NIT: post mortem

Due to car troubles, I was unable to attend the Belmont game.  That was disappointing as I knew it would almost certainly be the last chance to see Kenny Gaines and Charles Mann in the Steg.  As it turns out, it was also a chance to see Yante Maten hulk smash a truly helpless opponent.  I suspect we'll see more of that over the next two years:

• These two games were really about Yante Maten, weren't they?  Against Belmont, a team with no chance of guarding Maten, he had his way all evening.  He showed the full repertoire, and the Bruins had no answer.  Against St. Mary's, a team which also had no chance of guarding him, nothing would fall, and it was the difference in the game.  That's not to lay the loss entirely on his shoulders - he didn't get much help - but if Maten has even a normal night, Georgia is probably in the quarterfinals.
• Much more will be written about Charles Mann and Kenny Gaines, but they can hold their heads up high as they ride off into the sunset.  Three postseasons is nothing to be ashamed of, and while I know they both wish it was one NIT and two NCAAs, they've helped change the culture a bit in Athens.  The fact that many of us are left feeling unsatisfied by this season is, in many ways, attributable to the work they've put in.
• Teams like Belmont and St. Mary's drive me insane, and it's not entirely their fault.  St. Mary's, in particular, moved the ball beautifully, and thanks to some poor defense, ended up with quite a few layups, but both of those teams are going to live and die by the 3-point shot.  Threes are the great equalizer, and they are often at the root of Cinderella success in March (*ahem*MTSU*ahem*), but I have long been in favor of moving the 3-point line back even farther.  I suppose I'm old-fashioned, but watching a team jack up 30 3-pointers isn't my idea of a good time.  However, until the line moves, teams like Belmont and St. Mary's can, will, and should continue firing away.
• I don't want to make excuses for Mark Fox (he's pretty good at that himself), but I suspect jet lag played into the result Sunday night.  I have a hunch we won't see many more 6-22 nights out of Maten.
• Here's hoping all four freshmen put in some work this summer.  Each one has shown great promise at times.  The talent is evident.  If even one or two can make the kind of leap Maten made last summer, Georgia should be wearing white in the first round of the NCAA Tournament next year.
• Also, here's hoping announcers practice pronouncing "Ogbeide" all summer.  They'll need to know that name next year.
• The coast-to-coast dunk by Yante was great.  Turtle losing his mind (and his footing) might have been even better.
• Maten's 3-point shot is going to make him almost impossible for most teams to guard next year.
• Can Kenny Paul Geno improve his range over the summer?  If he can add just a little more scoring to everything else he does on the court he's going to be a huge asset off the bench (hopefully).
• Chalk me up as excited to see any lineup with J.J. Frazier and Turtle Jackson in the game together.  They could be a dynamic pairing.
• Houston Kessler has quietly regained a little confidence in his shot over the last few weeks.  I still hope the depth improves to the point where he's not counted on for 12 minutes per night, but when he's in, having the jumper as a threat is key.

So that's that.  A disappointing season?  That's a hard question to answer.  It certainly could have been better had the team gotten a few more breaks...but it probably should have been better regardless.

There will be plenty of time to analyze that.  For now, congratulations to the team on another postseason berth.  Now it's time to put in some work this summer and prepare for a deeper run next season.

SEC Tournament: post mortem

Georgia will come up one game short.

I don't just mean the Kentucky game.  If you change any single loss on Georgia's schedule to a win, I believe they'd be dancing.  Instead it's a likely NIT home game as a 3 or 4 seed:

• If you're tempted to get down, just remember: Yante Maten and J.J. Frazier are coming back next season.
• Georgia played 30 minutes of great basketball against Mississippi State, followed by 6 minutes of garbage-ball, followed by 4 minutes of clinging desperately to a lead.  This team is a roller coaster.
• The maroon Bulldogs really never had a chance.  They played well in stretches, and they hit some timely shots, but Maten just completely overwhelmed them.
• The top of the key 3 is officially part of Maten's arsenal, arriving a year earlier than I thought it would.  That guy has 1st-team SEC written all over him next year.
• As great as Georgia looked in stretches during the Mississippi State game, they barely played with a pulse for the majority of the South Carolina game.  Had the Gamecocks played with any sense of urgency they would have run the Bulldogs out of the building.  Instead it set up Frazier's heroics.
• That sequence by J.J. at the end of the game was simply spectacular.  Splitting the double team was hard enough.  Hitting the floater over a seven footer?  High degree of difficulty.  Getting the steal and taking a foul?  Come on.
• Have you ever seen Mark Fox so emotional on the sideline?  I haven't.  He knew what that game meant to his team.  Say what you want about Fox, but the man sure can coach with his back to the wall.  I'd like to see that same sense of urgency out of him in November.
• The first half of the Kentucky game is as much fun as I've had watching Georgia basketball since...last year's Kentucky game.  That was big boy basketball, and Georgia hit them in the mouth, matching them punch for punch.  I didn't believe for a second it would hold, but I can handle losing when my team fights like that.
• Are we seeing the emergence of Mike Edwards?  Listen, if Jonas Hayes can duplicate whatever he did with Yante Maten this summer, Edwards, Derek Ogbeide, and Maten are going to be an absolutely terrifying front court next season.
• To state the obvious, the game turned when J.J. re-retwisted (intentionally redundant) that ankle.  I still think Georgia loses if it doesn't happen, but that sucked the life out of the team.  Frazier is clearly their emotional center.
• Have I mentioned how much I hate Kentucky lately?  Or how pretentious and over-hyped "Big Blue Nation" is?
• Jamal Murray, though...phew...go get your money, son.
• It's not a stretch to say that Georgia would have beaten all but about 5 teams in the country with the game they played today, and they would have beaten Kentucky on most nights, too.  The Cats managed to shoot 50% and hit 9 3-point shots.  They're a great team, but someone with great defensive length and interior presence is going to send them packing sooner or later.
• It may be Texas A&M tomorrow.  LSU...yikes...
• Turtle: stay hot.

It wasn't the season we hoped it'd be, but there are reasons to love these Dawgs.  They will fight until there are no more games to play, and I will be right there with them.

