Last night, the SECe became even more jumbled, with Vandy beating Alabama in Nashville, 81-77. I watched some of the first half and I have to say, Bama really is better than I had anticipated-they have a lot of good looking basketball players-I don't think they are a great perimeter team but they have a nice looking young point guard and a couple solid scorers in Green and Mitchell. I know Fox likes the M2M D but I would seriously consider zoning Bama until they hit some outside shots. Ok, enough on Bama but honestly I do think when push comes to shove, it very well could be UGA vs. Bama for the last SEC spot in the big dance. I would love it if Miss State beats them tomorrow. Course I also will pull for Kentucky to beat Vandy, considering I think Kentucky is a lock to make the tourney, we have to pull against Vandy and Tenn in the east.
Up next for us of course is the last place team in the SECe, South Carolina. But, don't let that fool you. This team is DANGEROUS and we never play well in Columbia, SC-regardless of the sport. They are only a game behind us in the SEC standings, overall record of 13-9 and SEC mark of 4-5. They have lost 4 of that last 5 SEC games, last one being a 19 point loss at home against UF on Wed night. If you look at their season, you see losses at Mich State, at Ohio State, at Furman-we almost lost to Mercer remember, home against Boston College, at Bama, Kentucky at home, Auburn at home-we almost did the same thing, at Vandy and home vs. UF. They do have wins against Clemson, Vandy, at Florida, Arkansas, and at LSU. During their current down stretch, they have been getting beat pretty badly, Kentucky beat them by 11, Auburn by 15, they beat LSU by 8, Vandy beat them by 18 and then UF by 19. This is quite simply a young team and right now they are down and out. We need to keep them down and out but with how we are playing right now, who really knows if we can.
Taking a look at the SCarolina headliners, they are lead by FR point guard Bruce Ellington, a 5'9" kid that is lightning quick-averages 14.4pts a game and 3.4 assists. Next is 6'2" Soph guard Ramon Galloway who averages 10.7pts a game, next is forward Sam Muldrow a 6'9" forward and senior leader, who also averages 10.7 pts per game and 7.2 rebounds. Next is junior foward, 6'5" Malik Cooke who averages 8.7pts and 6.4 rebounds a game. Last is Lakeem Jackson, a 6'5" soph that averages 8.7pts and 6.2 rebounds. Key player off the bench appears to be Brian Richardson, a 6'4" guard that averages 7pts a game and gets about 21 minutes a game. Others on the bench average 14 or less minutes and 3pts or less so not worth a mention. Of their key players, Ellington shoots the three at the highest percentage, 35.8%. Malik Cooke leads them in FT percentage at 75%, all other starters are under 70%, the two starting guards are both at right about 64%. Muldrow is a force when it comes to blocking shots, he has 75 blocks on the season.
Simply put, we have a lot more talent than these guys. But, we had a lot more talent than AU and they nearly beat us. Having more talent means NOTHING when you get out on the court. I have been very disappointed in our play really since the UF game-second OT. I thought our effort at the end of regulation and the 1st OT was outstanding but to me there is NO EXCUSE in coming out flat/dejected/tired or whatever other excuse in that second OT. Chandler Parsons showed more effort himself than any player we had on the floor, and that as he was very sick coming into that game. Course we followed that up with the UK loss, you never expect to win at UK so the fact we lost is not what bothered me but rather the lack of focus/effort by our two stars, Thompkins and Leslie. We had the win at Arkansas which was a must have, but the first half of that game and really all game, very sloppy. But, a big win and you can never discount that. We followed that up with the performance against AU, then the game against Xavier. It is not that I thought we played bad against Xavier, but rather I thought we have better overall talent-also, we had so many self inflicted problems that night, turnovers, poor shot selection, missing easy shots, just things that quality basketball teams should NOT be doing in February, especially when they have strong desire to make the NCAA tourney.
So now we play another road game where a win is a near must. Simply put, you must beat the teams you should beat, and losing to SCarolina on Saturday would put us in a position we have not been in all year, a loss to non quality opponent, ie a BAD loss. We have lost 7 games thus far but all 7 losses have been to teams that have a high RPI. South Carolina does NOT have a high RPI. A loss to SCarolina, home or away, a loss to LSU, those would spell doom I am afraid. We shall see what happens but hopefully our team comes out focused and ready to play tomorrow. Game is at 4pm on the SECN, Peachtree TV in the ATL area.
A very positive note for UGA hoops, signee Kentavious Caldwell-Pope made the McDonalds All American team. He is the first UGA signee to make the team since Louis Williams back in 2005-course Lou never suited up in the Athens while KCP will next fall. Here is a look at the roster and more information about the game.
http://www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com/2011_BoysRosterAlph.pdf
http://www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com/2011/
Game will take place March 30th in Chicago, it will air live on ESPN at 9pm. Sure is nice to see a kid coming to UGA on the roster, when you see Kentucky, Ohio State, Duke, Louisville, Michigan State, and North Carolina listed for most of these kids. We need to continue to recruit talented kids each and every year and I think our program can finally take that big step forward. Course it would be great to have Kentavious and Trey together for one year, that is a serious inside/outside game right there. But, I feel sure Trey will leave after this year so hopefully one of our other big guys coming in can be decent and another year will do Donte Williams and Marcus Thornton a lot of good. We certainly will be expecting more out of them next year than what we expect from them this year.
One other note, I have been a big proponent of Connor Nolte getting more PT and I still feel that way. Connor is not the most talented player on our roster but I would rather have him shooting threes and Trey rebounding than Connor on the bench and Trey shooting threes. Nolte is a kid that knows HOW to play basketball which means he makes the most of his time on the court-and he does the little things that sometimes you might not notice-saves a ball from going out of bounds, tips it to a teammate, makes a great pass, gets a strong rebound, draws a charge. The kid just hustles and busts his rear when he gets a shot to play. I think that type effort should be rewarded with more PT myself. I also think that type attitude and effort can be contagious. I hope Coach Fox will seriously consider playing him a few minutes here and there, every time Jeremy Price, Trey Thompkins, Chris Barnes, or Travis Leslie lose focus-whether just not hustling, complaining about a foul call that didn't go their way, commits a stupid or lazy foul or a lazy/bad turnover, I say insert Connor and let those guys sit for a minute-catch their breath and then get them back in the game. Sitting a guy out for a few minutes to calm down and watch from a distance can be a very powerful and productive thing. I think Connor, also Marcus Thornton and Donte Williams need to grab a few minutes here and there myself.
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