First of all, I watched a good portion of the Alabama-Auburn basketball game last night, WOW, talk about UGLY basketball. Also, talk about home cooking with some calls-why is it UGA can't get some of this home cooking when we play at home?? Auburn ended up having 4 starters foul out of the game, yet Bama had to hit a shot a the horn to get the W in what could have potentially knocked them out of the NCAA tourney. They trailed all game but to their credit-and help of the zebras, found a way to win. Of course tonight we play the Gators and a win there would be huge obviously for our NCAA hopes and also divisional standings. Kentucky, as I predicted yesterday, LOST again on the road, this time at Arkansas in OT. So now they are tied with Tenn at 7-6 in conference play. A win tonight could tie us with Vandy at 8-5, which would put us two games behind UF and technically still in 3rd since Vandy swept us this year. It appears likely at this point UF plans to play this game without SR leader Chandler Parsons starting-he likely will get some minutes but we shall see how that all pans out. Now, this should give UGA an advantage, especially considering how well Parson played against us last time and how well he has played against us in his career. But, sometimes when a guy goes out, other guys pick up the slack and the "team" concept is very strong. UF is clearly in the tournament regardless of the outcome of this game, but they are playing tonight to lock up at least a tie in the east, they still have a shot at the outright SEC title, also they are currently projected as a 3 seed, certainly if they can win several games down the stretch they figure to hold that high seeding in the NCAA tourney. That being said, this game is big for us and we have played well on the road this season. We can certainly play with UF, that is not in doubt. But, we will have to do a better job handling Vernon Macklin-he really controlled the boards in game 1. Also, you always have to be very aware of Boynton and Walker-if those guys are hitting their shots, it will be a tough task to win this game. We have to play very aggressive defense, we MUST grab rebounds on our defensive end, and must limit the turnovers. UF is starting a FR in place of Parsons, Casey Prather. He is a very athletic guy and UF likes to full court press with him in the lineup-look for them to try to press us and force some turnovers and easy baskets. Also, they will be very aware of Trey Thompkins-he always plays well against UF, last game he has 20 pts and 13 boards, so as a lot of our opponents have done this year, look for them to double him early and often. This of course will leave someone open, likely Price and he needs to play another good game as he did in Knoxville. We need to come out strong again tonight, in most of our road games this year, that has been a big part of us winning or being competitive in these games-fast starts, taking the crowd out of the game, avoiding turnovers-playing smart and aggressive defense and rebouding. UF has a couple big guys in Macklin and Tyus, we have to keep them from getting offensive rebounds and easy put backs. This is a game that while I do think we can win, I don't have an extremely high confidence level either-course we had not won in Knoxville in 10 years, it has been about 9-10 years since we last won in Gainesville. This would be a great time to end that losing streak, let's hope our guys have what it takes to beat the Gators.
The baseball team got their first win yesterday over Furman, 6-4 at Foley Field. You can read about it here with this article from the Athens paper. Up next is a weekend series against Baylor.
http://dogbytesonline.com/bulldogs-end-early-jitters-42534/
Finally today, I want to take a look at the 2012 recruiting numbers. We just finished up the Dream Team class of 2011, we ended up with 26 signees. We have 14 seniors this upcoming year but you have to think we will end up closer to 18 or more. Reason being, attrition and kids possibly leaving early for the pros. Off the top of my head, I would say the following I could see leaving the program early for various reasons-pros, lack of PT etc.
Orson Charles, Jeremy Longo, Ty Frix, Carlton Thomas, Washaun Ealey and Chase Vasser.
The reason I selected these guys, I think Charles goes pro. Longo has never really seen the field and is a rising JR and from out of state-as is Thomas. Ealey is also a rising JR and we all know his issues. Vasser, plays some on special teams but I could see him leaving and going somewhere smaller to get some PT. Also, Jarvis Jones, he is another to watch with him being a redshirt Soph-he already had the neck injury scare, if he has a great season, you have to think he could strongly consider leaving and getting paid. I also think Austin Long could be a candidate for a medical situation depending on how he does this spring/fall after his injury situation. AJ Harmon could be another with his grade issues and still struggling to get significant playing time. As you can see, there are a lot of players that I could see leaving the program after the 2011 season. So, even though we only have 14 slots available based on seniors, I would be surprised if we didn't end up with a class closer to 20 than 15. A lot has been made about how few kids we have offered to compared to our rivals but I personally like it that way because we only offer kids we are prepared to accept-that should mean something to the HS coaches, to the players themselves to be honest. If you get offered by Bama but they have offered 5 other guys at your position, what if 2 of those guys commit, guess what, your offer is no longer good. We will lose some in state players this year, no doubt about that but we will get plenty of talented players in the class of 2012 so I am not the least bit concerned.
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