ESPN's Chris Low on UGA's Offseason

I think Low makes a variety of interesting comments as he highlights players to watch this offseason as the Georgia Bulldogs gear up for another run at the SEC Championship.  He lists these players as guys to watch:

Isaiah Crowell
David Andrews
Nick Marshall
Damien Swann
Derrick Lott

My list would be:

1. Isaiah Crowell - Competition and conditioning can solve most of his problems*
2. Will Friend - UGA must be able to establish a running game
3. Kenarious Gates - The only returning upper classman on the OL
4. Damien Swann - Leading candidate to replace Boykin at CB
5. Aaron Murray - Must reduce his turnovers. Particularly when running.

Who are your top players to watch in the Spring?  Who are the guys who most need to step up? 

PWD

*Losing the phone number to Jasper's weed guy wouldn't hurt either. Allegedly. Obviously.

Alabama Fan Charged in BCS Case

I'm not going into the detail of what when down in the Bourbon Street Krystals, but Brian Downing has been charged with sexual battery in the incident.  Good.

His lawyers are a bit incredulous:

"The 18-year-old victim was never physically harmed and, in fact, was so intoxicated that he would have had no recollection of the incident, but for a video posted online," the lawyers wrote. "Any ‘harm' is entirely post hoc and amplified by media."

Fine. It was the media's fault.  But the media didn't put their 32YEAROLD BALLSACKONACOMPLETESTRANGERSFACEINPUBLICWHILEHEWASPASSEDOUT. Yeah, I have some strong views on that.  My guess is Mr. Downing won't have any problems with keeping the boys inside his pants during his time in Angola.

Tell you what, let the LSU fan put a sack of his choosing on Mr. Downing's face, and his lawyers' faces, in public and on ESPN. They could get Jim Gray and make a whole hour out of it.  Then just for funsies, still charge him with sexual battery because YOUDONTPUTYOURSACKONACOMPLETESTRANGERSFACEASSHOLES.
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On Football Recruiting

I typically don't write about football recruiting. I follow it with interest and need Georgia to do well, but I just don't like to write about it much. Yes, I know how important it is. Yes, it is interesting. I just can't get too worked up (at least until the week of signing day) about it.

There are plenty of very good places to get the information, including Michael Carvell's coverage for the AJC, or to see bloggers' takes on recruiting; I just don't have the inclination to devote my limited brain juice to it.

That being said, I find Coach Richt's approach very interesting. I have to say I haven't been happy over the past two months with the 'Georgia waited to offer' refrain we hear from some players. Now, for the second year in a row, it looks like the last week is setting up to be very interesting. Will Georgia get an in-home with Brandon Greene? If they do, will Saban, who is reportedly pissed at Greene's flirtation with UGA, fire him?

It is interesting that Saban, who cut a kid loose earlier because he was the '26th' guy in the class, would be mad at a kid re-evaluating his decision. That is the duplicity of the system we live in. Ask the Football Genius of North Avenue. That isn't to say Greene will forsake 'Bama for Georgia. That is to say the late push isn't a terrible counter strategy to the very early offer and push approach that other coaches employ. Will we continue to miss on very good players with our wait and see approach? Sure.

The next week will be very interesting, as we have a legit shot at significantly improving this signing class. It will also give an indication if the wait and see approach is worth continuing. Get one more offensive lineman and Josh Harvey-Clemons, that is a win. Get Greene and Young, plus Harvey-Clemons and some combination of either of the two Dawsons on defense, that is a huge win. Get those plus JaQuay Williams? Now I am dreaming.

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Georgia Plays Tough Against Cats

I'll not go into the break down of the game, except to say this: if Georgia plays with the same intensity and focus the rest of the season, we'll win nearly all of our home games and at least three road games.  We held Kentucky to their lowest point total since last season's national semi-final loss to UConn (when they scored two fewer points). We held Kentucky 20 points below their season average. Easily this was the best defensive game we have played all season.

Why did Georgia lose? Because we only have two (maybe three) players that would ever get significant playing time at UK.  At most. On any given night, one team can beat another. If we'd kept up the hot shooting, that would have happened last night. It didn't, and Kentucky's talented, deep, and more physically gifted players took over.  Between Davis' five blocks, his and Kidd-Gilcrist's eleven rebounds each, Georgia just had nothing to match the talent differential.

Now, this is a common refrain from nearly every team playing Kentucky. This isn't a post about Fox's success or lack thereof in recruiting. It does bear pointing out that recruiting has to be significantly improved if Georgia is going to consistently be in the NCAA tournament every year. We don't have to have six McDonald's All-Americans every year. Get a KCP every year and win recruiting battles with Tech, Clemson, FSU, 'Bama, Tennesee, and Vandy more often than not, we'll be a very strong tournament contender. And Auburn and Memphis. Especially Auburn and Memphis! Right now, we lose way more of those than we win.

