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.

D.A. Layne Organizes Basketball Game

Derek Anthony Layne was a 6-foot point guard/scoring guard for UGA. Joining the team in 1998, Layne was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team.

Layne declared for the draft after his sophomore year, but did not hire an agent. He returned for his junior year, after which he declared again, and hired an agent, thereby foregoing his senior season.

Layne averaged 16 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists over his 3-year career. He was the all-time school leader in 3-pointers made, and ranked 9th in career scoring.

Although Layne was not drafted by the NBA, he had a relatively long career playing overseas. As I recall, Layne last played in Colombia, South America.

He returned to the States a few years ago and is now looking to form a sports agency.

Layne recently began thinking about having a reunion game to bring together former players at Marietta's Wheeler High School. Layne communicated with some of the players and they were enthusiastic about the idea. The game was held Friday, August 1, 2008. Professional athletes Shareef Abdul Rahim, Jemareo Davidson and J.J. Hickson participated.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/sports/highschool/stories/2008/07/31/hsspotlight.html

Since I'm not sure how long the AJC article will be available, here's a similar article from the Marietta Daily Journal.

http://www.mdjonline.com/content/index/showcontentitem/area/2/section/13/item/113902.html

And here is the article that details how the game turned out.

http://www.mdjonline.com/content/index/showcontentitem/area/2/section/13/item/116006.html

Good event. Good job, D.A.