Sorry for no blogging lately, but just will be back next week to talk about a few things on my mind-namely the move of Malcolm Mitchell to DB, other position changes and spring thoughts, March Madness, even chime in on Chipper Jones retirement after this season. But for now, hope all enjoy the weekend, hope the pollen gets washed away soon, and hope our baseball team can continue to win. Good times for us recently, won 2 of 3 against UT in Athens, then beat GT in Athens as well. Next up is a trip to Nashville to play Vandy-a team that recently has been very good but got swept last weekend by UF-another really talented team.
Also, I would like to throw this out there. A friend of mine-well, actually we dont' know each other personally but via email/text as posters on the Dawgpost, he asked me to say a prayer for his 17 year old nephew. I have done so and also told him I would post about him on my blog so here you go-this from a poster named saltynavydawg who has battled his own health issues but continues to be one of the most positive Dog fans I have read write about UGA.
I hope you are doing well. I know you are a man of faith. I'd like to ask a prayer request of you for my nephew. He is only 17. He had dreams of one day suiting up in the red & black. Now they think he may have a genetic disease called Wilson's disease where the body retains Far to much copper which in turn destroys the liver. The life expectancy is 30 yrs. old. He will not be a candidate for a transplant because of the disease. It has not been determined yet. They just took a biopsy Monday and it will take 14 More working days from today before they will know. He is jaundiced really bad. He's had a literal barrage of tests. He is a VERY devout Christian and please allow my bias as his uncle but he is a fine, fine, young man. He was offered an academic scholarship to Duke. Other offers may come. He has a shelf full of trophys he won through out the Southeast in wrestling. He was playing football but sufferd his second concussion and the doctor told his parents one more could damage his "higher learning" so they prayed and he Very reluctantly dropped off the football team the coach was sick over it to. Please pray for him and silently pass the word. I couldnt post it on the DawgPost board as he and his Daddy both read but don't post on DawgPost. Thanks brother I REALLY appreciate it. God Bless and keep you and your family !
Obviously this is serious and it is such a shame for a young man to suffer like this. It really puts into perspective how we should value all that we have and especially value our good health. I complain about my blood pressure and cholesterol because I have to take medicine for both, but obviously that is nothing like what this young man and his family are going through. So, with that in mind, if you can say a prayer for this young man, I am sure saltynavydawg would appreciate it. Have a great weekend and GO DOGS!
Friday, March 23, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
March Madness, baseball kicks off SEC schedule this weekend
So, this is one of my favorite times of the year. Spring is in the air-very true this year with the great weather around Georgia, and the NCAA tourney is happening. Obviously I would love for UGA to be an annual participant but that never seems to happen, still to me there is nothing like it in sports of any kind. March Madness is a very appropriate title. Last year of course we did make the tourney and lost to Washington in round one, but this year I didn't expect to make but also didn't expect to have a losing season either. Yes, I know we lost two NBA players to the draft but I personally thought we had enough to make an NIT appearance this year. Perhaps the injury to Marcus Thornton was the reason, perhaps the poor shooting from Dustin Ware was the reason, or maybe the ball just bounced the wrong way several times, regardless I view this season as a disappointment. Not a failure, but a disappointment. I was reading Dawgpost earlier today and came across a good post/article from that I want to share here-for those that do read my blog-post by Patrick Garbin-very well done and very good information.
Listed is each SEC team's regular-season conference victory total over the last decade (2002-03 through 2011-12), along with the number of NCAA Tournament appearances during the same period:
Kentucky- 121, Nine
The Bulldogs' 59 conference victories rank 10th of 12, while they are one of only four teams in the SEC to appear in two or less NCAA Tournaments.
Around this time a year ago, I posted the obvious of how the addition of only one or two impact players can completely turn around a college basketball program. Unfortunately for Georgia, while the Bulldogs may have added an impact player in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for this year, they lost TWO in Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie to the NBA Draft.
Georgia basketball can ill afford to lose talented players since it has been repeatedly proven, for whatever the reason, the Bulldogs simply cannot recruit. In fact, they have had a difficult time recruiting, particularly in-state prospects, since Coach Hugh Durham left more than 15 years ago.
