Sunday, December 7, 2008

Dawgs Lose to Illinois

Nothing to say about this one. The team had a "players only" meeting after the game. Might be the only positive from a 34-point loss.

I was not expecting Georgia to win any of the games in this 3-game stretch. Western Kentucky, Illinois and Virginia Tech are pretty tough teams to face this early in the season, especially since Georgia is so young at the point guard position.

However, I was expecting Georgia to show up in all of the games. Defend, take reasonable care of the ball. When other teams end the game on a 22 to 0 run, that's just unacceptable.

With that said, as bad as the Illinois loss was, Georgia has a long season ahead. I don't want to assume that we will continue to lose indefinitely. Not before we have a chance to play the games. Expecting a loss here and there is one thing. Giving up is another.

Anybody remember the movie, "Facing the Giants?" It was a sports movie put out by a church down in Albany, Georgia. If I'm Coach Felton, I pull the team together and have them watch it.

Facing the Giants is the story of a coach in his sixth year. The team is playing poorly. His best player transfers, and the team's expectations hit rock bottom. I won't say anything more, just in case you haven't seen the movie, but there are some obvious parallels between the movie and UGA's basketball experience. There are some obvious differences, too. But that's why the team should see the movie. I'll stop there.

The point that I was trying to get to was that there was a line in the movie about how our attitudes and actions follow our beliefs.

The worst thing that could happen now is for UGA's basketball team to give up on the season. They must compete. Must continue to fight. Must not quit. It's bigger than just basketball.

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