South Carolina: post mortem

It will be important for the team - and the fanbase - not to overreact to this loss, and an almost certain loss on Tuesday night at Kentucky.  If South Carolina can scratch out a few more wins in conference, the fact that it was on the road will keep it from being a terrible loss.

Remember the discussion about who the team MVP is?  There's no more discussion.  It's Marcus Thornton.  This was the worst we've seen Georgia play since last year against Vanderbilt (at least).  For a team already thin due to injuries, the loss of Thornton is way too much to overcome:

• On paper this is going to look like a great win for South Carolina, but I'm not convinced they're particularly good.  On a night where Georgia was missing their leading scorer and rebounder and managed to shoot an unfathomable 22% from the field, the Gamecocks were only up 8 with 10 minutes to go.  It never felt like Georgia was going to make it a game, but had Gaines' 3-pointer dropped and cut it to 5, who knows?
• The 5-point possession right after that iced it, but I can't fault Mark Fox for getting himself rung up.  The officiating was...uneven, and I'm sure he was frustrated with his lack of options (and the play of those who were available).  Better to let it boil over in a game you're not going to win than in a more critical moment.
• Georgia needed one of the guards to play exceptionally well and they needed Yante Maten to eat up minutes (and shots) in the paint to have a chance without Thornton.  Neither of those things happened.
• The announcers kept trying to convince us that South Carolina was playing stifling defense, but Georgia defended itself pretty effectively tonight.  Without Thornton, there was no flow to the offense.  The ball rarely made it into the paint.  That meant the guards never had good looks from outside.  Most of the turnovers were just Georgia throwing the ball into traffic.
• Forte's lack of minutes was a little surprising.  Not that he would have made a difference in the result, but he certainly brings more to the table than Kessler or Iduwe right now.
• That's the worst offensive game we've seen from Kenny Gaines in a while.  Hopefully he can shake it off.
• Michael Carrera sure plays hard, but he's not all that talented.  Just a lot of desire.
• I have no idea why you'd let your child play for Frank Martin at this point.  No further comment on that.
• Georgia was actually decent on the boards against a good rebounding team.  If there was a bright spot, I suppose that was it.

Wipe it from the memory banks.  Go be competitive Tuesday night in Lexington, then come home ready to beat Tennessee.  Regardless of what happens in Rupp, this team is still alright.  Today showed just how razor thin the margin of error is, though.  There can't be any more injuries or setbacks, or things could start to spiral downward very quickly.

Game card: South Carolina

Opponent: South Carolina
Mascot:  Gamecocks
Primary color(s): Garnet and black
Record:  10-9 (1-6)
Best player:  Duane Notice
Line:  South Carolina -2.5

Why Georgia will win:  Because that's what Georgia does.  Shorthanded at Vanderbilt?  No problem.  So why not win shorthanded at South Carolina?  The Gamecocks are not super talented, and their strength is in their guards, so losing Thornton isn't the end of the world.  If Kenny Gaines or J.J. Frazier can keep the hot shooting going, Georgia will be fine.

Why Georgia will lose:  Let's not forget that this South Carolina team beat Iowa State.  They've also lost close games to Baylor, Florida, Auburn, Tennessee, and LSU.  Their strength is rebounding and defense, and Georgia will be without its leading scorer and rebounder.

What I think will happen:  This finally feels like too much.  On the road and (barely) 7 deep?  South Carolina wins 64-59.

What I hope will happen:

Another week, another injury

The hits keep on coming:

A worried Mark Fox said Tuesday night that his Georgia men's basketball team needed to get some players back. Instead it appears the team is losing another player, and a very key one.

Leading scorer and rebounder Marcus Thornton is likely out for Saturday's game at South Carolina because of a concussion, according to a source. Thornton sustained the injury when he was fouled during the first half of Tuesday's win over Vanderbilt.

Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2015/01/28/3555687_georgias-thornton-likely-to-miss.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

That's a big one.

The scoring, in this case, worries me less than the rebounding as South Carolina rebounds the ball pretty well.  Hopefully it's just one game and the Bulldogs can, once again, find a way.  Yante Maten, you're up.

If this team does make the tournament, an often maligned Mark Fox is going to deserve a lot of credit for holding things together.

h/t Seth Emerson

Enter the Matrix

Wednesday morning, perhaps without knowing it, you woke up into a world in which Georgia basketball is getting some national attention:

Nemanja Djurisic doesn't care to look into the future.  Georgia’s lanky 6-foot-8 forward only cares about here and now. He might be part of a Bulldog team that suddenly looks like a spoiler in the SEC, but that doesn’t mean Djurisic and his teammates have next week’s matchup with No. 1 Kentucky circled on their calendars.

“To be honest,” Djurisic said, “I didn’t even realize it’s two games away.”

Why would Georgia worry about a game against the nation’s top-ranked team? Because the Dawgs might actually be dangerous in the SEC.

So have you arrived when SI.com implies you can give the best team in the nation a run in their own gym?

Mark Fox, for one, wants everyone to slow their roll:

“I don’t think we’re playing anywhere near where we can,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “Some of our turnovers and struggles are my fault. But it’s a good win, and we beat a team that’s going to win its share of ball games.”

What I love about Fox's quote, and Djurisic's above, is the promise that the team isn't looking ahead and the acknowledgment that they haven't scratched the surface of their potential.  If Georgia had won 5 straight blowouts you could forgive them for peeking forward to Rupp, but reality says Columbia is going to be another battle.

What lies ahead for this team is a great unknown.  They could play to a 4 or 5 seed just as easily as they could play their way out of the tournament.  The players have bought in, though:

“I feel like we are going to change it,” Gaines said. “Coach Fox is a good coach. He always leads us in the right direction, so whenever he sees us falter in a certain area, he is sure to pick us up and we get it right.”

It's nice to hear all the right things.  Let's hope it's not just bluster.

Go read the whole article.  You may not learn much, but it's nice to see Georgia get a little love on a non-Georgia site, isn't it?

h/t Zac Ellis

Big12/SEC Challenge changes

Well this is interesting:

The Big 12/SEC Challenge is moving to one day at the end of January in an attempt to create more exposure for the annual event.

Yes, that's the middle of conference play.  Mark Fox is quoted in the article and sounds like he's in favor, which would make sense since his teams have a tendency to play better and better as the season wears on.

The change will certainly give the event some juice.  Quick, who won the event last year?  How about this year?  I didn't know either.  Pack it all into one day and it is at least a little more memorable.

h/t ESPN

Vanderbilt: post mortem

This team is interesting, is it not?

After every win, it's pretty easy to point to one or two reasons they were victorious.  Kenny Gaines won the first Vanderbilt game.  J.J. Frazier won the Mississippi State game.  Free throws (!) were the biggest factor in this one.

