Scheduling news

Georgia will play at Baylor on January 30th as part of the SEC-Big 12 Challenge.  ESPN has it as the 6th best game in the lineup.

Quick:  what is Mark Fox's record against ranked opponents as coach of the Georgia Bulldogs?

My math says 7-29.  That is...not good.  Odds are that Baylor will be ranked, and we will be in their gym, so it's an excellent chance to pick up a big time non-conference win in front of national TV eyeballs.

I guess what I'm saying is, go ahead and circle that one on your refrigerator magnet.

[Ledger-Enquirer]
[ESPN]

2015-16 early season tournament

Here is a link to a page tracking all the early season, neutral site tournaments for the 2015-16 season.  Looks like Georgia has its spot.  Need help finding it?  Here's a hint:  search for "Las Vegas."

[www.bloggingthebracket.com]

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

Full schedule released

We have a schedule!  Reprinted here:

November
N6 vs. Georgia Southwestern (Exhibition, 7:00 p.m.)
N14 at Georgia Tech (ESPN3, 7:00 p.m.)
N18 vs. Stony Brook (NIT Season Tip-Off) (Time TBA)
N21 vs. Troy (Time TBA)
N23 vs. Florida Atlantic (Time TBA)
N26 vs. Gonzaga (NIT Season Tip-Off @NYC) (ESPN2, 9:30 p.m.)
N28 vs. Minnesota/St. John’s (NIT Season Tip-Off @NYC) (4:30 or 7:00 p.m.)

December
D2 at UT-Chattanooga (7:00 p.m.)
D7 vs. Colorado (Time TBA)
D21 vs. Seton Hall (ESPNU, 6:00 p.m.)
D27 vs. Mercer (Time TBA)
D31 at Kansas State (ESPNU, 4:00 p.m.)

January
J3 vs. Norfolk State (Time TBA)
J6 vs. Arkansas (ESPN, 7:00 p.m.)
J10 at LSU (ESPNU, 9:00 p.m.)
J14 at Vanderbilt (SECN, 9:00 p.m.)
J17 vs. Florida (CBS, 2:00 p.m.)
J20 vs. Ole Miss (SECN, 7:00 p.m.)
J24 at Miss. State (FSN, Time TBA)
J27 vs. Vanderbilt (SECN, 7:00 p.m.)
J31 at South Carolina (ESPNU, 4:00 p.m.)

February
F3 at Kentucky (ESPNU, 7:00 p.m.)
F7 vs. Tennessee (ESPN/2, 12:00 p.m.)
F11 at Texas A&M (SECN, 7:00 p.m.)
F14 vs. Auburn (FSN, Time TBA)
F17 vs. South Carolina (SECN, 7:00 p.m.)
F21 at Alabama (ESPN/2, Time TBA)
F25 at Ole Miss (SECN, 9:00 p.m.)
F28 vs. Missouri (ESPNU, 12:00 p.m.)

March
M3 vs. Kentucky (ESPN, 9:00 p.m.)
M7 at Auburn (SECN, Time TBA)

We'll dive in bit by bit later, but this is a schedule that can get Georgia to the tournament.  It has the right amount of non-conference difficulty, and a lot of the tougher games are at home.  Also, as of now, there's only one midweek home game scheduled for 9 PM.  Those tend to be attendance killers, but it's Kentucky, so attendance shouldn't be a problem.

h/t Seth Emerson

Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2014/09/05/3284477_georgias-mens-hoops-schedule-officially.html?rh=1#storylink=c

NIT Season Tip-off matchups set

The NIT Season Tip-off format is changing a bit this year due to a lack of participation.  This means the semifinal matchups at Madison Square Garden are set, and Georgia will be playing Gonzaga.  Minnesota plays St. John's in the other semifinal, with the consolation and championship games being played on Friday, November 28.

This is a huge opportunity for Georgia to get a couple of quality non-conference wins.  Gonzaga, as you well know, is no pushover, but Georgia can compete with every team in the tournament.  Georgia's recent history in preseason tournaments has not been good.  Now would be a spectacular time to turn that around.

Georgia will also play Stony Brook in Athens, but the outcome of the game won't affect the matchup in New York.  Stony Brook lost in the first round of the CBI tournament last season.

h/t ESPN

Schedule released

The SEC schedule is (almost) official:

Tue. Jan. 6 Arkansas
Sat. Jan. 10 at LSU
Wed. Jan. 14 at Vanderbilt
Sat. Jan. 17 Florida
Wed. Jan. 21 Ole Miss
Sat. Jan. 24 at Mississippi State
Wed. Jan. 28 Vanderbilt
Sat. Jan. 31 at South Carolina
Wed. Feb. 4 at Kentucky
Sat. Feb. 7 Tennessee
Wed. Feb. 11 at Texas A&M
Sat. Feb. 14 Auburn
Wed. Feb. 18 South Carolina
Sat. Feb. 21 at Alabama
Wed. Feb. 25 at Ole Miss
Sat. Feb. 28 Missouri
Tue March 3 Kentucky
Sat. March 7 at Auburn

The Dawgs play Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Kentucky, and Auburn twice each.  Not a bad draw at all.  Also, both Florida and Kentucky make trips to Stegeman, so attendance should get a nice shot in the arm.

A 3-0 start in conference would certainly be sweet before the showdown with Florida.

