Mississippi State Series Sketch

Mississippi State comes to Athens this weekend for the SEC opener at Foley Field.  The Dawgs took out Georgia State Wednesday in Atlanta 11-6.  The good news from that game, other than the win, was Alex McRee's return to the mound after his bout with mono.  The bad news was McRee may have rushed back a bit soon.  He pitched just one inning and gave up two earned runs.  McRee will start Saturday in his usual spot, between Holder on Friday and Grimm on Sunday.  Frankly, I'd rather have McRee at 100% later than 75% now, if the rush back is going to hinder his recovery.  He's just too important to jeopardize. 

Thus far, State hasn't hit or pitched particularly well.  Their team average is .288 and their team ERA is 4.18. They won their series against Carolina last weekend, but have three bad losses at Hawai'i earlier this year.  State is #25 in the Colligate Baseball poll, so they can play.  But, they haven't seen a team with Georgia's offensive firepower yet.  It should be a good series.

The weather is supposed to be great this weekend, so get out to Foley Field and root on the team.

Quinton

Mississippi State Series Sketch

Mississippi State comes to Athens this weekend for the SEC opener at Foley Field.  The Dawgs took out Georgia State Wednesday in Atlanta 11-6.  The good news from that game, other than the win, was Alex McRee's return to the mound after his bout with mono.  The bad news was McRee may have rushed back a bit soon.  He pitched just one inning and gave up two earned runs.  McRee will start Saturday in his usual spot, between Holder on Friday and Grimm on Sunday.  Frankly, I'd rather have McRee at 100% later than 75% now, if the rush back is going to hinder his recovery.  He's just too important to jeopardize. 

Thus far, State hasn't hit or pitched particularly well.  Their team average is .288 and their team ERA is 4.18. They won their series against Carolina last weekend, but have three bad losses at Hawai'i earlier this year.  State is #25 in the Colligate Baseball poll, so they can play.  But, they haven't seen a team with Georgia's offensive firepower yet.  It should be a good series.

The weather is supposed to be great this weekend, so get out to Foley Field and root on the team.

Quinton

By Monday Morning, we'll be knee deep in rumors

The following coaches have seen their seasons end, and all of them are being mentioned for multiple openings.

• Tubby Smith (Minnesota) - Name mentioned with UVA, UGA, Arizona and Bama jobs. Tubby's wife is from North Carolina, and Tubby is from Virginia. He also coached at VCU for 7 years. He's one of the top candidates to fill the Cav's opening if he's interested. Arizona should have their job open by Sunday night at the latest so Tubby is about to be Ground Zero for coaching hot stove talk. Any movement regarding Tubby will be very public given the media attention from around the country.

• Anthony Grant (VCU) - Mentioned mainly with UGA and UVA. I watched the UCLA vs. VCU game last night and felt better about some issues with Grant, but other concerns were confirmed. Grant's team plays with great intensity and tempo, and I liked their defense. It was also nice to see that Sanders is such a solid product because it means that VCU's key talent isn't just Capel's recruits. Offensively, he runs the same 4 out 1 in offense that Felton, Purnell and Hewitt run. It's a system dependent on individual players creating their own shots. It's not a pretty system for those who value ball and player movement. Grant wouldn't be a bad hire, but he's not who I would start my search with if I had $2 million to spend. Grant's team was in that game because Eric Maynor (who he didn't recruit) was the best player on the floor. I could live with hiring him, and I do think this is who we end up with. But it doesn't wow me. A killer press conference could sell me more. (Update: Mark Bradley has a man crush on Grant.)
  

• Brad Stevens (Butler) - He's 56-10 in two years as a head coach at Butler. They play an intriguing brand of basketball, but he's very young (32). He hasn't really been associated with our job, but he's one of the hottest mid-major coaches in the country.

• Lon Kruger (UNLV) - Kruger only makes $1 million a year. As I said earlier, he's a Plan B candidate at Arizona, and he's probably on the list at Missouri if Anderson bolts. With his regional experience at UF and the Hawks, he's someone that logically would get a phone call as a Plan B candidate in Athens.

A game to watch today is Tennessee vs. Oklahoma State. We heard an interesting theory earlier this week that if Travis Ford's Oklahoma State team beats Bruce Pearl's Vols; it might spell the end to Gillespie's career in Lexington. Many Wildcat fans would love to have Travis Ford return home, and beating Pearl would set their hearts a flutter.

I'm expecting Capel, Anderson and maybe Miller to still be in the tourney on Monday. So their names won't heat up yet.

By Monday, the rumors should be running wide open.

PWD


ht - rnb34

By Monday Morning, we'll be knee deep in rumors

The following coaches have seen their seasons end, and all of them are being mentioned for multiple openings.

