Not There Yet

It has taken Georgia 9 years to get back to the NCAA Tournament based on their body of work from the regular season. The Dawgs looked brilliant at times this season, but the troubles that plagued them in the second half of the season cost them the game tonight against the Washington Huskies. Periods of sloppy passes and bad shots, combined with an inability to handle full court pressure and hold onto a lead killed the Dawgs tonight. Georgia may well become a great basketball program, but we are not there yet.

Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie have blossomed into great players but it appears as though their Georgia careers will end with a year of eligibility left. If Thompkins had been healthy this season, Georgia may have had a better record and more confidence heading into the game tonight. As it was, they were the underdogs and they played like it. With absolutely no scoring from the bench, the Dawgs just could not keep up with the fast paced Huskies. Too bad there was not about two more minutes, or the Dawgs may have won it.

Coach Fox certainly has the team headed in the right direction. While we may lose Thompkins and Leslie, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope comes to campus next fall as the only 5 star player we have had since I started at Georgia in 2000. Football signee Nick Marshall will also play basketball (and maybe even Jay Rome). A bright future for the Georgia program is beginning to come on the horizon.

Congratulations to Coach Fox and the Georgia program on a great 2010-2011 season.

We now return to your regularly scheduled football blog. Thanks for watching!

Just Like Football!

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!!!

Hoops: The Other Star of the Georgia Basketball Team

Under Mark Fox, the Georgia Bulldogs men's basketball team has shown a great amount of progress the team has made under the first year coach. Despite the record, the team is much better than in year's past and is getting some attention from the media. Most of the attention is on Georgia's two stars, versatile big man Trey Thompkins and the high flying Travis Leslie. While watching Georgia upset #18 Vanderbilt on Saturday night, I noticed another player who really seemed to make an impact on the floor: senior guard Ricky McPhee.

McPhee hails from Lilburn, Georgia where graduated from Parlview High School in 2005. Despite being 12th all time in Gwinnett County in scoring, the county all-time leader in 3 pointers, and finishing second in state in scoring his senior year, McPhee did not have a local basketball scholarship offer. This was mostly likely due to three other Gwinnett County players who graduated at the same time as McPhee who all accepted scholarships to Georgia: Dacula's Billy Humphrey and South Gwinnett's Louis Williams and Mike Mercer. In a twist of fate, McPhee is the only one of those three players that will end his college career at Georgia.

McPhee committed to play a Gardner-Webb, where he made an impact during first collegiate game. Ricky scored 21 points against national powerhouse North Carolina. He would play the next years at Gardner-Webb, averaging 8.9 points a game. He even scored 12 points against Georgia in a near upset of the Bulldogs (the final was Georgia 97, GW 96). McPhee then transferred to Georgia as a walk-on, where had to sit out the 2007-2008 season.

Once eligible to play, Ricky did not see the floor much during the first half of the 2008-2009 season. But once January came around, he gradually began to see his role increase. McPhee hit the game winning three pointer in a Georgia victory over Vanderbilt. A few weeks later, he scored a season high 15 points in a loss to Mississippi State. For the year, he averaged 11 minutes per game and hit 36% of his shots from 3 point range.

Under Mark Fox, McPhee has become a starter and one of the constants of the floor for the Dawgs. He has started all 21 games at guard and is averaging over 31 minutes per game. He is third on the team averaging 10.3 points per game, third in assists with 41, and leads the team in steals with 31. McPhee is one of the top deep threats in the SEC, hitting on nearly 41% from downtown (44 of 108). McPhee played a key role in Georgia's upset victory over #8 Tennessee, scoring 11 points. He also had a big game in Georgia's loss at Florida where he scored a season high 21 points on 8 of 11 shooting (5 for 8 from 3).

Ricky McPhee has been one of the true surprises on this year's Georgia team. It is a shame that he only got to spend two years on the court in Athens. "McThree" has certainly lived up to his nickname this season.

GO DAWGS!!!

Guest Post: Who is Mark Fox and what has he done to our team?

Friend of the blog and regular commentator here at B n' E, MT, attended the basketball game against Tennessee in Athens last night. Here are his thoughts on Mark Fox and how he is transforming Georgia basketball:

Who is Mark Fox and what has he done with our team?

By MT

We look more and more like a team that is starting to buy into Fox’s triangle system and believe in themselves. Even though Fox is dealing with a short bench, he is making the most out of his depth, with 11 players rotating in during just the first half.

Georgia led the rest of the way after 3 minutes into the game. Even though Bruce Pearl quickly turned on the full court press against Georgia for the rest of the game, we had little difficulty inbounding and moving the ball around, unlike in the Felton era. Once the game started to truly get out of hand, we surprisingly saw a lot of minutes from Stevie Pearl… I wonder why?
Travis Leslie’s dunk five minutes into the game blew the roof off of the Stegasaurous and will definitely end up in Sportcenter’s Top 10 tonight. Leslie has to be Georgia’s best recruiter right now, with the amount of highlights the WWL is giving him each game. I don’t think I have ever seen as many unmolested dunks as I did tonight, as Tennessee seemed to collapse on the driving player every time, opening up the paint.



