No Kool-aid for you!

I read this last night and was stunned:

"Well first of all I didn't want to give any awards," Pruitt said. "But that's what they've been doing here at Georgia, so that's what we did."

As excited as I am over a coach calling it like it is, this is....different. I posted the awards yesterday, but Pruitt wasn't in the mood to discuss how Wilson and Green did in the Spring:

Pruitt was asked about Ramik Wilson being named the defensive MVP, and J.J. Green winning the hustle award."To me, those awards are spring awards," Pruitt said. "I mean those two guys may end up being starters, leaders or whatever, or they may not play. That'll be up to them until they end up in fall camp."

Even coach Richt is picking up this a bit with his comments about Tray Matthews' hamstring. It looks like a brave new world in Athens. Now, if Will Friend will only come clean about the offensive line....

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Basketball recruiting news

Athens Christian's Will Jackson is going to play basketball at UConn. Yes, the one in Connecticut that just coming off recruiting violations?

Jackson is a play making guard who chose UConn for their 'style of play.' 

Meaning?

"Coach [Kevin] Ollie likes to push the ball and let players do what they do best; for me that's scoring, passing, getting my teammates involved."

Think about how that contrasts with Georgia's style of play.

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Traffic woes and snow

Let me get this out of the way: being stuck in your car for many, many hours sucks. I know. I've been there. On multiple occasions.

Also, schools who waited to let kids out need to seriously evaluate their policies and think critically about where those kids are going when their parents are working 25 miles away. However, we need to stop blaming schools for closing too quickly when the threat of weather happens. That's on we parents. Unless we evaluate our willingness to bitch about that (which drives school administration thinking on pulling that trigger) and own our role in all the times schools close too quickly, we are doomed to see this happen again.

And we will bitch and snark the next time schools close the day before a threatened snow and it doesn't materialize. And we will forget about kids stuck on school buses, stuck at school, or our collective outrage over 'them idiots' running our schools for waiting to pull the trigger yesterday. That's what we do.

One last rant: before we start yelling at the top of our lungs about government or the weather man, let me ask you a question: Didn't you know the weather was going to be bad before you went to work yesterday? Does your employer have a reasonable leave policy?

If your employer has a reasonable leave policy: You traded saving a half day of leave for sitting on the road for multiple hours. What happens when it snows in Atlanta isn't an unknown quantity. That isn't to say government and the weather forecasters don't have a role in this, but in essence, you decided that you knew better and didn't want to 'waste' that leave/get mocked for staying home/fall behind on something that probably doesn't really matter now.

This is a lesson I learned while practicing law in Washington, DC in the 90s. Multiple times, I went in with full knowledge that if the forecast was right, I'd end up having to make a sleep at the office or drive six hours decision that day. And I had to do so. Six hours from Silver Spring to Quince Orchard in the snow. And I never learned. Except for the times I slept at the office.

Also, I'm not surprised that my dedication to clients/the firm/my managing partner/the practice of law didn't come up at all when evaluation time came around.

If your employer doesn't have a reasonable leave policy: You need to direct some (or perhaps a large part) of your ire at your employer.

This happens in other cities. It happened in Chicago in 2011, with commuters sleeping on Lakeshore Drive and the Dan Ryan Expressway.  It happened in New York in 2013, with commuters sleeping on the Long Island Expressway. Yes, the amounts of snow are different, but even if Atlanta had all the equipment those cities had, we would have had much the same result because that equipment can't work when roads are covered with cars all leaving at nearly the same time.

If we are going to skewer local and state government for not learning past lessons, we need to be willing to admit we aren't doing so either.

We aren't big on personal responsibility in the world anymore. We look for reasons bad stuff happens to us. Sometimes it is our own decisions, and not those of the government, the weatherman, or school administrators, that we are in the situation we are in.

Or maybe it is just snarky bloggers who are to blame.

