Lost in all the Commotion

over the poor substitution patterns was this fact:

The Dawgs starters and key reserves had a pretty good outing against Oakland.  I was particularly pleased that Juwan Parker seems to have his springs back.  He shot 5 for 11 from the field, and 5 of 5 from the line, for 15 points, which was by far his best performance of the year.

J.J. had 18 points in the first half, if memory serves me.  He was on target until Fox pulled him.  When Oakland took the lead in the second half, he went iso-J.J., and started missing from long distance.  The point is that J.J. found his touch, at least for a half.

Yante Maten didn't score much, and fouled out without hitting double figures, but Dawgs fans already know what he can do.

Derek Ogbeide is on a bit of a roll.  Had a double-double for the game, 13 points on 6 of 8 shooting, and 12 rebounds.  Will be a bit harder as he is matched with bigger players during the conference portion of the season, but Ogbeide is a force in the paint.

Turtle Jackson did a good job at the point.  He looked fantastic, in fact, except for that air-ball three-pointer he shot when the Dawgs were trying to catch up late in the game.  Still think he needs to work on his mechanics and focus on locking his elbow in tight and going straight up with his shot.  Firing across his body will lead to bad misses to the left or the right.

In any case, Jackson had 10 points on 4 of 6 shooting.  He was 2 of 4 from behind the arc, and had zero turnovers.  That's great work for a back-up point guard.

Jordan Harris scored 9 points.  Still turns the ball over too much.  He needs to focus on scoring when he drives the ball.  He is still getting used to added muscle, so as the season goes on, he will get better and better.

Mike Edwards had 4 points and 6 boards.  Tyree Crump was only given one minute of PT.

Diatta, KPG, Kessler, and Wilridge did not play well.  Thirty minutes between them, and zero points.

Bottom line:  If J.J. follows the Oakland game with regained scoring ability, Yante has his normal outing, and Jordan, Derek, Juwan, Mike and Turtle keep giving solid contributions, Georgia may overcome the Fox crazy substitutions and still win its share of SEC games.    

 

Ten Commandments for Mark Fox

1.  If J.J. Frazier has been off, but finds his stroke, thou shalt not take him out.

2.  If J.J. Frazier has 18 points in the first half, thou shalt not take him out,

3.  Thou shalt never play Kenny Paul Geno and Houston Kessler at the same time.

4.  Thou shalt never, nay never ever play KPG, HK and Mike Edwards at the same time.

5.  Thou shalt give Tyree Crump some minutes (plural) in each game, yea, even five to ten minutes.

6.  Thou shalt never subbeth out Ogbeide before the ten minute mark in the first half.

7.  If Yante Maten shall start to have foul trouble, thou shalt play him with Ogbeide, and put Maten in the high post and Ogbeide down low.

8.  Thou shalt always press teams which hath played three games in four days.

9.  Thou shalt play zone, especially if the manneth to manneth is in trouble.

10.  Thou shalt always play your best players unless UGA is in foul trouble, or we are up 20 and there are less than 2 minutes left in the game.


If through thy disobedience to these commandments, thou faileth to take the people to the Promised Land of the NCAA Tournament, thou shalt turn over the reins to young Joshua (Jonas Hayes).

   

Rayshaun Hammonds Interview

Hammonds

Hammonds had 33 points and 14 rebounds in one of the recent City of Palms Classic games, a Norcross win over Mae Jemison.

Rayshaun also notched 22 points and 15 boards against Pace, and 16 and 8 in a Norcross game against Brentwood.

Giving Due Credit

I have made a couple of points in Blog posts earlier this season:

1)  More minutes for Jordan Harris

2)  Extended time in the first half for Derek Ogbeide

So, just as I have criticized Coach Fox for his substitution patterns and talent utilization, it it appropriate now to give due credit.

Coach Fox replaced Turtle Jackson with Jordan Harris in the starting line-up.  Great move.  I think it will benefit both players.  Jordan will have more minutes and get acclimated to playing in college, and Turtle will come in fairly early, either to replace J.J., or to spell Jordan, but not feel pressured to score.

In another positive trend, Coach Fox has resisted the urge to pull Derek Ogbeide for Houston Kessler.  Nothing against Houston, but Derek is a more physical presence around the basket.  Teams are less likely to double Yante Maten if that means that Derek will be open underneath the bucket.

Derek scored 10 first-half points on 5 of 5 shooting against Tech, and he can have similar production in the future if allowed to play extended minutes early.

Houston Kessler may be needed later in the year, and I'm not totally against him getting some time on the floor.  Just not at the 2 or 3-minute mark of the first half like Coach Fox was doing.

In addition to the player utilization points, I also wanted Fox to come up with a game plan that takes away what the other team likes to do.  I saw just that scenario in the Georgia Tech game.  We knew where the ball was going, and we disrupted Tech's offensive plays.

Now, Tech is not a talented offensive team.  That much is clear.  But our scouting and defensive strategies had a good bit to do with our 17-point win.

Bravo, Coach Fox.