Alabama: post mortem

This was a Mark Fox win through-and-through.  I don't mean for that to sound negative.  It's simply a statement of fact.  Consider these numbers, all of which Fox is likely thrilled about:

1. Georgia held a 48-26 rebounding advantage(!).  Just complete domination on the boards.  Georgia had 19 offensive rebounds and Alabama had 18 defensive rebounds.  Amazing.
2. Georgia held a 32-18 free throw advantage.  Georgia made 26 free throws and Alabama took 18.  Some of that was padded by J.J.'s free throw parade at the end of game, of course...
3. Georgia attempted 15 3-point shots.  Had they hit their normal percentage, the game would have been a blowout.
4. Alabama took 26 3-point shots, 4 more than their average.  Shannon Hale - a 30% shooter from distance coming in - took 7.  Justin Coleman - a 27% shooter from distance - took 4.

Fox has never been concerned with style points.  He wants you to take difficult shots, he wants to limit you to one shot per possession, and he needs just enough offense to win.  For one day at least it worked to perfection:

• It's a shame that Senior Day occurred on the front end of spring break, but the folks that were there got loud for Kenny Gaines and Charles Mann.  They deserve it.  I'll write plenty more about them in the future, but they've helped put the program on a much firmer footing.
• Houston Kessler had 5 offensive rebounds??  Well done, son.
• In 2 minutes, E'Torrion Wilridge had a rebound and a beautiful assist into the post.  I have this feeling we'll be wondering in 2 or 3 years why we didn't see more of him during his freshman season.
• Derek Ogbeide is a completely different player now than he was three months ago.  If he has a summer like Yante Maten had last year, Georgia is going to be lethal in the paint.
• Maten - just awesome.  He needs to cut the turnovers a bit...and that's literally the only fair criticism I can lob his way at this point.
• Seriously, though.  Maten running the break - two points.  Maten trailing the break - 2 points.  He makes stuff happen.
• Mike Edwards needs to shoot 5,000,000 free throws this summer.  His ceiling is high, but he is going to be visiting the line more and more.  31% isn't even close to getting it done.
• With that said, Mike also needs to keep running the floor the way he has been.  He routinely beats the defense down the floor.
• Donta Hall was robbed.  That putback dunk was beautiful, and it was absolutely not an offensive foul.  The officiating was uneven yet again, and for once it felt like Georgia was the beneficiary of the bulk of the bad calls.
• The crowd was not huge, but after Maten's fast break dunk, they sure were loud.  It sounded like a sellout for a few minutes there.
• Georgia kept Alabama in the game with 15 turnovers, many of them practically unforced.  This has been a bugaboo for years, now, so I'm not holding my breath that it will get fixed...

Fun game.  That's all.  Put it in the rear view.  Everything is one game at a time right now.  The moment Georgia starts getting ahead of themselves, they'll get beat.  So credit to Mark Fox - he had them ready to play.  Let's hope we're saying the same thing Friday morning.

South Carolina: post mortem

I won't allow myself to think the last two games represent Georgia taking a turn offensively.  There was still plenty to be concerned about tonight (like a million turnovers in the second half).  However, the lack of possessions ending in desperation heaves as the shot clock expired was very encouraging:

• Biggest shot of the game?  For my money, it was Kenny Gaines hitting the transition three to tie the game at 55.  For some guys, that's not a very good shot.  It is for Kenny.  When he has hit feet set he's deadly.
• Georgia really had no business being in that game, but South Carolina shot themselves right out of it.  In the lane, the Gamecocks were getting whatever they wanted, yet they hoisted 26 3-point shots.  A late flurry of makes made the percentage look better than it really was.
• The Bulldogs had twice as many turnovers as South Carolina and they gave up 18 offensive rebounds.  The Gamecocks took 18 more shots, too.  So again, how did Georgia win?
• 23-27 from the free throw line certainly didn't hurt.  Gaines nailing three of them early in the first half was a good omen.
• Oh and by the way - Kenny Gaines is 15-30 from 3-point range in the last 3 games.  As long as he keeps that up, Georgia has a chance in every game they play.
• And J.J. Frazier is 14-27...
• 11 points off the bench.  That counts as a good night for those guys.
• Michael Carrera is a warrior, but I bet he's hoping that's the last he's seen of Georgia.  The Bulldogs defense has a way of getting under his skin.  The one 3-pointer he hit was clutch, but the 9 he missed were important too.
• Charles Mann continues to struggle his way through his senior season, but his strip of Sindarius Thornwell was huge.  HUGE.
• Derek Ogbeide had 5 rebounds, and 4 of them were on the offensive end.  He and Yante Maten are going to terrorize some smaller teams next year.
• I'm a little surprised Maten didn't get T'ed up for yelling at Carrera after his dunk.  Not a complaint.  Just an observation.
• And while we're talking about Maten, good job selling the offensive foul on Silva.  That came at a big time, and Maten had his fair share of cheap ones go against him.
• The officiating was choppy all night.  It was like a throwback game where the officials decided to let everything go in the paint.
• Georgia's defense was really good.   Had Mindaugas Kacinas not shot out of his mind (he's a 32% shooter from distance but went 5-7) the Bulldogs may have run away with the game.  And remember, a flurry of threes after Georgia all but put the game away made things look way better for the Gamecocks.

The NCAA Tournament is a pipe dream, but the season is not over, and these guys are playing hard.  A win over Alabama on Saturday ensures the best possible seeding for the conference tournament at which point it's on Georgia to go make some noise.

The formula remains simple: play defense like you're capable of, limit turnovers, and let the shooters shoot.  By my estimation, any Frazier or Gaines shot is a good one right now.

Auburn: post mortem

I almost just cut-and-paste my Vanderbilt post mortem, but Georgia showed enough life in the last few minutes to make that impractical.  I apologize in advance for the tone of this post.

That the team eclipsed its first half point total in the last 5 minutes of the game clearly demonstrates the biggest problem with this team and presents the most obvious solution:

