Bet you dollars to doughnuts

that Fox returns Tyree Crump to the bench against Mississippi State Tuesday night.  That's what happened when Crump shot lights out against Morehouse, and was thereafter relegated to the deep bench against Marquette.  I doubt Fox has changed much since then.

Crump has shown that he can score from long range.  He can knock down pressure free throws.  And he can score a bunch of points in a short time (he scored 13 in 16 minutes against Tennessee).

Crump's a great complement to J.J.  Sure, you likely have to play zone if both Crump and Frazier are in the game at the same time, but we need to play more zone defense anyway.  The pay-off for UGA will be most apparent on offense, because teams can't just double-team J.J. or Yante if Crump is in shooting position.

Unfortunately, Fox hates zone, and he apparently dislikes adjusting his scheme to his talent.  I remember being stunned that Fox sat Kenny Gaines instead of finding a way to put him on the floor with KCP.

Likewise, Coach Fox will have his reasons for not playing Crump all  year:  

"He was behind a pretty good player in J.J.", will likely be his "go-to" reason.  If he doesn't reach for that one, he'll say that "the match-ups didn't favor" giving Crump any time on the floor.  Fox will then declare that "Crump has been getting better in practice all year."

I say, if you're in next-to-last place in the SEC, do something different!  Besides, J.J. won't be here next year, so give Crump playing time now.  

Giving Credit

where credit is due.

I have written more than once about Coach Fox and his use of talent.  All too often we have had talented freshmen on the bench, when they could have done so much more on the floor.

I wanted, for example, Kenny Gaines to play with Kentavious.  Not back him up, but rather, be on the court at the same time--  go to a three-guard line-up to make the best use of the talent we had on hand.  I had hoped that Yante Maten would have gotten much more time as a freshman.  Sure, we had Marcus and Nemi, but I wanted Coach Fox to find a way to play all three at once, or at least sub Nemi out more often.

This year, I have argued that we have to have Jordan Harris on the floor.

Well, Coach Fox actually gave Jordan right at 15 minutes of playing time in the last game.  Although Coach cautioned that he did so because of match-ups, Jordan deserves minutes.  He can defend and score and take his man off the dribble, something we need in the absence of Charles Mann.

Just as I complain when talent remains on the bench, I will encourage when our line-ups make more sense.  I see the progress.  More of the same, please, with additional minutes for Tyree Crump.

 

Yes, Fox, Gaines and KCP

in the game at the same time.  It's not impossible. 

Teaming them with Charles Mann gives the Dawgs a line-up that can drive the ball, get fouled, stop the clock and score points.

Now, please slide Brandon Morris to the four spot.  We need a quicker guy on Coleman.  Do it. 

Not Dixon!  Morris!  This is our last chance for 2013.  Please.

KCP Trying to Bring Us Back

He's the real deal.

Might be his last game for the Dawgs.  Can someone else help him out?

Why take out Brandon Morris?

Anybody noticed what happened when Fox pulled him?  We sent in Brantley, but with all due respect, Brantley does not drive the ball.  Morris looked great on the release on his free throws and I thought that if he gets open next time, he will be in rhythm.  Not to be.

We're down 20 at half-time, 39 to 19.  Please put in Gaines, Morris, Williams, KCP and Mann and let's see if we can get back into this thing.

Dawgs vs. LSU

Call me crazy, but I think the Dawgs win 2 or 3 games this SEC Tourney.  Doesn't mean we go to the post-season, of course, but if we win the first one and somehow get by Florida, we would have a great shot to get to the SEC Tournament championship.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, let me focus on today's game.

We start against LSU today at 1:00.  We match up pretty well with them, winning by 9 points over the Tigers back on January 19. 

The key today is that we have to hold down Johnny O'Bryant.  He had 16 points on 5 of 8 shooting and 14 rebounds against us.  Just a powerful guy in the paint.  6' 9", 262 lbs.  Donte Williams held his own last time out, almost matching O'Bryant's point production with 14 of his own. 