• Tubby Smith (Minnesota) - Name mentioned with UVA, UGA, Arizona and Bama jobs. Tubby's wife is from North Carolina, and Tubby is from Virginia. He also coached at VCU for 7 years. He's one of the top candidates to fill the Cav's opening if he's interested. Arizona should have their job open by Sunday night at the latest so Tubby is about to be Ground Zero for coaching hot stove talk. Any movement regarding Tubby will be very public given the media attention from around the country.

• Anthony Grant (VCU) - Mentioned mainly with UGA and UVA. I watched the UCLA vs. VCU game last night and felt better about some issues with Grant, but other concerns were confirmed. Grant's team plays with great intensity and tempo, and I liked their defense. It was also nice to see that Sanders is such a solid product because it means that VCU's key talent isn't just Capel's recruits. Offensively, he runs the same 4 out 1 in offense that Felton, Purnell and Hewitt run. It's a system dependent on individual players creating their own shots. It's not a pretty system for those who value ball and player movement. Grant wouldn't be a bad hire, but he's not who I would start my search with if I had $2 million to spend. Grant's team was in that game because Eric Maynor (who he didn't recruit) was the best player on the floor. I could live with hiring him, and I do think this is who we end up with. But it doesn't wow me. A killer press conference could sell me more. (Update: Mark Bradley has a man crush on Grant.)
  

• Brad Stevens (Butler) - He's 56-10 in two years as a head coach at Butler. They play an intriguing brand of basketball, but he's very young (32). He hasn't really been associated with our job, but he's one of the hottest mid-major coaches in the country.

• Lon Kruger (UNLV) - Kruger only makes $1 million a year. As I said earlier, he's a Plan B candidate at Arizona, and he's probably on the list at Missouri if Anderson bolts. With his regional experience at UF and the Hawks, he's someone that logically would get a phone call as a Plan B candidate in Athens.

A game to watch today is Tennessee vs. Oklahoma State. We heard an interesting theory earlier this week that if Travis Ford's Oklahoma State team beats Bruce Pearl's Vols; it might spell the end to Gillespie's career in Lexington. Many Wildcat fans would love to have Travis Ford return home, and beating Pearl would set their hearts a flutter.

I'm expecting Capel, Anderson and maybe Miller to still be in the tourney on Monday. So their names won't heat up yet.

By Monday, the rumors should be running wide open.

PWD


ht - rnb34

The World's Largest Indoor Cocktail Party?

Image: DawgBone.net
The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that the Atlanta Sports Council and the Georgia Bulldogs are in discussions about possibly moving the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party to the Georgia Dome at least once every four years.

(UPDATE: The AJC talked to Damon Evans. He says that there are no discussions to move the game. The rest of this post is the original note on the subject)

I'm pretty sure that the current contract expires in 2010, but all parties involved like to have the contract renewed before Year 3 of the 4 year deal starts. In other words....now.

Here's why I'm against this:

• We don't lose because of the location - The City of Jacksonville didn't cause Terrence Edwards to drop a game tying catching in 2002. It didn't cause Quincy Carter to throw the INT before the half in 2000. It didn't call timeout in the rain in '93. It didn't fumble the kickoff to start the second half in 2006. It didn't bust Shockley's knee before the game in 2005. We lose when we go down there because we don't play well. We could play the Gators on the moon, and we will lose if we wet the bed at first sight of an Orange helmet with script letters.
  
  
• Access to Tickets in Atlanta - The current cut-off for tickets is over 10,000 Hartman points. Some of the demand for tickets is suppressed because it's logistically and financially cumbersome to get to Jacksonville from the Atlanta area -- where the vast majority of our fans live. There would be dramatically more demand for tickets to a game in Atlanta. The listed ticket prices, the secondary market and the Hartman cut-off for the tickets would explode due to increased demand.
  
  
• The Dome is Smaller -- Capacity at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium is 84,000 for UGA vs. UF. The record crowd at the Georgia Dome is 75,000. That's roughly 11 percent fewer seats. Cutting 4,500 tickets out of the UGA allotment would be a real problem.
  
  
• The Dome has ZERO personality -- Part of the appeal of the game in Jacksonville is the party. 75,000 people can't tailgate in Atlanta the way we do in Jacksonville.
  
  
• Access to Florida Talent -- I'd like Mark Richt to explain how Alabama and Clemson playing games in Atlanta is good for their recruiting in Georgia and bad for UGA. While UGA playing games in Florida isn't a good thing for us.
  
  
• We're chicken shit if we leave -- This would be the first step in running us out of Jacksonville.

Georgia fans didn't complain about the location when Dooley won 17 of 25 contests against the lizards.

I assume most of this is posturing for a better deal from the City of Jacksonville. I'm all for that especially in light of what other neutral site games are paying their participants. But a long term move away from this most excellent tradition makes no sense to me.

Recruit better players. Win the game. Stop making excuses.

See Also:
-- Another reason to stay in Jax - GTP
-- Orson's take on this - EDSBS

PWD

The World's Largest Indoor Cocktail Party?

Image: DawgBone.net
The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that the Atlanta Sports Council and the Georgia Bulldogs are in discussions about possibly moving the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party to the Georgia Dome at least once every four years.