• Mark Bradley beat me to this, but he says exactly what I've been thinking ever since the LSU game: why does Georgia look so much better in desperation mode?  The answer should be obvious.  Mark Fox's sets aren't working.  When the Bulldogs run the offense as designed, they stagnate, and the shots are terrible.  When they run and ad lib, the shots are better.  J.J. Frazier is free to pull up in the lane where he is absolutely deadly.  Guys like Kenny Gaines are able to create shots that they can make as opposed to force shots they cannot.
• So why won't Fox turn his team loose?  The cynic in me thinks he'd rather give up 70 points and lose than give up 80 points and win.  That's insane, right?  It can't be true...can it?
• Because yes, when you go faster, you give up more points.  But something is not working right now, and I'm very hesitant to blame the players, because when things are at their worst, it looks like they're simply doing what their coach tells them to do.
• Auburn is not a good team.  In fact, they are a bad team.  Yes, they hit a lot of 3-pointers, and that's literally their only chance at winning games this year.  But when Cinmeon Bowers left the game with 2 fouls, the ball should have entered to Yante Maten and/or Derek Ogbeide every single time down the court and Georgia should have run up the score from there.
• That didn't happen, of course, because Maten inexplicably rode the pine almost the entire first half.  Mark Fox said he "wasn't playing well."  I'm no coach, and maybe he wasn't playing well...but it's almost like Fox is creating excuses as the game goes on.  "We might lose this game, so I'll bench our best player and use that as an excuse in case we do."  Too cynical?  Again, it probably is.  But every game is must-win right now, and he's just not coaching like that's the case.  It's hard to watch.
• This really isn't a post mortem, is it?  It's just me complaining.  Sorry.
• J.J. Frazier and Kenny Gaines average a combined 22.1 field goal attempts/game, and Georgia averages under 70 points/game.  Against Auburn, they combined for 30 shots and Georgia scored 81 points.  Hmm...
• With the exception of Ogbeide, the freshmen are playing with 0 confidence right now.  With the season lost, Fox may want to consider rectifying that in the last four games.
• This loss wasn't quite as bad as the home loss to an undermanned Vanderbilt team a few years ago.  Does that count as a silver lining.

Georgia has put up 3 50+ point halves this season.  Two of them came in losses.  This is not a coincidence.  The team plays better when they dig a big hole because they have to play differently.

The formula for this team seems simple to a dumb fan like me: go fast, and allow Maten, Gaines, or Frazier to take the first good look they get.  I'm certain it's not that easy, but I'm also certain that whatever Fox and his gang are doing is way too hard.

[DawgNation]

Vanderbilt: post mortem

Stop me if you're heard this one before: a slow start and some questionable rotations doomed Georgia on the road.

And the world keeps spinning:

• Mark Fox's excuse for yanking Derek Ogbeide less than 2 minutes into the game?  A hot gym.  I mean...I just...nope...
• Ogbeide is looking every bit the 4* he was rated as coming out of high school.  If deployed correctly, he and Maten could do some damage in the post over the next two years.
• I really do feel for Charles Mann and Kenny Gaines.  I'm confident this isn't how they saw their senior seasons playing out, but any postseason ship has likely sailed.  With that said, neither one of those guys has ever been one to let up, and I don't think they will now.
• I find myself getting jealous when I watch a team like Vanderbilt play.  How many dunks and good looks from long distance did they end up with?  Georgia has at least 3 potentially deadly scorers in Maten, Gaines, and J.J. Frazier, yet very few sets (there are exceptions) end in good looks at the basket.  Why?
• That's a rhetorical question, by the way.  Head on over to www.georgiabasketballblog.com and check the archives.
• Bless his heart, Houston Kessler canned a 3.  I don't expect his minutes to change at this point, so maybe that little bit of confidence will lead to another one or two falling at Auburn.
• Yante Maten hit another 3 too.  I'm telling you, that top of the key long ball will be a weapon for him next year - much like it was for Marcus Thornton his senior season.  The difference?  Maten's shot looks way better.
• Damian Jones has already said he's going to the NBA.  He's ready.
• It's hard to understand why Vanderbilt hasn't won more games this season.  I'm skeptical that Kevin Stallings' job is actually on the line, but just like Georgia fans, I imagine Commodore supporters are starting to reflect on what might have been.  The difference, of course, is that Vanderbilt still has a path to the tournament.
• Kenny Paul Geno should spend all summer cranking 3-pointers in the gym.  I really like what Geno adds on the floor, and I think a lot of the criticism directed his way is unfair, but getting that jumper consistent will make him a real weapon his senior season.
• E'Torrion Wilridge sure looked good in the first half, huh?  Apparently Mark Fox didn't think so.  Second half minutes: 0.

It's now SEC tournament or bust for the Georgia Bulldogs.  That doesn't mean there's nothing to play for.  Mark Fox, whether or not it's true, has to coach as if he's coaching for his job.  The freshmen, given their scant opportunities, have to start earning their minutes next year.  And Gaines and Mann simply have to control what they can control and finish strong.

Florida: post mortem

I don't think I'll have time to post the situation this week, but that's ok, because there is no situation.  Georgia blew its last chance at a nice win, and its only "good" win just lost at Missouri.  Barring a very unlikely run in the SEC tournament, this team is not dancing.

It doesn't have to be this way, but I'll leave that for another post.

For now, a post mortem, even if my heart isn't in it:

• Georgia wasted a great crowd.  The stands weren't full, but those that were there were loud.  Too bad they didn't get much to cheer for.
• Derek Ogbeide was an absolute beast in the first three minutes of the game.  He was "eating glass" as the team would say.  If you heard someone yelling, "No!" as Houston Kessler inexplicably replaced him three minutes into the game, you were probably sitting near me.
• The defense is good enough.  Plenty good enough.  If you hold a team to 19 first half points, you have to be up big at half.
• If you want to find a half in which Georgia put up more than 40 points, you have to go all the way back to the LSU game.  It came in a loss.
• It's not like this team lacks talent.  In fact, I'd go so far as to say Georgia had at least as much talent as Florida.  You think Michael White couldn't find a way to put up points with Yante Maten, Kenny Gaines, and J.J. Frazier?
• I don't know what Maten plans to work on this summer, but if he decides to extend his range out past the 3-point line, Mark Fox's "offense" will be the only defense that can stop him.
• Florida decided to take Maten away last night.  Fine.  That shouldn't be bad news!  Georgia should be a pick-your-poison type team on offense.  Instead, it was Frazier and Charles Mann playing hero-ball.  Hint: that's a bad formula.
• Why didn't White press Georgia all night?  It's almost like he felt bad about his two previous dismantlings of Mark Fox Georgia teams and wanted to throw him a bone.
• You think ESPN is tired of having the Bulldogs on Super Tuesday?  Two weeks in a row, just over 100 points scored.  Yuck.
• It's not helping that I'm watching Duke - North Carolina right now.  61 points have been scored, and there are 6 minutes left in the first half.

Basketball is supposed to be fun.  When's the last time you had fun watching this team?  Clemson?  Georgia Tech?  Oakland?

It's not the losing that gets me.  I'm a Georgia basketball fan.  I can handle losing.

It's how Georgia loses.

I'll keep watching.  I'll keep cheering.  But as hope for this season wanes, it's going to have to be hope for the future that keeps me going...

