Dawgs to Face Tennessee

Tennessee is playing pretty well right now, having rattled off 6 victories in a row since they lost to us in Knoxville.  They're now 17 and 10 on the year.  UT beat Florida in their last game, so now is not the best time to be facing the Volunteers.  At least we'll have home-court advantage.

We'll likely have a hard time handling Stokes down in the post.  Big guy, good hands.  He's 6' 8" and 270 pounds--  the kind of build that Mark Fox dislikes.  I wish Fox would recruit some of the football-player types.  Nothing against any of our guys, but tall and skinny doesn't work out too well in the SEC.  Not unless you have a lot of quickness and can hit the outside shot.  Our returning post players need to be seriously hitting the weights during the off-season.

In the meantime, let's play hard today, double-team Stokes and make his touches difficult.  He had 16 points and 11 boards against us on 4 of 6 shooting in our last contest.

Jordan McRae is definitely coming on.  He had 27, 23 and 34 points in his last three games.  Anybody know if we tried to recruit him?  McRae is a 6' 5" player with a good jumpshot, hailing from southeast Georgia. 

If memory serves me, I think we did try to bring in Trae Golden.  When Golden is on his game, he's a handful.

We need to win tomorrow's game since we close the year with Kentucky and Alabama.  Surpassing .500 in the regular season is a realistic goal for our squad, but we'll have to win two of three to do it.

No Pearl, No Problem?

Bruce Pearl won't be in town when the Volunteers face off against the Dawgs.

According to some of Tennessee's players, they won't need Pearl's motivation. They were humbled last year at the Steg and now they want revenge.

UGA vs. UT

Dawgs hand it to them, same score.

Trae Golden commits to UT

Hats off to Bruce Pearl on this latest commitment. He and his staff have recruited the state of Georgia well.

UGA had a shot with Golden. In the end, we couldn't quite get it done.

Trae Bien!

Looks like the Dawgs are in very good shape for the recruitment of Trae Golden.

Golden Opportunity

The Dawgs will have some options at the guard position if Trae comes to town in 2010.

Vincent Williams will be a sophomore and Dustin Ware, a junior. They should be slotted to hold down the the point guard position. Trae would play some point, as would Gerald Robinson, the transfer who will be initially eligible that season.

Robinson and Golden could slide over to the shooting guard position. Ebuka Anyaorah, assuming he fully recovers from last season's surgery, will be available at the 2-guard, as will Demario Mayfield.

Sounds like we should have some guys who can distribute and some who can score. The question remains: are they good enough to play well against SEC competition?

2010 Guards Going Fast

So reports Dave Telep.

Good article from Scout.

I'd like to see Georgia start to get early commitments from talented basketball players. Gerald Robinson, a tranfer, is technically UGA's first player for the 2010 class, but I'm unaware of any other guys that are close to committing to UGA.

Maybe there will be some good news soon on the basketball recruiting front.

Trae Golden Likes Kentucky

Hard to say if Calipari will like Golden. Since Golden has slipped down in the rankings pretty significantly, UK fans will probably insist that Calipari use his roster spots for higher-rated players.

Lexington-bound, perhaps?

Trae Golden and Jalen Kendrick

I'm realistic about priorities and the schedule. So I'm not entirely surprised that Mark Fox has not gotten around to calling Trae Golden and Jalen Kendrick yet. It seems logical that the new staff is fully engaged trying to get a back-up point guard for 2009.

I'm also logical about priorities. High on the list for new coach Mark Fox has to be getting a great class for 2010. And the great news is that Trae Golden and Jalen Kendrick are waiting to be called. The Red and Black gauged the interest of two of the top in-state players for 2010. Both Golden and Kendrick are feeling positive about UGA.

Let's call them today and get our class for 2010 set.

Trae Golden Speaks

Trae Golden is an awfully important recruit for Georgia. Since UGA did not recruit a point guard for the 2009 class, it would be "courting disaster" to not get someone good for 2010.

Golden was interviewed as part of his team's participation in the Tournament of Champions in Missouri.

Golden

Golden indicates that Georgia is in the mix for his services. Zac Swansey would be a senior then, and Dustin Ware would be a junior. Plenty of playing time for Golden to be "the man."

Derrick Favors Highlights

This is the YouTube video from the game at Kennesaw State between South Atlanta High and McEachern.

Favors looks bigger this year. Great hands and footwork. He had 32 for the game and South Atlanta won by one.

Trae Golden had a good game, too, with 25 points for McEachern.

I was a little bit hesitant to post the video, but I decided to get past it and put it up.

Favors and Golden

Trae Golden and McEachern against Favors and South Atlanta

Great match-up. South Atlanta edged McEachern.

Favors scored 34. Golden had 25, with 5 three-pointers.

Would love to get Favors in 2009 and Golden in 2010. Tall order, but it really would be a coup for Georgia.

Barn-Burner

ESPN Top 60 for 2010

ESPN has released their list of the top 60 high school basketball players for 2010.

A few athletes from Georgia were named, including Jalen Kendrick, Jordan McRae, and Trae Golden.

UGA recruit, Jason Morris, is on the list as well.

ESPN