It absolutely blows my mind that of the approximately 30 high school recipients of "Mr. Georgia Basketball" since the award's inception in 1983, only TWO signed with the Bulldogs. The first -- Wayne Arnold from Berkmar High -- played in only 10 games during the 2002-03 season before being dismissed from the team. The latest -- current player Marcus Thornton -- has averaged roughly two points and three rebounds per game while shooting 30 percent from the floor in his two seasons.
7- Florida; 6- Kentucky; 4- Alabama; 3- Tennessee, Miss. State, Arkansas; 2- Vanderbilt, LSU, South Carolina, 1- Ole Miss, Auburn; NONE- Georgia.
If a program has had a difficult time recruiting like Georgia, Auburn, Ole Miss, etc., and vice versa (Kentucky, Florida, etc.), there is a direct correlation to their performances on the basketball court during roughly the same extended period of time. This comes to no surprise and obviously makes sense.
UGA Basketball Bewilderment
 |
| On the whole, over the last several years, UGA basketball has been at its worst since Coach Guthrie's slacks were in style. |
As I watched Georgia get dismantled by Vanderbilt in the second half of the SEC Tournament's second round, painfully witnessing the Bulldogs' 2011-12 season come to an end, I had a couple recurring thoughts I've had over the last eight to ten years regarding UGA's men's basketball program:
Man, we hardly have any good players AND How is it that (we hardly have any good players)?!?
Georgia has now achieved just one winning season -- last year's NCAA Tournament team -- in its last five years, and just two winning campaigns in its last eight. Folks, that's a dismal stretch that hasn't been endured by the program since the five losing seasons that were the Coach John Guthrie era during the 1970s. In my last post, I poked a little fun at Auburn for its lack of success in recent years; however, the fact of the matter is Georgia hasn't fared much better than the Tigers.
Listed is each SEC team's regular-season conference victory total over the last decade (2002-03 through 2011-12), along with the number of NCAA Tournament appearances during the same period:
Kentucky- 121, Nine
Florida- 105, Eight
Tennessee- 97, Six
Miss. State- 92, Five
Vanderbilt- 85, Six
Alabama- 83, Five
LSU- 78, Four
Arkansas- 63, Three
Ole Miss- 63, None
GEORGIA- 59, Two
S. Carolina- 58, One
Auburn- 57, One
The Bulldogs' 59 conference victories rank 10th of 12, while they are one of only four teams in the SEC to appear in two or less NCAA Tournaments.
Around this time a year ago, I posted the obvious of how the addition of only one or two impact players can completely turn around a college basketball program. Unfortunately for Georgia, while the Bulldogs may have added an impact player in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for this year, they lost TWO in Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie to the NBA Draft.
Georgia basketball can ill afford to lose talented players since it has been repeatedly proven, for whatever the reason, the Bulldogs simply cannot recruit. In fact, they have had a difficult time recruiting, particularly in-state prospects, since Coach Hugh Durham left more than 15 years ago.
It absolutely blows my mind that of the approximately 30 high school recipients of "Mr. Georgia Basketball" since the award's inception in 1983, only TWO signed with the Bulldogs. The first -- Wayne Arnold from Berkmar High -- played in only 10 games during the 2002-03 season before being dismissed from the team. The latest -- current player Marcus Thornton -- has averaged roughly two points and three rebounds per game while shooting 30 percent from the floor in his two seasons.
In addition, of the 19 McDonald's All-Americans from the state of Georgia from 1993 through this year (excluding uncommitted Tony Parker of Lithonia, who is doubtful to become a Bulldog), only ONE -- Caldwell-Pope -- signed with UGA. This poor stretch of recruiting first-rate talent comes on the heels of the aforementioned Durham remarkably signing 10 McDonald's All-Americans from 1979 to 1992.
According to Scout.com and its last seven years of team recruiting rankings (2005 to 2011), Georgia is the ONLY team from the SEC not to sign an upper-tier class; "upper-tier" being the top 25 or 35 recruiting classes (depending on the year) in the nation, and "not to sign" meaning not even once during the entire seven-year period.