Mississippi State: post mortem

Don't feel too bad, Mississippi State.  Sometimes Yante Maten happens:

• That's two years in a row the Bulldogs from Mississippi have been victimized by a career day from a Georgia Bulldog.  Last year it was J.J. Frazier, and this year it was Maten, who had his way all night long.  He did get a tad sloppy with the ball, but that nit-picking, especially since he was hardly alone in that.
• If Maten extends that range out past the 3-point line next season he is going to be an absolute terror.
• Once Gavin Ware went to the bench with his second foul, Mark Fox was content to let Mississippi State shoot themselves to death, and they obliged.  Almost every shot was contested, too, unlike in the debacle against Kentucky.
• Ware's last 4 games: 28 pts, 14 pts, 21 pts, 6 pts.  Georgia took him away.  Yes, the foul trouble played into that, but it wasn't the whole story.
• Georgia won a game in which Kenny Gaines scored 0 points.  Amazing.
•  Let's not ignore what Charles Mann is doing.  The last few minutes of the game were bad, sure, but he went for 21/7 and has been playing quite well of late.  Maybe it's a sense of urgency as his last season winds down.  I don't know.  Whatever it is, I hope he harnesses it and carries it forward.
• Derek Ogbeide had 13 rebounds.  Are you excited about he and Maten in the post next season?  Of course you are.
• Mike Edwards splashed a free throw.  Unfortunately, this is noteworthy.
• Did you get worried when Mississippi State cut it to 10 after a 12-0 run?  I did.
• Four bad shooting nights in a row for J.J. Frazier.  We'll all be happy if he manages to break out of that mini-slump on Tuesday night.
• Georgia pressed and immediately forced a turnover.  It just about brought a tear to my eye.
• The reaction to State's press was less exciting.  In fact, the last 8 minutes of the game were downright disturbing, not because the game was ever in jeopardy (it wasn't), but because Florida is going to press for 40 minutes Tuesday night.  Mississippi State scored 13 points in the last 67 seconds of the game!  Georgia relaxed, and that can't happen against better teams.
• Unfortunately for Kenny Paul Geno, that was probably his last trip to Starkville.  He sure seems to have fun there!
• Quinndary Weatherspoon is worth getting excited about if you're a Mississippi State fan.  If Malik Newman sticks around and grows into the player he was supposed to be, that'll be a nice one-two punch.

Georgia needed a win and they got it.  Mark Fox needs to have the team just as prepared on Tuesday night.  Literally every game matters for this team right now.

I'll be in my seat cheering them on.  I hope you will too.

Kentucky: post mortem

Where do you even begin with a game like this?  I normally try to start positive, but that's not going to be possible today:

• Georgia had 11 made baskets, and I missed 2 of them thanks to Michigan State and Purdue going into overtime.
• In fact, 5 of the 11 made field goals came in the first 6:30.  Two of them came in the last 2 minutes.  That leaves almost 32 minutes of game time where Georgia made just 4 baskets.  Inconceivable.
•  If Kentucky had stopped scoring at the 16:47 mark of the second half, they still would have won.
• Georgia somehow finished the game without a single steal or blocked shot.
• Literally the only positive for Georgia in the game?  Free throw shooting.  Part of me wishes they hadn't wasted a 23-27 night from the line on this game, and part of me is relieved they didn't shoot them like they normally do and lose by 45.
• Teams that have beaten Kentucky this year: UCLA, Ohio State, LSU, Auburn, Kansas, and Tennessee.  They are good, but they are not the juggernaut we're used to.
• Why did Houston Kessler and Kenny Paul Geno get such extensive minutes down the stretch?  If you want a silver lining to a blowout it's that you can get your freshmen some time on the court.  Fox's handling of his youngsters continues to boggle the mind...
• It's pretty safe to say that if you hold J.J. Frazier without a field goal, you're going to beat the Bulldogs handily.
• Let's not forget that Kentucky was without Alex Poythress...
• I don't know about you, but I didn't see any surefire lottery picks on the floor for Kentucky.  Jamal Murray has shot the lights out two games in a row now, so perhaps he'll play his way into one of those spots.  The bad news is that a lot of these guys may be back next year.

It's not that Georgia lost - losing in Rupp is no great shame.  It's how they lost.  The hope was that Georgia would return to the tournament and, at the same time, return to relevance.  That simply has not happened.  Whatever the "eye test" is, this team doesn't pass.

However, the team could technically still squeeze their way into the tournament field.  That seems insane to type, and it means Fox can't just pack it in and go all in on the freshmen (not that he'd be likely to do so anyway).  Besides, the team owes it to two great seniors to fight until the bitter end.  That fight commences in Starkville on Saturday (where Arkansas was just blown out).  As to which Georgia team decides to show up, your guess is as good as mine.

Auburn: post mortem

There are losses that are so bad, they simply have to be "thrown out."  Texas A&M was one such game.  Sometimes the other team plays so well, and beats you so thoroughly, that there's almost nothing to learn.  You just move on.

The win over Auburn feels like that.  Georgia beat a relatively bad, desperately shorthanded team soundly, and there's almost nothing to be learned.  Move on:

• As much as I fret about Mark Fox's ability to take the program to the next level, another sellout would suggest that people are at least paying attention.  It was a good crowd that never really had a chance to affect the game because the outcome was hardly in doubt.
• Aren't you glad J.J. Frazier and Yante Maten are coming back next year?  Many saw Maten's progression coming, but Frazier has taken his game to a level very few saw coming.  He didn't even play all that well on Saturday and he still led the team in scoring.
• Then there's Maten, who throws up one of the quietest 12/12 lines imaginable to go along with 5 blocks.  I say quiet not because it didn't matter, but because it looks so easy you hardly notice.
• To me, one of the biggest plays in the game was Frazier drawing the offensive foul right before halftime.  Instead of Auburn dribbling out the clock and perhaps cutting the lead to 6 points, Georgia had a chance to extend it even further.  Smart play by a wily veteran.
• Auburn is going to live and die by the 3-point shot, and boy did they die a spectacular death on Saturday.
• Derek Ogbeide needs to learn to defend without fouling, and he needs to do so quickly.  He's not very useful sitting on the bench.  The fact that he grabbed 5 rebounds in 6 minutes certainly whets the appetite for more.
• It sure seems like E'Torrion Wilridge has turned some sort of corner.  He looks confident running the offensive sets, and his defense remains strong.
• Some people will hate me for saying this, but I love watching Cinmeon Bowers play.  Bruce Pearl started him at point guard!
• With that said, watching Yante Maten block his shot three possessions in a row was gratifying.  Good defense, big man.
• I bet Connor O'Neill wants those free throws back...
• Devon Gales got the biggest cheers of the night, and deservedly so.  I got choked up explaining to my wife who he is and what he's gone through.  It's wonderful the way the entire Bulldog Nation has embraced him.