For now, this team plays like the young team it is. That will improve, but we have to have another big recruiting win this season if we have any hope of being in the tournament discuss this time next year.
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SEC Hoops Power Poll - Week of January 22nd

This week's poll:


1. Kentucky Wildcats 96
2. Florida Gators 80
3. Mississippi St. Bulldogs 78
4. Vanderbilt Commodores 77
5. Alabama Crimson Tide 66
6. Mississippi Rebels 59
7. Arkansas Razorbacks 52
8. Tennessee Volunteers 41
9. LSU Tigers 34
10. Georgia Bulldogs 23
11. Auburn Tigers18
12. South Carolina Gamecocks 8

Unanimous agreement at number one and number 12. Near unanimous at 10 and 8. A jumble elsewhere.
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SEC Hoops Power Poll Ballot - Week of January 22nd

Another week of games, another week of parity in the middle of the conference.

1. Kentucky - Kentucky will lose a conference game this season. It won't happen this week with trips to Georgia and LSU.
2. Vandy - I am not sure how they lost at home to Mississippi State, but I am sure Stallings will figure a way to right the ship until the second game of the NCAA tournament.
3. Florida - With a trip to Oxford this week, we get to see if Florida's success is a product of the schedule to this point.
4. Mississippi State - The win at Vandy is a sign the Bulldogs are still relevant in the best of the rest discussion. Of course, there are four other teams that can say the same thing.
5. Alabama - It is hard to fault the Tide for a down week with three top 40 RPI teams on the schedule. Unfortunately, it does mean the have to be moved down with how closely matched the teams are.
6. Ole Miss - Col. Akbar's Bears better learn to close the deal or they will be a top seed in the NIT.
7. Arkansas - Youth was on display both with the good (a strong statement win over a tough Michigan team) and the bad (losing their will to live in a way worse than 20 point loss at Kentucky) this week.
8. LSU - Seriously, you could flip a coin on 8th. Georgia, Tennessee, and LSU are all that close right now. I went straight with RPI on these three.
9. Georgia - Too bad the Dawgs can't play the intensity they showed in the last 2 minutes against Mississippi for a full game. Since they don't, they find themselves in the bottom of the conference.
10. Tennessee - Dear Cuozno, that Stokes guy is good.
11. Auburn - Could have ranked them 8th, but conventional wisdom says they will revert to the team that only scored 35 points against Vandy.
12. South Carolina - How did they win 8 games? It's a miracle.

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A Simple Request

Beat Ole Miss this afternoon.  Col. Akbar's Bears haven't won on the road since the week after Thanksgiving. They've lost to Auburn...AUBURN...on the road. We need this win.

Play stout defense and do just enough with the offense, we win. Assle around with the ball and play slappnut defense, they win.  Pretty simple, right?

Tip is at 4pm at Stegeman.
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SEC Hoops Power Poll - Week of January 15th

The Power Poll is up.

1. Kentucky Wildcats 132
2. Vanderbilt Commodores 108
3 (t). Florida Gators 104
3 (t). Mississippi St. Bulldogs 104
5. Alabama Crimson Tide 103
6. Arkansas Razorbacks 72
7. Tennessee Volunteers 60
8. LSU Tigers 58
9. Mississippi Rebels 43
10. Georgia Bulldogs 33
11. Auburn Tigers 29
12. South Carolina Gamecocks 13

Overall, we think there are five clear top teams and one clear bottom team.  I wasn't way out of consensus, either, which means either I'm getting better at this, or the other voters are getting worse.  Or both.

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Richt Approves...

Of Georgia's defensive minded win over Tennessee in OT last night.  

During the game, I kept thinking this is ugly basketball.  Then it hit me: As ugly as it was, it was the brand of basketball Georgia has to play to win right now.  Yes, the running game is much more exciting. The problem with the running game is one of depth and defenders for Georgia. We are getting deeper with Marcus' reintroduction, but we still have foul issues (both Neme and Marcus had four in regulation).  We did run some, but only when it was absolutely there (think the Florveus dunk on the half court feed by Ware). 

So, that leaves us with having to play smart offensively, both from shot selection and from a ball protection standpoints. We finally did that a whole game (actually, a game +5minutes).  We also have to play aggressive defense, something we can do a bit more with Marcus back. The up side is we created a season high 20 turnovers, also a season high in turnovers by Tennessee, netting a 17-8 point differential on points off turnovers. Between that and slowing down the game, we got a win. 

Georgia still has a long way to go, but this was easily the best total team effort we've seen defensively. With what we saw in the loss to Vandy and this win, I have hope that there is something to look forward to. Tennessee isn't as good as Vandy, but with Maymon and Stokes in, they are much better than the team that lost to Oakland and College of Charleston.  They beat Florida and gave Kentucky all they could handle. Overall, this is a good win for the Dawgs, as they came back from a deficit late and put a decent team away. 

We get to try to make it two SEC wins in a row Saturday afternoon at Stegeman against Ole Miss. 4pm tip on the SECNetwork.

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SEC Hoops Power Poll Ballot - Week of January 15th

New basement dweller. Same folks at the top. Majic 8ball in the middle and bottom. Road wins are kind of like Big 12 footbal defense: a great theory, but not a reality.

