BasketJackets: Game 8 at Tulane, Saturday Dec. 5, 5pmET CBS-Sports Network

[GTJT622]

Tech travels to an opponent's home floor for the first time this season for a 5pmET matchup Saturday in New Orleans against the Green Wave on CBS Sports Network. Tulane is 5-3 on the season and coming off a 2 pt victory Wednesday night against cross-town rival, UNO.

Tech leads this series all-time, 36-33. Tulane leads at their place, 22-9. Last time Tech traveled to Tulane was in CBG's first year when Tech was a traveling band of homeless gypsies and we lost, 57-52. Tech of course opened its new and improved Mammoth Boob with a win to open the following season over the Greenies, 79-61.

Game notes from Tech: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools...o_pdf/2015-16/release/release_20151203aaa.pdf

Tulane has very balanced scoring so far in their 8 games. They have 5 guys averaging between 8.8 and 12.8 ppg. 6'3" Senior Guard, Louis Dabney (#0), is their leading scorer so far. The Green Wave is a very young team featuring only 2 seniors and 7 freshmen on their roster.

Before the season, I projected this as a loss and us being 6-2 after this game. A win here would get us back to 6-2 and make up for the loss to ETSU. I expect the Good Guys will be a small favorite (3-4 pts maybe) when the spreads open later today.

This is a key 3-game stretch which should tell us a lot about our season's future starting tomorrow in NOLA. After this game, our guys have a week off for exams before hosting the very talented VCU Rams Tuesday, Dec. 15, before heading to the Cesspool on Saturday, Dec. 19, as the Dwags come off their exams (a week after us). Well, silly me. We know what "exams" are like for Cesspool student-athletes. LOL! (How many points are awarded for a made 3-point shot?...what a bunch of scumbags!...but, I digress)

GO JACKETS!!

 

[GTJT622]

Good Guys open as 6 pt favorites FWIW

 

[RyanS12]

Hope they're not out for revenge from the football beat down !!! Lol. -6 I like that line tho. Looks like an easy cover.

 

[GTJT622]

Hope they're not out for revenge from the football beat down !!! Lol. -6 I like that line tho. Looks like an easy cover.

Just my 2 cents, there's no way I'd lay 6 pts on Tech on an opponent's home floor. At least, not yet. Would love to see it happen of course, but not nearly that confident in this team...yet.

 

[GTJT622]

Cesspoolians lose at the Stegasaurus to Kansas State by 2 after blowing a 9 pt halftime lead. They move to 3-3 on the season and 3-2 at their dungeon...2 of the wins are by 3 over High Point and 4 over Oakland.

They host 5-1 Winthrop Tuesday before taking off over 10 days before hosting the Good Guys.

 

[Buzzforlife]

The only GT player in out 35 year history of ACC Basketball history to start the season with 7 consecutive double/doubles is Chuck Mitchell:
http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/120415aab.html

 

[BornAJacket]

Hope he gets another one today

 

[RyanS12]

Just my 2 cents, there's no way I'd lay 6 pts on Tech on an opponent's home floor. At least, not yet. Would love to see it happen of course, but not nearly that confident in this team...yet.

$$$$$$$$$.

 

[GTJT622]

Congrats, mate. A good win for the Jackets. Maintained the lead in the 2nd half. Chuck continues his great play. MGH was clutch in a nice stretch towards the end. Jacobs had a super first half that got us off to a good start (very important on the road). Jorgenson took a bad shot late that pissed off CBG, but he had some big shots at key times in both the 1st and 2nd half. T-Jax didn't come off the bench on the 2nd half.

Now, go finish off the semester guys with exams and come back ready to take out the Rams and Scumbags.

 

[dtm1997]

Played pretty well in general, although we had a 4 minute scoring drought where I think it wouldn't have happened if we'd stayed aggressive instead of working a bit of shot clock. We were up about 7-9 points with 4 to go when that started. Probably could've pushed it up a bit, but instead the drought started.

That said, at key moments we seemed to make plays. We had great contributions from all senior starters, as well as Q & Jorgy. The defense, while still needing work, did look better. Finally, it was clear we wanted it & were hungry, while Tulane seemed to generally sulk down the stretch.

Despite Pete Gillen pumping up both of these teams, I have no idea how good Tulane will be by year end, but great to go on the road for a win.

Hope they get a bit of rest during finals before 2 big tests against VCU & UGA that will tell us how well we can hang with excellent guards.

 

[GTJT622]

Agree on "at key moments we seemed to make plays", mate. I think Chuck's 18 foot jumper just outside the left elbow late in the game was the one that lifted the team and kinda served as a dagger in Tulane's thoughts of coming back to win late. I know it is rather easy to say this, but that's the kind of shot we don't make a season ago and then the game goes down to the wire and is either team's game.

So much has been made and rightfully so about how many close losses we suffered last year. It's great to see our guys up by 2 possessions late in a game (particularly on the road) and not even allow it to get "close"...well, "close" as in down to the wire.

 

[dtm1997]

Agree on that shot, as well as that crazy gang OReb that was scored and the MGH drive down the lane with a left hand finish.

Also agree that a year ago, this game falls apart and we lose by 1-2.

I just don't get why we start dribbling out clock with 4 minutes to go and only a 7-9pt lead. We stopped being aggressive and lost our offensive flow, resulting in a "play not to lose" stretch, as opposed to play to win.

 

[Buzzforlife]

 

[GTJT622]

VCU lost to FSU by 5 yesterday in Atlanta. FSU was up by 11 at the half.

They are now 5-3. 3 losses are by 8 to Duke (defending national champs) and by 1 to Wisconsin (last year's national runner-up) - both games at Madison Square Garden - and then yesterday at Philips Arena.

