Monday March 26, 2007
Following last night’s 78-65
season-ending loss to Purdue, Andy Landers said something that didn’t just
apply to the Purdue game but could also serve as an epitaph for the season.
"When we didn’t score, it seemed to take some of the life or mission out
of us defensively," he said, explaining how Georgia’s defensive intensity
waned after a strong start. The Lady Dogs had another 25+ win season and another
trip to the Final Four, but in almost all of their losses they faced inconsistency
on offense and a sub-par defensive effort that seemed coupled to those problems
on offense.
This feast-or-famine storyline played out in dramatic fashion during the postseason.
It began in the SEC Tournament where Georgia routed Kentucky in record-setting
fashion. They were on the other side of the rout the following night against
Vanderbilt, failing to score 20 points in the first half. Another sluggish effort
followed in the NCAA opening round when they struggled to score and got a scare
from an overmatched Belmont team. Thing swung back around the other way for
the second round game against Iowa State, and neither offense nor defense was
a problem.
Inconsistent teams rarely advance far in the postseason. Georgia was good enough
to advance. They’ve recorded wins over three Elite Eight teams this season.
Their inconsistency buried them last night. Purdue’s consistent senior sharpshooter
Katie Gearlds went for 30 points. Georgia’s starting seniors combined for ten
points and two field goals.
Tasha Humphrey and Angel Robinson were effective inside. Humphrey scored 20
points, but it was on the other end where she ran into familiar problems. Foul
trouble put her on the bench for key stretches in both halves. With her watching
from the pine and Chambers cold, Georgia’s scoring fell to freshmen and role
players. They were valiant and kept up as much as they could, but they weren’t
going to keep up with Gearlds and Wisdom-Hilton.
Last season ended for the Lady Dogs with a proud and defiant Landers refusing
to get down about the way with which Georgia lost to UConn. The Lady Dogs fought
that game with their best effort and lost on a miracle shot. "We didn’t
lose," Landers said after that game. "You lose when you don’t go out
and apply the ability and talent that you have to the challenge that faces you.
When you apply yourself like we did, you don’t lose. You get beat."
No such statement could be made about last night’s game. Georgia’s offense
fizzled but for a few brief runs, and the defense couldn’t react quickly enough
to the screens they knew they’d face. "They did what we knew they were
going to do," said
Cori Chambers. "They run off screens, and I didn’t do what I needed
to do to stop them." She wasn’t alone, but unfortunately Cori has been
the poster child for the feast-or-famine season. She set Georgia’s career mark
for three-pointers back in January, but she has battled through struggles on
offense for much of the second half of the season while drawing some tough defensive
assignments.
This has been a tough team to figure out all year, and it must be frustrating for
Coach Landers to have to pull and plead to get results and leadership. They
started the season beating teams like Rutgers and Stanford without Tasha Humphrey.
After she returned, the team struggled for a bit as their identity changed.
Then they got it back together for a second-place SEC finish that included wins
over Vanderbilt, LSU, and Ole Miss. It ended with the wild swings in both the
SEC and NCAA Tournaments.
Though the Lady Dogs lose Chambers and Hardrick, the future of the team is
in a core of three freshmen honored this year by the SEC. At least six players
will be joining the team next year, four of them in the backcourt. With Tasha
Humphrey entering her senior year, the window is closing on building a championship
team around her.
Monday March 26, 2007
Georgia has made enough progress as a basketball program that we can seriously
talk now about the things that stand in their way of returning to the NCAA Tournament.
The Dawgs have added four or five wins to their total in each of the past two
seasons, but we’re going to find out that adding each additional win from here
on out will become marginally more difficult. Going from, say, 13 to 17 wins
means you can beat another middle-of-the-road nonconference team and catch a
conference opponent or two on a bad night. Going from 19 wins to 22 means that
you can’t lose many that you’re expected to win and that you have to pick up
a couple of games against higher-quality opponents in and out of the conference.
The goal for every year is a trip to the NCAA Tournament, but the urgency is
turned up quite a bit next year. The pieces seem to be in place. That we can
point to a handful of woulda-coulda-shoulda games makes us think that we were
one or two wins away. But being so close and getting a taste of the bubble just
makes the hunger that much stronger, and fans have heard "rebuilding"
now for three seasons. Let’s look at a few factors that will determine whether
or not Georgia can get over that hump next year.
