Image: DawgPost.com
Georgia fell to Mississippi State by six points tonight in Athens. They played about 15 minutes of competent, SEC-caliber basketball. The other 25 minutes...not so much.
David Hale has all the details and post-game quotes including discussion of a new offense for the b-ball team that apparently debuted in this one. As David Ching said, the idea of cutting loose Dustin Ware and letting him make plays is appealing.
Dustin Ware looked like an SEC caliber freshman point guard in this one, and that's a good thing. He got 14 points, 5 rebounds, and two assists in 37 minutes. Ricky McPhee, walk-on shooting guard, had the game of his life scoring 15 points in 24 minutes.
Jeremy Price looked good at times, and he looks to be shaking the confidence issues of the past. However, the box score shows him with five turnovers. As Felton said post-game, that doesn't really sound right. Some of those (not all) may be a score keeper error. Someone turned it over. just not JP in all instances.
On the downside, our guys had about 19 turnovers in the first 23 minutes of the game, and Trey Thompkins continues to struggle going 1 of 8 from the field. Most of Trey's problems look to be mental. He's never dealt with anything remotely similar to the sort of adversity that he's currently facing.
The team didn't quit on Felton, and they actually improved significantly in the second half. I doubt any changes will be made this week. They head to Gainesville on Wed (Raycom) and Tuscloosa on Saturday (FSNS). UF looks like a definite loss. Bama is a somewhat winnable game. The Tide has lost 4 of its last 6, and they play a rare Thursday Night game before facing us. Maybe they'll pout their way to a defeat.
(Note: If you're reading this and finding a tone of embracing a moral victory, then we have a disconnect. That's most certainly not the intention. I just didn't feel like piling on when I wrote it.)
See Also:
-- Dawgs fall apart again - DawgPost
-- Dawgs put up fight but lose - ABH
PWD
22 comments:
It's weird. I seem to recall, last years run coincided with Felton's decision to let Yatta loose, and we ended up playing our best ball as a result. The biggest bugaboo I've seen w/ Felton's teams are the turnovers. I don't understand his offensive philosophy, but alot seems predicated on forcing the ball inside and not letting the p-gaurd loose to break down the D. But I guess I don't really get Bball schemes. What are your thoughts, vis-a-vis p-gaurd play?
Keep in mind that Offensive fouls, 3 second violations, etc. all count as turnovers. I'm not saying that's definitely how they credited JP with 5, but it's easy for a big man to have a few more turnovers than we think he had.
just saying
We found ourselves down by 10 points almost immediately. From that point on, we held with them the whole game. It was kind of like the football game versus Alabama this past year. It took us a few minutes to wake up and when we did, it was too late.
Felton ball 2008-2009 - the lost season. It's pathetic that we continue our slide with the current HC. I can only speculate that Evans has a plan for moving forward w/out DF after the season.
Another thing that really pisses me off is the comment that "UF looks like a definite loss". This gator domination is absolutely ridiculous. If any true dawg is not sick of losing to FL in ANY sport at ANY time - that person should face the guillotine.
The worst thing for any program is to simply drift. We are doing just that, with a lame duck coach and no defined plan for the future at this point.
I agree that this is a good move. I hope that Ware can learn on the fly, as he plays out of control sometimes and doesn't always make great decisions. Having a freshman PG who plays like a freshman is tough. The end of the game revealed that, when on one possession Ware drove into three players, not appearing to have any idea where he was going or what he was going to do with the ball.
Right after that he hit a big 3 to make it 61-58.
Ware is obviously a good player and a spark. Can he give more than he takes away? At least the team will try harder with him on the floor, it seems.
Getting the ball inside isn't in itself a bad idea, but the problem comes when your team can not make an entry pass to the post in the first place. And we have been one of the worst teams in the country with that pass for several years now. It boils down to asking players to do things they are not very good at, and that is something we do an awful lot.
It sickens me that Evans, the rest of the AA, and the fanbase continue to accept such a piss poor product in regards to our bball program.
It's pathetic that the flagship school of a state that produces some of the best bball talent in the nation cannot, AT THE MINIMUM, compete for SEC titles every 3 years or so.
It's inexcusable.
Fire Felton now, move on and let's dedicate the resources needed to compete at the top.
PS - Price needs to be on the bench. I've never seen a player play as lazy and scared as he does on a daily basis. I think we need to keep a new stat on how many times he dribbles the ball of his feet either out of bounds or to the opponent because he has to do 5-6 times per game.
Because in Game 20 in our 6th straight loss to a peer institution we "brought some fight" in the 2nd half, we 'don't make a move'?
I think the fact that Felton woke up at 7pm last night and decided to give McPhee some minutes is an indictment in itself. How can he not ever figure out the corect personnel combos until it's too late?
Hell, make Bliss the temporary head coach.
What's the difference? At least we'd play smart and the guys know that Dave would literally kick their ass.
I hope no one thought that my comments were mollifying or in any way intended to suggest that Felton continue after this year...
Jason and Anon,
Felton won't be coaching here next season. Is that not obvious by now?
Lighten up. It's simply a question of when. There's something to be said for giving a guy that you know you're going to fire AMPLE chances to redeem himself following an SEC Tourney Title.
Coaches like to work for patient Athletic Directors.
