Aunt Bea to South Carolina?

Maybe since she lived in Mayberry, she could have attended in her younger years.

But not Aunt Bea. Mr. Beas. Beas Hamga.

Beas Hamga is a 7-footer who was highly recruited coming out of high school. He went to UNLV, but has asked for his release, and is considering South Carolina.

Hamga

It could happen. I suppose he would have to sit out a year, but if he transfers sooner, rather than later, he could be eligible before the SEC slate starts next year.

If Horn starts attracting quality big men to his program, South Carolina will have fixed the main issue that they have had the previous few years-- the lack of size in the post.

Tubby Smith's Team Defeats #9 Louisville

Tubby seems to be molding Minnesota into a pretty tough team. First big win, I think, since he was hired.

I'm impressed. Good for him.

Minnesota is 10 and 0. They'll have some tough games later, but so far, so good on the young season.

Mike Mercer Goes 7 of 10

Leads South Florida to a victory over Murray State. Gilchrist, the other new player for Stan Heath's team, went 3 of 6, and scored 8 points.

Mercer was 0 of 2 from behind the arc, and 0 for 1 from the line. He still needs to improve his touch, but he seems to be rounding into playing shape and getting his timing back.

I Gave Up. You Did, Too

Stunning win for Georgia. Not that it was an upset. It's that Georgia snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. And then, we snatched it back again.

Georgia defeated Wofford by a score of 74 to 73. I haven't seen a box score, but it can't be pretty. We had way too many turnovers. Way too few rebounds.

They out-scrapped us, beat us to loose balls, executed better. Played with more poise. We missed free throws from our guys who normally sink them. I was not looking forward to reading the message boards.

Hats off to Ricky McPhee and Zac Swansey. Howard Thompkins and Corey Butler were also key to the victory. Corey did not shoot particularly well, but he had some good rebounds.

We don't look good without Thompkins. Woodbury sat out the game. Georgia is not a good team right now. But I'll take the victory.

We're 7 and 3. Let's win a few more.

Bam-Bam Time

I posted a poll earlier this year regarding which UGA player would have a break-out year. My vote went for Chris "Bam-Bam" Barnes.

Although he is still recovering from the surgery over the summer on his right wrist, I am hopeful that his health is improving all the time. If so, then today's game against Wofford might be the type of contest in which he starts to excel.

I am looking forward to the game. We'll need contributions from everybody during this stretch, and I am hopeful that Chris and other guys will play well.

Georgia against Wofford

Game is at 2:00 in Athens.

Georgia should win this one, but you never know. The key, I think, will be exploiting our size advantage on the inside.

Wofford does have a guy who is 6' 9", but other than that, they are truly undersized, compared to Jackson, Thompkins, Price and Barnes.

Wofford will likely try to get Junior Samples, er, rather Salters going. I never did like Hee-Haw very much, so let's have Corey Butler shut this guy down.

Wofford Roster

I'd like to see Georgia get a comfortable lead, enough so that we can see some more of Drazen Zlovaric and Troy Brewer.

Big Butts

is not so big anymore.

Have to give the guy credit. Isaac Butts has slimmed down and has molded himself into a pretty good basketball player. Of course, if he wanted to play basketball, he could have accepted the football offer from UGA and walked on to the basketball team, but I guess that wasn't for him.

BMOC

I'm still waiting for a two-sport high school star to sign with Richt and agree to help out the basketball squad. Almost happened, kind of sort of, with Walter Hill, in a weird, twisted way.

I wonder if "Ike" has a turner-round jumpshot?

Recruiting is a strange beast.

Dennis Felton recruited Tony Woods hard, as I understand. I remember something that led me to believe that Georgia backed off at the last minute. In any case, Woods ended up going to Wake.

While many lament the fact that Woods went to school out of state, the question remains as to whether he is as good as the pundits have predicted. Could he have given Georgia 10 points and 7 rebounds on this year's team? I don't know.

