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.

Willie Anderson Honored

Willie Anderson was named as one of the Allstate SEC Basketball Legends class of 2012. As part of the Basketball Legends process, the SEC names one player from each team and highlights their contributions during the SEC basketball tournament, which this year will be played March 8 to 11 in New Orleans.

The SEC press release gives a short paragraph on each legend.

GEORGIA – Willie Anderson, Guard, 1985-88

Willie Anderson arrived at Georgia in 1984 as a skinny, 6-foot-7 kid with no true position to play. Head coach Hugh Durham eventually tried him at point guard, where he blossomed into every opponent’s worst nightmare. Twice Anderson made the All-SEC first team (1987 and 1988) leading the 1987 team to an improbable NCAA Tournament berth. Despite hardly playing as a freshman, he finished his career with 1,350 points, which currently ranks 16th on Georgia’s list of all-time scorers. Anderson brought the international spotlight to Georgia when he made the 1988 U.S. Olympic basketball team. He later went on to score nearly 7,000 points during an NBA career that spanned 11 seasons.

Alex Anderson signs to play in Tel Aviv

Alex Anderson, daughter of UGA's own Willie Anderson, and niece of Georgia's Shandon Anderson, has signed to play basketball in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Alex Anderson played in the Atlanta area for Redan High School, where she lettered for 4 years in basketball, 3 years in volleyball, and 2 years as the high jumper on the school's track team. Anderson averaged 10 points and 7 rebounds per game in her senior year for a Redan team that went 24 and 4 on the year.

Anderson signed to play her college ball with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Although Anderson started her freshman year with an average of just 5 points per game, by the time of her junior year, Anderson became an offensive star.

Anderson averaged 21 points, 10 rebounds and 52% shooting from the floor during her junior year. She was named Southern Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year, and was the MVP of the Southern Conference Tournament.

Anderson's scoring average dipped slightly in her senior year, 2008, but she still averaged 17 points a game and almost 10 rebounds. Anderson was again named the Conference's Player of the Year and Tournament MVP.

On May 28, 2008, Anderson was selected to be the Southern Conference's Female Athlete of the year.

Congratulations, Alex!

Southern Classic Roundball Invitational

is set for this weekend.

Might sound a little bit like a UGA basketball reunion. Damien Wilkins, Shandon and Willie Anderson, Adrian Jones and others are reportedly participating. Former UGA coach, Jim Harrick, is supposed to be there, ostensibly as coach of a team from the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Games will be played at Life University.

A few Dawgs are on the list of the 66

pairs of brothers who both played in the NBA. The article below is entitled "Hermanos y Leyendas," which means "Brothers and Legends" in English.

Even if we slept through our high school Spanish classes and cannot read the article, everybody can see the names at the bottom of the article where the former Dawgs are listed.

The Brothers Gasol, who look remarkably alike, will be the 66th pair. It's ironic that Marc Gasol will apparently be signing with the Memphis Grizzlies. Weren't they the team that got robbed when they traded away his older brother, Pau, to the Los Angeles Lakers? Since Marc was the MVP of the Spanish League, he might help the Grizzlies to recover.

If you make a mistake, I guess life sometimes gives you another chance, or at least something that looks like it.

http://www.marca.com/edicion/marca/baloncesto/nba/es/desarrollo/1143161.html