1. Kentucky - The 'Cats will lose a game in the conference at some point. They tried really hard to do so Saturday at Tennessee.
2. Vandy - Just win baby. Bet the Georgia game made Stallings hair fall out some more. 
3. Alabama - If this team learns to play consistent offense, they will be a tough out.
4. Mississppi State - I honestly thought they were over rated. A gutsy win over Alabama made me realize I might have been wrong.
5. Florida - Still not sure wins over the dregs of the conference should mean anything. At least they are beating the dregs of the conference.
6. Arkansas - Anderson will have big success at Arkansas. He has a young team that isn't mentally tough enough to both play his punishing style of basketball and focus on playing to win. They will be very dangerous the later it gets in the conference slate.
7. Mississippi - Not sure what to do with the Bears. On one hand, I think they are a talented basketball team. On the other, they sure don't play like it sometimes. They are 7th by default since I don't think they are in the top 6 or the bottom 5.
8. Tennessee - Starting to show signs of life. Martin has them playing to the top of their potential and that isn't a good thing for the teams that had the Volunteers marked as a sure win.
9. LSU - Rumors of Trent Johnson's demise were both exaggerated and premature. Which is what she said.
10. Georgia - I would like to say something positive about the Dawgs: I love their mascot.
11. Auburn - Well, at least I can use basketball instead of basektball for them.
12. South Carolina - Could have had them 8th. Could have had them 13th. The bottom of the conference is just that bad.

It isn't a stretch to say the SEC could have only 3 teams in the NCAA tournament. It isn't a stretch to say the SEC could have 8 teams in the NCAA tournament. 

BR-549

The one nugget about the Justin Taylor having to wait to sign with Alabama story that was interesting had nothing to do with Alabama. Saban deciding someone else is better than a kid that hurt his knee in August of his senior season, then telling him he'll have to wait until next year to sign a scholarship he's been relying on since last February, isn't news. Hell, it isn't even surprising. Effective, in that the kid shut down his recruiting and other schools left him alone. Not surprising.

Also not surprising? Tennessee's approach:  "Tennessee came through and I only talked to them one time. They gave me a number and the number didn’t even work."

Boy, that Dooley guy sure knows how to make folks feel the love.
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Tasty Kool-aid Mix

I'm not sure if this is some sort of photoshoped video or what, but if this is real? Damn.  If Marshall is as fast as Malcolm Mitchell. Damn.

Thank goodness Justified is on tonight or might go into full fledged Kool-aid making mode.
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Picture of Paul Westerdawg

Per request. He's in this picture.

Dawgs Play Significantly Better...but Still Lose

Dawgs lose on the road 77-66 to Vandy.  While it was an eleven point loss, it was more like a four or five point game that free throws made into a bigger win. Vandy definitely was rattled by the Dawgs ability to stop the inside game and by Caldwell-Pope's shooting.  It was good to see Coach Fox's substitutions and him playing guys that are hot instead of worrying about guys fouling out.  Free throws are still a concern, both in numbers missed and the numbers the other team are taking. Not counting the 8 attempts during the last minute or so, Vandy still had 15+ more attempts than Georgia. Georgia shot 80% on 20 attempts, so that part of the misery that was the Florida game was much, much better.

Not saying it was a moral victory, but I have to say this game was the best effort from the team from start to finish against a quality opponent we've seen all season.  We play this way during every game, we'll sneak up on someone we have no business beating. We almost did it yesterday. I'll not get into the officiating (but boy, could I), but it was interesting to see Vandy's Taylor push his luck with the officials and get T-ed up at home.

This is partially the team I'd hope we'd see when we hired Mark Fox: Playing hard from whistle to horn, making good decisions with the ball, working the hot hand, and making the other team figure out what to take away.  Right now, we have a lot of growing to do before we will be a legitimate night in and night out threat to the big boys. We need to develop more of an offensive identity, even if it is a three point shooting team. However, if we continue to make the big boys earn their wins, get better every game and figure out a way to overcome some talent differential, and we'd have reason to look forward.  It won't hurt to get Marcus Thornton back soon.

Most importantly, we can't lay anymore steaming turds like we did in Gainesville Tuesday night. That just can't happen again.

Dawgs take on a very hot Tennessee squad at home Wednesday night at 8pm on the SEC network. We need a huge crowd, as this is a nearly must win if we have any hope of doing anything other than finishing the season just under .500.
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Not a Bad Weekend - Tebow, South Carolina and Tennessee

Yesterday was a good day for those searching for proof that God loves others the same way he does Tim Tebow: South Carolina picks up the first points in the Fulmer Cup. Also, the media's Tebowmania came crashing down in a cavalcade of cliches why Tim Tebow might be a super good dude, but he is a left-handed version of Byron Leftwich. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Byron might not be as medically talented as Tebow, but he does have a couple of cool rides.

Tennessee football. I think that is all I have to say about that, right?

There are few things I love more than Schadenfreude, if for no other reason than feeling superior to South Carolina/Tennessee fans and wearing ascots at parties and saying Schadenfreude. Schadenfreude.
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