Like us, they are in exams this week so their first game coming out of exams and a week off will be same as us on the 15th. Pretty darn good team coming (back) to Atlanta. Shaka may be gone, but he didn't leave the cupboard bare at all.

 

[BornAJacket]

Saw some good action in the game. Times when the offense looked great, times when the defense looked great. other times... Glad the good minutes are out numbering the bad minutes.

I was so worried during that 4 minute span of poor offense. They guards just were not trying enough to get the ball inside. They did take some open jump shots, but it seems the wrong players were taking them. Regardless, I was glad to see the team call the time out, get things back on track and hold the lead at the end. A big improvement. Hope to see more steps after the finals....

 

[dtm1997]

I was so worried during that 4 minute span of poor offense.

Regardless, I was glad to see the team call the time out, get things back on track and hold the lead at the end.

It was like we reverted to a "play not to lose" mentality that gummed us up last year, then realized we still had an opportunity to play better & did so.

 

[Texwood]

I just looked it up and we are getting 20% 3-pt shooting from the point guard position so far. That is disappointing in light of the things CBG was saying about improved shooting from that position before the season.

I'm beginning to wonder if it would make sense to try a back court of Smith and Stephens in must-score scenarios. Having a pair of 40%+ 3 point shooters paired with our front court should cause issues for the opposing defense, no? Am I off my rocker?

 

[BornAJacket]

PGs have not looked good from 3 this year. Maybe Georges Hunt should take control and let Smith and Stephens be ready for the pass back out during critical times.

 

[Buzzforlife]

Coaches Radio Show link:

 

[GTJT622]

Not worthy of a thread of its own, so I'll throw it in here...

...9 ACC teams in Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology: http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology/_/iteration/161

I think we all knew and has been talked about that the ACC's recent additions only made a very good hoops conference even stronger. Lunardi's current version with 9 ACC teams not only exhibits how difficult our team has it coming up in January and February, but also shows how the 8-9 game at the ACCT could be between NCAAT at large teams or at minimum a psuedo-play-in game to the NCAAT.

Some notes from his current projections (released Tuesday this week):

*Duke = 1 seed
*UNC = 2 seed
*France = 3 seed
*Louisville & Miami = each are 4 seeds
*Syracuse = 6 seed
*Notre Dame & Pitt = each are 8 seeds (note, all 4 of recent additions to ACC are projected in...and the 1 who left, Maryland, is a 2 seed)
*FSU = 11 seed

Also...

*Villanova = 3 seed
*VCU = 11 seed

The ACC is 3rd in Conference RPI currently behind the Pac 12 and Big East. Tech is currently 73rd in the RPI (10th best in the ACC). Our upcoming game with VCU should help our SOS and a win over them should help us in the long run tremendously if we can hopefully get it. VCU is currently 118th in the RPI, but they will improve over the season most likely. The Cesspoolians are currently 56th in the RPI sporting the 6th toughest schedule so far. Tech's schedule is ranked 94th currently but that will improve short-term with games against VCU and Cesspool but then will take a bit of a hit over the next 3 home games before getting much stronger once ACC play begins.

 

[BornAJacket]

At times GT played pretty good against Villanova. but at others not so much. I guess it is good to know they are being projected as a 3 seed.

VCU will be an important game. It will really help us know what GT has this year. Hopefully the team is somewhere between the two...

 

[GTJT622]

VCU is Paul Hewitt's dream. Shaka had a similar philosophy and he left the stable very capable. They are loaded with long-armed athletic gazelles between 6'4" and 6'9". They are very guard-oriented. Their top 3 scorers currently stand 6'4", 6'4" and 6'1". They want to run, press when possible and they will challenge our ball handlers. The upside for us is that we can beat their pressure and it should lead to easy baskets. We should again have an advantage in the post if the game is more of a halfcourt affair. Certainly, guys need to make hard, crisp passes because any lazy passes are going the other way for a an easy deuce. VCU will gamble on perimeter passes and make you pay for sloppy offensive movement.

They play a high risk high reward style of ball that is exciting to watch, but can be exposed and beaten. Their record suggests over the past 8 years they have been beaten far less than they've won. We have our work cut out for us. Both teams coming off exams. GT students gone. Late weeknight game on TV likely gives us yet another half-empty Gigantic Mammary Gland. We can see if our guys truly are capable of playing a full faster-paced 40 minute game. Our coach and players talked quite a bit during the offseason leading up to Game 1 about playing at a faster tempo, running more, etc. Well, in comes a team who is the poster child for doing just that every game.

 

[Texwood]

I'm sitting in the stands here in Austin pulling for the upset of this scumbag cheating program. Surprised at how much baby blue is represented in the stands this far away from ACC land.

 

[Texwood]

YES!!!!!

Good News: The Scumbag Cheating Tarheels lose in a major upset that I got to see in person!

Bad News: Next up for the Good Guys is a team that was built and molded by Shaka Smart.

 

[GTJT622]

Good! The Cheaters open next season against the Scumbags in FB. I will be rooting of course for the meteor.

I go out to Austin about twice a year on biz. If you are near there, next time in '16, let's hook up for dinner on me. Franklin's brisket downtown or Salt Lick Q.

 

[Texwood]

Next time you are in Austin, let me know. There are all sorts of good eats out here (beyond Franklin's and Salt Lick), and I'll pick up the tab.

I'm here for good. I've moved my dear wife too many times, and she has made it clear that this is *her* final destination.

 

[Buzzforlife]

When you jolly good fellows make a visit to Midtown, we will round up stech, and the tab is mine.

Glad to hear Texwood pulled the 'Horns in tonight. How do you gents see the game coming out on Tuesday? I know we need this one at home.