It's just as easy, though, to find a reason each win was more interesting than it had to be.  Last night it was 16 turnovers.  Against Mississippi State it was poor defensive rebounding.  Often it has just been a lack of execution from the free throw line.

I'm not kidding when I say a Georgia team that played a clean game could beat all but three or four teams in the country.  Unfortunately, they could lose to most of them too:

• The Tuesday night crowds have been underwhelming (not a new problem in Athens), but the students are doing their part.  Over 2,000 showed up again and they were in their seats early.
• Vanderbilt came to play.  To say they played really hard sounds cliche, but it's true.  They've lost some close games, and they wanted this one badly.
• The Commodores are going to be pretty good next year.  Pairing Damian Jones inside with a few kids that can flat out shoot is going to create a nightmare matchup for other SEC coaches.
• J.J. Frazier didn't quite have it, but that's ok when you have 4 other guys averaging 10+ points.  Tonight it was Thornton, Djurisic, and Gaines.  Saturday it might be Mann and Frazier.  Balance is beautiful.
• Seriously, don't even follow the ball when Georgia's on defense.  Just watch Kenny Gaines.  The fact that he consistently swats jumpers back over shooters' heads is remarkable.
• Another testament to his defense:  Riley LaChance and his 0 points.  That's the first time he's been held scoreless in college, and it may be the last.
• LaChance left his mask in the locker room at halftime, and a scrambling ballboy barely got it to him before the start of the second half.  Good hustle.
• Speaking of defense, Georgia was as tenacious as I've seen them all year for long stretches of the second half.  After Vanderbilt came out and splashed four straight shots, the Bulldogs tightened up and held the Commodores scoreless for almost 6 minutes.
• That same stretch included my favorite sequence of the game.  Kenny Gaines had the ball taken away from him by James Siakam and you could see him get mad.  He recovered in time to swat Fisher-Davis's layup out of bounds.  Then, after a Forte block, Kenny took the ball from Josh Henderson, brought it up, calmly stepped back, and buried a three.  The turnover woke him up, and he played really well the rest of the game.
• Cam Forte needs to eliminate the drive from his game.  For every time he shakes someone to the ground (and that was beautiful) or spins in the lane, there are at least one or two turnovers.  Other than that, though, don't change a thing.
• Actual sequence of events:  Up 14, I lean over and tell my mom, "This is where Georgia needs to learn to put teams away.  Score 4 or 5 more points and end the game."  Immediately after I say that, Fisher-Davis cans a pair of 3-pointers in 13 seconds and it's game on.  Sigh.
• Kevin Stallings really got under the skin of just about everyone in Stegeman Coliseum.  He was in the officials' ears all game long (I won't comment on the officiating).  The bench warning at the end was funny, and felt totally arbitrary, because he had been on the court all night.

Just keep winning.  A better team could worry about style points.  Saturday in Columbia is going to be tough; just another day in the reborn SEC.

The situation

The Numbers

CBSSports RPI:  25

ESPN BPI:  21

CBS Bracketology:  7 seed

ESPN Bracketology:   9 seed

 
The Resume
 

Good Wins:  Stony Brook, @Colorado, Seton Hall, @Kansas State, Florida, Ole Miss

Bad Losses:  @Georgia Tech

The Schedule

Potential Top 50 Wins:  Ole Miss, Kentucky (twice), Tennessee, Texas A&M, Alabama

Potential Bad Losses:  Vanderbilt, Auburn, Missouri

What It All Means

The path to the tournament becomes a lot clearer after two straight wins.  Georgia added another good win to the resume with a victory over an Ole Miss team that I think is about to run off a lot of wins.  They also avoided a potential bad loss at Mississippi State.

There are really only three or four games left on the schedule that could turn into bad losses, including the one tonight.  If the Dawgs can find 6 more wins and avoid at least 2 of the bad losses, they will almost certainly be dancing, and if the season ended today, they'd absolutely be in.

Game card: Vanderbilt

Opponent:  Vanderbilt
Mascot:  Commodores
Primary color(s):  Black and gold
Record:  11-8 (1-5)
Best player:  Damian Jones
Line:  Georgia -7

Why Georgia will win:  They just beat Vanderbilt on the road in Nashville, so surely they can handle business at home.  J.J. Frazier is nuclear hot, and the scoring is so spread out it's going to be a matter of the Commodores picking their poison.  Stegeman Coliseum continues to be a very difficult place for road teams to get wins.

Why Georgia will lose:  Vanderbilt has lost 1 in a row to Georgia, but they've still won 7 of the last 8.  Riley LaChance was fantastic in Nashville, and had Damian Jones not disappeared Vanderbilt probably would have won the game.  Georgia is unlikely to slow Jones down again.  He's too good.  Kevin Stallings' record against Mark Fox says the Bulldogs are in for a fight.

What I think will happen:  I make this pick through gritted teeth.  Consider me very, very nervous about this one.  Bulldogs keep it going 74-65.

Monday love

If you need a little Monday pick-me-up, go ahead and listen to the latest Seth and Gentry Show, where they (very apologetically) lead with basketball and proceed to gush over this year's team.

They start with a discussion that I've seen played out in the message boards as well:  who is Georgia's MVP?  It's a question that doesn't really interest me, to be honest, but if you demanded an answer, I'd say Marcus Thornton.  With that said, if Georgia needs 1 big shot, J.J. Frazier is absolutely my guy.

Moving on, Gentry, especially, seems to think Georgia has reached the point where they'd have to "play their way out" of the tournament.  I'm not there yet, but it is refreshing to be having that discussion instead of talking about what has to go right for the Dawgs to fight their way into the dance.

They also discuss what is going to be a huge week for the basketball team.  If Georgia can manage to win at home against Vanderbilt (no small feat) and on the road against South Carolina, there's a good chance they'll enter Rupp Arena ranked a week from Tuesday.  One game and a time, for sure, but that would certainly be fun...

To repeat:  a week before signing day, Georgia's beat writer has been forced to lead with basketball.  Fantastic.

J.J. Frazier honored

Frazier wins SEC Player of the Week, as he should, but this little nugget about the last two games was news to me:

Additionally, the 5-10, 150-pound Frazier led Georgia in rebounding in both games with seven boards each game.

If you don't love this kid, I can't help you.

h/t Bulldawg Illustrated

Mississippi State: post mortem

I have to apologize if my observations lack some punch.  I was a bit distracted watching the game on Saturday, as I was with the in-laws and unable to fully engage.

What strikes me about this team right now is their resiliency.  Mississippi State came out and punched Georgia in the mouth, yet the good guys clawed back and led at halftime.  Then Mississippi State drew within 1 point after it looked like Georgia was going to run away with it, but the Dawgs stayed calm and closed things out.

Georgia took the best shot Mississippi State can give, and they won anyway.  That's something:

• Keep shooting, J.J.  That was fun to watch.
• You may be tempted to say, "Oh, but Georgia shot lights out or they wouldn't have won."  Guess what?  So did Mississippi State.  They hit twice as many 3's as they normally hit and scored five points above their average.
• And yes, Georgia was hot.  Specifically J.J. Frazier.  You have to go back at least as far as the 2013 SEC tournament where Kentavious Caldwell-Pope almost brought Georgia back from the dead to find a Bulldog that unconscious.  Then you look at the box score and see that he added 7 rebounds and 3 assists.  That was a special game.
• Off night for Marcus Thornton.  Really off night for Nemi Djurisic.
• Cameron Forte continues to bring the energy and hit his free throws.  He's pulled his free throw percentage up by almost 30 points in the last two games.
• Georgia, on the other hand, shot below their season average from the charity stripe, which is hard to do.  They made enough down the stretch to win the game, but I sure am getting tired of talking about it.  And as rough a night as he had, Djurisic has to be commended for knocking down two huge free throws late in the game.
• The Dawgs now have 5 players averaging over 10 points/game.  Go figure.
• I believe I read that it was Mississippi State's biggest crowd of the season.  Is Georgia good enough to draw on the road now?  Either way, kudos to their fans.  They were loud.
• Rebounding, a team strength last year, is becoming a concern.  I think Georgia is still out-rebounding opponents, but giving up 18 offensive rebounds is a great way to get beat.
• Mississippi State, normally sloppy, only turned the ball over 9 times.  I don't know if they deserve credit, or Georgia's defense deserves blame.
• I have no idea if Rick Ray will be around next season, but he finally has his team playing some decent basketball.  He inherited a steaming pile of poo and, for his sake, I hope he shows enough promise to earn another year or two.  His kids are sure playing hard for him.

Any road win counts as a good win at this point.  If you feel the need to make excuses for the win, go ahead.  I'm ready to move on to Vanderbilt, who has still won 9/10 against the Dawgs.  Every game is big from this point on.  See you Tuesday night in the Steg.

Game card: Mississippi State

Opponent:  Mississippi State
Mascot:  Bulldogs
Primary color(s):  Maroon and white
Record:  9-9 (2-3)
Best player:  Gavin Ware
Line:  Georgia -6

Why Georgia will win:  This matchup is very favorable to Georgia.  Mississippi State turns the ball over a little too much, and they don't shoot the 3-ball very well.  Georgia's defense has been fantastic at times this season, and they should feast on the other Bulldogs' offense.

Why Georgia will lose:  In case you missed it, Mississippi State has won two in a row, including a win at Auburn, which has been a tough place to play this year.  They go 10 deep and Gavin Ware is a handful inside.  They're 7-4 at home with a pretty good win against Florida State.

What I think will happen:  This one won't be easy, but a good team wins this game, and I believe Georgia is a good team.  Good Dawgs win kind of ugly 67-59.

The free throw conundrum

We all know Georgia has a free throw problem.  Well, a free throw making problem.  You see, Georgia is top 10% in the nation in free throws attempted per game.  That's what makes it so depressing to see them in the bottom 25% in free throw percentage.

If you're not bothered yet, let me toss out some numbers.  Georgia currently shoots just over 66% from the free throw line.  If that was just 71% instead - a pretty mediocre number that would put Georgia just inside the top 100 - Georgia would jump about 25 spots and tie for 50th in the nation in scoring average.  And if you think one more make per game wouldn't change much, you are forgetting the losses to LSU and Arkansas.

The good news is, the Bulldogs know it's a problem:

In a season that is going pretty well so far, and on track to make the NCAA tournament, free-throw shooting has emerged as one area of concern.

The first step is admitting you have a problem.  Fixing it, however, is another thing entirely:

“I spend a tremendous amount of time working on them, so I guess that’s the sore part,” said Thornton, who is having a remarkable senior season, other than only making 59 percent of his shots from the free-throw line. “It’ll come. And I feel like as the SEC season progresses you’ll see my percentage rise and rise and rise. It won’t be as much of a sore spot by then.”

That’s the hope for the Georgia men’s basketball team, which has two top players –– Charles Mann being the other –– who have struggled at the line.

There's the rub for the team.  The two guys going to the line the most are also the two who are struggling the most at the stripe.  The confidence is nice, but there doesn't seem to be a clear path to making it better:

Fox, who said he feels “really confident” with Mann as a free-throw shooter, seems more concerned with just breaking the press and worrying about the foul shots when they happens.

The reality is that there's no time in practice to work on free throws.  College coaches are limited in the time they have with their kids.  However, hearing Fox express "confidence" in Charles Mann at the line is concerning.

Up 6 against Ole Miss, Charles missed the front of a 1-and-1.  He did the same thing up 3 moments later.  That game (and others) have been needlessly close because Georgia is struggling with something as fundamental as free throw shooting.  Limited practice time or not, Fox has to figure out how to get it fixed.

Making the tournament is a great goal.  Winning some games there may require hitting some clutch free throws.  Fox might, but I don't have confidence right now that those are going to go down...

h/t Seth Emerson

Recruiting 101

Jaylen Brown's latest blog post at USA Today has some insight into Coach Calipari's recruiting methods:

Like Coach Cal talked about his relationship with Drake, which was cool because I’m a fan of his.

Whatever it takes, right?  Hard to argue with his success.

Reading further, Mark Fox may want to start hanging out with whatever J. Cole is...

h/t USA Today

Ole Miss: post mortem

Don't be surprised if that win last night goes down as one of Georgia's best all season.  I know Ole Miss isn't the highest rated opponent Georgia has beaten, but they are a really good team.

They struggled early in the season learning to play without team-cancer-but-incredible-scorer Marshall Henderson, but in SEC play their losses are to Kentucky (in OT), LSU (by 4) and Georgia.  They beat a game South Carolina squad and ran Arkansas out of their home gym.

It's not a stretch to say the Rebels could easily win 7 or 8 out of their next 9, at which point this win will look fantastic:

• Despite picking Georgia to win, I have to admit that I just wasn't feeling it at tipoff.  The arena was dead, Ole Miss came in hot, and Georgia was on full letdown alert.  After a first half where nothing seemed willing to fall, I was ready to write it off as a good loss to a hot team.
• In the end, Georgia didn't play close to their best ball, yet they still found a way to beat a good team.  That's refreshing.
• If you had told me Kenny Gaines would finish with 5 points and Georgia, as a team, would shoot 22% from the 3-point line, I would have told you Ole Miss would win by 15.
• For the second game in a row, Charles Mann didn't score in the first half, and for the second game in a row he came out hot and motivated in the second half.  I have no idea what that means, but it has to mean something.
• Thornton looked like he was going to score 40 the way he played in the first 10 minutes.  Good thing, too, because without him the Dawgs had nothing.
• J.J. Frazier has no conscience, and that's meant as a compliment.  He might want to chill on the alley-oops, though.  I'm not sure he's completed one all year...
• The radio guys named Cameron Forte as their player of the game, and it's hard to disagree.  Mark Fox talked about the "beautiful spirit" he brings to games, and he's right.  I confess, I didn't think Forte had much of a role on this team coming into the season, but the energy he brought to the team last night was as important as anything in the stat sheet.
• 10 missed free throws:  really bad.
• 15 assists on 22 made field goals:  really good.
• Stefan Moody was fantastic, and sometimes that's all there is to it.  Much of his scoring came at the expense of Kenny Gaines, and that means he earned it.  Just as important as his scoring line, though, were the lines of Summers, Moody, and Coleby.  They were a combined 12 points below their season averages.
• The way Ole Miss dominated the offensive glass in the first half was concerning.  The fact that Georgia largely corrected it in the second half was nice to see.
• Yes, the crowd was small, but it's also about what I'd expect for a midweek game against a non-rival.  Keep winning, and the crowds will grow.  I promise.

Now Georgia heads on the road where they'll be expected to win.  Imagine that.  Fox has to keep them focused and believing.  And if you haven't been to Stegeman yet this year, next Tuesday against Vanderbilt would be as good a time as any.  This team is worth your time.

The situation

I'm going to try to start posting Tuesday updates on where things stand re: making the NCAA tournament.  Today's update will be a lot better than if I had started this practice a week ago...

The Numbers

CBSSports RPI:  28

ESPN BPI:  24

CBS Bracketology:  10 seed

ESPN Bracketology:   10 seed

 
The Resume
 

Good Wins:  Stony Brook, @Colorado, Seton Hall, @Kansas State, Florida

Bad Losses:  None, although Minnesota and Georgia Tech are too close for comfort.

The Schedule

Potential Top 50 Wins:  Ole Miss (twice), Kentucky (twice), Tennessee, Texas A&M, Alabama

Potential Bad Losses:  Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Missouri

What It All Means

The biggest difference between this year and last year is the remaining schedule strength.  Georgia's biggest problem last year was not bad losses, but a lack of wins against top 50 teams.  They only had two, both against Missouri.

Much of that had to do with how weak the SEC was in general.  Things are different this year.  Georgia has no fewer than 7 games left against teams that could realistically finish in the top 50.  If they even win 4/7 of those games, and they avoid a few pitfalls, Georgia should be fine.

If the season ended today, Georgia would definitely be in the NCAA tournament.

Game card: Ole Miss

Opponent:  Mississippi
Mascot:  Rebels
Primary color(s):  Blue and red
Record:  11-6 (2-2)
Best player:  Stefan Moody
Line:  Georgia -5

Why Georgia will win:  Even including the Arkansas loss, Georgia sure has been good at home.  A healthy Yante Maten also gives the Bulldogs some extra juice.  Now that it's conference play, Kenny Gaines is red hot.  Georgia won't relax after the win against Florida because they know there's more work to be done.

Why Georgia will lose:  Ole Miss has been pretty good on the road, including an OT loss to Kentucky and an absolute drubbing of Arkansas where they put up 96 points.  They are extremely deep, with 9 guys seeing regular floor time, and that bodes well against a Georgia team struggling with injuries.

What I think will happen:  I'm tempted to pick against Georgia just because that's working so well.  I'll trust that the universe isn't listening and say Dawgs win 77-72.

Florida: post mortem

It's not the same Florida team we saw last year, but don't let anyone tell you those guys are pushovers.  That was a great win over a game bunch of Gators.  The 0-2 start to conference play still stings, but it's effectively been neutralized with the two wins.  I said I wanted a 2-2 start to conference play, and I got it, though that's not exactly how I thought it would go:

• Nice crowd.  Georgia getting two early baskets despite the fake shot clock countdown of the Gator fans was beautiful.  I couldn't hear a peep from them during the first media timeout, and I sit on that corner of the court.
• The box score reveals what we all know:  Georgia was hot.  That doesn't tell the whole story though, because so was Florida.  They shot 50% from the field and had one more made field goal than the Bulldogs.  I heard some Gator fans in line for the bathroom at halftime saying Georgia had hit a few "crazy shots."  I disagree.  They hit open shots.
• The difference, in this case, was turnovers and free throws.  Georgia wasn't particularly good in either category (16 and 66%), but Florida was worse in both (19 and 57%).
• Cameron Forte putting it in the spin cycle.  Pretty.
• J.J. Frazier:  6 assists and 0 turnovers.  That's a sexy line.
• It's time for Kenny Gaines to start being selfish.  Don't stop shooting, big guy.  Perhaps his late-game illness had something to do with it, but the fact that he only shot 8 times is insane.  Georgia needs to run offense for him.
• Charles Mann was great in the second half.  That's the Mann we need.
• Yante Maten with another block.  And oh what a block.
• I didn't see the game on TV, but was the moving screen call on Kenny Gaines as bad as it looked live?  It looked bad.
• Again, I'll point you to the scoring distribution.  Four players in double figures and one two points away.  That's the sign of a good team, folks.
• Just curious:  why was Florida awarded bonus free throws after an offensive foul in the second half?  I don't even remember who the foul was on, but suffice it to say I was very confused.
• I don't remember who was on the receiving end, but J.J.'s spinning post feed was one of the prettiest passes I've seen in a long time.  It was coming right at me, and I'm still not sure how it got through.
• Georgia continues the trend of starting hot.  Don't stop now.

Can we expect a start that hot every night?  No.  Will the 3-pointers keep falling the way they have in the last two games?  I doubt it.  Regardless, this team is playing with confidence.  Some fans likely gave up after the 0-2 start, but they clearly didn't.  Next up is a red-hot Rebels team (check out what they did Saturday night).  Just another night in the suddenly-reborn SEC.

Game card: Florida

Opponent:  Florida
Mascot:  Gators
Primary color(s):  Orange and blue
Record:  10-6 (3-0)
Best player:  Dorien Finney-Smith
Line:  Pick

Why Georgia will win:  Georgia can't lose two in a row at home, can they?  After a confidence boosting win in Nashville they will come out focused and firing on all cylinders.  Kenny Gaines is back to form, and that makes Georgia very difficult to beat.

Why Georgia will lose:  Florida's record isn't indicative of just how good these guys are.  They lost a lot of talent off of last year's squad that went undefeated in SEC play, but they've still lost close games to tough Miami, Georgetown, Kansas, Florida State, and UConn teams.  They also press, and that has been an Achilles heel for Georgia this year.

What I think will happen:  Can they prove me wrong again?  Gators win 78-71.

What I hope will happen:

Vanderbilt: post mortem

A desperate team is a dangerous team, and Georgia was desperate last night.  Very few people, myself included, gave the Bulldogs a chance to win that game, and for good reason.  They hadn't beaten the Commodores in almost 5 years, and hadn't won in Nashville since 2006.

It wasn't a masterpiece, but there was more good than bad.  As usual, we'll start with the good:

• The refs were the only ones who could stop Kenny Gaines on Wednesday.  The charge call was terrible, and the subsequent block at the other end might have been clean, but was violent enough that it's going to get called.  Vanderbilt was fortunate he was on the bench for such a large portion of the first half, or things may have been even worse.  Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.
• Osahen Iduwe, Houston Kessler, and Taylor Echols deserve a ton of credit for the minutes they logged.  Echols, especially, has no conscience, and may force Fox to find a few more minutes for him.  He's now 3-5 from behind the arc this year.
• Marcus Thornton's offense early was key.  It continued the trend of Georgia starting games strong - a trend I could get used to.
• His defense on Damian Jones was fantastic as well.  Jones was frustrated all night, and it showed.  The Bulldogs made it clear from the outset that it wasn't going to be easy for him, and he responded with sloppy play.
• Gaines' defense on LaChance was excellent, too.  Almost all of the damage LaChance did was against someone else.  That made it all the more surprising that Gaines wasn't shadowing him in the last two minutes of the game.  Had he been, I suspect there would have been far less drama.
• Speaking of LaChance, we can look forward to him being quite the annoyance for the next 3 years.  The kid can play.
• The free throws, again, were a mixed bag.  Had the team not started out 5-12 the game would have looked a lot better.  However, they deserve a ton of credit for finishing 11-12, including a couple of huge 1-and-1 conversions from Charles Mann and J.J. Frazier.  As for Frazier's 6-10, I'm not going to worry about it.  Let's hope it was an anomaly.
• Georgia again gave up a lot of offensive rebounds, which is troubling.  They were also out-rebounded as a team.  So they've won the only SEC game in which that happened, and they've lost the two where they dominated on the boards.  Makes perfect sense.
• At some point, every good team learns to go for the throat.  Georgia is not there yet.  They've had opportunities in each conference game to do just that, and they've floundered.  Last game it was Thornton shooting with a ton of time on the shot clock.  This game it was Gaines dribbling the ball off of his foot instead of waiting to be fouled.  That it's veterans making these errors just adds to the concern.  The basketball IQ needs to go up in a hurry.

Georgia needed this one, and they found a way to get it.  All that means is the next one is even bigger.  For today, at least, enjoy the win against a team that has had our number for a long time.

Mann still the man

I suggested in my LSU post mortem that perhaps it's time to sit Charles Mann down again and start J.J. Frazier at the point.  Mark Fox isn't there yet:

"He's been a good player for us and we'll stick with Charles, and hopefully he'll fight his way through this," Fox said on Monday.

To be fair to Charles, it hasn't been all bad.  He's shooting an OK 44% from the field and 36% from the 3-point line and he's pulling down almost 6 rebounds per game.  He's also still getting to the foul line at a high rate...though he's not making nearly enough of them.

Even worse than his foul shooting, though, are his turnovers.  His assist-to-turnover ratio sits at an anemic 1.0 because he has turned the ball over 50 times already this season.  That's way, way too many for a starting point guard.  Much of it is his ball-handling, but some is just poor decision making, which is disheartening coming from a junior who has played big minutes since the moment he set foot on campus.

With a shorthanded team tonight on the road, Mann has to get it cleaned up.  It may be time to experiment more with Charles at SF (something we've already seen a little bit this season) and try to get a few quality minutes from Taylor Echols off the bench at PG.

Either way, Mann is going to be on the floor, and Georgia will be leaning on him.  How he plays is as likely as anything else to determine the outcome in Nashville.

h/t Seth Emerson

Game card: Vanderbilt

Opponent:  Vanderbilt
Mascot:  Commodores
Primary color(s):  Black and gold
Record:  11-4 (1-1)
Best player:  Damian Jones
Line:  Vanderbilt -2

Why Georgia will win:  Even shorthanded, Georgia is better than Vanderbilt.  The Commodores played Baylor close at home but haven't done much else to impress.  Meanwhile, if nothing else, Georgia is battle tested with two close losses to some of the best teams in the SEC.

Why Georgia will lose:  Where were you February 4, 2006?  That's the last time Georgia won in Nashville.  On top of that, the Bulldogs are desperately shorthanded, and Damian Jones was going to be tough to handle with Yante Maten in the lineup.  If Parker can't go either, it essentially leaves Mark Fox with 6 rotation players.

What I think will happen:  All week I had planned on picking Georgia.  Circle the wagons and whatnot.  I can't do it.  Vanderbilt wins 68-63.

What I hope will happen:

Was Kevin Stallings driving?

Well now, this is just getting ridiculous.  I had seen rumors in a couple places that "something else was coming," and this would appear to be it:

University of Georgia freshman basketball player Yante Maten was struck by a car as he was using a pedestrian crosswalk on the UGA campus last Sunday night, according to head coach Mark Fox.

Let's start by stating the obvious:  while the fact that Maten was hit by a car is in no way a good thing, the fact that he seems to have only suffered a concussion is wonderful.  Things could obviously have been much worse.

With that said...the worst-case scenario for Wednesday night is now pretty dire:

PG:  Mann, Frazier
SG:  Gaines
SF:  No one
PF:  Djurisic, Forte
C:  Thornton

If Parker plays, that helps, but there's no way Georgia will be anything resembling full strength headed to Nashville.

h/t Bulldawg Illustrated

Now this is getting scary

Juwan Parker may not be able to go against Vanderbilt.

This is scary, because it means the Bulldogs are essentially 7 deep going into Nashville if you give Cameron Forte the benefit of the doubt and count him as depth.  For now, I choose to do so.

In Parker and Kenny Paul Geno, the Dawgs have lost roughly 8 points and 5 rebounds per game.  That's not irreplaceable, but it's also not nothing.

There's a silver lining in that the injury doesn't look to be that serious and he'll probably be back by Florida at the latest.

If you need a little more reason for hope, there's also last year's game vs. Vanderbilt which saw the Commodores come in and beat the Bulldogs at home despite being so thin they had to dress out a manager.  Maybe we can return the favor this year.

And curse the universe for making me remember that game...

h/t Marc Weiszer

Glass half something

As I see it, there are two ways to look at the Bulldogs' start to conference play.

The first is to acknowledge that, coming into the season, there were four teams in the SEC that were generally thought to be better than Georgia:  Kentucky, Florida, Arkansas, and LSU.  Georgia has now played two of those teams to the wire and narrowly lost both games (one on the road).  One would have to assume, then, that similar efforts against the rest of the conference will produce enough wins to get the Bulldogs where they need to be.

The second is to lament the fact that Georgia couldn't close the deal against two likely-top 50 finishers, and to see the recurring problems (free throws and turnovers) as harbingers of doom which will leave them on the outside looking in come the ides of March.

I can't honestly tell you which camp I've settled into yet, though I tend to drift positive, so I'm really trying to nose my way into the first.  Wednesday night is going to be very interesting, especially considering the setting.  A game against Mississippi State would really hit the spot right about now, but instead Georgia is heading into its own personal lion's den.

How Mark Fox's group responds is going to tell us a lot about this team.

LSU: post mortem

The cruel irony of that game is that, had Georgia simply lost in regulation, I wouldn't be feeling all that bad today.  Instead, it turned into one of the hardest losses I've had to swallow in a very long time.

I had already accepted the loss at 64-56.  Georgia put up a good fight, but some timely 3-point shooting by LSU had kept them at arms length.  It looked like just another road loss to a good LSU team.  As big as a win would have been, I was ready to move on to Vanderbilt.

Then I began celebrating the win up by 8 in the first overtime.  I mean, come on.  Up 8.  With 1:30 left.  There is almost no conceivable way to blow a lead like that.

Needless to say, the loss left me fairly despondent, and quite possibly overreacting about the ramifications.  The Bulldogs are by no means eliminated from the tournament chase.  The reality of an 0-2 start to conference play can't be ignored, though.  The margin of error is back to being dangerously thin:

• Full disclosure:  I watched the game on tape delay, so I missed the first few minutes thanks to the Kansas State OT win.  I picked up as they were cleaning blood off the court - in fact, I still don't even know whose blood it was.
• Before we get into the minutiae of the game, can we please fix the charge call already?  A charge should be very, very rare.  Everyone is afraid to take the ball to the basket at this point because the refs are in love with the charge.  Let's stop rewarding defenders for falling down and start asking them to play defense.  It'd be a lot more fun to watch.
• I try to keep it positive around here, even in trying times, so let's start with the good stuff:  namely, Kenny Gaines, who was exactly the player Georgia needs him to be last night.  He was aggressive, he took smart shots, and he hit all 8 of his free throws.
• Cameron Forte was a pleasant surprise as well.  10 points, 6 rebounds, and 0 turnovers.  Yes, please.
• Yante Maten also had his moments.  His steadily improving play is a great sign.  His offense even showed up last night.  His one missed free throw was admittedly a big one, but the fact that he went 5-6 should not be overlooked.
• Marcus Thornton was a mixed bag.  He was an absolute beast on the boards, and Georgia never would have made it to OT without his tip-in to finish regulation.  With that said, his free throw shooting really hurt, and his decision to shoot into a double-team, up 8, with less than 2 minutes left in OT and 20 seconds remaining on the shot clock was inexcusable for a veteran like him.  I suspect he'd tell you as much, too.
• The buzzer beating 3 to end the first half ended up coming back to haunt Georgia too, as those things often do.
• Georgia's inability to get good shots at the end of either OT was concerning.  In each case they had over 20 seconds on the clock.  The first ended with a rushed Frazier 3-point attempt, and the second ended with a Charles Mann turnover (though there was a lot of contact on that play).
• And what can we say about Mann at this point?  It is probably time to send him back to the bench in favor of J.J. Frazier.  His inability to hit free throws and cut down his turnovers are killing Georgia right now.  Bringing him off the bench worked well in Chattanooga, so maybe it's worth another try.
• Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out yet another game where Georgia dominated its opponent on the glass and still managed to lose.  Why?  Free throws and turnovers (20!).  Is this getting old yet?

There's no time for pouting.  That's our job as fans.  Mark Fox has to rally the troops and get them ready for Nashville, a place where Georgia doesn't win very often.  It's as close to being a must-win game as you'll get this early in the season.

Did that just happen?

What to watch for tonight

Here are a few things I'll be watching tonight:

1. How will Georgia choose to defend the post?  Against Arkansas, Portis was rarely doubled in the post, and he made Georgia pay again and again.  Fox generally prefers to single in the post and guard the perimeter, but that may not be a viable strategy against a team like LSU.
2. Will the extra rest help Georgia?  There's no doubt the Bulldogs were tired in the second half against Arkansas.  LSU just played an overtime game on the road on Thursday night.  Will there be a noticeable difference in the energy levels of the two teams?
3. Who will get Kenny Paul Geno's minutes?  Is Cameron Forte ready to step up and be a force inside for Georgia?  Can Houston Kessler contribute meaningful minutes?

What about you?

Game card: LSU

Opponent:  LSU
Mascot:  Tigers
Primary color(s):  Purple and yellow
Record:  11-3 (0-1)
Best player:  Jordan Mickey
Line:  LSU -3

Why Georgia will win:  Georgia needs this game to avoid an 0-2 start to conference play and to prove that the non-conference success was not a fluke.  The Bulldogs actually played really well against Arkansas on Tuesday, but were beaten by a deeper team.  LSU has similar depth to Georgia and just played two days ago.

Why Georgia will lose:  LSU's strength is inside, and that's where you beat the Bulldogs.  Jarrell Martin and Jordan Mickey are big-time players inside, and Marcus Thornton and Nemi Djurisic are going to struggle to stop them.  Throw in the fact that Mickey blocks over 3 shots per game, and you have the recipe for a long night for Georgia in the paint.

What I think will happen:  Cue the panic of the Bulldog basketball nation.  LSU wins 78-66.

What I hope will happen:

 

Kenny Paul Geno out

It's not been the best year to be a Kenny in the Georgia basketball program.

I'll be honest, I didn't even see him get hurt.  In retrospect, it was a tad curious that he drained a corner three then wasn't heard from the rest of the game.  Regardless, an already thin Georgia squad is now down one more man.

I had been intending to post on the complete lack of production from the 3 spot for a while, and let's just say this won't help.  Fox has essentially made do with an 8-man rotation, and Geno was his 8th man.

What does it all mean?

First, it means Cameron Forte is the next man up.  There will be no outside shooting from Forte, as he's more of a hybrid 3-4, but that's ok.   The numbers are actually fairly encouraging.  Forte has only seen 3 minutes per game, but his points (1.5) and rebounds (1.2) reveal that he's been remarkably consistent.

It also means Houston Kessler is probably in for an expanded role.  This is less encouraging, as he hasn't done much with the almost 5 minutes per game he's been getting.