Scheduling
I’ve talked about favoring the "Harrick approach" to nonconference
scheduling ever since Georgia had far and away the nation’s toughest schedule
in 2001. They didn’t get there by lining up Duke and UConn. They likely would
have lost those games. In fact, they didn’t schedule many top 30 teams in 2001.
The secret was to avoid the bad teams. Don’t schedule teams below the
top 150.
This year Georgia played Southern (RPI 289), Jacksonville (RPI 198), South
Carolina State (RPI 288), Alabama A&M (RPI 334), Gardner-Webb (RPI 268),
and Kennesaw (277). Those games are boat anchors to a team’s
perceived strength. The Dawgs couldn’t even count a win over Valdosta State
(in terms of the RPI) because the Blazers are a Division 2 school.
"Hold on a second," you say. "Georgia had the #14 schedule according
to Palm’s collegerpi.com. Why are you talking
about schedule?" Sure they did. They play in the SEC East. The only SEC
East team without a top 30 schedule was Florida. The strong conference schedule
masks the fact that the nonconference schedule had problems. Having some really
good teams mixed in with the dregs means that you’d better beat a team like
Wisconsin if you want points for your schedule.
Georgia might have been a win or two away from the NCAA Tournament, but so
were a lot of teams this year. Georgia’s March loss to Tennessee might have
knocked them all the way from the brink of the tournament to a #4 seed in the
NIT. Between the few questionable teams like Arkansas and Stanford that got
in the tournament and the 1-4 NIT seeds, that’s a pool of 18-20 teams who had
similar records and who all felt they were within a win or two of playing in
the NCAA Tournament. Would a Top 10 schedule look more impressive among a similar
group next year? You don’t have to play Kansas or UCLA to get there.
The games against teams like Wisconsin and the rumored game with Duke next
year are fine and certainly high-visibility games for the program. It helps
to win them; "good losses" are better than beating a sub-250 RPI team,
but they’re still losses. There are 336 teams playing Division 1 ball. The key
is to focus on those in the top 150. There is no reason to schedule the sub-200
teams. Look to the lower NCAA seeds and the NIT field. Georgia is 4-3 against
NCAA six seeds or lower. They were 5-2 against the NIT field in 2005-2006, and
three road losses made them 1-3 against the NIT field this year. No, they’re
not Kansas. But Georgia can compete with these teams, win their share, and,
most importantly, these opponents would boost and not drag down
Georgia’s schedule and reputation before the selection committee.
The conference
Even if a team is improved, that improvement is still relative to the competition.
The SEC East was a murder’s row this year. Four of the six teams received #8
seeds or higher in the NCAA Tournament, and three were still alive in the Sweet
16. The division should be tough again next year, but its strength will depend
a lot on some key decisions. Player of the Year Byars is a senior, but other
guys like Lofton, Morris, and Florida’s trio of Noah, Horford, and Brewer could
all have an impact on next year’s SEC landscape.
We saw this year that the minimum "safe" conference record for NCAA
consideration is probably 9-7. 8-8 is pushing it. 10-6 is a sure thing. The
most traditional path to achieve that record is to win at home and steal a couple
on the road. That strategy nearly worked for Georgia this year; a home win against
Tennessee in the finale probably would have put them over the top (and dramatically
altered the SEC Tournament seedings and matchups).
Georgia will have the usual home and away games with the SEC East. They will
play Auburn, Mississippi State, and LSU from the SEC West on the road with Alabama,
Ole Miss, and Arkansas in Athens. It’s possible that Georgia will still be picked
5th in the East next year. Tennessee has a solid core even without Lofton, and
Vanderbilt will have a strong group of seniors. Everyone
is starting to notice that Georgia could have a much improved team once
again next year but still be facing a tough challenge to get to that nine and
ten win threshold.
Personnel
Sundiata Gaines assessed
next year’s team for the AJC. "I think it will be the best team since
I’ve been here," he said. "We’ve got some good freshmen coming in.
The guys are older. We’ll have a lot of juniors and seniors with more experience.
That should get us far as we’re trying to make the postseason again next year."
He’s right. He’ll be a senior along with Dave Bliss and Takais Brown. Billy
Humphrey and Terrance Woodbury developed as this season went on and will join
Mike Mercer as juniors. That’s a really solid group. Then you have role players
like Cory Butler and Rashad Singleton. Albert Jackson will have a year of seasoning.
There is a strong freshman class bringing help at point guard and in the frontcourt.