Every road game aside from Kentucky looks very winnable.  In light of the fact that Georgia won every conference home game last season (aside from the head-scratcher against Vanderbilt that still has me shuddering), all of those should be winnable as well, including Kentucky.

It's certainly a schedule that can get a team to the tournament, so scratch that from the list of potential excuses.

h/t Marc Weiszer

Preseason NIT scheduling

The Preseason NIT may have a problem.  If a couple of the host schools - who each host two games before moving on to Madison Square Garden if they win both - lose at home, the tournament field may not be big enough to compensate.

Not that Georgia would ever lose two layup games in a preseason tournament, but all possibilities have to be considered.

It will be interesting to see what effect, if any, this has on Georgia's home schedule.

h/t ESPN

Butts in the seats

Mark Fox wants the Gators in Stegeman every year.  And he should.

He beats around the bush a bit:

“Those are the games that our fans will traditionally come out and see,” Fox said. “To not have any of those games at home, that’s an issue that all teams run into. Maybe with more partners that you play every year you can avoid some of that.”

What he's actually trying to say is, hey, we get 3,000-4,000 more fannies in the arena for that game, and we desperately need that.  The fact that it's either an OK loss or a great win is icing on the cake.

I've said on this blog that I think (and hope) the Gators will be one of the Dawgs' new permanent opponents.  Quite frankly, almost every team in the league is hoping to draw Florida or Kentucky, so Georgia isn't alone there.  Fortunately, there is some tradition that may give us the edge.

h/t Nicole Saavedra

One more opponent

Florida Atlantic will come calling on November 23.

The schedule is rounding into shape.  We'll talk more about the slate as a whole once Georgia ties a bow on it.

h/t Marc Weiszer

Out of the gate

The season will begin on November 14 at Georgia Tech.

As Georgia has more continuity from last year's key contributors than Tech, I hope that favors the Dawgs.  Tech will be playing with no Robert Carter or Daniel Miller for the first time in a couple years.

I suspect Georgia will be favored by a point or two.  Either way, there will be no warm-up.

h/t www.sicemdawgs.com

League scheduling

The SEC is going to a 3-2-8 conference scheduling format instead of the old 1-4-8.  What does that mean?  The first number is permanent rivals, the second number is rotating home-and-homes, and the third number is single game opponents.

Each team will still play five teams twice and eight teams once during conference play.  However, there will now be three permanent rivalries instead of just one.

Currently, Georgia's permanent rivalry is South Carolina.  Who will the other two be?  I have no idea.  Here are my guesses, along with totally fabricated percentages reflecting my confidence:

Auburn - 90%.  It just makes sense.  Both teams are historically bad, and there is a strong football rivalry in place.  Why not try to spark a basketball rivalry as well?

Florida - 65%.  I have this feeling there's going to be one traditional power in every team's set of rivalries (as much as that's feasible), and Florida has been good enough for long enough to be considered a power.  Add in, again, a healthy football rivalry, and I think both schools would be happy with the pairing.

Vanderbilt - 45%.   Please, no.  Fox couldn't beat Vanderbilt if they fielded 4 players (which they practically did last season).

Kentucky - 30%.  Somebody has to draw them, but even though Georgia has had some limited success against Kentucky in the past 15 years or so, there was never much of a rivalry here.  The series was totally dominated by Kentucky when both teams were in the East.  That doesn't mean they won't be paired up...it just means there's not a hugely compelling reason to do so.

Missouri - 20%.  No special reason.  Just a hunch.

The Field - 30%.  My percentages don't add to 100, but remember, there will be two selections.  Also remember no actual math occurred here, and I just made all of this up.  There are 13 other teams, so there's a decent chance I guessed wrong.

Update  [12:03]:

Why did I leave Tennessee off my list?  I have no idea.  Let's throw them in there at a healthy 60%, and let's kick Vanderbilt down to 35% and knock Kentucky down to 25%.  Much better.

h/t MrSEC.com

Scheduling tidbit

Georgia has added Mercer to the schedule next season.  They will visit Athens on December 27, and there is no return trip scheduled.  That obviously doesn't mean the teams won't play again soon.  It just means Georgia isn't obligated to play a return game at Mercer this time around.

It is a fine addition to the schedule (you may remember Mercer dancing all over Duke a few weeks ago), but this is hardly the same team that advanced in the tournament.  Mercer loses 7 seniors.  Included in that 7 was their entire starting 5 last season.

So yeah...gotta win this one...

h/t Seth Emerson

Book your travel

A little Friday hoops news to keep you going:

The Georgia men's basketball team has added a game at Kansas State for this upcoming season, according to documents provided to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It's part of a home-and-home series, with Kansas State set to visit Stegeman Coliseum during the 2015-16 season.

This is good news.  I think Mark Fox has finally learned the lesson (or had it learned for him by McGarity) that non-conference play isn't as meaningless as many make it out to be.  Even if Georgia loses this game - a distinct possibility - it is better than a home win over an RPI 300+ team.

Games against Colorado, Seton Hall, Georgia Tech, and now Kansas State, along with some big potential matchups in the preseason NIT, mean Georgia will have a real chance to make a splash early in the season.

h/t Seth Emerson

ad more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2014/04/25/3072978/hoops-georgia-schedule-keeps-getting.html#storylink=cp