Each SEC team is listed following its number of Scout "upper-tier" recruiting classes from 2005 to 2011:
7- Florida; 6- Kentucky; 4- Alabama; 3- Tennessee, Miss. State, Arkansas; 2- Vanderbilt, LSU, South Carolina, 1- Ole Miss, Auburn; NONE- Georgia.
If a program has had a difficult time recruiting like Georgia, Auburn, Ole Miss, etc., and vice versa (Kentucky, Florida, etc.), there is a direct correlation to their performances on the basketball court during roughly the same extended period of time. This comes to no surprise and obviously makes sense.
Over the last decade, Georgia's lack of recruiting, and thus sub-par on-court performance, can perhaps be blamed on a number of things, including Jim Harrick placing the program on probation and four different head coaches in a span of only eight seasons.
Notably, I discovered another piece of information that perhaps has little relation, if any at all, to the performance of the Bulldogs' basketball team, but something I found somewhat intriguing.
According to the Office of Postsecondary Education, the program generated more than $42.2 million in revenue during the last six years of 2005-06 through 2010-11, while reporting $25.5 million in expenses over the same period, for a net profit of $16.7 million.
In looking at the net profits of all 12 SEC men's basketball programs during the same six-year period, the rankings from top to bottom are more or less similar to the results of the SEC's recruiting/performance rankings above. However, two positions stand out: Florida's $9.1 million in net profit ranks next to last, or 11th in the conference, while Georgia's $16.7 million surprisingly ranks rather high at 6th.
Evidently, the Gators' men's basketball program has generated a lot of money over the last six years ($56.0 million), but it spends a lot of this revenue ($46.9 million in expenses). On the other hand, only three basketball programs spent less money than UGA (LSU, Ole Miss, and Miss. State), and the Bulldogs "benefited" with a net profit that ranks in the upper half of the conference.
This leads me to wonder why Georgia's men's basketball program, unlike Florida's, needs such a substantial profit, especially when Bulldog football was recently the second-most profitable program of any school in the country and in any sport.
Surely, I must be missing something... but this I do know:
I'm not an economist (but I did obtain, barely, a degree in Finance from the Terry College of Business) but it seems a little odd to me when a product, or UGA's men's basketball program in this case, has been rather profitable compared to its competition, yet its performance has been one of the worst, if not the worst, in comparison to the same group.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Great win Coach Fox, thoughts as we move on to Vandy and for the future
So I have not posted since last week but I have been watching UGA hoops and forming some opinions as we go along and this season plays out. First of all, last night was just an incredible performance by our team against a team in Miss State that has more talent, more depth and more experience. To beat that team twice in a season, that is a very impressive feat. BUT, it also makes you wonder WHAT IF-what if we beat a HORRIBLE GT team, a HORRIBLE SCarolina team on the road, a pretty bad AU team after having a week to prepare, what about the 2 point loss at Colorado where we were leading late only to let it slip away. Win two of those 4 and after last night we would be sitting in possible NIT land, considering this team, this season I think all UGA fans would gladly accept that. But, now we are looking at win the SEC tourney or the season is over. Certainly would think we have to make the conference final to even finish with a 500 record, and I am pretty sure you MUST have at least a 500 record to make the NIT. Anyway, let's focus on the good things and stop thinking about the could have beens. Still, as critical as I have been of this team and Coach Fox, I will give them credit for always playing hard and never quitting. That is certainly a great sign to see kids playing hard for Fox, and to see the development of our players under Coach Fox.
First of all, what more can you say about Gerald Robinson-he was outstanding last night and has really had an outstanding senior year-I am not sure if he has an NBA future but I can't imagine he is done with playing basketball somewhere. Take a look at his season stats-14.5pts a game, 3.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists, shooting 44% from the field, 80% from the FT line. A very sound defender, quick as a cat, a team leader for sure. Also Dustin Ware, although a struggle shooting the ball this year, still has been solid. His assist to turnover ratio is one of the best in the nation. He just knows what he is doing out on the floor. To say we will miss these two guys is an understatement. I know we have two really good guards coming in, Charles Mann and Kenny Gaines but you can't expect them to play to the level of these two guys.