See Also:
-- How Hothlanta Happened -- EDSBS

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UGA Hoops: "Playing the AAU Game"

By Paul Westerdawg

I've seen rhetoric on the message boards that we're losing in basketball because UGA won't let Mark Fox "play the AAU game."  The insinuation is that we're too ethical to win in hoops.  I'm here to tell you that is a rhetorical crutch as asinine as Georgia Tech saying they can't win in football because they don't pay players.

Tech loses in football primarily because they have shitty coaches. When they had George O'Leary, Ralph Freidgen (Super Bowl OC), Bill O'Brien (future Super Bowl OC/HC at PSU), Ted Roof (future MNC DC), David Kelly (lights out recruiter) and Lance Thompson (lights out recruiter), they won games. Yes, they had help academically from their admin, but they also had coaches and talent.  They lose now because they have none of those things.

"Put that coffee down."

UGA is losing now primarily because of Mark Fox's recruiting incompetence.  Not because of our ethics, our academics, or our financial support for basketball.  The idea that we're not "playing the AAU game" is silly given that every kid we have played AAU ball.

We aren't recruiting well because we have a staff full of introverts, a head coach who doesn't pound the pavement and a strategy that doesn't make sense or hang together in a coherent manner.

Mark Fox doesn't know how to close Tier 1 blue chip players.  He has signed one Top 50 player in his entire career and that was KCP.  He never signed one at Nevada, and he's never been on a staff at a high major as an assistant to recruit those kids.  Yet he pursues them early in the signing period and frequently dismisses quality Tier 2 guys because he's trying for Tier 1 guys.  Then because he has pursued guys he had NO CHANCE of signing he has to fall back all the way to Tier 3 and 4 guys at the last minute to fill the roster.

Then he compounds the problem because he takes panic signees. That means he doesn't have the scholarship wiggle room to string a quality Plan B guy along.

In other cases, he has cornered the market on a player no one else was pursuing months ahead of their senior year while more highly thought of guys were ignored.  But let's focus on his inability to avoid coming in third or worse at the last minute.

Lack of Strategy/Self-Awareness in Action
Tony Parker was an elite blue chip big man a few years ago.  Fox wasn't described by Parker as going balls to the wall for his signature until October before the early signing period. At that point, we were behind Kansas, UCLA, Duke, UConn and Memphis.  At that point, Charles Mitchell was still obtainable as a center.

Fox pursued Parker until signing day ultimately coming in 3rd (at best) to UCLA.  Mitchell has started virtually every game of his career at Maryland and at is exactly the type of player the team needs at center.

Strategically, that's a bad use of your time and it shows a lack of self-awareness.  Why were you not going balls to the wall since the kid's freshman year when it was obvious he was a blue chipper?  Why were you trying to overtake Duke, Kansas, UCLA, Memphis, etc after the November signing period?  In what la-la land has UGA started from behind against that group and then made up the ground to finish on top?

The AAU Circuit is Important 
As we've said here previously, Korey McCray has a masters in education from FSU and an undergrad degree from Mercer.  He has ~13 years of coaching experience including six at the Div I level, one year in JUCO, and the rest coaching AAU ball.  He is not some street agent masquerading as an AAU coach with his hand out.  His father is also the founder of one of the top AAU programs in the country (Atlanta Celtics).  He had known the kids we desperately needed since the 7th grade or earlier.  Fox could have had him if he had made it a priority, and our recruiting might be on a different planet.  Instead, he went to UCLA, and now he's at LSU.

Hiring Korey wouldn't have been unethical or dirty.  Heck, Andy Landers hired Tasha Humphries' mom as a coach to secure her signature and arguably save his job. Vince Dooley created a women's track program to sign Herschel Walker's older sister to a scholarship.  You do what it takes within the rules to win.

It's not only Korey that could save us. There are many guys out there with established relationships with the elite AAU programs of this state. Charlton Young is another such person who doesn't work in Athens.

From an SEC recruiting standpoint, Mark Fox is out of his depth.