Just in terms of returning players, the one area that jumps out immediately
for me is perimeter shooting. Levi Stukes graduates, adding his name to the
legacy of sharpshooting 2-guards like D.A. Layne and Ezra Williams. Though Stukes
shot for a relatively high percentage on average, he definitely had his hot
and cold moments. Georgia’s fortunes usually followed.
The Dawgs’ options on the perimeter next year are 1) Gaines, 2) Humphrey, 3)
Woodbury, 4) Mercer, 5) Butler. That surely looks like a good, deep group. But
looking closer reveals a bit weaker picture. Gaines will be running the show
at point, and while it isn’t rare for point guards to be scorers (Rashad Wright
as a senior comes to mind), it’s asking a lot. Mercer struggled with his outside
shot all year, and we don’t know how effective he will be after his recovery.
Butler might play a larger role, but will still likely be a reserve. So Georgia’s
fortunes on the perimeter will likely depend on the development of Humphrey
and Woodbury. Both came along nicely as sophomores. Humphrey, established as
a streaky set shooter from outside, started to show more creativity inside the
arc. Woodbury was usually a good shot in the arm off the bench, and he continues
to come along defensively. He had one of his best games in the season-ending
loss at Air Force.
We know all five of those guys can hit a three-pointer. The question and key
is consistency. Can someone not only step into Stukes’ role but extend it and
become a scorer rather than just a shooter or a three-point specialist?
It’s likely that Felton will begin the season with Bliss, Brown, and Gaines
as sure starters. There are three guys (Mercer, Woodbury, and Humphrey) left
for the remaining two positions. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Humphrey and
Woodbury start as Mercer is eased back into action.
If you read the tea leaves on the message boards, Felton is looking for additional
help once again from the junior college ranks, and it seems as if he has that
2-guard spot in mind. The comparison kicked around a lot this week has been
Katu Davis; Davis was a JUCO transfer for the 1995 and 1996 seasons, and he
was a big part of the tournament run in 1996. He also provides a reference for
contrast between the three-point specialist and a guy who can score inside and
out from that guard spot. If there’s another Katu out there, that kind of spark
from the backcourt, along with Gaines’ steady play, could really transform this
team.
The frontcourt will appreciate the help. Brown is the star, and his game could
really take off next year if he works on those glacially-slow moves with the
ball. After Brown, you have several guys who can give a minute here, a minute
there. Bliss will hopefully continue to stay well. Singleton came along on defense,
and it could mean something if he developed any kind of game on offense. Jackson
was limited as a freshman, and an injury really slowed him down at the end of
the year. There is a nice group of freshmen coming in for the frontcourt, but
we shouldn’t place the expectation of big minutes on freshman.
You can see why pwd made "find
another Takais Brown" one of his suggestions for next year. Given one
scholarship, I’d still choose a scorer at guard first. Brown and the rest of
the frontcourt were typically effective this year when Stukes (or on rare occasions
someone else) was lighting it up from outside. With Stukes gone, I’m just not
as confident yet that we can replace that potency.
Friday March 23, 2007
John Kaltefleiter reports in the ABH that Georgia basketball assistant Mike Jones is chasing the dream that most assistants have. He has applied for the head coaching vacancy at Division II Columbus State.
Jones said,
I do, just like every other assistant coach, want to be at the top of his profession and that means being the head coach of his own program. I’d be happy to have the opportunity to coach my own team.
You can’t argue with that. We wish him the best of luck going after his goals.
Friday March 23, 2007
There have ben some duds in recent years, but this year’s NCAA Tournament has been one of the best I can recall. It started last Saturday with one of the best all-around days of tournament basketball I’ve seen. The day began with Ohio State’s thrilling overtime win over Xavier. Butler hung on against Maryland. Pitt was in a struggle with VCU. UCLA survived against Indiana. Texas A&M and Louisville was a classic back-and-forth slugfest. The Vandy-Washington State game was the best of them all – a double-overtime roller coaster.
The first night of the Sweet Sixteen continued to live up to form. Of the four games, two were decided by a single point and another had only a three-point margin. Memphis continues to prove the doubters wrong. Ohio State came back from the dead for a second straight game and showed that they still had some magic left.
Keep them coming – this has been an incredible event so far.
Thursday March 22, 2007
FoxSports.com is reporting that Kentucky basketball coach Tubby
Smith has been forced out and will take the vacant job at Minnesota. Not
at Michigan – at Minnesota.
