Snakebit!

Sounds like a bad movie.  Looks like one, too.

Last week we got the report that Turtle Jackson had committed.  Had me excited.  I should have known bad news was coming.  I felt something in my bones.  I thought it might have been the rheumatism.  Nope.  Worse. UGA basketball.

Sure enough our collective hopes are jarred once again.  This time, it's the arrest of Brandon Morris.  The AJC reports that he was arrested for felony possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

We can harp on "overzealous Athens Clarke County police" if we want, but you can't absolve players just because they're players.  Guys have to take responsibility.

Consider the record over the last few years:

2007:  Takais Brown, Mike Mercer and Albert Jackson were suspended for class attendance issues.
2008:  Billy Humphrey suspended for underage drinking.
2008:  Billy Humphrey dismissed
2010:  Albert Jackson arrested for hit and run of parked car.
2012:  Donte Williams arrested for possession at Lenox Square Mall.
2014:  J.J. Frazier arrested for driving without a license.

I could go on.  I chose three incidents from the Fox tenure, and three from Felton's.  I chose three Athens law enforcement arrests, two from the Atlanta area, and one student discipline matter.

I know that UGA football also has bizarre arrests and problems, but the margin for error with basketball's thirteen-scholarship limit is so small.  The impact is much greater when a basketball player gets in trouble.

I could talk about untimely injuries and all sorts of admission matters that impact hoops recruitment (like the Charles Mitchell situation), but you get the point.  Every year, it's something.

That's how life goes when you're snakebit.

 

Wonder if we'll ever see a post move

like this one from our bigs?

JP

Guess that's why I wanted Fox to recruit this guy.

Baby JP

So disappointing to hear him say that "I felt the love at Maryland so that's where I went."  I guess we didn't try to show him the love in Athens.  Did we even bring him to campus?

Kenny Gaines Goes Off

Had an explosive 37 points, 12 boards, 5 steals and 3 blocks against Southwest Atlanta Christian.

Gaines


Gaines is as athletic a 2 guard as UGA has had in a while. Georgia should be better on the perimeter next year, with Charles Mann and Kenny Gaines playing at the 1 and 2 spots and KCP at the three.

The question is whether one of our posts will step up to complement Donte Williams. If Florveus or Cannon really improve their skill levels and add 20 pounds of muscle in the off-season, then Georgia might be okay. It would be nice to add Tony Parker or Charles Mitchell underneath, but if they are unavailable, then I think we should sign Tevin Glass, who reminds me a bit of Terrance Woodbury.

The goal here should be to get as deep and talented a roster as possible. Those guys we don't get, we miss out on. We have to live to fight another day. Georgia would go two-deep on the wing, with Glass and Brandon Morris, two-deep at shooting guard with KCP and Gaines, and then Vincent Williams and Charles Mann would handle the point.

Charles Mitchell Scores Big

Guy had 30 and 12 against Milton. Great production for Wheeler High's senior center.

Milton ended up winning the game, going on a scoring binge while Mitchell rested during the third quarter.

Hope we can get Mitchell. If not, then let's get the best player available. Isn't it Tevin Glass?

Wheeler vs. Milton

Georgia Loses to Kentucky

On the positive side, our big men played okay. Donte Williams was 4 of 6. Nemi shot the ball effectively, going 4 of 9 from the floor and 2 of 3 from behind the arc. Nemi also battled for rebounds. I would have liked to have seen some production from Marcus Thornton and John Florveus, but it didn't happen this game.

Our guards were not that hot. Gerald Robinson was 3 of 14, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was 3 of 12. I was proud of Dustin Ware for driving the ball to the basket. He needs to do that 3 or 4 times a game to keep people from so closely contesting his three-pointers. He shot 5 of 12 from the floor and actually hit a couple of floaters/layups against Kentucky's players. Of course you have to credit Kentucky's defense. Calipari is an elite recruiter. He has guards that are tall, a full bench and Anthony Davis in the middle.

To have a chance against Kentucky, our guys had to defend well and shoot lights out from the mid-range and three-point distance. We ended up shooting 33 percent from the field, 33 percent from the line, and 28 percent from behind the arc. Kentucky, on the other hand, shot in the 40's from the floor and from three-point range.

May feel better tomorrow but as it stands for now, I don't like where Georgia basketball is headed. We're 11th out of 12 teams in the SEC with a 1 and 5 conference record. We are 10 and 10 overall on the year. I don't see us getting significantly better in the near future, and unless recruiting picks up, we will not get much better next year either.

Hopefully, I'm wrong. We still have a shot at Tony Parker and Charles Mitchell. If Fox can recruit an elite low post scorer or even a solid big guy we can right the ship. As far as this year is concerned, I'd like to see Georgia move at least into the middle of the SEC, so we'll need to make sure we win against South Carolina and Auburn and some of the lower to mid-tier teams.

Charles Mitchell

I saw that courtcred.com has a video of the entire SW Dekalb vs. Wheeler game.

Charles Mitchell did a nice job. He went head to head with Shaq Goodwin and Mitchell put up 24 points with 11 boards. Mitchell has pretty good touch and a big body. As I have said before, he reminds me of Jeremy Price.

Since Georgia desperately needs a low post scorer, I'd like to see the Dawgs sign Mitchell. Let's get it done.

Mitchell