The fact is that we have at least five kids on the roster right now who aren't high major talents. Those five kids (who's names I'm not going to list in the public domain) would struggle to start for most Southern Conference or Ohio Valley Conference squads. You can't win in the SEC with roughly 40% of your roster being made up of of kids where you were clearly in the wrong living rooms during the recruiting process.

Those kids aren't on the roster because Fox is too ethical.  It's because his approach to bringing talent to the Athens simply isn't working.

See Also:
-- Georgia Basketball Recruiting (from April 2012) - GSB

PWD


PS - Fox lost to Davidson earlier this year, and he lost to Youngstown State and Iona last year.  Does Davidson play the AAU game?  Does Youngstown State?

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The Future

Great picture of Hutson Mason by Jim Hipple.

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Petrino, staying classy

Yeah. Yelling at another coach after the game isn't going to do much to help you team play better, bubba.

Now I know who Vandy should go after when Franklin goes off to help create New Michigan™

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Chris Dimino has joined 680/TheFan

When he was fired by 790/The Zone over the Steve Gleason thing, I felt he was not treated fairly, given his on air reservations and silence during the bit. Now, despite 790 offering him his job back, he's joined The Fan, according to the AJC.

He has a nine-month non-compete, but he'll be doing off air work for The Fan. IMHO, he was the best guy The Zone had, from a hard news standpoint. With The Zone continuing to struggle, it'll be interesting to see if there is room for three all sport formats in Atlanta.

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This is Delicious: Spurrier's Pain

You can practically smell his frustration through your monitor.

PWD

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Banner Herald's Marc Weiszer honored

Weiszer, who has been covering the Georgia beat for longer than many of you have been Georgia fans since 2003, was named a top 10 selection for sports beat writing in the ABH's circulation class. The Banner Herald's sports section and their gameday app was recognized as well.

Congrats to Weiszer, who is truly one of the good guys.
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What you missed during the off week

• South Carolina is still South Carolina
• Florida took forever to put Vandy away
• Arkansas established themselves as easily the 13th best team in the conference
• The world loves Notre Dame, even though they got a make up call from the Bush push
• The Dan Mullen, football genius
• Kansas State just do what they do
• Texas<Texas Tech
• Is the Big 10 too big to fail?

We've got Kentucky in this Saturday. Don't let what happened in Arkansas fool you. Kentucky is much better than that. At home. When they play a full game.

This is a trap game, isn't it....

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Why Oklahoma City Has the Best NBA Fans

Photobombing Pat Riley.

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Commings Suspension

There has been some speculation that Sanders would be facing far worse than suspensions, since you know, you DON'T HIT GIRLS. The reports out last week were that he might be facing more from the University for violation of the school's conduct code.  Now with word out that he has been suspended for two games, it is safe to assume there is less to the story than has been made.

Before you go all YOU DON'T HIT GIRLS on me, I am very aware of the delicate situation Coach Richt is in here. However, every story has two sides, especially stories that involve 'he said, she said' that take place downtown after midnight. I am sure a few Pimm's Cup and Zima were ingested by the relevant parties, including the witnesses. That certainly doesn't give anyone the right to go hitting on someone, but it does call into question the validity of the stories of all parties, witnesses included. Likely, the truth lies between a mere push and a roundhouse MMA punch. Coach Richt would not have issued any suspension now unless he was pretty confident that Sanders is facing, at worse, misdemeanor domestic violence charges.

You can also bet part of his stipulation is that Sanders not have contact with that particular lady, or, at the minimum, engage in some sort of counseling to help avoid this happening again.  Hopefully, he'll abide by these terms.

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And I'm Back...

Sorry for the radio silence. Been a month full of 16 hour days (seriously).

Just to catch up...