Let's be clear - that game was boring, but I'm not complaining.  Good teams beat bad teams, and it doesn't always look pretty.  If Georgia is going to be a good team, we should expect and celebrate such games.

With that said, a whole different level of play will be required to spring the upset Tuesday night.  Will the Bulldogs finally step up and announce their intention to dance?

South Carolina: post mortem

Posting has been admittedly thin lately.  I'm traveling for work.  In fact, tonight's game was the first home game I've missed in two years.  So hey, I hope it was Georgia fans that bought my tickets, and I hope they enjoyed their evening:

• I have complained here about the lack of big wins for Georgia (and for good reason), not just this season but over the past 4 or 5 seasons.  Tonight was a big one.  Is South Carolina really a top 25 team?  Their record would suggest so, but I'm skeptical.  However, it's a top 50 win over a likely tournament team, and I'll take it.  Now we hope the Gamecocks keep winning and we drop them again in Columbia.
• J.J. Frazier: onions.
• Yante Maten is locked in right now.  He has so much diversity in his game.  Post moves, jumpers, drives...and that's just on the offensive end.
• Some huge minutes for E'Torrion Wilridge.  He must have done something to get back in Fox's good graces.  I like how he's defending, and his scoring will come as he gets more and more court time.
• I like the more aggressive Kenny Gaines we saw tonight.  He's not a great finisher, but he's better when he mixes in some slashing and driving.  It keeps the defense honest.
• Nice tip KPG.  If you want to watch someone who plays hard, watch him.
• 9 blocked shots for each team.  Yowza.
• Nothing really jumps off the stat sheet, honestly.  Georgia out-rebounded South Carolina, which is always huge for a Mark Fox-coached team, and they turned the ball over less than the Gamecocks as well.
• I've said this before, but the potential in all four freshmen is evident.  There is reason for excitement, even if this season ends up falling a little short of expectations.
• If you've been watching SEC basketball for a few years, it's hard to believe Michael Carrera is as good as he is right now.  He was all effort, little skill until he started to develop last season.  Now he's a guy who could log minutes for any team in the country.  However, he has always run hot, and the Bulldogs showed that it's still possible to get in his head.
• In a lot of ways, South Carolina is what Georgia was supposed to be: a veteran-led team with some young talent grinding out wins.
• Mike Edwards needs to shoot 10,000 free throws this offseason.  It's a serious liability for a player whose game should see him at the free throw line quite a bit over the next few years.

South Carolina's schedule doesn't get any easier, and this may have been the start of the Gamecocks coming back to Earth a bit.  No matter.  Georgia has a big win, and we can all breathe for a few more days.

Arkansas: post mortem

That was fun, right?  Any complaints that Georgia didn't play particularly well (they didn't), the free throw shooting was awful (it was), and the fans were only there for Kirby Smart (maybe) are noted.  But sometimes, when two equally mediocre teams lace it up, what you get is a fun, close game, and that's what we saw Saturday night:

• I don't suffer from migraines, but my wife does.  If her experiences with them are any indication, J.J. Frazier was nothing short of heroic on Saturday night.  He's what we call a DGD around these parts.
• Yante Maten can't touch the ball on every possession (can he?), but he needed to get more than 13 shots.  Especially with Kingsley on the bench the whole first half (his second foul may have been the biggest play of the game), Maten could have - and often did - have his way.  17 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, and 0 turnovers is a whale of a game.
• I think Mark Fox is realizing he doesn't have the depth he initially thought he would.  Some of that may be because a few guys haven't gotten enough minutes to develop, but I'll leave that for another time.  J.J. Frazier, Charles Mann, Kenny Gaines, and Yante Maten all played at least 35 minutes.
• In fact, until I looked at the box score I didn't realize Georgia's bench only scored 2 points.  That's not great...
• Houston Kessler played pretty well again.  Even if I don't agree with it, I can see why Fox is so tempted to give him minutes over some other guys.
• I still wish we'd see a lot more of E'Torrion Wilridge, though...
• Interesting game for Dusty Hannahs.  He was the only reason Arkansas was even in the game, and he's a big reason the Razorbacks lost in the end.
• I still haven't watched the replay, but that lane violation on Hannahs was a gutsy call by the officials (Dusty loudly compared the call to cow excrement as he went to the bench).  That late in the game those things normally get overlooked unless they're blatant.  Was it that blatant?
• That first play in OT was beautiful.  Get the ball, feed Maten, and score.  Wish that one had been drawn up at the end of regulation.
• Kenny Gaines went to the basket more in this game, and I loved it.  He didn't always finish, but he had two big buckets late.  He has been relegated to something like a 3-point specialist, and while he's a great shooter from distance, there can be more to his game.
• Kenny Paul Geno failed to score again, but here's why you don't hear me complaining about his minutes: on the season, he's averaging (all numbers rounded) 3 rebounds, 2 assists, half a block, a steal, and only 1 turnover per game, and he's doing so from a position at which Georgia has very little depth.
• I confess, I'm the one who yelled, "No, Charles!" as he let go of that dagger 16-foot jump shot in overtime.  Good shot, Charles!

I've given up trying to figure this team out.  I'm just going to try to enjoy the ride.

Now's when the schedule gets brutal.  If Georgia thinks they're a postseason team, now would be the time to start proving it...

Missouri: post mortem

That game was every meal I've ever eaten at Applebee's.  Just good enough:

• Georgia has three guys right now playing major minutes who are extreme offensive liabilities: Mike Edwards, Houston Kessler, and Kenny Paul Geno.
• Kessler may be a lost cause.  He has completely lost faith in his jumper.  Seriously, when's the last time he hit a jump shot?  I don't know either.  He did good work on the boards last night, and that shouldn't be overlooked
• Geno does enough good stuff on the court that his minutes don't feel wasted.
• Edwards could be a weapon if Georgia decided to run more, but in the half court, he disappears.
• So why doesn't Georgia run more?  I hope it's not their coach telling them not to, because it's become painfully obvious that the half court offense isn't working.  Occasionally Maten gets a good look out of a set play, but if Georgia still has the ball halfway through the shot clock, things are likely to end poorly.
• I'll state it more clearly: Fox has to loosen the reins and let this team run.  Period.
• And where are Turtle Jackson and E'Torrion Wilridge?  Jackson has a tougher road because he's stuck behind some real talent, but you're telling me Wilridge can't replace Geno or even Kessler for 10 minutes?  I find it hard to believe the dropoff would be that severe.  There has to be something else going on there.
• Ok, enough negativity.  It was a win, after all.  Hmm...let's see...what went right?  Oh, yes, Yante Maten.  Again.  I wouldn't even say it was one of his best games and he found 21 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 blocks.  6!
• Can we magically make J.J. Frazier and Kenny Gaines 4 inches taller?  Those two guys maximize their frames.  J.J., in particular, is so much fun to watch.
• Defensively, this team has it figured out.  Yes, Missouri is pretty bad, but despite hitting 7 3's, they didn't even crack 60 points.  In many ways, the Texas A&M game was an anomaly (that's not to say it was excusable).  The Aggies lights out shooting from range doesn't change the fact that Fox has his guys locked in on the defensive end.
• Derek Ogbeide continues to show little flashes of the player he's going to be.  That should have Georgia fans excited.  The lefty hook off the glass looked too easy.
• The late foul on Kenny Gaines was a joke, but Georgia needs better ball security there.  Fox's teams have a history of struggling to close out games.  I hope that doesn't rear its ugly head again.
• And Charles...what are you doing closing so hard on the 3-point shooter in that situation?  Bad foul that fortunately didn't cost the Dawgs a win.

Listen, I'll take it.  But there are some fundamental problems that need to be addressed on offense.  When it's so obvious the announcers see it, maybe it's time to rethink the plan.  Fox has his most talented and most athletic team...maybe ever.  Drowning them in complex half court sets isn't working.

Arkansas comes into Athens on Saturday, and they like to play fast.  Maybe it will force his hand and the team will get to run.  Remember the Oakland game?  That doesn't have to be the exception!  It can be the rule...

Texas A&M: post mortem

Georgia basketball enjoyed a Saturday off, something that's extremely valuable during the grind that is SEC play.  Unfortunately, no one told Texas A&M, so the Aggies showed up and took Georgia's lunch money.

I don't like to focus on the negative...so this is going to be really short:

• Taking into account the setting, the opponent, and the magnitude of the game, it's hard to come up with a worse loss, certainly in the Mark Fox era...but perhaps well beyond that.  This was at home, in front of a packed Stegeman Coliseum, against an Aggies team that is very good...but not nearly as good as Georgia made them look.  I mean, really, what was that?
• Bad games happen.  There are things you can't control.  Texas A&M shot the ball very well, even when contested.  However, you can control effort and execution, and neither was there on Saturday.  There wasn't a single moment when Georgia was in that game.
• We've reached a point in the season where we kind of know what Georgia is and what they are not.  Here's a hint: if J.J. Frazier and Kenny Gaines are both on, Georgia wins.  If one or the other is on, Georgia is in the game.  If neither are on, Georgia loses.  Yante Maten may very well be the most talented Bulldog, but as those two go, so goes the team.
• Mark Fox may owe Kirby Smart an apology...not the greatest recruiting atmosphere on Saturday...

Let's not dwell on this one.  We're going to learn a lot about the character and fight of this team on Wednesday night at Missouri.  It's a game Georgia should win handily, and it's a game they now have to win if they want any sort of postseason play.  As opportunities for resume wins slip away, there is no more margin for error (there wasn't much anyway).

Tennessee: post mortem

The lack of energy and execution in the first half was incredibly disappointing, and I'm not the only one who thought so.  Mark Fox lit into his team in the postgame interview for sloppy passing, passive defense, and soft offense.  It was almost a worst-case-scenario first half, one in which the Volunteers 7 point lead felt way too small...but also felt insurmountable.

Then Kenny Gaines and J.J. Frazier happened, and now we're talking about a nice win instead of a crippling loss:

• I'm going to go out on a limb and say any game in which Frazier and Gaines combine for 50+ points is a game Georgia is going to win.  Period.
• If Frazier was 6 inches taller he'd probably be averaging a double-double.  It's amazing to watch him rebound in person.  He literally comes out of nowhere.
• Why did Mark Fox yank him immediately after he split the double team with a spin move and buried a three?  I wish I could explain it.  His substitutions drive me batty sometimes.
• Yante Maten struggled from the field last night, and that was very much by design as Tennessee came in determined not to let him have his way, but his 8 rebounds were huge.  Throw in a couple blocked shots and he still managed to affect the game positively despite being taken away offensively.
• Maten and Derke Ogbeide barely lost the rebounding battle to Tennessee's entire team.  It was 22-15.  They matched them in offensive rebounds at 6.
• It was great to see Ogbeide get his first start, too.  He couldn't get the ball in the basket either, but expect huge strides out of him the next few games.  He seems more and more comfortable.
• Another solid effort from Charles Mann.  That's three straight.  And don't look now, but he's shooting 59% from behind the 3-point line.  Shot selection, shot selection, shot selection.
• Kenny Gaines is getting hit with at least one offensive foul per game, and it's almost always the right call.  He has a bad habit of stopping and pushing off with his left arm...
• Some great work out of Mike Edwards on defense and on the boards, which is exactly what Georgia needs out of him right now.
• Kenny Paul Geno is under-appreciated by just about everyone not named Mark Fox.  He'll never score in bunches, but he is exactly what every coach wants out of a 6th man.  He defends, passes, and rebounds, and he doesn't make a ton of costly mistakes (foul language aside, of course).
• Kevin Punter, Jr. is a great player.  Kenny Gaines and J.J. Frazier did a nice job of bottling him up, but he found a way to score, which is what great players do.
• I thought it was a well officiated game.  That doesn't mean I agreed with every call (I especially liked when they called a foul and then huddled to try to figure out who had been fouled), but I thought they were consistent, which is all I ever ask.
• Nice crowd, too.  The building was understandably dead at halftime, but it was rocking when Frazier and Gaines got it going, and it made a huge difference.  I expect more of the same on Saturday.

Was Georgia fortunate to survive that first half?  Yes.  Were they lucky to win the game?  Not at all.  With the first half in Oxford and the second half last night we're starting to see the full potential of this group.  When you have a major scoring threat in the post and two guards who can fill it up you're forcing an opponent to pick their poison.  Last night that meant open looks for the guards, and they knocked them down.

Saturday is huge.  Huge, huge, huge.  Get on down to Athens and make some noise, will ya?

