Colorado: post mortem

Was it a masterpiece?  No.  Was it a huge win for Georgia?  Yes.  If Colorado can just be the same team they were last year, this is a resume builder.

In many ways, this was like Georgia playing itself from 2 years ago.  Colorado just couldn't score, and a 7 minute scoring drought in which they were outscored 16-0 ultimately did them in.  They passed and passed and passed, but they never got great looks, and when they did, they rarely went in.

That Georgia is not suffering these same droughts should be credited to Fox and to the veterans on the team.  It's not always pretty, but the Dawgs just chug away.

Some more thoughts:

• The post defense, especially out of Thornton, was fantastic pretty much all night.  Josh Scott got his, but most of his damage was done when the game was, if not out of reach, pretty well in hand.
• Along those lines, much of what gives me the most hope that things just might be different with this year's Bulldogs is the fact that the game never really felt in doubt for the entire second half.  Even when things got sloppy at the end and Colorado (to their credit) clawed within 6, it was more irritating than scary.
• Part of that is because J.J. Frazier kept hitting big shots.  Both of his threes down the stretch came at really big moments.
• Speaking of threes, Marcus Thornton had another one and Charles Mann had two.  I'm not sure that's something we can count on every night, but I'll take it.
• The loss of Kenny Gaines is scary.  This is a team with very little margin for error.  Georgia might survive at the offensive end, but the loss of Gaines' defensive presence is daunting.  The game felt different after he left, and you may recall the debacle against Vanderbilt last season was played without Gaines in the lineup.
• Tough night for Yante Maten.  It didn't cost the team, so shake it off and move on to the next one.
• Nemi's pump and baseline drive down the stretch may have been the biggest bucket of the game.  The maturation of his offensive skillset has been fun to watch the last few years.  He will have a nice career in Europe if he wants it.
• I'll keep mentioning it as long as it's true:  the hole at small forward is just glaring.  There will be a freshman starting there next season, and it will be a huge upgrade.
• 8 assists and 14 turnovers represents some regression for Georgia, but they're still getting good looks most trips down the court, so I'd be remiss if I complained just yet.
• I was a little surprised they didn't allow folks to move down into the lower bowl today.  It was a small-ish but spirited crowd, and it would have been a perfect game to give that a test run.  There were several hundred folks in the upper deck.
• Nice contingent from Colorado, too.  Not sorry you lost, but I hope you enjoyed Athens!

 This was a big one.  So is the next one.  Get healthy, Kenny.