Kentavious was a 50 percent shooter, going 7 of 14 from the floor against LSU.  He always gives maximum effort, but he has started to wear down some, in my opinion, as the year has come to a close.  He was clicking on all cylinders middle of the season, but he went 27 for 80, right at 33 percent, the last 5 games.  Hope he is rested and ready to go today.

I think our guys step up.  We keep their short point guard Andre Stringer out of the paint, limit their second chance points, no easy baskets by O'Bryant, and our guys do enough to help KCP.  Dawgs by 8 today.

Still a Dawgs Fan

Proud of the team for beating Kentucky.  That almost never happens.

UK's team is no slouch, either.  They have some good athletes and have won 21 games on the year.  Calipari's team will make it to the tournament, especially since they rebounded from the loss to us and went out and beat Florida.

At the end of the day, however, Kentucky - Nerlens Noel = beatable team.  Since losing Noel to his knee injury, Kentucky has gone 4 and 4.  They'll go to the NCAA's, but I doubt they do much.

The silver lining for Calipari is that there isn't a sure-fire one and done guy on his roster.  He may actually have talented sophomores next year.  Bring a healthy Noel back, add in their all-world recruiting class and--   let's just say I'm just glad we beat them this year.

After the victory over Kentucky, we lost the close one to Alabama.  I've said it before.  I don't like losing to Anthony Grant.  He's beaten us 5 times straight, I think.  Somehow, someway, he seems to have our number. 

We're having our third losing season out of four.  Not doing much on the court or on the recruiting trail.  Meanwhile, Grant just notched his third-straight 20-win season.  He has momentum and he's going to be around for a long time.  He's also our main competition for some of the blue-chip recruits we're targeting for 2014.

Bad enough that Grant out-athletes us.  Now he outlucks us to boot. 

Shouldn't have gotten down to luck or a last-second heave.  We needed to jump on them early, establish a lead and put pressure on them to score.  We had to have a good-shooting game from KCP and didn't get one.  We needed a good game from our bigs.  Didn't get that either. 

Alabama's Nick Jacobs is an Atlanta kid I hoped Fox could bring in.  He had 11 points on 3 of 5 shooting, 5 of 5 from the line.  He's just a sophomore and if he stays healthy, he could really blossom over the next couple of years.  Meanwhile, Dixon, Florveus, Donte and Cannon were a combined 2 of 5 in 51 minutes.  I really want those guys to step up.  They have enough talent, in my way of thinking, but for some reason, aren't quite playing to their potential.

Although Charles Mann had the late turnover, I am confident he will be a good player for Georgia.  Nemi had a solid outing and Brandon Morris showed that he can score the ball, shooting 4 of 5 from the floor and 2 of 2 from behind the arc.  If Morris can add an on-target outside shot to his driving ability, the sky's the limit for him.

Georgia ended its regular season at 15 and 16.  I wanted us to at least do better than .500.  Having a winning season would have been a morale boost after we started so poorly.  The good news is that we can still get into the NCAA's by winning the SEC tourney.  If KCP regains his form, Brandon Morris shoots well and we have scoring from one other guy, like Nemi or Kenny Gaines, it could happen.

A dose of good luck wouldn't hurt, either.  Here's rooting for a tornado!

Dawgs Beat UT

Once again, I missed the game, but for the first time this season, I got a prediction right.  What is that they say about a blind squirrel?  Ha!

Congratulations to Coach Fox, KCP and Kenny Gaines.  I understand that Charles Mann had a fantastic game.  He didn't shoot the ball well from the field, going 3 of 9, but he had 8 assists against 0 turnovers, nailed his free throws, and shut down the other guy.  That's what you want a point guard to do. 

I still believe that Mann will be one of UGA's best ever point guards by the time he leaves the program.

Jordan McRae was unconscious.  Dude had 35 points on 10 of 15 shooting overall, 8 of 11 from behind the arc and 7 of 7 from the line.  We couldn't stop him, but we limited Stokes' touches and ultimately did enough to get the win.

Can we win these next two?  I'm still waiting on Brandon Morris to have a huge outing.  He can get us 16 and 9.  When he gets confident, look out.  Maybe it'll happen against Kentucky.

I'm seriously going out on a limb here, but without Nerlens Noel, UK can be had.  Dawgs in a shocker over the Cats. 