KCP is a very solid all around player that while streaky, you can see the talent he has and the all around gama he has. He plays great defense, he averages about 2 steals a game, he has such a pretty shot is only going to get better. Nemaja Djurisic, he has been a real surprise to most this year I believe. His hustle is outstanding, he has good range on his jumpshots, has some post moves, is tough/physical and doesn't back down, he will become a huge crowd favorite moving into next year. Donte' Williams, wow, night and day from last to this year. He still needs to get bigger and stronger but he is now swatting shots, his shot has improved from the outside as well. He still needs to work on his inside post moves but the future is bright for him. Marcus Thornton, well, he rebounds well. I keep waiting for him to become more of a threat on the offensive end but he just still seems lost. Now, hopefully with him getting healthy over the off season, he can come back next year and add some offense to an already pretty solid defensive player. Our two veteran guards for next year will be Vincent Williams and Sherrard Brantley-let's just say we will need Charles Mann and Kenny Gaines ready to play because although I do think especially Vincent has improved, that is a HUGE step down from Robinson and Ware, and that is what scares me most about next year.
There is still slim hope we add Tony Parker-why is that, because his current teammate Brandon Morris, who is a rangy-long player that might can play some at 3 and thus let KCP play 2, will be coming to Athens. Also, former Parker teammate Donte' Willams is in Athens. From what I have read from TP, is Mom LOVES Coach Fox, loves the idea of her son staying close to home. THAT is what we have going for us, proximity to home, former teammates and a chance to make a real difference from day 1. The other programs he is looking at, he will get minutes but will he be the man like he would be in Athens. As good as KCP is and is going to be, adding a piece like Parker could put our team in a very good spot moving into next year. Teams would have to respect our inside game which opens things up for our outside guys. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Next up today in the SEC tourney is Vandy. This is a TOUGH matchup for us because this team is very experienced-Miss State was as well but this team has size in the middle, but outstanding shooters. I honestly believe Vandy could do damage in the big dance because they offer such a balanced inside outside challenge to defend. We have played them two pretty tight games, losing by 11 at Vandy, by 9 in Athens. I attended the game in Athens and we had the lead in the 2nd half but Vandy exploded in the second half, built up a 10 pt lead and that was it. The main culprit that day was John Jenkins, he simply was on fire and he is capable of being just as hot today-hard to imagine that though. Here is a recap of his stats line that day, 8-11 from the field, including 6-8 from 3 point land. We fouled him TWICE shooting threes, his FT's for the day, you guessed it, 6-6. This means that day in Athens, Jenkins 14-17 overall shooting the ball. WOW!! That being said, we did a good job neutralizing the inside game as Ezeli had one point, their other big guy Tchiengang only had 2 points. Their other double figure scorer was Jeffrey Taylor who like Jenkins is capable of having a huge game. One thing to notice in the two games we have played against Vandy this year, the number of free throws attempted-up in Nashville Vandy was 30-44 while we were 16-20, in Athens Vandy 17-21 while we were 9-14. So, they shot 14 more freebies in one game, 7 in the other game. They are the far more aggressive offensive team and those numbers show it. Heck, in the game in Athens, Vandy actually had 19 fouls called on them while we only had 14, yet they shot 7 more FT's. Course we fouled Jenkins shooting 3's two times as I mentioned before, so there are 6 more attempts right there. Vandy is quite the amazing group of talent though-out of the normal starting 5, Taylor, Tinsley, Ezeli, Goulborne are all seniors, John Jenkins is a JR. How many schools in the SEC have that kind of experience. They have Tchiengang coming off the bench who is also a SR. Now, all that said the team we just beat Miss State beat Vandy in Nashville. This will be a very tough team to beat but when you are playing loose as we are, strange things can and will happen. If we lose, we lose and say thanks to our seniors and hope next year will be a better year. If we win, suddenly you are playing the winner of UT/Miss, neither of which to me are nearly as good as Miss State or Vandy.