I’m not one to dance on graves. As a relatively ambitious man, I can understand
why Tubby left Georgia for Kentucky. But I’m certainly not sad for him and definitely
not sympathetic with the Cats. With the greater prestige of the job comes greater
expectations and pressure. Now is the Minnesota situation in 2007 better than the
situation Tubby came into at Georgia in 1995? I don’t think so.
The college basketball world now waits to see if Billy Donovan will turn down
the job.
Perhaps Tubby can continue his legacy at Kentucky much the same way he did
at Georgia with a recommendation for his successor. Ron
Jirsa is available.
Wednesday March 21, 2007
Random bits of news today:
The Lady Dogs’ Sweet Sixteen game against Purdue in Dallas is set for Sunday
the 24th at 7:00 ET. ESPN2 will have the game.
Georgia
baseball beat Mercer last night for their fourth win in a row. The Bulldogs
were more or less left for dead with a punchless offense after losses to Kennesaw
and Western Carolina, but they rebounded to sweep a ranked Auburn team last
weekend and now have a bit of momentum as the SEC schedule starts to heat up.
Four games is a nice little streak, but there’s a long way to go. It’s good
to see the pitching stay solid now that some more timely hits are coming.
There’s quite a bit of talk coming out of yesterday’s pro day in Athens. Charles
Johnson injured his hamstring. We have the interesting story of Danny Ware.
After making the questionable decision to leave early, he’s trying to impress
scouts with his physique. Ching has a lot of thoughts on pro day both on
his blog and in the
Columbus paper. He thinks Ware might have helped himself the most of anyone
yesterday.
Ching and Kelly Quinlan of UGASports.com both spoke with defensive ends coach
Jon Fabris yesterday. Ching
focused mostly on the defense end position, and Quinlan
got a few quotes ($) looking at a more abstract concept of player evaluation.
I liked his caution against placing too much emphasis on the measurables at
things like pro day and basing most of the evaluation on film.
I might take some chances on recruits based on potential, but I do not want
to take a lot of chances just because a guy looks good on the hoof and what
he might become. It is the same thing in the NFL. You have first and second
round draft picks and you do not waste those on how someone teased you on
Pro-Day.
…I could care less what kind of 40 times my ends run because they are not
going to run 40 yards. I care about their first two or three steps. I care
how hard they want to chase the football.
Fabris is a great interview when you get him speaking candidly like this. Lots
of talk about Tarzan and Jane!
Tuesday March 20, 2007
Georgia’s men’s basketball season ended last night with a lesson in offensive
execution and defensive intensity. Air Force took advantage of Georgia’s overaggressive
man defense and lack of athleticism to roll to an easy
83-52 win last night. The Falcons spread the court and left Georgia’s big
men standing in cement at the high post as Air Force ran cut after cut at the
basket. When the cuts didn’t result in easy baskets, quick ball movement and
reversal led to open three-point looks, and Air Force knocked down 11 of those.
The loss ends the season with a 19-14 record. It’s an improvement, but losses
like this show how fragile the program still is. "The things that they
do just really showed our weakness," said
Levi Stukes after his final game as a Bulldog. So much of what Georgia was
able to do this year was dependent on matchups, and they were a team built for
the physical play of the SEC.
The lessons didn’t stop with offensive execution. "They switched up their
defense a lot," Stukes said. "They went from a match-up zone to a
1-2-2 (zone). They were doing all kind of things out there to get us hesitant
on offense." Tight Air Force zone defense early on frustrated Georgia inside
the arc. The Bulldogs made only one two-point basket in the game’s first 13
minutes and settled for a lot of the three-point-shots-by-default that we’ve
all come to dread at times this year. Takais Brown never got going. As bad as
things were going on defense, the Bulldog offense had as many turnovers as made
field goals (16). Only Terrance Woodbury scored in double-figures. Meanwhile,
Georgia continued to get burned by overpursuit and slow recovery in their own
defense.
Dennis Felton came into the program four years ago preaching defensive intensity.
But that intensity was somehow missing yet again in a road game. "We were
real nonchalant on defense," said Sundiata Gaines. A last-minute flurry
at Arkansas notwithstanding, Georgia had only one really solid showing on the
road this year, and that was at South Carolina.
While it might seem as if Georgia is a win or two away from a spot in the NCAA
Tournament, those additional wins might require more improvement than you think.
The Dawgs have to learn to play with purpose and fire on the road. They need
additional personnel and coaching creativity to adapt against different kinds
of challenges. The zone used against Fresno State was a good example of that
adaptation, but the team was lost and looked unprepared for the complex Air
Force offense.