The students were packed to the rafters over an hour before the game even started. There was a lot of good signs in the game, from “You shoot better off the court!” to a Tennessee hostess escorted by three USC clad students with Orgeron, Lane and Monte Kiffin masks. For some reason, there was also a student that lathered himself in peanut butter too. Ultimately at the end of the game, we were thwarted at storming the court.

Chants echoed throughout the night, from “Where’s your handcuffs” to “Please don’t rob me!”

It was all good fun with our rivals to the north. The Vols showed up in jumpsuit-clad force, but after Leslie’s NBA Jam-esque dunk, they were not heard from again. It’s got to be noted that we’ve got one serious head ball coach, and we need to make sure he’s locked up for a long time. March Madness is a magical time and Georgia Nation deserves to be a part of it each year.
After this win, I think we can legitimately start talking about making the tournament this year. Sitting at 9-8 (1-3) with one of the nation’s most impressive schedules, a couple more big wins would put us right on the bubble. Add two wins in the SEC Tourney and we truly enter the discussion.

Bubba Does Basketball

Well, the University of Georgia has taken the plunge and hired a new basketball coach. This hire is very intriguing for me and let me start by saying that this is an opportunity that I can get on board with. Yes, it is very easy to say “Who is this guy?” and other than the fact that Trent Johnson coached Kirk Snyder there, that’s all I know about the University of Nevada besides the fact that it is in Reno, ugh:

Back to Dr. Naismith’s game and the positives that I see out of this hire:

First, UGA needed a change, plain and simple. Mark Fox gives the Bulldogs this opportunity right out of the gate. He has no prior notions about the basketball program being a Midwest guy coaching towards the West Coast. This, in my opinion, gives him an opportunity to change the culture of the players and change the image of how UGA basketball is run. It is easy to be concerned with the fact he has no current connections to the Southeast, but the man has been successful at winning basketball games and getting talent to play at Nevada. He had to build relationships over time to get strong personnel in Nevada and judging from his success over the last 5 seasons, I believe that he has the ability to build superior relationships in Athens. His mentor from Nevada, Trent Johnson, had no prior connections to the Southeast and won 27 games at LSU last season. UGA definitely does not have the recent record of LSU nor does it have their roster, but this should give Mark Fox some insight as far the job that he has taken and the work that he must do.

Second, it looks to me that Coach Fox has the ability to develop players. UGA has not developed the skills of its players throughout the tenure of Dennis Felton. Mike Mercer was an undisciplined mess and he, along with Takais Brown, took whatever Felton had built over his first few years and threw it out the window when they were kicked off/left the team. Sundiata Gaines and Dave Bliss were the only two players that I can honestly say I saw get better during their time at UGA. I hate to speak poorly about Coach Felton because he is a good man and worked hard for the University, but his way was no longer working. There is enough talent in the Classic City to be competitive in the SEC and field some semblance of an offensive game plan. Trey Tompkins, Dustin Ware, and Travis Leslie (if eligible) have individual unique talents. Barring their transfer, and it will take one helluva sales job to keep the current roster intact, Mark Fox with his record, can build a team with those young players. Over 40 players were in the NCAA tournament this past season on non-Georgia teams, get one to two of those players a year and you are moving in the right direction.

Thank You Coach Felton, at least someone won a Title on the Trade School Gym Floor, ba da boom!

Third, Bobby Knight wasn't and would never be the answer. Simple question, where does Bobby Knight leave you in two to three years when he is sick of coaching? Yes, he won 20 games every full season but 2004-2005 at Texas Tech, but he is burnt out. Do you as a fan really want to end up with Pat Knight as your coach after he is fired by the brass in Lubbock? Personally, I don’t. Mark Fox is fresh and hungry while Bobby Knight is probably still in that bunker at the golf course (caution, extreme language):

Fourth, this is funny:

I think he could hang with Steve Newman (Sorry Steve, but you were not good).

In closing, is Mark Fox the splash that Anthony Grant would have been? The simple answer is no, but for two guys coaching at the same mid-major level, they have been equally successful. Grant ultimately didn’t have the interest in UGA that our fans had in him. The Parker Executive Search firm put UGA in a position to hire an experienced coach that UGA, for all intents and purposes, probably never would have considered. A coach that is a new direction for a program in turmoil and I see nothing wrong with a new direction. Damon Evans is not an idiot and is one of the bright young minds in college athletics, like Damon, let’s give this guy a shot.

Good Luck Coach Fox and welcome to the best nation on Earth, Bulldawg Nation.