Another big football recruit gave his verbal pledge to UGA this week-and for this kid, it was his SECOND time to commit. Tramel Terry, considered the top player in the state of SCarolina has said he will sign with UGA. From the sounds of it, this kid is a great talent and our coaches have told him he might play on either side of the ball, or possibly both. He has yet to play defense in HS but evidently our coaches have seen enough of him to think he can play either side when he gets to Athens. I personally believe this upcoming recruiting class is going to be a VERY special group. Many of the kids already pledged will be early enrollee kids which I believe truly does help these kids be ready to contribute right away. It will be interesting to see how many more kids jump aboard the ship this spring and summer. It does appear UGA is offering kids much quicker than ever before. Next up I really do hope they offer David Kamara, the kid from Grayson that plays corner for the state champs and happens to be best friends with Robert Nkemdiche. Ole Miss recently offered him, I think he is good enough to get an offer for sure. We need big Robert, we need to all we can to try to get him, and this kid is good enough to get an offer even if he doesn't come here.
Baseball team has lost a couple games in the last week but is still doing quite well despite not swinging the bats as well as they are capable. Last game out they beat Kennesaw State at Coolray-home of the Gwinnett Braves, 3-2 on a ninth inning bases loaded single by Kyle Farmer. Dogs are now 11-2 and ranked 9th and host #16 UCLA this weekend at Foley Field. UCLA comes in with a 9-3 record and without question this will the toughest competition for the Diamond Dogs yet this early baseball season. A good performance will be needed, as UGA gets ready for their first SEC series next weekend against UT. Let's hope for the Dogs to take 2 of 3 from a good UCLA team.
All for now, hope everyone has a great weekend and as always, GO DOGS!
First of all, what more can you say about Gerald Robinson-he was outstanding last night and has really had an outstanding senior year-I am not sure if he has an NBA future but I can't imagine he is done with playing basketball somewhere. Take a look at his season stats-14.5pts a game, 3.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists, shooting 44% from the field, 80% from the FT line. A very sound defender, quick as a cat, a team leader for sure. Also Dustin Ware, although a struggle shooting the ball this year, still has been solid. His assist to turnover ratio is one of the best in the nation. He just knows what he is doing out on the floor. To say we will miss these two guys is an understatement. I know we have two really good guards coming in, Charles Mann and Kenny Gaines but you can't expect them to play to the level of these two guys.
KCP is a very solid all around player that while streaky, you can see the talent he has and the all around gama he has. He plays great defense, he averages about 2 steals a game, he has such a pretty shot is only going to get better. Nemaja Djurisic, he has been a real surprise to most this year I believe. His hustle is outstanding, he has good range on his jumpshots, has some post moves, is tough/physical and doesn't back down, he will become a huge crowd favorite moving into next year. Donte' Williams, wow, night and day from last to this year. He still needs to get bigger and stronger but he is now swatting shots, his shot has improved from the outside as well. He still needs to work on his inside post moves but the future is bright for him. Marcus Thornton, well, he rebounds well. I keep waiting for him to become more of a threat on the offensive end but he just still seems lost. Now, hopefully with him getting healthy over the off season, he can come back next year and add some offense to an already pretty solid defensive player. Our two veteran guards for next year will be Vincent Williams and Sherrard Brantley-let's just say we will need Charles Mann and Kenny Gaines ready to play because although I do think especially Vincent has improved, that is a HUGE step down from Robinson and Ware, and that is what scares me most about next year.