I’ll have some more thoughts about the future of the program later, but last
night showed us that while the program has come a long way, there is a difference
between being able to do the math to slide into a postseason tournament and
simply being a really good team.
Tuesday March 20, 2007
After Saturday’s shaky win over Belmont, Georgia coach Andy Landers challenged
the leadership on his team, particularly among the upperclassmen. He went so
far as to say that he would assume the leadership of the team and that everyone
could decide whether or not they would follow him.
After responding with a 76-56
second round win over Iowa State last night, it looks as if some upperclassmen
took that challenge personally. Cori Chambers scored 18 first half points, and
Tasha Humphrey finished with a game-high 21 points to lead the way for Georgia.
The Lady Dogs steamrolled Iowa State in much the same fashion that Georgia had
been humbled by Vanderbilt over two weeks ago. Ashley Houts started the game
by missing a three-pointer, but that would be only one of two missed Georgia
shots in the first nine minutes of the game. Before fans could get comfortable,
Georgia was up 29-4, and they led 51-27 at halftime.
After that start, the only question that remained was whether the Lady Dogs
could keep up the intensity and hold off the inevitable Cyclone charge. The
pivotal first four minutes of the second half passed without Georgia ceding
any ground. They eventually led by as many as 32 points. Iowa State went on
a run to come within as few as 17 points, and Georgia’s offense finally sputtered
with only four points from the 16:00 through the 6:00 mark in the second half.
Georgia then turned to Tasha Humphrey to finish the deal. Humphrey scored nine
points in the final six minutes to keep Iowa State safely at arm’s length.
Though the second half slowdown meant that Georgia shot under 45% overall,
they were still efficient. They turned the ball over only six times. They got
good shots created within the offense; 20 of their 29 field goals were assisted.
They were equally effective on defense. All-Big 12 first teamer Lyndsey Medders
was held to 11 points and never got on a roll. Georgia held the Cyclones to
under 35% shooting and under 30% from the arc. The Lady Dogs were quick to get
into passing lanes and forced eight steals and 15 turnovers. They were also
menacing inside with five blocks.
Georgia showed what can happen when they turn it on and play well. But we’ve
seen that before during this season, and it’s the upside of the pattern Coach
Landers has talked about for some time. When things are going well, they go
well and everyone steps it up. It’s when things get difficult that someone rarely
comes through to carry the team. It was a bit troublesome seeing the score stuck
between 59 and 63 for a good ten minutes last night, but Humphrey finally put
a stop to that.
The Lady Dogs advance to their fifth consecutive Sweet Sixteen round and their
seventeenth Sweet Sixteen in 24 trips to the NCAA Tournament. They will face
Purdue who easily handled Georgia Tech in the second round. Purdue is the #2
seed and Big 10 tournament champion. They are led by Player of the Year finalist
Katie Gearlds at guard and forward Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton. The Lady Dogs and
the Boilermakers have met just once before – a 66-64
Georgia win in the 2004 Sweet Sixteen. Alexis Kendrick hit a jumper with
five seconds left to give Georgia the win over the higher-seeded Boilermakers.
That win over Purdue was Georgia’s most recent win in the Sweet Sixteen round;
they’ve since lost to Duke and UConn.
Two players from each team were involved in that 2004 game. Purdue’s Gearlds
had 8 points, and Erin Lawless scored 12 points and pulled down four rebounds
off the bench. For Georgia, Cori Chambers scored 5 points in a reserve role,
and Janese Hardrick had a game-high 17 points on 7-12 shooting as a freshman.
Another big night from Hardrick would go a long way towards advancing Georgia
to the Elite Eight, but her role on defense might be as important against Purdue’s
solid offense.
The Lady Dogs will play Purdue on Sunday, and the Regional Final would take
place on Tuesday if Georgia can advance. Times are still TBA, and I’ll post
them as we find out. Tickets for the Dallas Regional are on
sale through the UGA ticket office.
Monday March 19, 2007
First, the Lady Dogs play Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at 7:00. The game is on ESPN2 and ESPNU. In the only other meeting between these two teams, Georgia soundly defeated Iowa State to advance to the 1999 Final Four. Let’s hope the outcome is the same.
The men follow that up at 9:00 with their second round NIT game at Air Force. ESPNU is the only TV outlet for this game. A lot is going against Georgia in this game, but a win would be a huge step towards New York.