Missed the Game Last Night

Glad I did.

Dawgs lose 63 to 62 to Vandy.  Don't see how we were able to blow a 17-point lead.

We're now 13 and 15, and chances for a .500 season are fading away.  Best I can tell from the various web sites, this one was a game in which we desperately needed our big men to step up.  KCP didn't shoot the ball well in the second half and had a late turnover.  Somehow the game got away from us.

Frustrating to see the box score from the Tech game.  They went up against a pretty good 19 and 8 Maryland squad which already had victories over #14 N.C. State and #2 Duke this season.  Tech won by 10.  Tech's Robert Carter had 19 points and 10 boards on 7 of 11 shooting.  Former UGA signee (and possible Mark Fox cast-off) Daniel Miller had 16 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.  Miller has blocked 200 shots in just three years.

It's hard to go into Vandy's gym and come away with a victory, but they're not very good this year and we needed the win. 

Maybe this guy can help

Georgia seems to be losing its edge late in ball games.

I'm not looking forward much to next season, primarily because KCP is likely to bolt for the pro's this summer.  But if he does come back, Georgia should be a stronger team offensively.  Kenny Gaines, Brandon Morris and Charles Mann will be a year older.  And the two incoming recruits are pretty decent scorers.

With better offensive execution and more discipline in the fourth quarter, Georgia will be able to close out games better.  Would make a huge difference in our season.  We're 12 and 14 on the year, but four of our losses were by four or fewer points.  If we had won just those, we'd be 16 and 10 and the whole season would feel different.

Disciplined Player

Dawgs Robbed in Mississippi

Best game of the year, by far.  UGA loses by 10 to Ole Miss in overtime.

Would have liked to see Kenny Gaines start the second half.  I think he earned it.  Gaines was on a roll at the end of the first half and had scored 8 points on 3 of 4 shooting.

Since Marshall Henderson had three fouls and he wasn't quick enough to guard Gaines, I would have gone right after Henderson by isolating Gaines in the post or on the wing.

Fox has to recognize that you have to go with the hot hand.  Yanking Gaines out after good plays and letting him sit until the second half is half over won't get it done.  Gaines went in somewhere around the 10:00 mark and hit two quick buckets.  He could have done that earlier had he started after intermission.

The story of the game was that Georgia set up an alley-oop play at the end of regulation.  Djurisic threw the ball in and Donte Williams caught it and laid it off the glass.  He was undercut by an Ole Miss player who also fouled Williams up top.  The referees didn't call it.  That play was just the most egregious biased call of the night.  There were plenty of others.  They shot 36 free throws and we only got 19.

Hard to fault the Dawgs on this one, though.  We had 8 players shoot at least 50 percent from the floor.   Gaines finished the night with 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting, and 2 rebounds in just 18 minutes.  Sherrard Brantley missed two three-pointers and went 0 for 2 from the field.  KCP shot 7 for 19.  Not his best shooting night, but he still finished the contest with 19 points and 12 boards.

Other than the substitution patterns, Mark Fox seemed to call a good game.  We'll have a tough finish to the season since we have away games at Alabama, Vandy and Arkansas, and we still have to play Kentucky.

We're now 6 and 6 in the SEC and 12 and 13 overall. 

Dawgs Lose to Tide

Well, we lost by 7.  I'm okay with that, though.  Not happy about it, but just okay. 

Earlier in the year I had high expectations.  I figured that if Thornton came back healthy and Fox put Gaines, Morris and KCP on the floor at the same time, we might do some damage.

We were terrible at the beginning of the season and then I wasn't sure if we would beat anybody.  Wonder of wonders we got to the middle of the season and won 5 straight.  I knew we were playing the SEC's worst teams, but I thought we might develop some confidence and manage a break-even season.

Welll, Georgia is at 6 and 5 in the SEC and we're at .500 on the season overall.  We may still make it into the NIT.  Right now we're in the top half of the SEC.  Sure, it's a down year for the conference, but we were in last place not too long ago.  Sadly to say that after being a homer for so long, I am now a disappointed realist. 