Ole Miss: post mortem

That was a tough loss for so many reasons.  It's a game Georgia easily could have won against an opponent who will probably be on or near the bubble at the end of the season lost on a circus shot in the last seconds of regulation.  That's now 3 losses by a total of 5 points, and each one is painful in its own way:

• In a 1-point loss, it's tempting to go back and figure out where the game might have been lost, so indulge me while I do just that.
• Start with the very first possession of the game.  Georgia, by and large, gets very little done on inbounds plays, and Stefan Moody had obviously watched some tape.  He sat on the long inbounds pass and got two free points.
• Then there's the technical foul on Kenny Paul Geno - a truly baffling call.  I'm not endorsing the language, and had Geno aimed the comment directly at the Ole Miss player the call would have been justified.  As it happened, though, that's just a terrible call, plain and simple.  You're a referee not the morality police.
• Only the officials can stop Yante Maten.  Don't you get the feeling Georgia might have pulled it out if he had been able to play the last few minutes?
• It's tempting to blame the loss on the free throws, but Ole Miss was just as bad in that department.  It was essentially a wash.
• In fact, if you want to see what two evenly matched teams look like, scan the box score for this one.  For starters, you'll see the same exact shooting percentage on the same number of shots.
• Forgive me for saying so, but Stefan Moody has to be the most over-hyped player in the SEC (much like Marshall Henderson before him).  Is he good?  Yes!  He's very good.   But aside from free throw percentage, where does he stand out?  He's a high scorer because he's a volume shooter.  His assist-to-turnover ratio is nice but not astronomical, and he can steal the ball.
• But he sure does get the star treatment from the officials.  You can't touch the guy (the call on Gaines in the last two minutes was particularly egregious)...
• Teams are starting to clamp down on Maten and J.J. Frazier.  Maten's answer has been an extension of his game to the top of the key (and now officially above the 3-point line).  Frazier continues to be productive in many areas, but he's struggling to find good looks.
• Charles Mann was great, and the officials got to call a charge on him, so all is right with the world.
• Nice strong move by Toe in the post.  That was unexpected.
• Nice game for Derek Ogbeide too - a point away from the first of many double-doubles.  He's going to keep getting better and better.
• I have to ride the fans a little bit - if it were up to the Ole Miss crowd, every single opponent possession would end with a travel or an offensive foul.  There's a fine line between partisan and ignorant.
• Speaking of...that ball went out of bounds off of Moody, didn't it?  It seemed clear from the replay.  Is that me being biased?

After Frazier's 3-pointer to make it a 4 point game, I think Georgia got everything they wanted.  A Rasheed Brooks corner 3 (he's shooting less than 30% on the season), followed by a nice look for Kenny Gaines, followed by a great defensive possession that forced an ugly shot.  If any of those three things goes a different way, Georgia wins.  Unfortunately, it wasn't in the cards.

This is one to remember if Georgia is on or outside the bubble in two months.  Tennessee becomes almost a must-win game on Wednesday night.  Hope to see you there.

Missouri: post mortem

Sorry for the silence.  I am a computer programmer by trade, so one of the small joys in life is taking a long Christmas break and unplugging.

I was lucky enough to miss most of the Florida game, but I was in my seat last night, and I enjoyed what I saw:

• Yante Maten continues to be the truth.  He was a tad careless with the ball at times, but really, that's a nitpick.  He completely dominated the first 10 minutes of the game, and that domination led to open shot after open shot for Georgia's perimeter players.
• I will go out on a limb and say Georgia will win every game in which they hit 11/19 3-point shots.  Some of it was just good shooters getting hot, but a lot of it was the team taking good shots.  Charles Mann is hitting 50%(!) of his 3-point shots this year.  Why?  Because he's stopped taking the bad ones.
• 19 assists on 29 field goals is a winning formula, too.  That means a lot of shots came in the natural flow of the offense.
• In fact, Georgia dominated just about every statistical category.  Missouri had more steals and less turnovers, but that wasn't nearly enough to compensate for their many shortcomings.
• Kevin Puryear did good work, and while Mike Edwards was completely overmatched, these lessons will translate into success as his body and mind round into SEC shape.
• The freshmen averaged 15 minutes on the floor.  That's 60 minutes of SEC play for the youngsters.
• Charles Mann seems to be either on or off this year.  There is very little in between.  He was on last night, and when he's on, Georgia is tough to beat.
• After an 0-14 run following the Seton Hall game, Kenny Paul Geno finally saw another 3-point shot go down against Mizzou.  His intangibles are so good at this point that I can live with him jacking up one or two per game.
• Turtle Jackson can pass, and his teammates are going to have to start looking for the ball when he's on the court.  It's fun to watch, and it'll be more fun when more of these passes start turning into assists.

There's really not much to say, and that's a good thing.  Georgia overwhelmed a bad opponent at home.  The next one - Ole Miss on the road - won't be so easy, and will tell us a lot about whether this team is ready to make a run through the SEC or not.

Clemson: post mortem

Dawg fans, you deserve a pat on the back.  I expected to walk into an empty building last night, yet there I was stuck in traffic just hoping for a spot in the deck.  A 6:00 PM tip three days before Christmas turned into the best home crowd Georgia has seen all season, and the players made it worth the trip for everyone wearing red and black:

• If you were a neutral observer studying up on Georgia, who would you cite as their best player?  Yante Maten?  Good answer.  Kenny Gaines?  Another good answer.  How about their best scorer?  Maten?  Gaines?  J.J. Frazier?  The fact that these questions have no clear-cut answers tells you all you need to know about how dangerous Georgia can be.
• Clemson came into the game giving up 57 points per contest.  Georgia started and finished slow and still put up 71.
• The Tigers' offensive rebounding (they got 18 of them) is really all that kept what was a rout from becoming something far more embarrassing.
• If he doesn't already, Maten is eventually going to have the green light to take 3-point shots from the top of the key.  But for a sliver of his shoe on the line he hit one last night.  The way he has expanded his game in one season is remarkable.
• Clemson shot the ball poorly.  Some of that is just a team that doesn't score well, but some of it was also Georgia's defense.  The effort was inspiring, in particular on Jaron Blossomgame.
• Blossomgame scored the first 5 points of the game and he finished with...5 points, just a tick below the 16 he came in averaging.
• Georgia only missed four free throws, and two of them were by Frazier.  Weird.
• It was great to see Mike Edwards getting it done defensively.
• His jumper wasn't on last night, but on the season, Frazier has a 2.5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.  That's getting it done.
• I continue to like what I see from Turtle Jackson.  Flashes of brilliance intermingled with flashes of looking like a freshman.  All combined the four scholarship freshmen logged 58 minutes in this game.  That will pay dividends.
• Nice to see E'Torrion Wilridge is confident enough to take that corner jumper.  Even nicer to see him make it.
• Derek Ogbeide is a work in progress on defense.  The fact that he was limited by foul trouble and still put up a 6/4/1 stat line is encouraging.
• Welcome back, Charles Mann.  Draining free throws.  Mostly good shot selection.  Solid defense.  Who knows if it's a trend, but it sure was nice to see.
• Osahen Iduwe logged a few good minutes.  He has a long way to go, but practicing against guys like Maten and Ogbeide can't hurt.
• Brandon Young getting greedy.  I like it.