Find a comfortable corner at your local sports bar and enjoy.
Monday March 19, 2007
Some might say that the Lady Dogs’ sluggish performance in their 53-36
opening round win over Belmont on Saturday was the sign of a team still
a bit shell-shocked from their SEC Tournament loss to Vanderbilt. Everyone wondered
whether or not they could shake off that loss and show up at the NCAA Tournament
with a resolve and looking to take out two weeks of frustration on an overmatched
opponent.
They couldn’t. Georgia played sound defense but struggled to score. It’s become
apparent that the SEC Tournament loss wasn’t the cause of Georgia’s funk; it
was a symptom of a problem that has been eating at the team and its coach for
a while.
What’s troubling if you’re looking for improvement is that the problems seem
to be more fundamental issues of leadership. "When a team plays the way
it is playing right now, there is no leadership," said
Coach Landers. Georgia’s top scorers are upperclassmen, and you’d expect
the team to look to them, but Landers doesn’t hold out much hope in that area.
"I have asked juniors and seniors to step up and assume some accountability
for that, for these kinds of things, and they haven’t. So I don’t hold out any
hope that it will come from those two classes."
That showed itself in Saturday’s game. Tasha Humphrey was closely defended
and double-teamed, limiting her effectiveness. Foul trouble would also limit
her minutes. The close attention given to Humphrey opened things up outside,
but Georgia couldn’t capitalize and shot under 20% from beyond the arc. It’s
a nod to Landers’ comments that the three three-pointers Georgia did
hit in the game were made by freshmen. Houts and Marshall were also Georgia’s
leading scorers.
In short, this does not sound like a team with the head to make a deep tournament
run. Let’s not forget that this is a team that finished second in the SEC. It
has beaten Rutgers, Stanford, LSU, and Vandy. It has three members of the SEC’s
all-freshman team and two all-SEC team members. But they’re in a fog now and
have been for much of the season. The leadership for the future looks to be
brewing among the stellar freshman class, but that’s not a present-day solution.
With the season on the line, Landers has to try a different approach. "I
am the leader. I just hope I have willing followers. I don’t think by any
stretch that I am perfect. I think we have got a good game plan. I am determined
to come out and win and kick tail if we can. They can line up and go with me
or we do something else." "Something else" at this point is going
home with the season over.
Iowa State is a check for this group of upperclassmen. Georgia is a better
team and has beaten teams like Iowa State all year. Georgia is bigger inside
and should be able to score and rebound in the paint. That was the case against
Belmont also, and they got outrebounded and struggled to score inside. Those
are effort stats. As Landers said after Saturday’s game, the good defense was
hurt by the fact that Georgia too often failed to "clean up" and capitalize
on their defense by allowing offensive rebounds. Iowa State might not be as
good of a team as Georgia, but they are quite dangerous. They have been forged
in a tough Big 12 conference, and, to put even more pressure on Georgia, they
can score. To make things worse, the crowd should solidly favor Iowa State as
busloads of fans will make the trip from Ames, Iowa.
The Lady Dogs have been to four consecutive Sweet Sixteens and sixteen overall
in the tournament’s history.
Friday March 16, 2007
We continue today’s legislative roundup with this nugget. Eight wins at most
top football programs, if done consistently, gets you fired. One eight-win season
gets the fans grumbling…even a nine-win season leaves some natives restless.
Not at South Carolina.
Eight wins gets you an increase
in ticket prices and also a glowing pat on the back from the South
Carolina state house:
A HOUSE RESOLUTION
TO CONGRATULATE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD FOOTBALL COACH STEVE SPURRIER
AND THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA FOOTBALL TEAM FOR AN OUTSTANDING 2006
SEASON WHICH CONCLUDED WITH A TOTAL OF EIGHT WINS INCLUDING A VICTORY OVER
HOUSTON IN THE LIBERTY BOWL, IN MEMPHIS, AND FOR BRINGING TO THE GAMECOCK
PROGRAM A RENEWED SENSE OF PRIDE AND ACCOMPLISHMENT.
Read
the whole thing. It gets better. They commend him for winning a Heisman
and titles at a competing school…in a different state. This might
also be the first mention of recruiting analysts in a legislative resolution.
It needs to be investigated whether the phrase "the University of South
Carolina football team recently concluded an outstanding 2006 season with eight
wins including a thrilling high-scoring victory over Houston in the Liberty
Bowl in Memphis" can be challenged in court. I expect to see it in negative
campaign ads against the sponsors of the resolution.