At any rate I didn't expect us to beat Alabama.  I hoped that we would since they beat us in football.  But the fact remains that the Bama hoops squad is a notch better than South Carolina and Texas A&M. 

At some point we'll have to break through against Anthony Grant's team.  He beat us this year at home, last year at home (2011/2012) and twice the year before (2010/2011).  The issue is that he's a good recruiter and he is developing a better record than Fox as the two coaches go head to head and make the pitch to Atlanta-area recruits.

My main beef with the loss last night is that I don't understand why Kenny Gaines cannot get more minutes.  He got 8 tonight.  We are an offense-challenged team and he played well during our winning streak.  Was he hurt? 

Watch.  After KCP leaves next year, Gaines is going to get major minutes and display his talent.  Some people are going to praise Fox for "developing Gaines."  The truth is that Kenny can play now.  A good coach adjusts his system to his talent.  Fox is doing just the opposite.  The end result is that we can't score the basketball.

Maybe I missed something since I couldn't watch the game on t.v.

KCP had another great game.  The ESPN box score had him initially with a double-double, 22 points and 10 boards, but I later saw that the official numbers had him with 8 rebounds total.  Hopefully, the team will somehow ride his coattails and finish the season with a flourish.

KCP on a Tear

Just looked at the stats for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope over the last five games.

KCP shot 63 percent (!) from the field, 55 percent from behind the arc, and 80 percent from the line.  He averaged 20.1 points per game.

He also snagged 7 bds an outing and got 1 steal per game over the same period.

Georgia has gone 4 and 1 during this stretch and KCP is obviously the reason.  Pretty amazing performance.

Meanwhile, Kentavious continues to rise up the charts in just about every SEC statistical category for the 2012/2013 season.

Category                            Average                    Rank

Scoring                              17.8                            2nd
3-ptrs made                         2.5                            2nd
3-pt pct                              38.4                           4th
Steals                                   2.2                           2nd
Free Throw pct                  78.7                           4th
Field goal pct                     46.5                           4th
Defensive rebounds             5.4                            3rd
Minutes played                   33.4                           3rd

If KCP's recent performance were stretched out over the entire season, he would be #1 in scoring, #1 in field goal percentage, #1 in three-point percentage, #1 in three-pointers made, and #4 in free throw percentage.  Of course he can't go back and re-play the earlier games, and at some point he'll likely hit a wall if he keeps playing just about every minute of every game.  However, if he avoids injury and somehow keeps going the way he is, he could arguably have the best SEC season ever for a UGA hoops player, and maybe for the entire league.

Songs from the Dawgs?

Wow.  I loved today's article from the AJC.

Sound of Music

Just in case the AJC ever gets rid of the link, here's a quote:

As soon as coach Mark Fox stepped inside the door on the lower-level concourse, he was engulfed in a sea of black jerseys who jumped up and down as they chanted something that sounded like “yeet, yeet, yeet!” Moments later, that noise morphed into a rendition of the school fight song, “Glory to Old Georgia.” Only this was an abbreviated, rap-style version. The celebration was finished with some loud, timed applause.

The message: The Bulldogs are starting to get this basketball business down, and they’re thoroughly enjoying it.

“We’re feeling good,” said Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who led the Bulldogs with 19 points. “There’s a lot of confidence going around. We’re helping each other and picking each other up. Everybody’s stepping up every night now.”

Asked about the musical postlude, Caldwell-Pope laughed and grinned wide.

“We’re just re-mixing a little bit,” he said. “We’ve got Houston Kessler providing a little beat box and Kenny Gaines singing for us. We’re just singing and having fun.”

Houston Kessler beat-boxing?  Are U kiddin' me?

Maybe anything is possible in this season.  Heck, if they can sing, perhaps they might find a way to get invited to the Big Dance.

Woo-Hoo! Dawgs Win! Gaines Gets PT.

UGA beats South Carolina in Columbia.  Final score:  67 to 56

I missed most of today's game and I missed the Auburn game, too.  However, from the little bit I caught of today's action, it's apparent that Coach Fox has finally seen fit to give Kenny Gaines substantial playing time (24 minutes).  Bravo!  He even played Gaines and KCP at the same time.  Together on the floor with Mann!  Amazing.