(UPDATE: The AJC talked to Damon Evans. He says that there are no discussions to move the game. The rest of this post is the original note on the subject)

I'm pretty sure that the current contract expires in 2010, but all parties involved like to have the contract renewed before Year 3 of the 4 year deal starts. In other words....now.

Here's why I'm against this:

• We don't lose because of the location - The City of Jacksonville didn't cause Terrence Edwards to drop a game tying catching in 2002. It didn't cause Quincy Carter to throw the INT before the half in 2000. It didn't call timeout in the rain in '93. It didn't fumble the kickoff to start the second half in 2006. It didn't bust Shockley's knee before the game in 2005. We lose when we go down there because we don't play well. We could play the Gators on the moon, and we will lose if we wet the bed at first sight of an Orange helmet with script letters.
  
  
• Access to Tickets in Atlanta - The current cut-off for tickets is over 10,000 Hartman points. Some of the demand for tickets is suppressed because it's logistically and financially cumbersome to get to Jacksonville from the Atlanta area -- where the vast majority of our fans live. There would be dramatically more demand for tickets to a game in Atlanta. The listed ticket prices, the secondary market and the Hartman cut-off for the tickets would explode due to increased demand.
  
  
• The Dome is Smaller -- Capacity at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium is 84,000 for UGA vs. UF. The record crowd at the Georgia Dome is 75,000. That's roughly 11 percent fewer seats. Cutting 4,500 tickets out of the UGA allotment would be a real problem.
  
  
• The Dome has ZERO personality -- Part of the appeal of the game in Jacksonville is the party. 75,000 people can't tailgate in Atlanta the way we do in Jacksonville.
  
  
• Access to Florida Talent -- I'd like Mark Richt to explain how Alabama and Clemson playing games in Atlanta is good for their recruiting in Georgia and bad for UGA. While UGA playing games in Florida isn't a good thing for us.
  
  
• We're chicken shit if we leave -- This would be the first step in running us out of Jacksonville.

Georgia fans didn't complain about the location when Dooley won 17 of 25 contests against the lizards.

I assume most of this is posturing for a better deal from the City of Jacksonville. I'm all for that especially in light of what other neutral site games are paying their participants. But a long term move away from this most excellent tradition makes no sense to me.

Recruit better players. Win the game. Stop making excuses.

See Also:
-- Another reason to stay in Jax - GTP
-- Orson's take on this - EDSBS

PWD

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?

You put your release form in.
You pull your release form out.
You put your release form in,
And you call West Paducah State.
You do the "Do You Want Me"
And you shop yourself around.
That's what it's all about.
Troy Brewer confirms what was expected and then denied and now done. UGA has officially confirmed that he asked to leave the basketball team.

Speaking of in state high school basketball players that aren't playing in Athens because we have scholarships tied up with out of state kids who didn't contribute in a meaningful way.

The AJC reported yesterday that at least 40 kids who played high school basketball in Georgia are participating in the NCAA Tourney. Is that a bunch? Well, consider that around 700 total scholarship players are participating in the tourney. The 40 discussed in the article only make up 5.7 percent of the total players.

If you assume an even spread of talent across all 50 states, we should have 2 percent. Weighting for population, you might come to the conclusion that 5.7 percent is within the margin for error for how many kids should be in the tourney from GA. Until you consider this....UGA, GT, GSU, Georgia State, Mercer, Kennesaw and Savannah State aren't in the tourney.

To have 5.7 percent of the players in the NCAA Tourney from Georgia, and not include the 50-60 players from our own colleges is a jump off the page stat.

At one point this season, FSU had three starters from Georgia high schools. As FSU's coach Leonard Hamilton said:

“We like to have a presence [in Georgia] because it’s kind of like football in the state of Florida,” he said. “It’s a great football state. It seems every great program in the country, they have stars from Florida. It’s almost getting that way with basketball in Georgia. They have so many outstanding basketball players, they’re kind of distributed all over the country.”

If you're wondering why the UGA job has so much potential, this is it. We don't have to build a fence around Georgia or Atlanta to be exceptional in basketball. We just have to get our fair share.

If we could consistently recruit and retain one of the Top 3-4 players per year in state plus two more Top 5-15 players in state, we could consistently compete for the SEC title and the Sweet 16.

For perspective. The coaching staff apparently had to choose between Drazen Zlovaric (Tennessee by way of Serbia and several US high schools) and Tanner Smith of Norcross last year. Draz participated in 17 games and went 1 for 7 in SEC play for UGA.

Tanner Smith, who's mother is a UGA graduate, played in 31 games, averaged 13 minutes and 4 points while shooting 36% from three point line for the Top 25 ranked Clemson Tigers.

This is a good job. If we just take advantage of the abundant and painfully obvious resources at our disposal.

PWD


(BTW - If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm extremely bullish on the future of Georgia Basketball. It's simply a question of 'when." Not "if.")