Georgia and the SEC released the men's basketball schedule today. All 16 of Georgia's SEC games will be televised. David Ching had the TV Schedule up first.
MemphisDog and I ended up being right on all the non-conference games by the time all was said and done. Really, we had the 12 of 13 right a month or so ago. But enough of slapping myself on the back. Here are some thoughts on the schedule:
The Positives:
- It's a big boy schedule -- I'd wager that less than 10 teams will play five BCS Conference members without participating in a pre-season tournament. Georgia has road games against Missouri, Virginia Tech and St. John's (Big East Challenge in Madison Square Garden). Plus, a neutral site game in Gwinnett vs. Illinois, and a home game against Tech. 15 of 29 teams played in the post-season last year. We'll know more about Fox's scheduling habits next year as only Saint Louis, UAB, Georgia Tech and Hawaii are on the books for 2010-2011.
- The Schedule Builds -- November is a build up to December which builds towards the insanity of January. There is a chance for the team to build up their confidence before facing the January gauntlet of SEC play plus at Missouri and vs. GT.
- Home Games on Friday Night before Football -- We face North Georgia in an exhibition on Friday, Nov. 6th. That's the day before the Tennessee Tech game. The season opener is against New Orleans on Nov. 13th the day before we face Auburn.
- The best games are Away from Steg -- This is mostly Felton's fault. He knew we had Illinois at Gwinnett and an away game for the Big East Challenge this year. But he still booked games at Virginia Tech and at Missouri. I expect Fox to even the lumpiness of our scheduling out in the future.
- UAB nutty timing -- It's inexplicable that we're playing at UAB on a football Saturday. No one will watch that game, and I can't imagine it'll be televised. More than being disappointed with Fox on this, I'm baffled that Mike Davis at UAB could be so stupid to blow a home game like that.
- Georgia Tech (home) - I'm pretty sure that we haven't lost to Tech at home since 1976 (The series returned to campus in the mid-90s). Tech is loaded, but you still can't lose to them at home.
- Alabama (home) - There's a segment of the fan base that will always compare Fox to Anthony Grant. This is a big game for perception.
- Ole Miss (home) - The first SEC home game. The students will be back on campus, and there's a chance to give them a big show in a winnable game.
- Florida (home) - I think this is the last SEC home game before the students go on Spring Break. More importantly, it looks like the highest profile winnable game on the schedule. There's an opportunity to show momentum and improvement by picking up a big win against the Gators at home.
- New Orleans (home) - You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
PWD
6 comments:
Am I currently reading PWD's mind? 5:16 by my clock, yet this won't be posted until 5:47. If only the Mega Millions machine had a mind I could read as well....
Were going to be average regardless of who we play. Might as well go ahead and take our lumps this season. Maybe a big upset will be fox's hobnail boot. Much better schedule than Felton put together, should be interesting. Go dawgs and cmf!
We'll see what happens. It's hard to grasp all this with football right around the corner. Right off the bat, I agree: UAB = WTF. It'll be fun once it gets going. Friday night before Auburn should be awesome.
The Tech game is easily the most important game on our schedule. I would say that the bell-weather game this year is likely Virginia Tech. Last year's game was at home and Virginia Tech was without a star player, this year we play at Cassell Coliseum and Virginia Tech should be better. I think that the way we play in that game will give the fans an indication of what they were to see. Last year, the bell-weather game was the game at the United Center. We didn't handle that very well...
I'm honestly just very excited to see some new offensive philosophy brought to the team. Very intrigued to see what Fox does in his first year, and the better games is going to make for a more interesting season. Even if we lose those games, at least we'll be interested in watching. The friday night home games are great, should make for an awesome weekend, going to the basketball game friday night and football on Saturday.
Couple things Paul, but for the most part you and I agree lockstep. On the road thing, since Felton made those deals going into last year, any chance he didn't care of the future scheduling impact knowing he had no future here anyway?
And UAB I actually like. You are correct, it's a football Saturday, so if we lose (something that seems more likely than not), no one will even notice. And if we win, well, chances are the same number of people will notice anyway but it will look nice for RPI purposes later on in the year, maybe even help fans come out as they start to pay more attention once the SEC schedule starts up. In general, and once Fox gets the program up and running, I'd agree with you. But let's look at this from the perspective of a first year coach and with the Georgia fan base, and it makes a lot more sense.
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