Now, if he would just put Brandon Morris at the 4 position and slide Donte over to center.  That line-up would be the starting five that I thought we would have before the season began.  Guys who can catch and finish in the post, guards who can put the ball on the floor and drive.  Players who can advance the ball against the press.

In the pre-season I thought that UGA would be good enough to maybe get into the top five in the SEC.  Needless to say, I was disappointed with with the fact that we started out of the gates poorly and then lost to Georgia Tech and Florida.  Ugghh.  I hate losing to those guys in anything.

Given our early season losses, I figured that Fox was set on his line-up.  If he hadn't seen enough during the practices and the Italy trip to figure out the relative strengths of the players on his roster, then I didn't see much hope for the SEC calendar.  However, here we stand today at 4 and 4.  Sure, the SEC is weak this year, but so were a good number of the teams we played prior to the SEC part of the schedule.  The difference, in my humble opinion, is that KCP is playing a lot better, and Fox is starting to put his most talented guys on the floor. 

A lot of fans called for Kenny Gaines to get more minutes.  We were so bad before at scoring the basketball that we were hard to watch.  Playing Gaines could hardly hurt the team.  We desperately needed more offensive production.  In fact, I wrote earlier in the season that I was "calling Gaines out."  But in fairness to him, Gaines can only perform to the extent that he is allowed to play. 

Fox had insisted on making Gaines back up KCP, which is a losing proposition for Kenny.  Now that KG finally got major minutes, he has shown to the fans and to the coaching staff what he can do.  Having been inserted into the starting line-up for the second half of the South Carolina game also proves that he and KCP can be on the floor at the same time.

It's not hard to figure out.  Putting guys that can drive the basket on the floor makes the whole team more efficient.  Against the Gamecocks, it worked.  We 'bout had 4 guys to score in double figures (KCP had 19, Gaines had 11 and so did Charles Mann--  John Cannon had 8).  As it stands, our four top scorers for the game all shot 50 percent or better from the floor. 

Best game of the year, in my opinion.  Shucks, we may indeed finish the year in the top, rather than the bottom, third of the SEC.  Right now we're number six, so if we can keep the streak going a few games longer, the team will develop a lot more confidence. 

KCP for Heisman!

Complete game for the Dawgs in the win over Texas A&M.  Wow, it sure does feel good to get the W.

Congrats, too, to Coach Fox.  He mixed in a little press, gave Kenny Gaines a few more minutes, and kept his guys from letting the game get away late in the second half. 

I'm not a Larry Conley fan.  Not by a long stretch.  But he was right on target in his commentary that Kentavious is probably more valuable to his team than any other player in the SEC.  We might have won a couple of games this season without KCP, but just a couple.  Kentavious plays great defense, gets the team out on the break, rebounds the ball and this year has really increased his shooting percentage. 

I can't think of any shooting guard that Georgia has ever had that brings more to the table than KCP.  Kentavious is averaging 17 points and 6 boards a game and shooting a respectable 42 percent from the field.  He also gets 2 assists and 2.5 steals per game.

In the last ten years we've had designated three-point shooters like Ricky McPhee who also did pretty well on the defensive end.  Gerald Robinson could drive on anybody, but he was more of a second point guard.  Corey Butler played some at the two-guard, but he was a defensive ace, rather than a scorer.  Billy Humphrey could shoot, but he had hobbled wheels for a portion of his career, and I don't remember him rebounding the ball much.

Levi Stukes was a shooting guard in a point guard's body.  Ezra Williams could shoot, but he didn't have much of a mid-range game.  Jarvis Hayes was more of a small forward.  D.A. Layne could score, but see my description of Levi Stukes above.

You'd have to go back to the era of Shandon and Willie Anderson to find Georgia's last big athletic two-guards, guys who could score, defend and rebound.  But even then, the Anderson brothers were more scorers than shooters.  If Kentavious is not the best ever UGA two-guard, then he's close.  If basketball had a Heisman, KCP would get my vote.

Stopped Watching (Again)

We have 4 points in the second half, they have 21 and they're looking to totally blow us out.