As much as we know about Spurrier, this resolution probably didn’t come as
an honor to him; it was surely an embarrassment to him that these overzealous
fans in the state house would fawn all over an eight-win season and a "thrilling"
Liberty Bowl win.
Such a legislative act isn’t unprecedented though. We’ve obtained an etching of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia deliberating a resolution to honor Joe Paterno’s first bowl win.
Friday March 16, 2007
The Banner-Herald reports that some Georgia legislators are trying to use legislative
pressure to revive
intercollegiate wrestling programs in the state. The University of Georgia
dropped its program in 1980, and Georgia State in 1998 was the last state school
to drop its program.
Republican state Senator Seth Harp of Midland is behind the effort. He says,
"We’ve had a number of people who made inquires about having a wrestling
program. We’re losing some very fine students to out-of-state schools."
That might be true, but I’d be a lot more concerned about the "very fine
students" who are leaving the state because of the quality of
Georgia public higher education rather than the availability of a wrestling
program.
Look, I have nothing against Georgia colleges having a wrestling program. Georgia
has a strong high school program. There are lots of other sports I’d like to
see added too. We just have a few realities to face:
- Funding. The University of Georgia’s athletic association
is in the black, but it’s an exception. Tech is struggling and working through
financial issues. Other state colleges can’t be raking in the cash. How do
these legislators propose we fund these programs?
- Title IX. This is really the big gorilla in the room. There
aren’t many schools who don’t struggle with the requirements of Title IX.
Few schools are totally compliant, and even those who come close do so with
a careful balancing act. UGA’s recent addition of a large equestrian program
was surely motivated with an eye towards increasing the number of female student-athletes.
In a nod to the Missouri Compromise, schools attempting to keep the balance
required by Title IX can’t add scholarships for male athletes without adding
them for females. No, that doesn’t mean a female wrestling program or a coed
program; it means that adding wrestling would probably have to come hand-in-hand
with another female sport. So the funding problem is now a problem times two.
Sen. Harp can’t be all bad; he’s a driving force behind reforming
the remaining Blue Laws, and I support him completely on that issue. He
just needs to think this wrestling thing through a bit. "Coach Goldberg"
doesn’t sound too bad though.
Thursday March 15, 2007
The announced crowd last night was somewhere just over 2,000. It was, as they
say, "intimate" even with some great promotions going on. With the
general lack of interest in the NIT combined with the ghost town that is Athens
during spring break, last night’s small crowd wasn’t a surprise. The fans that
were there were great. That kind of crowd is comparable in size to those we
get for some women’s games, and the enthusiasm is rarely as high as it was last
night. You had people who wanted to be there; there were no vast gaps left by
absent season ticket holders, nor was the crowd diluted by the morgue that is
the faculty/staff section. The fans filled in close to the court, and the effect
was impressive considering that the gym was only 20% full.
One of the best scenes of the evening happened off-camera during player introductions.
Dennis Felton often spends time in the student section before games, but last
night he went up ten or more rows into the stands behind the bench with a wide
grin thanking those fans for coming out. Many of those fans probably didn’t
have season tickets in that area, so they saw in person for the first time Felton’s
genuine gratitude for their support. After the game, he took time before media
interviews to thank those who remained on the student side. His grin was as
wide as you’d expect if Georgia had just advanced to the Sweet 16 of the "other"
tournament. Though he’d surely much rather be playing today, this win was still
progress, and he seemed truly grateful for those who are coming along for the
ride.
It’s suddenly a story that Georgia basketball fans are scarce. Jeff Schultz
wrote about the game and crowd last night, and Chip Towers filed a note from
the SEC Tournament last weekend contrasting the thin Georgia hometown support
with that of the many Florida fans in attendance.
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It’s not a recent development that Georgia basketball fans are notoriously
fickle, slow to jump on board, and quick to jump off. It’s how life is for any
Georgia sport other than football. and when it comes to SEC basketball nearly
every school’s fan base ebbs and flows with the fortunes of their team. The
exception of course is Kentucky. Mark Bradley, also writing from the SEC Tournament
last weekend, noted with sadness that the Arkansas traveling fan base, once
strong enough during their mid-90s run to rival the Wildcats, had lost around
80% of its size. If basketball-crazy Arkansas doesn’t turn out for a decent
team that ended up in the SEC finals and headed to the NCAA Tournament, I’m
not really surprised by the Georgia fans.