For example, Woods played in tonight's contest against the Richmond Spiders. He had 0 points and 1 rebound. In the meantime, he had three personal fouls. I don't doubt that Woods will put it together at some point. But if a guy is a 5-star and is supposed to be a lottery pick in the NBA Draft next year, it seems that he should score at least a bucket in every game played.

He'll probably respond to this post (not that he would read it, mind you) with a 50-point outburst in his next game.

Louis Williams goes off.

Has 26 points on 10 of 17 shooting. Also notched 4 assists and 2 rebounds without a turnover. Williams led Philadelphia to the victory over Washington by a score of 109 to 103.

Still wonder how good Georgia would have been if Williams had ended up in Athens. Guy can score going left or right. Good free throw shooter. Super athletic.

Steve Newman in action

As previously noted, Newman got his first start this week. Although he didn't score in the game, he did get some media exposure.

Newman

Fred Gibson and Ezra Williams Battle Again

Similar result. The Austin Toros defeated the Albuquerque Thunderbirds again last night by a score of 127 to 121. This time, the game had the added drama of overtime.

Fred went 3 for 3 from the floor for the Thunderbirds. He also had a steal and a rebound. No turnovers in 16 minutes. That's a pretty good game.

Ezra scored 9 points. He was 2 of 6 in shooting, but was able to offset an off night from the floor by getting to the line. He was 4 of 5 from the charity stripe.

Austin improved to 6 and 3. Albuquerque is 1 and 7.

This Week's Articles

By the way, those who have not visited the site before might not be familiar with the drop-down menu on the side for the archived posts. Check there for older articles, or click on a player's name at the end of an article and pull up further information on that individual.

For example, this week there were articles on Josh Harrelson up at UK, Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy, Ezra Williams, Fred Gibson, Chris Daniels, Rashaad Singleton, Mike Mercer, and Daniel Miller, to name just a few of the individuals recently spotlighted.

Thanks

Just wanted to say thanks to the guys who came by the site for the first time. I especially appreciate the ones who left comments.

I know that Paul Westerdawg and David Hale made mention of my site on their blogs, so thanks goes out to them in particular. Those guys, along with the crew at "Catfish and Cornbread" are very highly respected as writers about the UGA sports scenes.

Welcome to the new and welcome again to the regular readers.

DaugMan

Josh Harrelson of UK to Fire Away in

High-Low offense.

The guy is shooting 50% from three. That's a whole heck of a lot better than Kentucky's guards. My thinking is that Harrelson will play a similar role to Howard Thompkins for UGA.

If Harrelson gains confidence and DeAndre Liggins starts to play well, Kentucky could improve quickly.

By the way, I am surprised that Coach Gillespie got over the fact that Liggins refused to go into a game in the second half after playing just 2 minutes in the first. My thinking was that a guy who challenges a coach's authority, especially a coach like Gillespie, would go to the end of the bench for an extended stay.

Coach Kennedy Arrested

I could make a joke about "mug night," but I won't.

Coach Kennedy was arrested for assault after he got into an altercation early Thursday morning with a cab driver. Coach Kennedy and another man had just left the Lodge Bar in Cincinnati. The cabbie alleged that Kennedy punched him and shouted racial slurs.

Hopefully, the truth will come out.

Sundiata Gaines Leads Pallacanestro Cantu to Victory

Gaines, who reportedly hasn't played his best basketball lately, bounced back with a big game against Angelo Biella.

Although the game was closer than it should have been, after Cantu opened up with a big lead, Cantu was able to escape with an 87 to 85 victory.

Gaines was the leading scorer, with 23 points. In a particularly positive sign, he went 5 for 9 from behind the arc. B.J. Elder, formerly of Georgia Tech, supported Gaines with 16 points from his shooting guard position.

Chris Daniels Finishes

Man, this is a great play.

Reminds me of the Virginia Tech game and Dustin Ware's behind-the-back pass to Albert Jackson for the stuff.

The main difference is that when Ware and Jackson teamed up on the play on t.v., I understood the commentators! Ha!

Anyway, Daniels take the no-look, between the legs bounce pass from a teammate and flushes it.