I don't think Felton makes it to Feb. 13th. We can't hire a coach in mid-season. All we can do is ethically make contact with agents without having Felton in the way.
So waiting another week doesn't really matter much.
PWD
Begger,
If we only let the players do what they are good at, it's a short list.
Chip, The talent level at guard is bad. That's the problem. Felton recruited 3 legitimate 3 point shooters at guard in 6 seasons. Stukes, Humphrey and Channing Toney. None are in the program currently.
Ware has upside, but he wouldn't start for 10+ SEC teams. Butler is a defensive minded walk-on. Zac is an SEC back-up.
Leslie is a slashing small forward. He's not a shooting guard who can bomb.
This team needs makers badly.
We have absolutely no set offense, no half court game at all. I know the philosophy is defense first and score off defense in transition, but come on.
You go there and run in 5 foot circles, you go there and run in 5 foot circles, you two do the same thing down low. You break'em down with the dribble and turn it over. It's offensive gold!!!!
How do we not win when it is obvious to any objective observer that are guys play with more discipline and desire, employ a better strategy and have the best coach on the sideline? It is beyond me.
Seriously, it was great to see them make a game of it in the second half. It is just so discouraging to be seeking morale victories.
Is our talent level that far below the rest of the league? I am not sure it is. However, if it is, who's fault is that?
Hooray! Now we're celebrating moral victories. Yep, come a long way in 6 1/2 years.
Hopefully only a few more games of watching us under felton, god he sucks!!!
I watched part of the first half. I'm not really big on basketball but in my feeble opinion....we don't shoot very well. Guys aren't getting a lot of truly open looks. Poor shot selection makes rebounding more important.
Is it crazy to think Favors reconsiders his decision if Tech continues to tank and UGA hits a quick homerun on its next hire?
After seeing the new offense, I need to rescind my 0-16 conference record prediction.
We find a way to win 1.
I feel like 'Bama is a definite win considering the load of bad karma that is going to land in Tuscaloosa like a scud missile. It's been flying around since the refs forgot what a traveling violation was the last time the 'Dawgs made the trip.
RidgeDawg
GeorgiaBulldog.com
In response to Jason, it may sicken you but the fact of the matter is b-ball talent has been bleeding out of this state since the beginning of time. Just using McDonald's All-Americans as an example, UGA has a terrible record of getting in-state McD's AA's to Athens.
There have been 28 Georgia McD's AA and only 6 have signed LOI's with UGA. Two of them Louis Williams and Elmore Spencer did not play or barely played in Athens before leaving. The last home-grown in-state McD's AA who went to UGA was Carlos Strong. James Banks, Terry Fair and Donald Hartry all played in the early 80's.
The last McD's AA to play for UGA was Damien Wilkins and he was a transfer from NC State. Heck we do a terrible job of attracting out of state talent too since the only other "Arches" AA to walk under our Arch were Dominque Wilkins, Vern Fleming and Shaun Golden.
All of the following McD's AA were from GA High Schools and did not sign with UGA: Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Al Farouq Aminu, Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittendon, Pervis Ellison, James Forrest, Dion Glover, Darrin Hancock, Donnell Harvey, JJ Hickson, Dwight Howard, Melvin Howard, Cedric Jenkins, Gani Lawal, Eric Manuel, Randolph Morris, Brian Oliver, Chris Singleton, Kenny Walker, Dontonio Wingfield, Al Wood, Sharone Wright.
True some of them went straight to the NBA, but Brown and D. Howard were going to go to UF and UNC before declaring for the draft.
The talent drain is not just Felton's fault. It has happened with Durham, Tubby, Jirsa, and Harrick too.
This is not to excuse the results under Felton either but to illustrate the monumental task the next coach will have. Do not discount it - how unappealing it could be to the truly "hot" name.
Our problems are systemic and quick fix like what Ga St. did with Lefty D. or brining in a B. Knight on the downside of career will not work. We need a coach of substance and experience who will recruit, market, sell, claw and fight for UGA basketball.
I heard S. Yoculan is retiring from gymnastics this year - think she knows anything about hoops?
Maybe we should stop talking specifics about the b-ball team. It is all under the category of "sucks". If we somehow win a game, it will be because the opponent is more miserable than we are which will be rare. We are in arguably the worst major basketball conference and in the bottom of the barrell. DF is not the answer of course (and I said this even after the conference title last season). But until we start injecting the money for a new basketball arena, not much will change. There is absolutely no way on this planet a recruit should want to play in that dump. I told a buddy before Favors made his announcement, if he picks UGA I will go up to him and ask him why he would do that to himself seeing the Coach will be gone and the Steg is so horrendous. We can get a new coach but the program will still be fairly abysmal compared to what it should be in this conference.
Mark Gottfried is out at Alabama.
Any reason why we should not make a move?
Why will no one admit the real reason for Evans keeping Felton ? His sec record alone tells you there is an underlying reason.Go ahead defend it.Jirsa wasn't this bad(hint).UGA bb is at rock bottom.Steg. home of a gymnastics team and 2 washed up coaches (1 was a good coach once)and embarassing excuses for bb teams.30 mil for a home for gymnastics great.Duke proves you need a huge new arena right.? unreal
Post a Comment