Looking forward to basketball season? -> this guy

Not to be seen as a comment on the coming football season.

UGA hoops schedule announced. How 'bout them Dawgs.

Good news for basketball

This put a smile on my face this morning. From The AJC:

Charles Mann, who is considered (the) state’s No. 1 college basketball prospect at point guard, committed to UGA over Florida State on Friday.

In the past I've dismissed optimism for the basketball program, waiting to see results instead. But the momentum Coach Fox is building on and off the court promises to take us where we want to go.

Then I wish you'd wanted an SEC Title

I think I'm going to have to stop following Travis Leslie's tweets. They make me wish too much for what might have been next year.

A program on their shoulders

Good luck tonight to the UGA basketball team. This is the kind of game that can take us to another level, and build the momentum it takes to fulfill the university's potential as a basketball program.

Go Dawgs.

UGA: Dancing Machine

Loaded with style, stealing your women.

Me: You seed Bradley thinks we're going to beat UNC in the second round?

Joe: What?

Impressive: Hoop Dawgs 20-9 in 2011

From The AJC:

Completing its home schedule, Georgia (20-9, 9-6 SEC) also moved into a three-way tie for second place in the SEC East with Kentucky and Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs finish their regular season Saturday at Alabama.

Damned if that ain't getting into quality basketball territory. Thank you, Mark Fox. Thank you, Georgia Bulldogs.

What to think about Georgia basketball

It's a roller coaster, that's for sure. And the lows have been lower than the highs have been high. Altogether, I think Groo's got the right idea about what to expect:

The rest of the season is going to be a mix of frustration, occasional brilliance, and still more close finishes. They lack a go-to player for those close finishes, and that also won’t change down the stretch. Georgia still has legitimate NCAA Tournament hopes, and we’re just going to have to grind out these last few games and see which ones the Dawgs can take.

Dawgs over Jackets, 73-72

I don't have a lot to add to that final score. But I did want to express what every Dawg feels when we beat Tech. Sweet. Keep on keeping them down.

And I want to express my optimism about his basketball team. And to move Jesse Palmer's hair-gel-loving ass down a post.

Georgia basketball: Not so much better, as hopeful

It seems people are generally positive about the future of Georgia basketball, and I suppose I agree.

But, boy, the product on the floor this year was chock full of problems. Weak on rebounding**, weak on defense, weak on getting the ball down low.

Unable to put folks away, unable to win on the road and unable to focus, it seemed at times. Just generally weak, but with great dunking.

Baby steps, I guess.


Image: Georgiadogs.com.

Update from the comments (anonymous):

We went from a completely uncompetitive team last year to a team that was in almost every game we played this year. Yes, we lost a lot of close games, but you don't learn how to win those types of games, especially on the road, in just one season at a program that has been inept as Georgia's has in recent years. ...

Don't know where you get your comments about rebounding and getting the ball down low. I'm guessing you just watched a few games and decided now wasn't quite the right time to jump on the bandwagon. We were one of the better rebounding teams in the conference and our offensive execution was night and day compared to last year. We pretty much got any shot we wanted. ...

If we can keep Fox around for 10+ years, I promise you this program will finally start to reach the enormous potential that it has always had.

Hey, I didn't say I wasn't hopeful, I said I wasn't impressed.

**But the commenter is correct, Georgia was No. 2 in the SEC in rebound margin and No. 1 in defensive rebounding, if No. 7 in offensive rebounding, per secsports.com. I am quite honestly shocked by that.

Dawgs whip Jackets, 73-66

Well done, well done.


Scoreboard picture: Brian Huff.

Near the end of the radio broadcast, Scott Howard said the Hoop Dawgs haven't lost to Georgia tech in Athens since 1976. Considering the last decade or so of Georgia basketball, that's pretty staggering.

And awesome.

11:55 Update: Highlights from this game were just the No. 10, 5 and 2 top plays on ESPN. To be fair, though, only numbers five and two highlighted Travis Leslie.

"Rough night to be a Georgia tech fan, I'll just say that."
- Scott Van Pelt

Also, Georgia tech lost the Orange Bowl.

2008 Hoop Dawgs

God bless memory road, and great newspapers.














The Georgia senior guard Sundiata Gaines was the last Bulldog player off the floor. He hung his head low, but had nothing to be ashamed of. He vacuumed up every loose ball, led with a veteran’s aplomb and epitomized the fight this Georgia team had shown for the last week.

Nike, those are the good ones

The Nike puppet commercials are really good. The virtual EA Sports basketball breakdown needs more puppets.

"You enjoy your bunion surgery."

Mark Fox: Georgia tie, good resume, right attitude.

You know how, before spring practice began, we were all a little excited about Joe Cox taking over at quarterback because he was "saying all the right things?"