There is still slim hope we add Tony Parker-why is that, because his current teammate Brandon Morris, who is a rangy-long player that might can play some at 3 and thus let KCP play 2, will be coming to Athens. Also, former Parker teammate Donte' Willams is in Athens. From what I have read from TP, is Mom LOVES Coach Fox, loves the idea of her son staying close to home. THAT is what we have going for us, proximity to home, former teammates and a chance to make a real difference from day 1. The other programs he is looking at, he will get minutes but will he be the man like he would be in Athens. As good as KCP is and is going to be, adding a piece like Parker could put our team in a very good spot moving into next year. Teams would have to respect our inside game which opens things up for our outside guys. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Next up today in the SEC tourney is Vandy. This is a TOUGH matchup for us because this team is very experienced-Miss State was as well but this team has size in the middle, but outstanding shooters. I honestly believe Vandy could do damage in the big dance because they offer such a balanced inside outside challenge to defend. We have played them two pretty tight games, losing by 11 at Vandy, by 9 in Athens. I attended the game in Athens and we had the lead in the 2nd half but Vandy exploded in the second half, built up a 10 pt lead and that was it. The main culprit that day was John Jenkins, he simply was on fire and he is capable of being just as hot today-hard to imagine that though. Here is a recap of his stats line that day, 8-11 from the field, including 6-8 from 3 point land. We fouled him TWICE shooting threes, his FT's for the day, you guessed it, 6-6. This means that day in Athens, Jenkins 14-17 overall shooting the ball. WOW!! That being said, we did a good job neutralizing the inside game as Ezeli had one point, their other big guy Tchiengang only had 2 points. Their other double figure scorer was Jeffrey Taylor who like Jenkins is capable of having a huge game. One thing to notice in the two games we have played against Vandy this year, the number of free throws attempted-up in Nashville Vandy was 30-44 while we were 16-20, in Athens Vandy 17-21 while we were 9-14. So, they shot 14 more freebies in one game, 7 in the other game. They are the far more aggressive offensive team and those numbers show it. Heck, in the game in Athens, Vandy actually had 19 fouls called on them while we only had 14, yet they shot 7 more FT's. Course we fouled Jenkins shooting 3's two times as I mentioned before, so there are 6 more attempts right there. Vandy is quite the amazing group of talent though-out of the normal starting 5, Taylor, Tinsley, Ezeli, Goulborne are all seniors, John Jenkins is a JR. How many schools in the SEC have that kind of experience. They have Tchiengang coming off the bench who is also a SR. Now, all that said the team we just beat Miss State beat Vandy in Nashville. This will be a very tough team to beat but when you are playing loose as we are, strange things can and will happen. If we lose, we lose and say thanks to our seniors and hope next year will be a better year. If we win, suddenly you are playing the winner of UT/Miss, neither of which to me are nearly as good as Miss State or Vandy.
Another big football recruit gave his verbal pledge to UGA this week-and for this kid, it was his SECOND time to commit. Tramel Terry, considered the top player in the state of SCarolina has said he will sign with UGA. From the sounds of it, this kid is a great talent and our coaches have told him he might play on either side of the ball, or possibly both. He has yet to play defense in HS but evidently our coaches have seen enough of him to think he can play either side when he gets to Athens. I personally believe this upcoming recruiting class is going to be a VERY special group. Many of the kids already pledged will be early enrollee kids which I believe truly does help these kids be ready to contribute right away. It will be interesting to see how many more kids jump aboard the ship this spring and summer. It does appear UGA is offering kids much quicker than ever before. Next up I really do hope they offer David Kamara, the kid from Grayson that plays corner for the state champs and happens to be best friends with Robert Nkemdiche. Ole Miss recently offered him, I think he is good enough to get an offer for sure. We need big Robert, we need to all we can to try to get him, and this kid is good enough to get an offer even if he doesn't come here.
Baseball team has lost a couple games in the last week but is still doing quite well despite not swinging the bats as well as they are capable. Last game out they beat Kennesaw State at Coolray-home of the Gwinnett Braves, 3-2 on a ninth inning bases loaded single by Kyle Farmer. Dogs are now 11-2 and ranked 9th and host #16 UCLA this weekend at Foley Field. UCLA comes in with a 9-3 record and without question this will the toughest competition for the Diamond Dogs yet this early baseball season. A good performance will be needed, as UGA gets ready for their first SEC series next weekend against UT. Let's hope for the Dogs to take 2 of 3 from a good UCLA team.
All for now, hope everyone has a great weekend and as always, GO DOGS!
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