Dawg fans have shown that they’ll turn out for a winner. The twilight of the
Harrick era was a wonderful heavyweight slug fest with Florida. Stegeman was
rocking for that game as it had been for many big games over those two seasons.
The game was as intense and the crowd was as electric as you’ll ever find in
college hoops. Then the rug was pulled out from under the season less than a
week later. Fans saw the postseason, the star player, and an entire recruiting
class disappear. It wasn’t the first time that Georgia fans had a taste of success
evaporate. To be a Georgia basketball fan is to be Charlie Brown trying to kick
the football.
As Felton keeps building the program and the wins continue to come, the fans
will come back. Considering the history of the program, I can’t blame them for
being a bit hesitant to believe.
Thursday March 15, 2007
Derrick Dukes was known for two things as a basketball player at Georgia in
the late 1990s: never seeing a three-point shot he didn’t like and also attempting
some of the most fearless dunks seen at Stegeman since ‘Nique.
He would have been proud of Fresno State last night. When they weren’t putting
up three-pointers (40 of them to be exact, a record for a Georgia opponent),
they were trying lob passes and power dunks, often with spectacularly bad results.
They hit a gaudy 18 of those three-pointers (also a record by a Georgia opponent),
but all those shots served to do was to keep the game from getting completely
out of hand. Georgia controlled this game in every way from style to tempo to
statistics en route to an 88-78 win in the first round of the NIT. They shot
well, outrebounded the opponent, and had an effective inside-outside game that
the visitors couldn’t match.
Fresno’s scouting report must have simply read like this: "Deny Takais
Brown at any cost." The game opened with the "other" Bulldogs
doubling down on Brown and leaving Georgia’s sharpshooter Levi Stukes without
a defender in the same ZIP code. Used to intense pressure from SEC defenses
who know him well, Stukes seemed to have a "WTF?!" look on his face
when Fresno started the game by daring Georgia’s career three-point leader to
hit an open shot. He hit three of them in quick succession. Fresno State called
a timeout and righted the ship, even taking a 22-17 lead, but the damage had
been done. Those first three shots got Stukes’ rythym going, and he didn’t let
up for the rest of the night. He scored 30 points and hit 8-of-9 from behind
the arc to spark Georgia.
Only a toe on the line on his third attempt of the night and a shot before
halftime that was just off the mark kept Stukes from tying the Georgia record
for most three-pointers in a game (G.G. Smith hit nine of them – also in the
NIT and also against Fresno State).
Fresno did a decent job of bothering Takais in the first half; they held him
to just six points. The slack was picked up by Stukes and Dave Bliss. Bliss
in limited action was effective against the smaller Bulldogs due to the attention
given to Brown. He made the most of it and scored in double-figures. Brown got
things going in the second half. With Fresno tired and dealing with some foul
trouble inside, the added pressure of Stukes outside opened things up for Brown.
He showed everything from a nice mid-range touch to strong post moves and scored
15 of his 21 points in the second half. His tendency to be deliberate with his
post moves (really…he could be timed with a sundial) might have cost some
additional chances to score, but he was often able to work out of those double-teams
and pass the ball to an open shooter.
Defense (or lack of it) was on a lot of minds after the game. Some wondered
why Georgia stayed in a zone (either a 2-3 or 1-3-1 for nearly all of the game)
while Fresno proved to be effective zone-busters from outside. Coach Felton
explained after the game that we would rather they take those shots than use
their size and explosiveness against some bad matchups in a man defense. As
it turned out, they hit just enough shots to make it interesting and keep it
from becoming an ugly game, but Georgia took advantage and built their lead
during the few shooting lapses Fresno did have.
The challenges are very different in the next game. Georgia advances to play
at Air Force on Monday night. The time is yet to be announced, but we expect
it will be 9:00. Air Force got a little fight from Austin Peay in the first
half in their first round game, but they pulled away in the second half for
a comfortable win to break a four-game losing streak. Air Force will be a test
of patience and discipline for Georgia. The Falcons play that Princeton-style
offense that lulls you to sleep and then kills you with backdoor cuts or penetration.
They have an incredibly balanced and experienced starting lineup, so you can’t
count on them to make many unforced mistakes.
Wednesday March 14, 2007
Just a quick update to write that tonight’s NIT first round game in Athens will be broadcast by ESPN2 at 7:00.
I’ll be the one in the stands.
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