Brandon Boykin Time

Let's face it.

Boykin is a stud. Fast with insane hops. He is very accustomed to shutting down the other team's point guard, and handling the ball against tight defense. His combination of speed and ability to finish makes him an almost ideal press-buster.

Teams will continue to press Georgia until we get someone to help us advance the ball. Dustin Ware and Ricky McPhee are doing okay, but we need someone who is confident with the ball and can take it all the way to the hoop off of set plays or when we beat the press.

Boykin is Travis Leslie in cleats. He could get us 8 to 10 points off the bench.

Coach Richt, we could use him, so you and Coach Fox get together for the good of the entire athletic program at UGA and let's get Boykin in his sneaks at the first opportunity.

Dawgs Win! UGA Beats Aggies

Way to go, Dawgs! Fantastic way to close out the season.

Congratulations to Coach Richt and the entire staff. Terrific send-off for the seniors. Good group of guys. Cox, Moore, Atkins, Owens, Weston and the whole crew.

We couldn't seem to get anything going in the first half, but Brandon Boykin ran a kick-off back, and the Dawgs turned up the heat on defense. Converted a 14 to 14 tie into a rout, for the most part.

Dawgs win, 44 to 20.

Bumps on the Way to Brilliance

Good quote from David Ching. Good description of the learning curve ahead for Georgia's freshmen.

These guys are going to get better. They'll provide some highlights for UGA's fans, hopefully a couple of key plays this Saturday night.

Pups

"Practice All-American" Does it During Game

Multi-sport talent, Brandon Boykin, gets recognition for his 100-yard kick-off return.

Great hands, great hops. Great player.

I Wonder...

Richard Samuel: Could it be that he didn't get the ball much after his touchdown because he was hurt? The South Carolina guy pretty much put a rear naked choke on Samuel as he plunged into the endzone. He had no chance of stopping Samuel, yet he tried to stop him by grabbing Samuel around the neck and pulling back.

Tavarres King: Is he the next big thing at wide receiver?

A.J. Green: What shape would UGA be in if Green had signed with the in-state Gamecocks instead of the Dawgs?

Branden Smith: Who was responsible for keeping him in the game, instead of pulling him after his fumble on the kick-off return?

Carlton Thomas: Will the crucial fumble recovery in the South Carolina game be just the spark that Thomas needs to overcome his own fumble in the Oklahoma State game?

Joe Cox: How sick has he been? He didn't look at all well. Could it be that the guy will be an absolute show-stopper after he gets healthy?

DeAngelo Tyson: Game-saving block on Carolina's attempted PAT. Is this a sign that he will turn out to be a max-effort guy in the order of David Pollack? Will he show out next year after Owens, Weston and Atkins move on?

Brandon Boykin: Any chance that he will get touches on offense? (I know it won't happen, but I'm going to say it anyway: Oh please, please, help out the basketball Dawgs!).

Blair Walsh: What will be his longest field goal before he graduates?

Reshad Jones: Will he ever get any calls?

Dawgs: How good will the Dawgs be this year?

Game Recap, Including Ceremony to Honor Thompkins and Houts

The Augusta Chronicle tried its best to recap the Georgia-South Carolina game. The contest had so many twists and turns that summaries don't do it justice.

I decided to include the recap on the Blog, since the paper described the recognition given to Trey Thompkins and Ashley Houts, and their coaches, Mark Fox and Andy Landers. As readers know, Thompkins and Houts led Team USA men's and women's teams to the gold medal in the FIBA Under 19 games.

Recap and Recognition

Loyola of Chicago Whips the Dawgs: Recommendations for the Future

Embarassing loss. It's early in the season, but it's still awful to lose to Loyola by more than 20 points.

I thought that Georgia might lose this game. In fact, I had expected it, since UGA has two young point guards, the team had to travel after playing Friday night, it is much colder in West Lafayette, and the game got started at 9:30 EST.

However, I hadn't anticipated the total beat-down.

Here are my recommendations for righting the ship:

1) Start Travis Leslie. He went 10 for 14 from the floor, scored 23 points in 26 minutes.

2) Don't take Leslie out unless absolutely necessary.

3) Get Thompkins ready as soon as possible. Don't risk injury for the guy, but if he can shoot, let him pick up his conditioning by playing.

4) We're really hurting at point guard. In my opinion, drastic measures are called for.

We need to get this guy out on the court. Even if he is not available immediately, let's start the discussions now so that when he is available to the team, his transition is seamless. He is, in my opinion, the best point guard on campus-- sort of a shorter version of Travis Leslie.

Ware and Swansey might perform very well over time, but if they play like they did tonight, we need a third option.

5) Run better offensive sets. I said after Friday's game that our offensive execution was "ugly." I thought that it was true then, and although it was impossible to tell definitively from the radio, it probably hurt us again when we played Loyola. Price and Jackson were not getting the ball in the position on the floor in which they could do anything with the ball. Maybe things will improve with better players, but..,

We cannot swing the ball from side to side and expect to have success. The Lakers learned that lesson with Shaquille O'Neal. As dominant as he was, if all he did was just get the ball on the block, he could be doubled or defended by a guy like Dennis Rodman. But when the triangle offense was instituted, and O'Neal started flashing to the post, diving to the basket for designed lobs, and generally moving around more, the Lakers were ready for their championship run.

It's not an ideal analogy, but I think UGA would find, just like the Lakers, that having a designed offense opens up the floor for your skill players. We would have more assists if we ran a few set plays, with the action going toward the basket. We do some things now, I am aware, but not enough.

6) Shake the loss off. Take care of business tomorrow.

Mad Hops

Travis Leslie jumps and dunks kind of like me, back before the injury (cough, cough).

It was good to see that the AJC video of the area slam dunk contest was still available. Over 16,000 people cast votes in the AJC's best high school dunker competition. Leslie won by 500 votes over Derrick Favors.

Leslie has mad hops, a level of athleticism that UGA has not had in a long while. Maybe Mike Mercer. Maybe.

But I'm looking forward to seeing what happens this year. Chris Barnes, Ebuka Anyaorah, Travis Leslie, Albert Jackson, Jeremy Price, Howard Thompkins. All these guys can get up and finish above the rim. There should be plenty of dunks to satisfy UGA's hoops fans. Hopefully, all of Felton's players are working hard on strength and conditioning so that they can run faster and rise higher.

If you haven't seen the video of Leslie, I hope you like it. Besides Leslie, who goes first, other Atlanta area athletes are featured, including UGA recruit, Derrick Favors.

Come to think of it, if Georgia gets Favors, then three of the slam dunk competitors (Leslie, Favors and Brandon Boykin) will be in Athens next year. Be sure to watch the videos of Favors and Boykin. Boykin is very impressive at 5' 10". Although he has enough challenges in his life, playing cornerback for Richt, I hope Boykins walks on to the basketball team after football is all wrapped up. Not much chance he will, but the guy can play, and we might need some extra depth at point guard.

Enjoy the video.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/highschool/stories/2008/02/19/voteanddunk08.html