This week in Georgia sports

Minnesota: post mortem

Stop me if you've heard this before.  Georgia goes down big early, but fights valiantly and comes up just short in the end.

Quite frankly, I'm tired of this, and so are you.  That was not a very good Minnesota team that Georgia just lost to, and while the season is not over, UGA's tournament hopes already look pretty bleak.  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.

For some reason, no box score is available at the moment, but here are a few more thoughts:

• J.J. Frazier is the best point guard on the team.  He penetrates, he dishes, and he can shoot.  Mann had a nice game against Gonzaga, but Frazier should be starting.
• Kenny Gaines needs to break out of this funk, and fast.  The lack of any 3-point threat is just killing Georgia right now.
• Minnesota, on the other hand, shot quite well from the 3-point line, but many of their looks were completely uncontested.  Maten and Thornton got caught in no-man's land on the baseline again and again.
• It wasn't all bad for Maten, though, who scored 12 points in a nice first half.  He really kept Georgia from being run out of the building.
• In the end, Georgia just invented yet another way to lose a game in which they were probably the better team.  Instead of poor shooting or missed free throws, it was turnovers.  If this game is played ten times, Georgia probably wins 8, and you know what that means?  Absolutely nothing.  When you turn it over 14 times in one half, you lose, and a 4 point loss is the same as a 40 point loss.
• Lord, let that be the last we hear from Bob Knight all season.  He somehow made a painful loss that much more unbearable.

After all Mark Fox's talk of how veteran his team finally is, and how important November is, Georgia has lost two games they should have won thanks to an ongoing refusal to play the first 10 minutes of the contest.  Imagine how differently we'd be feeling sitting here at 5-1.

The talent is there to get to the tournament, but the margin for error is now razor thin.  Next up is Chattanooga, and if you think that's a get-well game, think again.  They've already played Wisconsin and Butler, so they won't be scared.  Fox has three days to do some serious soul searching and light a fire under his team.  If they don't start playing up to their potential, his job is in serious jeopardy.

Game card: Minnesota

Opponent:  Minnesota
Mascot:  Golden Gophers
Primary color(s):  Maroon and Gold
Record:  3-2
Best player:  Nate Mason
Line:  Minnesota -4.5

Why Georgia will win:  Minnesota finished the game against St. Johns ice cold.  They were extremely sloppy, which Georgia can take advantage of due to their experience.  Frankly, Georgia is just plain due in November tournament play, their last such win coming on November 29, 2010 over Manhattan in Orlando.

Why Georgia will lose:  Another game, another 7-footer in Elliot Eliason.  Nate Mason is hitting 60% of his 3-pointers, which is a huge advantage over a Georgia team that can't find the range.  Georgia is just plain bad in tournament play, and there's no reason to expect that to change tonight.

What I think will happen:  Georgia wins a close one 74-70.

Gonzaga: post mortem

I have absolutely no idea what to think about that game.  I'm going to attempt a post mortem here, but I'm not even quite sure where to begin:

• Ok, let's begin with Bob Knight, who is insufferable.  There are rumors (that I never really bought) that he remains perturbed that Georgia didn't court him last time they had a job opening, and you'd almost believe it the way he calls our games.  Any time Gonzaga did something well, it was great execution.  Any time Georgia did something well, it was because Gonzaga made a mistake.
• My favorite Knight moment came immediately after Kenny Gaines spectacular drive and dunk in the first half.  His commentary:  "It's really amazing how well Pangos sees the floor."
• While that remark about Pangos could have waited until, you know, he actually did something, it was nevertheless spot on.  He was as good as advertised.
• Kyle Wiltjer was pretty good too, and Georgia simply had no answer inside for the size of Gonzaga.  Part of the reason UGA was able to hang around was the fact that Gonzaga's bigs were in foul trouble almost all night.
• It wouldn't be accurate to say missed free throws cost Georgia the game, but they missed 13 of them and they lost by 12.  Hit a few more and the tenor of the game certainly changes down the stretch.
• In fact, as you browse the box score, it's remarkable how even it is.  Except for the free throw disparity, both teams are almost interchangeable.
• I think I'll expand on this in a later post, but yet another slow start killed Georgia.  They played Gonzaga even for the final 35 minutes of the game, which is small consolation when the first 5 minutes saw the bad Bulldogs open a 12 point lead.
• I continue to be surprised by the poor outside shooting.  I really thought that was going to be a strength this season.  Djurisic and Gaines were a combined 0-7 from 3-point range.  Just a bad night overall for Kenny.  He needs to shake it off and move on.
• Keep shooting, J.J.
• A word about the Kenny Gaines foul is probably in order.  Sure, I'm a little biased, but I thought Knight's bluster about ejection was way over the top.  I think Gaines throwing his leg out was a natural reaction to being beaten so bad, not an attempt to hurt the other player.  Had a flagrant 1 been assessed, I wouldn't have complained, but I actually think the refs got it right.  I sure hope Perkins is ok, but I don't think there was any malice.  It was just an ugly collision.
• Jaylen Brown?  Is there a Jaylen Brown watching?  A competent small forward sure would have helped on both sides of the ball tonight.  One with Brown's talent may have been the difference.

I don't know if anyone expected Georgia to win this game.  I didn't.  Yet I still came away frustrated by...what, exactly?  Not the effort.  There's just an "it" quality that Georgia lacks right now.  They better shake this one off fast, though, because Minnesota is waiting, and an 0-2 trip to New York would be incredibly disappointing for this team.

Game card: Gonzaga

Opponent:  Gonzaga
Mascot:  Bulldogs
Primary color(s):  Blue and red
Record:  4-0
Best player:  Kevin Pangos
Line:  Gonzaga -14.5

Why Georgia will win:  Gonzaga has not played away from home yet, and their only win of consequence is over SMU, a team that just lost to Arkansas in tournament play.  After a slow start at Georgia Tech, Georgia has found their offensive rhythm.

Why Georgia will lose:  Gonzaga is 6th in the nation in points per game, 9th in rebounds, 1st in assists, and 4th in field goal percentage.  Georgia's defense isn't ready for a game like this.  Plus, tournament play in November hasn't exactly been kind to the Dawgs as of late.

What I think will happen:  Uh oh.  Gonzaga wins 86-66.

What I hope will happen:

From the now-you-know files

In making the case that Gonzaga is a must-win game (I'm not sure I agree), HoopDawgBlog tosses out a factoid that catches me by surprise:

The Georgia Bulldogs haven’t beaten a ranked opponent outside of the SEC since Fox’s initial team took down the then-ranked #20 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 73-66 in Athens.  Matter of fact, CMF’s teams have only won two games against ranked opponents since the departures of Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie.  In that same span of games, UGA has yet to beat a team ranked lower than 20th.

Tomorrow night would definitely be a good time to add to that number.

h/t hoopdawgblog.com

Where there's smoke...

...coaches resign.

Weird.  Do we have a fall guy?

h/t ESPN