Finish

Marlon Brown Coming Back to UGA

Boy, I really hope that Felton and Richt can pull in Marlon Brown from Tennessee. The guy has serious basketball skills, and he would give our 2009 signing class a great boost.

Rivals did an article on Brown, and they indicate that he visited Coach Felton back earlier this month. I thought that Brown had decided that he was going to stick to just football, but by visiting Coach Felton, he is apparently stating that he still wants to do both. Hopefully, he showed up for the Virginia Tech game.

Since Brown is coming back on Saturday for an official visit, my thought would be that he wants to take in the basketball game. The Dawgs are playing Wofford, and UGA should play well. No guarantee, but if we needed some extra incentive to win the game, Brown's visit would suffice.

Securing a football commitment from Brown would give Georgia's basketball Dawgs a great all-around player, without costing the team a scholarship. He's a reliable outside shooter, a tough defender, and he finishes with either hand in the paint. Not a point guard, but handles the ball well enough to help bring it up the floor. Explosive leaper who would only get better as his body matures.

Let's reel him in.

What can Brown do for UGA? Hopefully, sign, and play two sports!

Steve Newman gets his first start of the year.

Steve Newman has moved into the opening line-up for the Utah Flash.

Newman was given the start last night at the center position. He responded with 5 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Although he did not score any points, the Utah Flash did win the game against the Reno BigHorns, 114 to 108.

Newman is not guaranteed to keep his place in the opening line-up, but if he hustles, rebounds and hits his shots when open, he could develop into a guy like David Lee, formerly of University of Florida, who is playing for the New York Knicks.

Ezra Williams plays a Complete Game

Ezra Williams had his most impressive game of the year for his team, the Austin Toros.

Unfortunately, it was at the expense of Fred Gibson and the Albuquerque Thunderbirds.

Williams came off the bench and really contributed. He shot 7 of 10 from the field, and 2 of 3 from behind the arc. He did not shoot any free throws, which indicates that Williams is still relying mostly on his "spot up and shoot" game, rather than taking it to the basket.

At any rate, Ezra also had 3 assists and a rebound before fouling out of the contest. Williams is averaging 8 points and 2 boards per game.

Fred Gibson and Albuquerque Thunderbirds

lose to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

In an NBA D-League match-up, the Thunderbirds lost to the Vipers by a score of 122 to 99.

It appears that the Thunderbirds just aren't very good. They are now 1 and 6 in the young season.

Fred Gibson scored 5 points on 2 of 5 shooting from the floor, and 1 of 2 from the line. Who knows, maybe the coach will shake up the line-up and give Gibson more minutes. Probably couldn't hurt.

Daniel Miller scores 25 in win over Sherwood

Daniel Miller, the 6' 11" Georgia signee, traveled with his team to Albany, Georgia.

There they faced Sherwood, a team that I believe is affiliated with the church that produced "Facing the Giants," the movie in which Coach Richt appeared.

Miller scored 25 points for the game. I don't have any other stats, but if I find some, I will post them later.

Mike Mercer goes 6 for 16

in his first game for South Florida.

Rusty

He has never been shy about taking his fair share of shots. Even when they're not falling.

Stan Heath was definitely not happy about losing to Niagra. I don't know much about their team, but Niagra doesn't sound like the kind of team you want to have beat you in basketball. Maybe ice hockey or something, but not hoops.

Anyway, South Florida has lost three straight. They'll round back into shape, and so will Mercer. I was glad to see that his knee is holding up. And I predict that he will be a big-time scorer, even though it will take him a little while to overcome the jitters and the adrenaline rush of just being able to play again.

Rashaad Singleton Gets Press

Rashaad Singleton has been recognized for the contributions he is making to his new team, the Florida Southern Moccasins.

Singleton, who arrived at Georgia as a thin, 7-foot prospect, later began to hit the weights constantly. He became the team's leading weight-lifter.

Singleton left UGA after he lost his starting position. He ended up transferring to Division II team, Florida Southern, to complete his final season.

He has given Florida Southern a defensive presence in the post, and has already started to set records for blocked shots.

Shot-Blocker