GT has a small team. They have the big center (Wright), a small forward (Usher or Moore), a big guard (Devoe), and then a couple of really small guards with Alvarado and Purham. Alvarado is generously listed at 6’0 and Parham listed at 5’10, but both appear smaller.

This can cause matchup problems with Syracuse. Especially when we go with our big guard lineup,

When we played them last year, Pastner had similar issues with us, and he surprised me by covering Guerrier with Alvarado most of the game. I expect we will see this again. If they try to play this off, I hope to see Marek positioned at the high post, with Guerrier at the low post, and to attack this mismatch relentlessly if we get it. If Wright elects to stay down low to double Guerrier, Marek should take the shot, Otherwise, lob it to Q and get the easy basket over the little guy.

When Kadary and Buddy are in together, what does Pastner do with Kadary? Who does Parham cover? My guess is that Parham is going to cover JGIII when he is in, and get switched to AG when Kadary comes in. I expect Devoe, GT’s best defender, will be assigned to Buddy all game long. Usher or Moore will get AG initially.

If we are able to exploit the mismatches well, Pastner might be forced to play with Moore and Usher at the same time, and Parham our Alvarado might have to play less, which will hurt them offensively. Usher has had major problems getting into foul trouble and we need to exploit that weakness if we can.

Anyway, we really make it hard to GT to matchup with Kadary in the game. Something to watch for. How will Josh handle things, and how well we will be able to exploit the mismatches? I think this is our best hope to win the game. There are going to be a lot of possessions where we have a huge size advantage at at least one position, sometimes 2 or 3. A lot of the burden for identifying the mismatches and getting the ball to the right place will fall on Kadary. I think we need a big game from him to have a chance.

Great analysis on exploiting mismatches. Georgia Tech is also the second worst rebounding team in the conference, so we must win the battle of the boards and try to grab as many offensive rebounds as we can to get second chances. Turnovers are also key. We must work hard in the zone to create as many as possible and avoid turning the ball over when we’re on offense (looking at you, Griffin and Buddy). Creating more possessions than Tech through turnovers and offensive rebounds will be another key to us winning.

 

[721Comstock]

Georgia Tech is also the second worst rebounding team in the conference, so we must win the battle of the boards and try to grab as many offensive rebounds as we can to get second chances. Turnovers are also key. We must work hard in the zone to create as many as possible and avoid turning the ball over when we’re on offense (looking at you, Griffin and Buddy).

All of which sounds like Kadary should get 30+ minutes in this one, if we want to have a chance.

 

[Sherman20]

Last year I thought you were better with Banks you haven’t replaced him? So where you a better team at the end of last year when Jose came back or this year? iIf it’s this year who added production makes you better

Moses Wright was good last season but has improved even more this year.

 

[pearl31]

feel like it's one of those games where we essentially concede a bunch of points to Wright around the basket and hopefully contain their perimeter Alvarado/Devoe scoring -
(like last year where Wright scored 30 but we still won by 7)

 

[hoopsupstate]

GT has the best hands of any team I’ve seen this year. Guys drive and bigs think they have layups when they get stripped on the way up. They have at least 4-5 of these a day.

 

[two3zone]

Last year I thought you were better with Banks you haven’t replaced him? So where you a better team at the end of last year when Jose came back or this year? iIf it’s this year who added production makes you better

We’re so used to players not progressing, they’re returned a lot of players and have progressed, watched a couple of games this year and it’s not the team we played last year. They’re much better.

 

[orangecuse]

We’re so used to players not progressing, they’re returned a lot of players and have progressed, watched a couple of games this year and it’s not the team we played last year. They’re much better.

I agree GT is better this season. I've seen some of their games as well and they could easily have a few more wins as they have had some crushing close defeats, especially at Clemson where the Tigers had no business winning that one. All Tech had to do was hit their FT's down the stretch and that prayer type 3 pointer by Clemson at games end is insignificant.