Initial in-depth analysis of Georgia's corner of the bracket:
A UGA Basketball Fan Blog
Showing posts with label Time to panic?. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Time to panic?. Show all posts
Monday, March 16, 2015
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Mind games
Take a moment and digest this:
Basketball is played as much between the ears as on the court. At some point, this Georgia team decided they were good enough to show up and win. They're not.
I have no idea how a team that has lived life on the edge for much of the season could have decided they were ok to coast. I look to the coach in instances like this, because it's his job to have his team in the right mindset. An off game? That happens. Two in a row? That can't.
Fox is saying the right things, at least:
“We’re not hungry anymore,” Mann said. “We’re settled with where we are now.”
Why is that?
“I have no idea,” he said.It's quotes like that, moreso even than the game results, that have me worried this morning.
Basketball is played as much between the ears as on the court. At some point, this Georgia team decided they were good enough to show up and win. They're not.
I have no idea how a team that has lived life on the edge for much of the season could have decided they were ok to coast. I look to the coach in instances like this, because it's his job to have his team in the right mindset. An off game? That happens. Two in a row? That can't.
Fox is saying the right things, at least:
“We made it harder on ourselves,” Fox said. “We’ve got no one to blame but the person in the mirror. We can still accomplish what we set out to do. We made it much harder. We could use our health as an excuse but that’s a cop-out. We’ve gotta grow up.”We'll find out Saturday if anything is sinking in.
[Ledger-Enquirer]
Monday, January 12, 2015
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.
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.
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Monday, September 8, 2014
Swing and a miss
Malik Beasley, a consensus top 100 recruit and all around stud from Alpharetta, GA, has committed to play for Florida State. Beasley committed immediately after taking his first official visit. The news broke on Friday, but had I written this post then, it would have been far more emotional and far less measured.
To be quite frank, this one hurts. Beasley had long been considered a UGA lean and, had he come to Athens, would have been the heir apparent at shooting guard behind Kenny Gaines.
Why does it hurt so much? It hurts because Beasley is exactly the type of recruit Mark Fox needs to start getting on campus if he's going to keep the program rolling. He's an Atlanta kid, he was on campus a lot (unofficially), and he would have filled what will soon be a position of need. The fact that he was lost not to a traditional powerhouse, but instead to Florida state, makes it even worse. Aside from the opportunity to play in a historically-great-but-currently-mediocre ACC, FSU has little to offer that Georgia can't match.
Also, it's not like the rest of the SEC is struggling to pick up commitments. Check out the ESPN 100, and you'll find LSU, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Auburn, Florida, Alabama, and Arkansas with one or more verbal commitments. Not pictured? Your Georgia Bulldogs.
The sky is not falling. #64 Tevin Mack and #8 Jaylen Brown are still on the table. Get Mack to Athens, and the class will be considered a success. Get Brown to Athens, and the class is a home run. Both, and you have yourself a grand slam. However, the margin of error is now razor thin.
I give Fox a lot of credit for signing two quality kids at positions of need this spring. Those signings on the heels of a pretty good season gave the program some momentum. I have also been preaching for a while now that this 2015 class could make or break his tenure in Athens. On Friday, that class got a little bit smaller.
h/t ESPN
To be quite frank, this one hurts. Beasley had long been considered a UGA lean and, had he come to Athens, would have been the heir apparent at shooting guard behind Kenny Gaines.
Why does it hurt so much? It hurts because Beasley is exactly the type of recruit Mark Fox needs to start getting on campus if he's going to keep the program rolling. He's an Atlanta kid, he was on campus a lot (unofficially), and he would have filled what will soon be a position of need. The fact that he was lost not to a traditional powerhouse, but instead to Florida state, makes it even worse. Aside from the opportunity to play in a historically-great-but-currently-mediocre ACC, FSU has little to offer that Georgia can't match.
Also, it's not like the rest of the SEC is struggling to pick up commitments. Check out the ESPN 100, and you'll find LSU, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Auburn, Florida, Alabama, and Arkansas with one or more verbal commitments. Not pictured? Your Georgia Bulldogs.
The sky is not falling. #64 Tevin Mack and #8 Jaylen Brown are still on the table. Get Mack to Athens, and the class will be considered a success. Get Brown to Athens, and the class is a home run. Both, and you have yourself a grand slam. However, the margin of error is now razor thin.
I give Fox a lot of credit for signing two quality kids at positions of need this spring. Those signings on the heels of a pretty good season gave the program some momentum. I have also been preaching for a while now that this 2015 class could make or break his tenure in Athens. On Friday, that class got a little bit smaller.
h/t ESPN
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