A drama-free win in a packed Stegeman three days before Christmas.   It doesn't get much better than that.  Robert Morris probably won't demand the same attention, but these guys are playing well, so let's reward them with more butts in the seats.  It's just more fun that way.

Merry Christmas everyone.  God bless you and your loved ones.

Georgia Tech: post mortem

I was in Jacksonville for the Georgia - Florida football game this year, and I didn't have anything red to wear, so I bought a t-shirt.  I wore the shirt for that game (yuck) and the Chattanooga basketball game (ugh).  I decided to give it one more chance today, and it got it done.  This was a big win for my t-shirt:

• I didn't get a chance to put up a "gut feeling" post, but everything I was going to say would turn out to be wrong.
• I thought Charles Mitchell was going to have a big day: wrong.  I thought James White was going to have a big day: wrong.  I thought Georgia Tech was going to win the game: wrong.
• Admit it, though...when Quinton Stephens banked in that 3-pointer in the first half, you flashed back to last year and thought, "Oh no, not again."
• Going into the locker room down only 1 after getting nothing from Gaines in the first half actually felt pretty good.
• Starting the second half on a 9-0 run felt really good.  That's two games in a row where Georgia has come out smoking in the second half.  I'd love it if that became a habit.
• Georgia only shot 14 3-pointers, and I think that's a recipe for success - especially when J.J. Frazier hits 6 of them.
• Houston Kessler had good and (very) bad moments, but 5 offensive rebounds will always get you praise around these parts.
• Derek Ogbeide struggled like you'd expect a freshman playing his first real minutes to struggle, but the talent is evident.  He and Maten are going to be a scary pair in the post for the next two years.
• Less turnovers, more assists, and even on the boards.  I'll take that every single night.
• When Adam Smith hit those three bombs in quick succession and Georgia came out of it unscathed, that's when it felt like it might just be the Dawgs' day.
• Nick Jacobs is a large man.  Yante Maten did a fantastic job of denying him the ball, and I loved the quick double every time Jacobs got his hands on it.  It was obvious Fox didn't believe the Jackets could win the game from the 3-point line.
• And seriously, Yante Maten is a grown man.  He had an off night at the line, but it's easily forgiven considering everything else he's doing for this team.  And I love the fact that he threw that shot into the stands with .4 seconds left on the game clock instead of giving up the layup.  Play to the whistle.
• I also love the press Georgia showed in the last 4 minutes.  It caught Tech by surprise, ate some clock, and generated at least one turnover.  Excellent coaching.
• In fact, for a team that has struggled to close out games for years, Georgia did a fantastic job today.  There was very little drama.  They didn't turn the ball over, they (Frazier) hit their free throws, and they forced long possessions.  It was great to see.
• Brandon Young: on the board.

This was a good game, and Georgia can be so much better.  Will we see the typical after-finals surge out of the Bulldogs?  Let's hope so.  For now, it's just nice to be back on top of the nerds.

Winthrop: post mortem

I admit, my heart sank when I realized Kenny Gaines hadn't started (it took me a few minutes of game time to notice he wasn't out there).  Not just because it made me feel worse about our chances, but also because the injury bug just hasn't been fair to Kenny.  Here's hoping it's nothing too serious:

• Another fast start for Georgia.  I hope this becomes a trend.
• And a fast start after halftime.  The 7-0 run to start the second half was as important to the outcome as anything else.
• What else is there to say about Yante Maten at this point?  He's pretty much doing everything, and Winthrop had no answer for him.
• Actually, I do have something else to say: Maten is clearly a guy who decided to take pride in his free throw shooting, and look what has happened.  Last year he was a 65% FT shooter, a number that ticked up as the year went on.  This year he's shooting 80%, and he's shooting 88% in the last 4 games.  It kept Georgia in the Seton Hall game, it won the Oakland game, and it helped last night.  It matters.
• The game is just so much easier when you hit your free throws.  Georgia made 29(!) of them last night.  If they hit their normal percentage, it would have been 5 less points, and it would have been a completely different game.
• I really liked the lineup with J.J. Frazier and Turtle Jackson in the game together.  Maybe a little sneak peek at next year.
• Jackson looks quick and confident out there.  Good news, since he probably has no idea what he's doing.  His shots aren't falling yet, but that will come in time.
• As for Frazier's shots, I think they'll start falling too.  He's getting good looks, and he needs to stay confident.  That's generally not a problem for shooters.
• How long do you think it's been since Charles Mann missed two bunnies at the rim like that?  Middle school?  It didn't cost the team, so shake it off.  His 9/10 performance at the FT line suggests that it didn't bother him all that much.
• He's only played 5 minutes so far, but you can tell how Derek Ogbeide is going to change things when he's healthy.  He's a grown man.
• Good for Mark Fox for letting the young guys play through some adversity.  When Roderick Perkins got hot and sparked that 8-0 run, Fox let his guys fight through it.  That kind of thing is going to pay off down the road.
• In fact, I appreciated his treatment of all the freshmen last night.  Mike Edwards had more minutes than Kessler, and should really be taking that starting spot (unless Ogbeide gets it first) before long.
• Toe looks more and more comfortable too, but oy vey, those free throws...
• Keon Johnson was as good as advertised.  Georgia was in his business all night and he still found a way to get 21 points.
• When the flagrant 1 was called on Okeke, I stood up and cheered.  It was a big play, and I was excited.  The guy behind me smacked me in the back and yelled at me to sit down so he could see.  He is a Georgia fan.
• Worse, he is a season ticket holder, so I'm stuck with him.  Time to win and get some fresh fans in the doors...and hopefully get rid of some of the old ones.  Oh, and I'll keep standing when I get excited.  If you want to sit through the game, SEC Network has you covered.

Good win over an average team.  Now things get real again.  Georgia Tech comes to town having beaten Georgia 4 times in a row.  They'll be favored to get a fifth.  If Georgia has any designs on an NCAA Tournament berth, the next 3 games are probably must-wins.

Get your butt to Stegeman if you can.  More Georgia fans means less Tech fans.  And by God, stand up and cheer when something exciting happens.