• Welcome to the SEC. Not Mizzu or aTm. South Carolina. The closest I've come to breaking my self-imposed moratorium on writing was the eruption of outrage from Gamecock fans over the new schedules and moving Georgia/SC to October. Seriously, 'tradition' is something that is older than Britney Spears. Delicious.
• Urbanbowl! Ok, the Urban vs. UF thing is fun, but over played. Is this what it has come to in Gatornation? Seriously, focus on not becoming the first SEC team in forever to lose to tOSU while they are playing with eligible players (Gene Smith assures us). Or you can crappants yourself in the bowl game named for your mascot. Either is fine with me.
• Dooley. Hey, I get it. Loyalty is rewarded. Lack thereof is not. Have fun recruiting kids from more than a three hour drive from Knoxville when you can't even look them in the face and tell them they can go home if their father is dying.
• Illinois' assistants. Some Illini assistant coaches threatened to not coach in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (I had to look it up to make sure it was real) over a contract dispute. I'm not debating the merits of the argument, one way or another, but it sure doesn't make getting assistants to coach in Champaign any easier when you look at both sides' points.
• Iowa State. Any argument about Oklahoma State deserving a shot at LSU went out the window at Yankee Stadium yesterday. There should be a specific rule in the BCS selection procedures that states if you lose to a team that gets dominated by the fourth place team in the Big East, you are ineligible for the BCS. That is all.
• B1G/Pac-1X collaboration. I like it. I've long thought there should be more AQC teams playing each other and fewer Coastal Carolina's on schedules. Scott and Delaney looked at the landscape and figured they need to have more big games of national relevance to make a dent in the SEC monopoly on football. They also get more recognition for their other sports by putting them in the big venues in their footprints (ie, Ford Field, Dodger Stadium). Well played.
• Richt to coach at (fill in the blank). Seriously?

Finally, I've had nearly three weeks to think about the running back situation and am glad I have been unplugged for this time. 

Go Dawgs!

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Final South Carolina Thoughts

Crowell on the move. (Image: Jim Hipple; click to enlarge)

After watching the replay, I don't think I have too much profound to add about the game.  As someone who watched the replay told me, it is like finding out your ex-girlfriend wasn't cheating on you after all.  Yes, there is solace, but little consolation for the loss.

Figgins with the catch (Image: Hipple; Click to enlarge)

What I took away from the replay?  Any game plan that doesn't involve getting Crowell 25+ touches a game is not well thought out criminal.  Same goes for any game plan that doesn't involve the FBs in the passing game more.  The defense is better than I give them credit for, especially on the blitz packages.  We have...issues...with Washington not getting off his blocks.  Same goes for Anderson's handling of the speed rush.  Murray's footwork fell off late, which is a product of him getting hit so many times. The missed FG was the worse kick of Walsh's career.  We should have gotten a celebration penalty after the Wooten TD.  Rambo's play is significantly better, especially on pass coverage.  Commings is better at CB than Safety, if for no other reason than Rambo is a better option at safety overall.

Commings sacks Garcia (Image: Hipple; Click to enlarge)

When you get in a gun fight, you can't win when you shoot at yourself every third shot.  That is what happened Saturday.  You can blame coaching, players, jerseys, the crowd, Mike Adams, the economy, Sandinistas, Quincy Carter, Jimmy Carter, Damon Evans, Jan Kemp, or Congress, but the fact remains that Georgia lost a game they shouldn't have.  Again. 

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South Carolina Game Review

A loss is a loss is a loss.

The Good:

• Welcome back running game.  My, how I have missed you.
• Play calling.  Huge nuggets call by Coach Richt on the on-sides kick early. Very strong offensive game plan.
• Boykin's kickoff returns.
• Murray working with 8 different receivers.  He moved the ball around well and outside of three bad throws, was very strong.
• Drew Butler's leg.  
• Bacarri Rambo's play. He might have played tentative before last night.  He brought it yesterday.
• 4 for 14 on third down defense.

The Bad:

• Allowing someone who looked like Rerun lumbering down the sideline pull off a perfectly executed 70 yard run on a fake punt.  They timed that dude with a sundial.
• Not getting points when we create turnovers.  
• Murray looking at, then pointing at his receiver on the interception.  

The Ugly:

• Offensive line: Whatchya you doin' in here kittycat?
• Allowing Lattimore 170+ yards, with so much of that coming on the edge.
• A bad play turning into a catastrophe.
• 21 points off of Georgia turnovers.

