While I was a little under the weather around Thanksgiving, I just really haven't been motivated to post anything lately. Yes, I am very unhappy with my "new" seats, particularly when I look over in the central sections and see tons of empty seats for big home games. Honestly, I'm not sure I will retain my seats next year. I am happy though that the students seem to be doing their part and filling up the student section. There were a lot of empty seats in the sections behind the scorers' table.... I am also disappointed by the lack of activity here on the board. This is a free hoops board; all UGA hoops fans should be here. Yet, we often go a long time without a new post.... Pretty dull.

I enjoyed the miraculous comeback against FSU. I nearly turned the game off because we just weren't getting anything done. But those last 6:30 were pretty amazing. Never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it. Still, we never should have been that far behind. That FSU team has length but no true PG and not consistent shooters. They sucked last year. But we always struggle on the road. Winning on the road anywhere is not easy - for anybody. Duke proved that against Tech. It's why Coach K rarely played big OOC games away. So, this was a great comeback but not IMHO a great win. Big shot, Justin Hill!!

As for Tech, I was thinking to myself and saying to my buddy during the game "How did that team beat Duke?" I don't think I've ever seen a major college team miss so many shots inside 10 feet. Their big guard recruit from Canada didn't impress me much. They have size and length, but I don't think Stoudamire has a grasp of what kind of scheme you have to play in college to win. They stuck with their NBA offensive set, but you gotta have NBA talent to run NBA stuff IMO. They don't. They have some long big men, but they don't score. They created mismatches because we switched on every screen, but they would get the ball to their big men being guarded by our guards, and they couldn't finish around the basket. They did get a couple of baseline cuts for scores, but their offense didn't generate much. (Duke, really?) I don't know what has happened to Kelly and Coleman; they both were important players last year, and while Kelly started, Coleman was coming off the bench; they are shells of what they were under Pastner. Kelly, the guy who hit the shot to beat us at the buzzer last year, was 4-15 Everybody was talking about our defense last night, but let's be honest. Tech just couldn't make shots. They forced a lot of awkward shots that missed. 32% shooting, 29.6% from 3 and 46% on FTs won't win many games. (Really? Duke?) I was happy that we outrebounded them. 7 pts and 9 rebs from Tchewa is a decent night. After being ACC freshman of the week I think, Dowuona had 1 reb and 0 pts. I thought sure Tech would try to press or switch things up down the stretch, but they really didn't. They didn't play with much urgency. (Duke?) We missed some shots that let them claw back to about 12, but Blue Cain hit a 3 and they never got any closer.

Of our 4 guards, (yes, it's 4; I don't care what our roster says or what other posters think), we are getting good production there. They just have to be more consistent. Demary only had 8 pts and 1 assist, but no TOs. We need more production from him. He needs to work on shooting. Thomasson had a nice game, as did both Cain and Hill off the bench. (16, 12 and 14 respectively.) But Melendez - holy cow, stop shooting 3s when you know you aren't making them. He can take it strong to the hoop and looks good when he does, but I wanted to break his arm. He was 0-7 from 3, and his shots don't look good at all leaving his hand. Jabri had a quiet 12, I thought. And even though we outrebounded Tech by 7, we only had 2 fastbreak points. When you're getting rebounds, you have to score more in transition. Score before the defense is set. All in all, it's good to beat Tech and be 3-1 against the ACC. Dowdle was going on and on about our defense after the game, and White complimented it as well, but IMHO they lost the game as much as we won it. I'm not sure that effort last night will win us a ton of games in conference. The SEC is going to be HARD....

I think Melendez can be good. Just waiting for it to happen.

Graciedawg said:

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I think Melendez can be good. Just waiting for it to happen.

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He can be. He has good size, and he drives pretty strong to the basket. He would be great out on a wing in a fast break. He's not a good 3 pt shooter. His history at Illinois attests to that. He shot 26% from 3 for the year. He's gonna have a size advantage I think most of the time on people guarding him. He needs to take it to the hoop.... "A man's got to know his limitations"

I watched Melendez's shot over and over on the replay of the game, in which he was 0-7. I spent many years in my youth working on shot mechanics and rotation. A few years ago before I tore the rotator cuff in my shoulder, I was messing around in the gym, and a former UK and NBA player, who was training a kid nearby, complimented me on my shooting. That meant a lot to me, as he was a tremendous shooter himself. Melendez has had shots that rattled around and came out, and he's had shots that were just bad misses, off to the right of the basket if memory serves. On some of his shots, he's off balance and leaning, usually to his left. What I can't see is how the shot is leaving his hands. His shot seems a bit flat, so I would encourage more arc. He needs to be balanced and not get too much left hand on the ball. Someone said his rotation is not good, but I can't see it on my video replay. It could be that the ball is a bit too much in his palm and not in his fingertips. I need to see him much closer in person than my new seats allow, though the rotation on his FTs looks pretty good to me. I think Melendez often hesitates on his shots; that seems like a lack of confidence. If you don't think you will make the shot, you probably won't. You can have bad mechanics and still be a good shooter, but that's tough road. Good mechanics make it much easier. Still, I think his drives look very athletic. I like when he takes it to the hoop. He should do that more.

good stuff monk
need to win these next 4 and then open conf play with mizzou