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February 26, 2010

Gut Wrenching

I was at last night's heart breaker in Nashville. What can you say other than we're very, very close very, very often. Damn. As Quinton texted me post game, when the best free throw shooter on your team misses two and the worst three point shooter on their team makes one all at the end, that's pretty much not your night.

On the bright side, I did talk to the extended family of one of our players who raved about Mark Fox and the progress the team is making week to week. On the downside, I also accidentally popped off about another player in ear shot of his mom. Doh. Been a while since I put my foot in my mouth with a player's parent.

Regardless of how last night went, I do love our chances against the Gators on Saturday, and I think we have a reasonable shot at beating LSU in Baton Rouge the following weekend. As a buddy said, that would put us as the #6 seed in the East with likely Ole Miss in Game 1 and Vanderbilt in Game 2.

Given that we smoked Vandy at home, and lost by 1 point in Overtime on the road...a neutral site battle looks like a manageable situation for us.

See Also:
-- Overtime Not Friendly - RnB
-- Vanderbilt's Rally - Tennessean

PWD

13 comments:

todd said...

I'm proud of the guys. They made a 17 point turnaround against a ranked team on their home floor in a gym that is tough for everyone to play in. It felt like we were playing some big time ball last night. So hats off to them and the coaches for getting this far.

I am already worried about what will happen if we lose Trey and Travis though. We need one more year out of each in my opinion. Or I'm afraid we're still going to be climbing up hill and have to re-prove everything all over again.

RC said...

I've kind of come around to the fact that, as much as we all love him, Dustin Ware is a middle-of-the-road SEC point guard. I think his value is elevated more than a little bit by the pronounced drop-off when he's not in the game, which says a lot, but still...he's serviceable, but not spectacular.

Anonymous said...

Officiating was atrocious last night. Vandy shot 39 free throws???? Are you kidding me? There were so many phantom fouls called on us that it became ridiculous. I was hoping Fox would rip them in his presser but I guess he didn't. Horrible.

If Vandy drove, we were called for the foul. Every....damn.....time.

Ollllddude said...

That game on TV - particularly the second half - was experiencing the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat all rolled into one. I feel bad for DW, but there is a difference between being an 85% FT shooter in general, and being 85% (or even 50%) when the money is on the line as golfers like to say. I guess this sort of fan frustration is just the sort of growing pains we had to expect, but d,jd it is tough. Has to be worse on the players, so I hope they handle it better than me.

Nate said...

That game was a total bummer, but I just can't get too disappointed. We've improved tremendously this year and I am really enjoying watching this team. It is so refreshing to watch offensive sets that don't remind me of church league basketball teams. I am 100% behind Fox and looking forward UGA basketball being a force for years to come.

Unknown said...

Man, that was gut wrenching. As an NYC dawg, the opportunities to watch them play have been few and far between. I have basically been going off reading blogs and various articles. However, the chance to seem them on ESPNUHD last night really proved to me just how far they've come in one year. I in no way thought Vandy played poorly and we still managed to take a 7 point lead late in the second half.


When they hit that barrage of the 3's in the first half to turn a close game into an 8 point lead I figured that was it. We showed a lot more than we would have last year cutting the lead to 5 at half and then immediately making a run to take the lead in the second half. For once, it seems free throw shooting killed us, and while the officiating was good in the first half, it became entirely inconsistent with the game on the line and it seemed we couldn't get a call.

Heartbreaking loss and I feel bad for those guys, but the progress is clear and I can't wait to see what the future holds. If Thompkins comes back, the addition of GR jr. will be huge and this is a tournament team next year if they learn to win at least 1/3 to 1/2 of their games on the road. Excited for the SEC tournament to see what kind of damage we can do there.

Russ Fortson said...

Wow, what a kick in the nuts! I love the spirit Fox has infused in the team and that they keep fighting. I hope it carries over to next season when we can get a little more help. Let's stomp the Gators this weekend to make up for last night.

Trey said...

Free throws down the stretch win basketball games. That was a tough one to watch.

WHM said...

PWD -- Any chance you overheard family members talking about Trey's future at UGA? Maybe you just have some inside info. Either way, is he likely to bolt after this year? Please say no...

Anonymous said...

now we know how Vandy feels in football.....

Anonymous said...

I think you are being a little premature to worry about whi the Dawgs might play in the second round of the SECT. We haven't won two games in a row since December, so what makes you think it will happen in the SECT.

Unknown said...

WHM,

All the players' families obvious want Trey to stay. Beyond that...who knows.

He's a very good college post player right now. But if he stuck around 1 more year, he could be a very good draft selection, too.

PWD

Anonymous said...

Hard to be too critical of Dustin Ware and the two missed FT's at the end of last night's game, but he also missed the front end of a 1 and 1 in Columbia that could've changed that outcome. Good kid, but he's still got work to do at the line when the game hangs in the balance.

 
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