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Following the Money

Do the guys online know more than us?  Check out Bodog's odds on who will win the SEC (h/t @CFTalk):

Bama: 9/5
UF: 9/2
UGA: 5/1
LSU: 5/1
SC: 6/1
Arky: 13/1

Everyone else is at least 18/1.  Bama is a prohibitive favorite to win the West at 10/11.  LSU checks in at 5/2 and Arky at 6/1.  In the East, Florida is a slight favorite over South Carolina at 9/5 to SCs 19/10.  Georgia is right behind them at 2/1.  No other East team is better than 15/2.

More interesting are the player props.  The bettors have Murray and John Brantley both pegged at 60/1 to win the Heisman, but Brantley is fairly far ahead of Aaron when you lay money on most passing yards in the conference.

Fairly fascinating stuff.  I don't regularly bet on football, so understand that this information may seem normal or not fascinating to you if you do.  

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Why the AJC is such a joke

A UGA player not getting arrested for receiving a relatively minor citation makes the paper. While a two year long NCAA investigation into Georgia Tech resulting in sanctions goes unreported until the final day of the process.

That's not a shot at Chip Towers. It's a huge shot at the gross incompetence and/or negligence of the former Tech beat writer and the AJC's Sports Editor. Every time I think I'm done commenting on the GT thing...I get dragged back into it.

PWD

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Benedict on S&C Program

Check out Brent Benedict's Q&A with Chip Towers.  Good to see the kid is taking the high road.

One thing stood out: 

Q: I understand this mainly had to do with not seeing eye-to-eye with new strength and conditioning coach Joe Tereshinki about training techniques with respect to your injury. I know he’s employing some old-school philosophies with a lot of lower-body work. Is that what this was about?
A: “Coach Tereshinski came in and he has his own philosophy and he and the coaching staff believe that it’s going to work and there’s no reason not to believe that. So,  there were a few things going on and I wasn’t able to resolve that. Of course I hope Georgia does well, extremely well. I’ve told all my buddies back there I wish them the best of luck and I really believe it will be successful.”

Not trying to read too much into this, but it makes me wonder how tough the other regimen was if doing squats is too much for a guy that got hurt nearly two years ago.  I get everyone needs to rehab on their own schedule and all that, and no one should be asked to re-injure themselves, but it is hard to imagine Joe T and his crew asking a kid to do that.  Either he is ready to go or he isn't. 

What am I missing?

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Recruiting Thoughts

Nice work by the football coaches in landing commitments from Malcolm Mitchell and Jay Rome. Typically, I don't put a lot of stock into player rankings as much as I do who else offers a kid. And fending off Bama, Florida and the rest of the planet for these two is a big deal.

That said the rankings on these two are really impressive.

Malcolm Mitchell:
• ESPN.com - National Rank 45th / Position Rank 7th (as WR)
  
• Scout.com - National Rank 90th / Position Rank 7th (as a CB)
  
• Rivals.com - National Rank 30th / Position Rank 1st (as a CB)
Jay Rome:
• ESPN.com - National Rank 18th / Position Rank 1st (TE)
  
• Scout.com - National Rank 68th / Position Rank 4th (TE)
  
• Rivals.com - National Rank 56th / Position Rank 4th (TE)

Things were looking bleak about 45 days ago on the recruiting trail. It was beginning to look like Bama would be signing our Dream Team. But Coach Richt and crew made up enormous ground with several top prospects, and we continue to hear positive rumblings from the direction of Isaiah Crowell (RB), Ray Drew (DE/OLB) and John Jenkins (Juco DT).

When you look at the most glaring holes in Georgia's talent base guys this class looks like it's heading towards addressing many of them.

When signing day rolls around, I'm hoping to do a slow developing series of articles called "Profiles in Hope" that sort of outline the foundation for my optimism for next season.

Don't get me wrong. I'm still fairly pessimistic, but this recruiting class is giving me hope. To that end, I like Blutarsky's take on things.

PWD

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