First off, congrats to the Lady Dogs for getting a 6 seed in the NCAA tourney, to be played at Auburn. Both the men and women were blessed to have very little issues with travel to opening sites which is always a good thing. The Lady Dogs open against 11th seed Middle Tenn State, a team that is dealing with the loss of a teammate via being stabbed to death by her roommate-how horrible is that. If UGA wins, it likely faces #3 seed FSU in the second round, #1 seed in their regional is Baylor-one of the elites in women's hoops along with UConn and UT. This is the 17th consecutive bid for Coach Landers and company, 28th overall trip which is second most in the NCAA behind only Tennessee.
Another day, more recruiting violations for our football staff, this one hitting the head man himself. Last week it was the Ray Drew deal, the kid asked two former players to attend his press conference announcing he would sign with UGA-those being Randall Godfrey and David Pollack. This time, the formation got Richt in trouble. Having 10 offensive players lined up in a base formation, missing the tailback, then giving Isaiah Crowell a jersey and asking him to be the last piece of the offense. This was a recruiting no-no and Richt should have known this-per the NCAA. Richt didn't think just having him line up, away from Sanford Stadium was in violation but guess it was. So, Crowell was temporarily ruled ineligible but quickly was reinstated. Richt is punished by not being allowed any contact during the April evaluation period.
Ok, let me just say, the NCAA rule book is flat out pathetic. All of our rules violations are secondary so they will not do harm for the program but obviously provides some negative publicity for our program and you can bet the AJC especially will report on this for weeks to come. Now we know why/how UGA lured such a great recruiting class, they were breaking rules. We all know the NCAA seems to pick and choose just how rules are enforced, also seem to be inconsistent at best when it comes to their rulings-depending on the schools it would seem to most. I just think they have too much power/control and when that happens to any organization it usually spells trouble. Now, in the case of these secondary violations, UGA self reports and has to fill out a ton of paperwork to make sure Big Brother does not find out first, and thus rule the institution to be violation of institutional control or whatever they might call it. If you don't think other schools have been doing what Richt did for YEARS, you are crazy. How about the stories of taking recruits to the stadium and having the announcer say their name and number over the speakers inside the stadium-is that against the rules. How about Richt taking the boys over to his house for a meal or dessert? Is that somehow a violation, or what about the big deal when Crowell scored a long TD this past fall, went over and hugged Richt who was standing on the sidelines watching. I am sorry but there are just too many rules and I don't see how these coaches don't break them constantly-or more than they get caught for. Perhaps they do break them much more but those are ignored?? I really don't know but I do believe you should stay within the rules, I just think there are too many silly ticky tack rules.
A lot is being made about Washington having to travel 2,800 miles to play and thus they plan to leave today so they can get their bodies ready for EST instead of PST. Well, at least they are getting to play the last game on Friday so that is a plus for them. I also read today their backup point guard, suspended for the Pac10 tourney has been reinstated-check out what he did-
Huskies backup point guard Venoy Overton has been reinstated to the team and will play Friday. Overton was suspended for the Pac-10 Tournament after being charged with providing alcohol to a minor. The case stemmed from an allegation from a 16-year old girl that Overton sexually assaulted her at an apartment in Seattle on Jan. 8, according to the Associated Press. King County prosecutors declined to file charges because the contact appeared consensual. …
16 year old girl???? Wow. I am hoping this kid is a freshman, 18 maybe. I will have to check into that.
One last note, it appears NCST has Mark Fox on their potential coaching list (note they have not fired their current coach yet). While it is always nice to know that your coach is good enough that others want to come calling for his services, I am hopeful Greg McGarity can and will step to the plate keep Fox in Athens. This has been our problem for many years-when we have a good coach SOMETHING happens it seems. Hugh Durham had success but never could build on it-but he was at least consistent-then he was pushed out. We hired Tubby Smith-a GREAT coach but we all know what happened there-Rick Pitino left UK for the Celtics, Dooley conceeded we couldn't compare with UK and he was gone. Then Jirsa, in hoping he would keep building on what Tubby had started-did not work. Then Harrick-although one of the best coaches you will ever find, a VERY shady past and eventually we got burned by it. Of course then Felton, a man that cleaned up the program but was simply in over his head and really missed out that the out of high school rule was still in effect-he could have had Louis Williams for one year and who knows what that might have done for the program-good or bad. Now we have Fox and although a bit of an unknown when first hired, has done a GREAT job in his first two years and has the program headed in the right direction. We knew the day would come when other schools would start looking and it has already started. Thing is though, we have the $$ to keep him, let's hope we let him know just how dedicated we are to him being our coach for the long term.
http://blogs.ajc.com/jeff-schultz-blog/2011/03/14/report-mark-fox-may-be-targeted-for-opening-at-n-c-state/?cxntfid=blogs_jeff_schultz_blog
Also I have been reading about GT trying to lure Anthony Grant away from Bama. First of all, I don't see why he would do that because he is building a solid program at Bama. Secondly, he is making nearly 2 mil a season at Bama, how in the world could GT match or surpass that total-and you have to figure Bama will give him a raise to keep him-maybe that is what is going on here, Grant will use other jobs to help raise his contract level. Yes, Bama is a football school first and GT is a basketball school first-I guess, yes, GT plays in the ACC but is the ACC really better now in basketball than the SEC, I think not. Plus, the SEC has the great TV package in place. ACC also has a good package but it is not like it used to be when comparing the two conferences-SEC has REALLY stepped up. Grant would be a great hire for Tech because he can coach and he can recruit-and he already is well known in the Atlanta area. But, you have to wonder, is he a long term solution or a short term fix. He has a track record as a head coach of moving around, at VCU for only a few years, only been at Bama now for 2. We shall see how that shakes out but Mark Bradley writes about the financial ablilty of GT to afford Grant here.
http://blogs.ajc.com/mark-bradley-blog/2011/03/15/anthony-grant-to-tech-great-idea-but-wheres-the-money/?cxntfid=blogs_mark_bradley_blog
Finally, in case you have not seen it yet, UGA is getting a walkon who has been playing for Boise State, or rather been on scholarship at Boise the past couple years. Mike Tamburo will finish this semester in Boise and then drive back home to walk on in Athens. He was a very talented HS QB at North Gwinnett and will try that position in Athens is very much like Logan Gray that just left us-a good enough athlete to play another position if needed. I am not sure he will really help us that much in the game against Boise to kick off the football season but sure can't hurt either.
http://blogs.ajc.com/recruiting/2011/03/11/qb-mike-tamburo-to-transfer-from-boise-state-to-georgia/?cxntfid=blogs_recruiting
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