Last night was a heart attack in a game. It was exhausting, frustrating and ultimately thrilling all at the same time. Tech played like crap at times, shot poorly and was killed on the glass but somehow pulled it out. That's what good teams do, and I think that there is enough evidence from this season to call Tech a good, albeit flawed, team. I don't think it can be understated about how big of a win last night was for this Tech team. TCU is well coached, deep, and a terrible matchup for Tech. As much as I hate to admit it Dixon has largely knocked it out of the park with TCU and has embraced a specific identity that is clearly working. They are good enough to be ranked imo. And for Tech to beat them without their most important player is very impressive. McCasland is a damn good coach, and this group of guys plays hard. Can't ask for much more.
Things I liked:
Things I liked:
- Winning in the margins: Tech did not play particularly good defense, rebound well or shoot the ball great but were able to manufacture a win despite this. How did they do this? They only turned the ball over 9 times while turning TCU over 12 times and scoring 13 points off those TOs. Tech also shot 24-28 from the FT line. When you aren't shooting well and rebounding well finding advantages in the margins is how teams get a dub. That's coaching.
- Aggressive Darrion : There are things he didn't do well (mainly being a bit passive on the glass) and he struggled a bit to start the game but man he came thru in the second half. I don't even know if Darrion knows how good he can be. There are flashes where he looks like one of the best players in the conference. I loved how aggressive he was down the stretch and when he forces the issue confidently, he is a force. One thing I wish Tech would do more of is put D5 in more ball screen actions as the ball handler. For example, with about 6:30 remaining he came into a ball screen action with Lindsay who set a ghost screen and slipped to the basket. Williams hit the defender with a subtle hesi and made a tremendous pass to Kye for a dunk. With his vision, size and touch I want to see more of this.
- Joe/Pop down the stretch - Joe was honestly good all game. He played solid defense, passed well and hit timely shots. And in the second half his penetration was key. I think because of the "No, No, Yes!" nature of his game it's easy to forget how good he has been this year. Also, credit is due to Pop. He shot miserably once again and had some very questionable takes from deep but he was critical down the stretch. There were a couple of holy shit passes and his ability to put his head down and score/get fouled turned the tide. Once again, when he plays at his own tempo/pace and dictates his movement offensively he is deadly. More of that please.
- Offensive Cutting - Tech is a tremendous cutting team. This has been a constant this year.
- Kyeron - Kye is like a raw piece of clay right now. All the measurables and ability is there but just needs some more time to be shaped. He is far from perfect but he made a real impact last night with his motor and finishing. When he gets an angle to the rim he's attacking. Lindsay also flashes some interesting faceup stuff from time to time.
- Not losing - Last year's team would have lost by 15. I enjoyed this much more.
- Hot Potato - Maybe it's just bad luck or something similar but I'm not sure I've ever seen a team lose this many balls out of bounds or get rebounds ripped away. Need to be a bit better securing the ball.
- Chance is cold - 3/22 from three in his last 4. He hasn't been bad all around and these have mostly been clean looks. Tech just needs him to turn it on a bit.
- Early Shot Clock 3's - Probably somewhat by design but this team can be a bit trigger happy early in possessions. Not a huge deal.
- Rebounding - Was just awful at times. I know Warren was out, which has a lot to do with it, but Tech also struggles with positioning and doesn't track the ball very well.
- Perimeter defense / Ball screen coverage - Tech gave up penetration way too easily and didn't offer much resistance when TCU attacked the rim for most of the game. Chance and Kerwin in particular struggled with this. The ball screen coverage was all over the place and led to some easy buckets. Should improve with Warren back.
- Per Torvik Tech has a 99.2% chance to make it and sits at a 6 seed
- Tech has a seed average of 6.14 over 108 brackets
- High seed of 8
- Low seed of 5
- Have seen Tech matched up with the following
- Winner of Nova/Gonzaga (Dallas Region)
- Virginia
- Winner of Butler/Gonzaga (Dallas Region)
- Winner of Nebraska/Colorado (Brooklyn)
