Well, looks like as good as we were at home last year, we are just that bad this year. Last year we were 5-3 at home in SEC play (and we beat some good teams at home-UF, UT and Vandy to name 3), the best we can be this year, 5-3 in a year that many (myself included) expected big things. I expected we would go 6-2 or 7-1 at home in conference this year and then hoped we would win 3-4 road games. As it has turned out, we have already won 3 road games to this point and now are in a must win one more road game mode as we finish the season-oh and we must beat SCarolina and LSU at home, after our past two SEC home games, neither is a gimme I can tell you that. Last night to me was all about effort. Vandy showed more hustle and effort all game long-the offensive rebounding alone, that is all about just fighting for the ball and getting after it. Our guys looked a step slow all night and even though Vandy had a horrible first half shooting, their D and rebounding kept them close enough to where they found their shooting touch in the second half-especially John Jenkins. I am really disappointed this morning because I really do think our chances of making the NCAA tourney becoming slimmer and slimmer-UNLESS we can win one of the next two games, or beat Bama to close out the SEC slate. Again, we lost to a very quality opponent so it is not considered a "bad" loss but it is becoming more and more frustrating to watch this team squander second half leads-and even though we beat Vandy on the boards up in Nashville, they KILLED us on the boards at home and that just shouldn't happen. Trey Thompkins likely will leave after this year but I will be completely honest here, he has been a big disappointment this year. He obviously has a lot of talent and of course our opponents are doubling, sometimes tripling him but he should be used to that by now-he was our best player by a long shot last year as well. I have just seen him turn the ball over, take bad shots, whine and mope about calls or about teammates playing defense or what have you, he is just not the leader I expected him to be this year. I feel like we don't have a go to player on this team-Travis is not that guy, Gerald is not that guy either, Dustin Ware is the most steady player we have but seems reluctant to take the shot when has has it at times.
Last night we had a big lead and then couldn't score down the stretch. I know a lot people thought the refs didn't help our cause, I am sure some calls were made/missed that maybe shouldn't but honestly, that game was lost in our inability to make a shot down the stretch, our inability to rebound the basketball, and Vandy just appearing to want it more. Next up is a tough road trip to Knoxville and then to Gainesville. If this team doesn't kick up their play a notch or two, I feel we have very little shot to win either of these games. The only encouraging thing to me at this point, our road record in the SEC is better than our home record, 3-2 on the road, 3-3 at home. Maybe we have a better shot to win these road games than the home games. But, you can't blame the crowd at home this year, great job by the fans. Just very depressing to watch a team fall apart that you really had high hopes for. But, as I have pointed out before and will again, even though we all think our team is talented and should win, this group of players are NOT used to winning games, they have lost more games in their careers than won on the college level. Coach Fox is not the perfect coach but to me I put these losses more on the players than the coaching-he can't make his players rebound the ball, he can't make them only take the good shots or not throw the ball away. I think he does a good job of getting them in position to make plays, then it becomes the players who have to execute. I just think he REALLY needs to continue to upgrade the talent level, hopefully that will happen sooner than later.
It appears our football staff will be complete today when Kirk Olivadotti will be named inside LB coach. This name caught me by surprise but then again, I really had not heard ANYTHING about who we might be looking at. Just seems strange to lose an assistant to the NFL and then gain his replacement from the NFL-and a guy that had spent 11 years with the Redskins, the longest tenured coach in Washington. Course Belin left us to go to the Panthers and he is NC native, also got a pay raise in the deal so I understand that. Guess hard to figure why an 11 year NFL veteran coach would want to come coach college-I have no idea what he was making with the 'skins but I can't imagine we would pay him more?? Anyway, looking at his bio, I am VERY impressed to get someone of his quality in this position. He has done good work with LB's on the pro level, he has also worked with the secondary and special teams. He has worked under some very good defensive minds and his Dad was a former NFL D coordinator. Looks like we got a good one and certainly we have a lot of questions about our LB's for this upcoming season-hopefully he will get our guys playing to their highest level. I personally think our DL and secondary will be strong this season so if our LB's can be playmakers, our D should be vastly improved.
http://www.redskins.com/gen/coaches/Kirk_Olivadotti.jsp
http://georgia.scout.com/2/1048827.html
Do you all have any thoughts/questions, if you do drop me a comment and I will be sure to discuss it with my next blog post. Not a single person to this point has left me a comment so I continue to ask for them-positive or negative feedback is welcome. As I continue to blog, I might expand to give my opinions or post links to other stories/teams besides UGA but this blog will mainly be about UGA sports, my favorite hobby in the world besides watching my kids in their activities. I am amazed to know that folks in far away places actually have checked this blog out-Denmark, Germany, Spain, Japan, New Zealand, Bahrain, South Korea, Saint Lucia and Malaysia. Thanks to everyone for stopping by and I hope you like the blog and will continue to check it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment