Kansas State: post mortem

That one hurts.

If you're the team, nothing changes.  Your goal should still be a 20-win season and an NCAA Tournament berth.  Every loss has been close enough that it's clear you're competitive.

As a fan, however, I found myself recalibrating my expectations for this team on the long drive back to Atlanta.  It is early, but the Bulldogs have put themselves in a very bad situation.  Unless something changes fast, do you really see this team beating Georgia Tech and Clemson?  Me either:

• Was it goaltending or basket interference?  Yes, it probably was.  On the one hand, this game never should have come down to the last second.  On the other, it would have been nice to get that call and escape, and it's completely insane (especially after last year's NCAA Tournament) that it's not a reviewable play.
• Dean Wade isn't bashful, and he won his team the game.  He could have shut it down after a bad first half, but he kept shooting.  The fact that he was able to get two wide open looks in crunch time when he was clearly Kansas State's best option was...frustrating.
• Yante Maten: beast.
• That first half showed you what Georgia can be.  Unfortunately, so did the second half.
• Georgia gave up 16 offensive rebounds, was outshot 59-51, and missed 8 free throws.  Deja vu all over again.
• Mike Edwards is learning on the job, and he's having a tough time on the floor, but it's going to make him a better player.  A couple late offensive rebounds made his potential pretty obvious.  He just needs to get stronger.
• E'Torrion Wilridge looks lost on the floor right now, and that's a shame.  I'm sure it's partially because he doesn't know what he's doing - he's only played 6 games, after all.  However, some of it is because he's scared to make a mistake.  It's hard to blame him, because...
• ...Turtle Jackson came in 10 minutes into the game, went around a pick and took the ball straight to the basket for a layup, completed a brilliant no-look pass to Yante Maten the next time down the court for an assist, and then turned the ball over and committed a bad foul that led to a 3-point play.  In other words...he did what talented freshmen do - he flashed his potential, and he made mistakes.  What did Fox do?  He immediately yanked him off the floor, and Jackson only saw 4 more minutes all night.  I may write a longer post on this later, but it's insane.
• For what it's worth, Wade (a freshman) had a pretty bad first half, but Bruce Weber let him play 30 minutes, and we know how that turned out...
• I am hard on Houston Kessler around these parts, but his rebounding was pretty good.  His defense?  Still plenty of room for improvement...
• Great to see Ogbeide get a few trips down the floor.  Hopefully that is ramped up into meaningful minutes on Tuesday night.
• Osahen Iduwe needs to learn to stay on his feet on defense.  You're almost 7' tall, my man.  Defend without fouling.
• I guess I'll just give up on seeing much zone.  The last time it was employed extensively, Georgia cut a 10 point Seton Hall lead to 1.  We've barely seen it since...

So what now?  I have no idea.  I'm going to keep going to the games, but I worry that most Georgia fans have probably lost interest already.  The intrigue of a new football coach easily trumps a mediocre basketball team in Athens.

But it doesn't have to be this way!  The team we saw in the first half was an NCAA Tournament team.  Period.  Had that team come back out of the locker room, we'd be having a very different conversation right now.  Had they played close to that level all year, we'd be 6-0 and excited.

But they're not, and we're not.  They're 3-3, and we're uneasy.  Keep grinding.  See you Tuesday.