The last few days have been a bit of a gut punch, but it's not quite time to panic.  Let's wait and see how the team responds in Baton Rouge.

h/t Bulldawg Illustrated

Arkansas: post mortem

Sometimes you lose a basketball game, and sometimes you get beat.  Last night, Georgia got beat.  That is certainly not to say they played a perfect game, but what we saw would beat every SEC team not named Kentucky on almost any given night.

That's small consolation, of course, to a team fighting hard for a tournament berth.  There is no doubt the loss represents a setback, but it is not time to panic yet.  It does, however, ratchet up the pressure just a bit more in Baton Rouge on Saturday:

• A huge amount of credit needs to go to the students.  The student section was almost full 30 minutes before tip, and it was overflowing by the time the game started.  I hope a loss like this doesn't deter them from showing out again a week from Saturday.
• The rest of the crowd was OK.  Late arriving, as it standard fare for a weekday game in Athens, and a little more sparse than I'd like.
• Sometimes you run into a hot player, and that makes it very hard to win.  Georgia ran into two.  Bobby Portis was every bit the NBA prospect he was sold as, offensively at least, in the first half.  Then Alandise Harris simply refused to miss in the second.
• The two are related, of course.  Portis was so good he demanded extra attention.  That forced Georgia to be a little softer on jump shooters than they normally are.  Harris made them pay.
• Arkansas came in ranked #23, and that looked about right to me.  They're not top 10, but they're a tournament team if I've ever seen one.
• In my head, Georgia is somewhere around a top 50 team, and that looked about right too.
• That has to be the best first half Georgia has played in a long time.  The fact that the lead was only 7 at halftime turned out to be a bit foreboding.
• There were a lot of big plays in the game, but let me point you to one sequence you may have forgotten.  Georgia had the lead at 13 in the first half after a Thornton dunk and a Gaines three, and Djurisic found himself wide open for a 3-point attempt.  Had it gone in, Stegeman would have lost its collective mind and the whole tenor of the first half could have changed.  Instead, it rimmed out, and Portis scored 5 quick to bring the Razorbacks right back.  Easy to wonder what if, but if I could have willed that baby in, I surely would have.
• Speaking of "what if," I try not to do this often, but I found myself wondering last night what might have been had Brandon Morris had a better head on his shoulders...
• I've said all along there would be a game where missed free throws would cost Georgia a win.  I'm not sure this was that game, but I am sure a couple more makes would have helped.  Juwan Parker's 2-5 stands out, especially since he's statistically one of Georgia's better free throw shooters, and one of the misses was the front end of a 1-and-1.
• We shouldn't let that mar what was a really nice game for Parker, though.  More of that, please.
• So how do you lose when you out-rebound your opponent 40-25 (including 16-7 offensively)?  Turning the ball over 17 times is a good place to start.  It's long been on my wish list that Fox would stop employing some sort of ball pressure.  Maybe then Georgia could figure out how to consistently break the press, a bugaboo of the Fox era.
• Finally, Yante Maten deserves a mention.  The stat line wasn't that impressive, but at some point Fox decided Maten was his best option against Portis and it worked.  The young man plays hard on defense, and if his offense keeps coming around (that up and under in the first half was pretty), Georgia won't miss much of a beat when Marcus Thornton graduates.

Fox has a couple of days to rally the troops.  It's a big one on Saturday, folks.

Call it a comeback?

Even the staunchest SEC homer would have to admit the last few years have not been good on the hardwood.  It's been Kentucky, Florida, and...well...not much else.  That seems to be changing:

“If you take into consideration our records, the wins that we have, it’s the No. 1 strength of schedule as a conference across the board, it’s No. 3 RPI . . . our league’s good,” South Carolina’s Frank Martin said. “I can care less what the popular opinion is.”

That Florida - highly regarded in the preseason - has struggled so far has masked the fact that, top to bottom, the SEC has quite a few quality basketball teams.  The general public may not have taken note yet, but the pundits are starting to:

ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi had five SEC teams in his bracket, including Georgia at No. 10. Jerry Palm of CBSsports.com also has Georgia at No. 10, and has four SEC teams in. Palm leaves out South Carolina, but Lunardi has the Gamecocks in.

For a team like Georgia, trying to play its way to an at-large berth, the news couldn't be better.  A weak conference means the margin for error is razor thin.  Last year, even 12 conference wins couldn't get Georgia to the dance (of course, 6 non-conference losses had something to do with that).  This year, 10 might do the trick thanks to overall league strength.

The flip side, of course, is that league wins will be harder to come by this season because of the resurgence.

The hope for the Bulldogs is that their veteran team gives them an advantage heading into conference play:

“This time last year, obviously we were still trying to find ourselves,” senior forward Marcus Thornton said. “This year, we kind of an idea of who we are, but feel like we can keep getting better.”

If Marcus is right, a second round game in Charlotte or Jacksonville becomes more real every day.

Game card: Arkansas

Opponent:  Arkansas
Mascot:  Razorbacks
Primary color(s):  Cardinal and white
Record:  11-2
Best player:  Bobby Portis
Line:  Georgia -2

Why Georgia will win:  The Bulldogs just keep taking care of business at home, where they have won 21 of their last 23 games.  The Razorbacks, meanwhile, don't win on the road much at all.  When Arkansas has won, the point totals have been impressive, but against quality defenses they've looked very mortal.

Why Georgia will lose:  Number 8 in the country in scoring and number 1 in the country in assists.  That's what Georgia has to deal with tonight.  The Razorbacks have at least 4 guys that can score, and all of them can shoot the three.  Bobby Portis has been a one-man wrecking crew.

What I think will happen:  It is getting harder and harder to pick against Georgia in Athens.  Dawgs win 71-67.

Non-conference roundup

Here is what I wrote in my Minnesota post mortem:

The SEC, to put it nicely, is not very good, which means Georgia probably needs 9 non-conference wins paired with at least 12 conference wins to have any chance.  That means there is no longer any room for error.  They have to run off 6 straight wins heading into conference play.  Based on what we saw tonight, that seems unlikely.

I meant it, too.  Thankfully, I was wrong on a couple points.  First, the SEC is a little better than I thought at the time.  National perception still lags, but the conference RPI is top 3 pretty much anywhere you look.  That is meaningful.  Second, it turns out running off 6 straight wins is exactly what Georgia did.  It wasn't always pretty, but it happened.  Third, not only does 12 conference wins get Georgia in, but assuming none of the 6 losses is to Mississippi State, it probably garners Georgia a 6 seed or better.

Let's recap where we're at now that the non-conference schedule is complete, then let's stick a fork in it and move on to Arkansas.

