March Madness underway

I LOVE this time of the year, spring weather is here and then gone, then here again. Baseball is getting started, spring football is also underway, and of course there is March Madness. I have NEVER understood why more UGA faithful don't follow college basketball. The NCAA tourney is EVERYTHING I think most UGA football fans would love for the college football season to be like-an actual champion is crowned each April. Just think about our football teams in 2002 and 2007, both likely would have been #1 seeds and had a chance to win a national title. Instead, we have the bad luck in 2002 of fininishing with 1 loss during a season where two teams went unbeaten-if that happens other years, LSU and UF do not have titles. Both those schools were able to win national titles after losing a game during the regular season-heck, LSU won a title with TWO losses in a season. Anyway, I know Georgia has not had a long tradition of successful basketball seasons and thus a big number of UGA fans only know basketball season as the time between fall football and spring football. I think when Tubby Smith arrived that was starting to change but unfortunately, Tubby only stayed for two years. When Harrick arrived, I think it started to build back but any sane person just knew good ole Jimmy was a time bomb just waiting to explode and sure enough that happened. Now we have another guy that appears on his way to building a solid program in Athens. I am convinced that if a solid and consistent product is put on the court year in and year out, UGA can and will be both a football and basketball school. This state is LOADED with basketball talent but we have just never been able to lure enough to Athens-I think that is changing now. Our athletic association has finally showed a real commitment to upgrading the facilities and we now have a coach that can get the job done. We MUST keep Coach Fox around so he can build this program up, and we already hear about him being a candidate at another school. It is a good thing that our AD came from a school that has proven, you can have both programs achieving at a high level-I think McGarity will lock Coach Fox up after our season is over. This is a time in our history that could allow us to gain a lot of positive energy. We landed Mr. Georgia basketball in 2010, have our first McDonald's all american coming in this class, and have a TON of talented kids interested in us for the 2012 class, which many will make decisions this summer and during the early signing period. Factor in the other state school is looking for a new coach, the time is now.  Simply put, the lone piece to my Fox puzzle was his ability to recruit. I have watched him enough to know he can coach. But his recruiting to this point has been as good or better than any coach in our history and the 2012 class has a chance to be the best ever signed. Hugh Durham is the only coach that recruited decently in Athens and look how long Hugh stayed around. Tubby has never been known as a great recruiter, Harrick relied on the Hayes twins to really help turn us around. Felton, if Lou Williams would have come for a year, that could have helped his cause but he still reached far too often on recruits-most of which were from up in the Maryland or NY area it seemed. Bottom line, I am very excited about the future of our basketball program and even if we lose our first game on Friday, just making it there is a huge step in the right direction-not to mention another banner in Stegman.

I have to admit, the NCAA tourney and Haney do not mix as I want to watch the games and not do any work or go to sleep at night. Good news, after this weekend, the number of games will go down and they will not play any games during the day-so I can get my work done again!! Last night Clemson KILLED UAB, that was one of our quality wins-oops. Anyway, I am tempted to pick Clemson over WVU because I am NOT impressed with WVU to be honest and Clemson is playing very good basketball-they blew the 19 point lead against UNC or they would have played for the ACC title. Hard to believe the white boy on Clemson, Tanner Smith, played in HS with Trey Thompkins at Weselyn-no wonder they won a title their senior year. The other game was UNC-Asheville over Arkansas-Little Rock in OT, very entertaining game and now UNCA gets Pittsburgh. I doubt they will make that game close but they are not a bad looking team. Today another two games will take place, Alabama St-Texas San Antonio, and then Southern Cal against VCU. Thursday is when the true Madness will start and there is a good chance for a lot of early upsets this year. I just believe there is a lot of parity this season, very few teams I would consider GREAT or unbeatable.

Here is an interesting article in the AJC about which program can turnaround the quickest, UGA football or Tech basketball.
http://blogs.ajc.com/jeff-schultz-blog/2011/03/15/who-can-turn-it-around-first-georgia-football-or-tech-hoops/?cxntfid=blogs_jeff_schultz_blog

My take on it, yes, you can turn things around quicker in basketball because there are fewer slots to fill but with UGA, the problem is not talent. The talent on hand already coupled with what talent will be arriving this fall leads you to believe talent is or has not been the problem. I can pinpoint the exact problem other than to say, the team has not finished the drill-which could very well mean the strength and conditioning was horrible as many believe-or simply put, the players work ethic was poor. I simply refuse to believe that coaches lose the abililty to coach the game, I am more inclined to think maybe the players are not as dedicated as they need to be, and then sometimes the coaches are not putting them in the best position to make plays. The quotes you read about UGA players feeling entitled, that further leads me to believe our players felt they could just show up and win. Now, confidence is very important in all sports and on all levels. But, confidence alone can't get the job done. You have to be confident but also be willing to work your rear off to be the best. I think next year will be proof that we have the inner strength back and with that will come even more confidence. I am curious to see what, if any, off the field issues we have for the rest of this semester and during the summer. There is no doubt our season starts out with a bang but if you don't think we have as much or more talent than our first two opponents, you must not know much about college football. But, as we proved last year with losses to Miss State, Colorado and UCF, talent alone will never win a football game.

One last note, the baseball team looks to make it 6 straight today as they travel to Kennesaw to play K-state. This is the last game before they hit the road to Columbia and take on the defending national champs. Kennesaw State is a pretty good baseball program so hopefully the guys can continue their good play. If they win today, and then somehow can take that series over in Columbia, WATCH out. The Jonathan Taylor accident appears to have really brought this team together. What a real shame it took that awful event to bring a team together but that does appear to be exactly what has happened, at least to this point. Good luck to the Diamond Dogs today. Btw, Seth Emerson had an update on JT-
Here’s also an update on Johnathan Taylor: The junior outfielder is still in the intensive care unit at the Shepherd Center, where he was transported last week. You can get updates from his family at this site.