The Georgia men's basketball team defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets last night, 73-72. This was the second straight victory for Georgia over Tech in basketball, but Georgia's first win at Tech in nearly a decade. The victory comes just two weeks after the Dawgs defeated the Jackets on the football field. 2010 has been a rough year overall for Georgia athletics, but there's hope that the basketball team could help turn things around.
2010 was a tough year for Georgia football and baseball. Both programs who during the last decade have consistently ranked near the top of the rankings fell hard during 2010. The football team finished 6-6 and will head to the lowly Liberty Bowl to close out the year. The baseball team, who had played in the College World Series during the last 3 even year seasons (2004, 2006, 2008) struggled through what many consider the worst season in Georgia history. The Dawgs finished 16-37 overall with a dismal 5-23 record in SEC play. 2010 was also a tough year for Georgia's most dominant sport, women's gymnastics. The Gym Dawgs had won five consecutive national championships coming into the 2010 season. But the retirement of legendary coach Suzanne Yoculan combined with graduation of a number of stars lead the team to miss the NCAA finals.
But there is hope for Dawg fans. While the football team did struggle this fall, they managed to turn a 1-4 start into a bowl appearance. Aaron Murray will return next fall and is poised to become the next great quarterback in the SEC. Georgia baseball had another great recruiting class and junior outfielder Zach Cone is considered one of the best players in the SEC. But leading the charge for Georgia sports in 2011 may be the men's basketball team. At 6-2, Coach Mark Fox's team is off to a strong start with both losses coming in close games during the Old Spice Classic tournament. Trey Thompkins is just now getting healthy and will only improve throughout the season. The Dawgs have also managed to do something twice this season that they failed do all season last year, win a true road game.
The SEC will be tough, with Kentucky, Tennessee, and Florida all looking strong. But if the Dawgs can split home and home with them and win the games against the weaker teams out west, the Dawgs could be headed back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007.
GO DAWGS!!!
3 comments:
As a Chicago native and long time Dawg fan, I have to ask: Why is Mike Bobo still calling Plays? As we head into the off season, there isn't any of the shakeup that we saw last year on D, in a O that was in fairness terrible. I find it funny that Bobo spent nearly the whole second half down on the field. Is this because CMR needed to watch him? I think the time has come to move on. What scares me is that Tereshinski is now the Training coach?? Taking over for a renowned expert. Though I agree changes need to be made I think the "loyalty" factor has the team going from bad, to worse.
Its been great to read your blog and I would truly appreciate anyoen's insight.
CHIDAWG
Mike Bobo is a good football coach...at coaching quarterbacks. It just so happens that back in 2006, the Dawgs were struggling on offense and Coach Richt decided to hand over the play calling duties to Bobo for the Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech games. In each game, Georgia struggled on offense in the first half but ended up winning with key drives in the fourth quarter. Coach Richt handed the keys to Bobo and his offense helped the team finish #2 in the country in 2007.
With two future first round picks, a great senior receiver, and a stud freshman receiver, the 2008 offense was very up and down. The Dawgs won 10 games, but at times it seemed like Knowshon disappeared from the game plan in favor of Stafford throwing it all over the place. With Joe Cox at QB in '09, the team once again seemed to abondon the run in favor of passing the ball.
This year, the opposite has happenned. Many times Bobo seemed so concerned with Murray potentially making mistakes that they stuck to simple runs up the middle even when the other team was constantly blitzing. The worst example occurred during the Mississippi State game. I can understand with AJ out that they did not have all the match ups they wanted, but the receivers seemed to do a pretty good job at getting open.
The arguement in favor of Bobo is that Georgia offense has consistently scored over 30 points down the stretch this year. And while points on the board are a good thing, they often came in quick bursts after the offense had struggled (see the Arkansas and Florida games as examples). Mark Richt is extremely loyal and Bobo will be back next fall. But if things continue the way they were this year, it would not suprise me to see Coach Richt take back the play calling duties.
As for JT2 taking over, from what I have read he is the opposite to DVH in his approach. His comments so far indicate that he realizes the major issue was the team's conditioning late in ball games and hopefully that becomes the focus this off season. You have to remember that a great strength program is only great until other teams figure it out too. When that happens, a great program becomes normal and there is no longer an edge. The ability to adapt and change, even if it is only minor changes, is what can keep a team ahead of the curve. Georgia was ahead when DVH came in, hopefully Joe T 2 can take the team back there.
I still believe much of Bobo's play calling woes lie in the play-action pass. I've written a blog on it, but we use PA too often. Plus, we have plays that can only be called out of PA, instead of a 3 or 5 step drop. It makes no sense.
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