Record: 9-3

CBSSports.com RPI:  21

Good wins:  Seton Hall (10), Stony Brook (75), Colorado (76)

Bad losses:  none.  All three losses were to teams with RPI's in the top 100.

MVP:  Marcus Thornton.  If you wanted to argue for Charles Mann, I couldn't find much fault.  However, Thornton leads the team in points, rebounds, is second in blocks, and is tied for third in assists.  He's been Georgia's most consistent player, a real presence in the post, and, to me, is the biggest reason the Bulldogs find themselves with some national attention for the first time in years.

Pleasant surprise:  I'll give you two.

First, J.J. Frazier, who has turned into exactly the spark plug Georgia needs him to be.  He plays smart, he hits shots, and he brings energy every single night.

Second, the distribution of scoring has been marvelous.  Four players on the team are averaging double figures, and the aforementioned J.J. Frazier is less than a point away.  This represents a huge departure from previous Mark Fox teams and, if it stands, would mark the first time it has happened in a full season since 2006-07 (Takais Brown, Mike Mercer, Levi Stukes, and Sundiata Gaines).

Biggest disappointment:  I'll give you two of these as well.

First and foremost, the free throw shooting, which has somehow regressed from last season.  Most troubling are Charles Mann (61%) and Marcus Thornton (59%), who have combined to shoot almost half of Georgia's free throws.  If the Bulldogs could hit just four more free throws per game (out of the ten they're currently missing), they would rise from tied for 97th in the country in per game scoring all the way to the top 50.

Second, the team 3-point percentage has fallen from 35% all the way to 31%.  Kenny Gaines and Nemanja Djurisic share the blame there.  I really thought outside shooting was going to be a strength for this team coming in, but that has not born itself out yet.  If it gets fixed, this team can be very, very good.

Why Georgia will make the tournament:  All they have to do is hold serve at home and avoid bad losses.  Mississippi State is the only potential RPI killer in the league, so a .500 record in conference play might even get the job done.  Every home game not against Kentucky is winnable, so 2 or 3 road wins are all Georgia needs to go dancing.  The offense is still rounding into form, but the defense is there to make it all but a done deal.

Why Georgia will miss the tournament:  At what point do these ugly wins become ugly losses?  The performances we've seen against Kansas State and Norfolk State will not get it done in the SEC, so we can look forward to some head-scratching losses as conference play gets under way.  Vanderbilt and Kentucky are both on the schedule twice, and Mark Fox has not beaten either team enough to inspire any confidence.  A tough start to conference play (Arkansas, @LSU, @Vanderbilt, Florida) could be demoralizing.

Bottom line:  My expectations coming into the season were that Georgia would receive a tournament bid.  Nothing I've seen changes those expectations.  The Bulldogs are in a position they haven't been in since at least 2011:  hold serve and they dance.

Norfolk State: post mortem

College basketball, like much of life, is a bottom line business.  It doesn't matter how many points you score if the other team scores one more.  It doesn't matter how pretty your jerseys are, or how cool your mascot is, or how big your school is.  It only matters if you win.

The bottom line for Georgia right now is that they're 9-3, their best record coming out of non-conference play in 4 years.  Things haven't always been pretty, but they needed at least 9 wins, and they got them.  What we saw tonight probably won't cut it on Tuesday, but for this night at least, it was good enough:

• Thank you, J.J. Frazier.  On a night when the usual suspects - Thornton, Gaines, and Mann - all struggled, Frazier was there with big shot after big shot.  His driving layup and 3-pointer was the biggest sequence of the game for Georgia.
• Honestly, it never felt like Georgia was in trouble, even when the lead was cut to four.  Unlike the Mercer game, it was pretty apparent Norfolk State didn't quite have the horsepower to stay with the Bulldogs, even on a night that felt sluggish from the very start.
• Norfolk State did have Jeff Short, though, who will probably cause some problems for some folks in the MEAC this year.  The kid can score.  Kenny Gaines' defense caused Marcus Foster to give up on Wednesday, but Short played through it and managed to work his way to some points.
• The Spartans set the tone inside early by blocking 6 shots in the first few minutes of the game.  The Dawgs just weren't able to get things going in the paint, which was a bit concerning because Norfolk State isn't particularly big.
• Nemi Djurisic's struggles, in particular, are becoming concerning.  It's a testament to the team that they've been able to win without big contributions from him, but he will be needed as conference play rolls around.
• I have no idea how Cameron Forte got that ball from his hip to the basket before he landed, and it happened right in front of me.  Pretty athletic, Cam.
• Georgia was out-rebounded again, and that is scary.  Even more scary?  They gave up 18 offensive rebounds.  The success of Mark Fox coached teams is always going to center on good defense and limiting possessions.  The defense has been there, but the offensive rebounds have to stop.
• Blah blah free throws.  Blah blah going to cost us.  Blah blah.
• Really nice effort by jumping-jack guy to get a lethargic crowd into the game.  Hopefully people were just saving their energy for Tuesday night.

Things get real when Arkansas brings their 11 wins to Athens in three days.  The game is on ESPN, and a win would tell folks that Georgia is serious about getting back to the tournament this year.  Let's get it done and, please ESPN, no Bobby Knight.

Game card: Norfolk State

Opponent:  Norfolk State
Mascot:  Spartans
Primary color(s):  Green and gold
Record:  9-6
Best player:  RaShid Gaston
Line:  No line

Why Georgia will win:  Against any opponent of strength, Norfolk State has really struggled to score.  They also allow a lot of points and are near last in the nation with just 5 steals per game.  Georgia has something to prove after two straight lackluster performances.

Why Georgia will lose:  Norfolk State has an RPI around 150, which is actually higher than that of the Kansas State team the Bulldogs just squeaked by.  Georgia hasn't had much success scoring in the last few games, and if the Spartans can muddy up the game, they have a puncher's chance.

What I think will happen:  A third straight game with drama?  I don't think so.  Georgia wins 82-56.

Where we find ourselves today

RPI:

Top 25:

For the first time in a long time, our Georgia Bulldogs do not face an uphill climb heading into conference play.  That doesn't mean it's going to be easy, but if the season ended today, the Bulldogs would almost certainly receive an at-large bid.

In saying this, I'm making the cardinal sin of overlooking an opponent, Norfolk State, whose RPI sits at 152.  As a blogger, I can be forgiven - the team cannot.  Lose that one and things change dramatically.

Also note that the first two conference opponents, Arkansas and LSU, also have top 30 RPI rankings.  A 2-0 run there would really start to ratchet up expectations.

Let's not get that far ahead of ourselves, though.  Instead, let's enjoy "receiving votes" for the first time in a while, and let's turn out on Saturday to support a team that may not be winning pretty, but is winning nonetheless.