“It’s ridiculous,” Fox said. “You can skew statistics in any way you want. … I realize that in November Georgia was not an at-large team, but the Georgia team right now is pretty damn good! We’ve got more work to do before we can realistically argue that, but if you just rely on numbers you can make any case that you want.”He's right that this team has steadily improved over the course of the season. Georgia is playing tournament quality basketball right now.
The problem is that November matters. Fox tends to treat non-conference play as sandbox mode where the outcome doesn't mean anything. He plays with bizarre rotations and he tends to give out minutes to guys who have not earned them. This results in losses (see: Charleston).
Every Georgia fan knew coming into this season that Mann and Gaines were the key for this team, yet he refused to ride them during non-conference play. Instead, we saw Kenny Paul Geno, Juwan Parker, John Cannon, and Taylor Echols playing critical minutes in losses to bad teams like Davidson and Temple.
The philosophy has to change next year. Mann, Gaines, and Morris will all be juniors, and Georgia can ride them to the tournament if Fox lets them. But it has to start in game 1.
None of this will stop Fox from trying to sell his team (nor should it):
“If we went to the finals of the tournament, for instance, and we get second place in the regular season and second place in the tournament, you’re telling me that the second-place team in this league doesn’t belong in the NCAA tournament? I think there would be a realistic argument for us.”Maybe so, Mark, but your final point is the best:
“But if we get to the championship game, you might as well win it.”Indeed.
h/t AJC
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