We can't launch it from three all the time and expect to win.  The first half was fool's gold and I knew it.  The defensive clamp-down was coming.  Once the second half began and they did a better job at double-teaming KCP, we couldn't score. 

The most maddening thing is that here we are struggling offensively, and Kenny Gaines hits a pull-up three.  Instead of feeding the guy and seeing if he has the hot hand, Fox immediately pulls him. 

Meanwhile, Vincent Williams and Sherrard Brantley get a lot more minutes and they can't drive the ball to the basket and aren't hitting from outside either. 

Doesn't Fox get it?  We can't score if we can't handle the ball and get shot attempts. 

Against the press we need ball-handlers.  They go with a three-guard line-up continually.  Therefore match up with them. 

As bad as we're playing, the stats show that we are shooting the same percentage that they are.  We have the same number of free throws, at least right now.  We're even staying pretty close in rebounding. 

The difference is that we have 3x as many turnovers.  Play Brandon Morris and Kenny Gaines along with KCP and Charles Mann and we'd break their press.  Keep Donte Williams against Patric Young and match Morris against Murphy.   

Tired of losing by twenty points.

Dawgs Beat LSU!

Feels good to win one.  We hit our free throws and had some good defensive stops when we needed 'em.  Final score:  UGA 67, LSU 58.

We're not an elite team, but maybe we'll improve during the year.  Good to see Donte Williams show some signs of life out there.  If he can get us 14 and 5 every night, UGA can beat some of the teams on our schedule. 

KCP filled up the box score with 22 points, 5 assists, 6 steals and 3 rebounds.

Sounds like we'd better beat LSU while we can.  They'll be a lot better next year.  Tough to hear that LSU is bringing in three top-100 players next year, when we don't have any.   

Speaking of LSU players, I hope the guy for LSU that got injured there at the end turns out to be okay.

We're 7 and 10 on the year.  We need to go on some type of win streak.  Let's practice this week against the press because teams will be using that against us all year.

KCP Has Fixed His Form

Bravo. 

I don't know if anyone else noticed, but Kentavious used to let his elbow flare out to the right on his release.  That action created a rightward spin on the ball which caused the ball either to drift to the right or twirl out of the bucket.  I mentioned it before the season as an area for improvement, and you can see it on the Georgiadogs.com video I linked back on August 2, 2012.

Now, he's keeping his elbow tucked, and consequently his shooting percentage will go way up.

I first spotted the change in his form when he was shooting free throws (I think it was in the first half).  Great work.

Since I started this post, KCP has hit 3 more contested jump-shots.  He ended the game shooting 10 of 14 from the field, averaging 71 percent, by far his highest shooting percentage for any game (his career shooting average is 39 percent).

Great to Win One!

I know some will say that we ought to beat Mercer.  And we should.

But getting it done takes execution.  We had just enough today.  UGA wins 58 to 49.

There were a few good signs. 

1)  We hit our free throws. 

We went 13 of 16 (81%).

2)  Fox used his roster more effectively

Shooting free throws well is good.  But to hit'em, you gotta get'em.  In other words, we're not going to go to the line if we just pass the ball around the perimeter.  We have to attack the basket so we can get fouled in the first place.  Charles Mann will do that.  About time he got the start.  Brandon Morris will do that.  Better to give Morris major minutes than to trot Marcus Thornton out there on bad wheels.  John Florveus got some key minutes.

3)  Shot selection was better

We attempted 44 shots from the field.  Only 12 were three-pointers.  That's huge.  Nemi didn't take any long-distance tries.  If we shoot the three off of the drive and kick action, then we're more likely to make them.  We hit 7 of 12. 

4)  KCP was Huge

Guy had 17 points, 9 boards and 3 steals, while shooting 5 of 10 from the floor and 5 of 6 from the line.

There were a couple of concerns, however.  We will need buckets from Cannon, Morris and Donte Williams.  If those three go a combined 0 for 6 against decent competition, UGA will more than likely lose the game.  Besides that, fifteen turnovers is way high. 

All in all, though, a good result for the Dawgs.  We're now 3 and 7.  Let's go on a streak.  It's not too late.