Enter Mark Fox, per The Macon Telegraph:

"I can remember a conversation with a search firm a few years ago and I declined a chance to pursue a job," Fox said. "The gentleman asked why, and I said, 'It's not like it's Georgia."

And this is from Damon Evans, answering a question that probably began "Mark Fox? Who the hell is that?"

"We made a commitment that we were going to go through this and not rush to judgment on any particular candidate until we went through the entire process," Evans said. "Once we finished that process, Mark just stuck in my mind, and sometimes you just go with that gut feeling."

Good enough for me. Now go recruit Atlanta.

Hey, Hey - We got coaching search news

Sounds pretty good, too. David Hale's got multiple, if anonymous, sources, quotes Damon Evans as saying nothing is imminent.

The time to leave a sinking ship is before it sinks, not during the salvage operation

The AJC says Zac Swansey and Troy Brewer want to transfer. I supposed that's to be expected with a coaching staff change.

But this is a little odd:

Swansey lost his starting job to freshman Dustin Ware the last week of January. He said he was more upset about the handling of that demotion than the demotion itself. He said the coaches never sat him down and explained why they were making the move or what he needed to do to try to get his starting spot back.

“There was a lack of communication, big time,” Swansey said.

Yeah, man. Maybe that's one of the reasons we fired those guys.

UPDATE: The Banner Herald says Brewer is staying and Georgia Sports Blog made the same point I made about Swansey, only they made it yesterday.

I didn't mean to go nine days without posting

The Diamond Dawgs are really, really good. And that's awesome.

They protect an undefeated record Friday night in Tuscaloosa, will be in Atlanta Wednesday and back in Athens March 20 to start a four game home stand.

Schedule here.

On the absolute other side of the Bulldog world, this debacle ended today with a 19-point loss.

Facebook punches me in the face

Why must the Internet join with our basketball program to taunt me? Facebook sent me this message today:

Bulldogs fans less than three weeks until the madness begins! Create pools, talk hoops, and support your team by joining the 2009 Bracket Challenge!

I hope that will be relevant one day soon. I'm thinking 2011ish.

Dawgs beat Gators, world rotation hiccups

If there weren't so many games left in the SEC, would you want the Hoop Dawgs to lose out so the 2009 season would forever carry an asterisk: "The 2009 Georgia basketball team nearly went winless in the Southeastern Conference, save for one victory over the University of Florida."

Probably not. Six games left:

Wed, Feb 18, Auburn, Athens, 7:30 p.m.
Sat, Feb 21, Ole Miss, at Oxford, 5:00 p.m.
Wed, Feb 25, Vanderbilt, Athens, 7:30 p.m.
Sun, Mar 01, Arkansas, at Fayetteville, 4:00 p.m., Raycom
Wed, Mar 04, Kentucky, at Lexington, 8:00 p.m., Raycom
Sat, Mar 07, South Carolina, Athens, 4:00 p.m.

UPDATE: The obvious just occurred to me. Since 1952 Georgia Tech was the last SEC team to go winless in the conference, beating Florida yesterday was like beating the Gators and the Jackets both at once.

This just in: The Hoop Dawgs are not good

I knew the Dawgs were playing Tenneesee tonight. But it never occurred to me to watch.

Judging by the AP byline and Tennessee-centric lead on The AJC's story, neither did they.

Welcome to Sucktown, population us. There's an opening if you'd like to be mayor.

NICK: they're getting beat 51-27. Does basketball have a mercy rule?

ME: I had mercy on myself and didn't watch.

NICK: You're smarter than me. We gotta win at least one game in the conference though, right?

ME: Do we play ourselves?

Sources: Bobby Knight is already new UGA coach

The Bobby Knight story has legs. Ridiculous legs, but legs nonetheless.

USA Today, or at least one of its blogs, is even in on the Bobby Knight to Georgia? (To be read like "I'm Ron Burgundy?") story.

And Ugasports.com is quoting an anonymous source, who appears to be quoting another anonymous source, about Gov. Sonny Perdue getting brought into this situation:

According to a source within the UGA athletic department speaking on condition of anonymity, Knight contacted a former SEC athletic director to ask how best to express interest in the Georgia job.

Knight was then told to call Georgia governor Sonny Perdue, who the source said is friends with, and occasionally goes fishing with, the Hall of Fame coach.

"(Knight) was told to have (Perdue) call Dr. (Michael) Adams and it would get done," the source said.

My actual job is covering state politics for The Macon Telegraph. I am also a moron. So I actually contacted Gov. Perdue's press office to confirm or deny this story.

They declined to comment. I believe they also laughed at me.

But I'm persistent. And I was able to pry some information from a source close to the governor, who I must quote anonymously, of course.

Apparently Perdue and Knight go way back, and used to fish the idyllic streams of Houston County, where Gov. Perdue grew up.

In fact, my source said, "Knight's son, Pat, was actually named after an invisible friend that played alongside the two."