Today’s Topic: UGA Basketball might be the worst team I’ve ever seen…in any sport
Mood Music: Time to Move On by Tom Petty
LANGUAGE ALERT……THIS POST WILL CONTAIN FOUL LANGUAGE!!!
I know most of you don’t give a rat’s ass about Georgia basketball, but I’m a UGA fan, and I’d like to be able to pull for the basketball team….especially on the one day during the season that they actually get a game on TV. (ok, maybe there was one other televised game, and I missed it….of course it was the win against Florida…their ONLY win in the SEC).
It’s hard to express the mediocrity of Bulldog basketball and although I shouldn’t care, watching a team that inept, really, really pisses me off. I mean, how in the world does a school with the alumni support of UGA (not to mention the in-state talent) field a basketball team that would have been challenged by the St. Thaddeus youth teams of the early 90’s. (for those that don’t know, that was my church league basketball team growing up…we beat 2nd Baptist for the Championship one year….HUGE upset…HUGE..but that’s for another time) I’ll give y’all a little teaser for that upcoming story. I started a fight in the “good-game” line with this guy (#58):
Now you all see who you’re dealing with on the other side of this blog. Yowsa. Back to UGA basketball (seems boring now huh?).
So, today I decided that I’d watch the game between Georgia and Ole Miss. I actually DVR’d it and watched it after it had already concluded (which usually means that things went terribly wrong if I haven’t received a phone call…when your school team is as bad as UGA is this year it’s a big deal to actually win A game. My friend…y’all know him as Allen…would’ve called had UGA won…so, sans call, I watched the taped game about 99% sure of the result…boy was I correct)
I’d like to pose a 2 part question to any UGA fans, or SEC basketball fans (all 4 of you…maybe that’s generous) and that question goes something like:
1) Did I dream this or has UGA actually hired a search firm to hire a basketball coach when Bob Knight is interested and the team right now looks like FUCKING DOGSHIT!!! (actually, that’s being generous)
2) Where in the hell did Dennis Felton recruit these players? Seriously. (for those of you that don’t like people like me…armchair QB’s basically…talking shit about 18 -21 year old college athletes, you might wanna skip this paragraph..I’m sure they’re nice guys, but basketball players they ain’t) Jeremy Price and Trey Thompkins are the 2 best big men that he recruited during his tenure at UGA. Holy effin’ shit!!!! I’ve been watching Price since he got to UGA last year (which we’ve established is not much) and I’ve never seen a 6-8 250+ man play like such a pussy in my life. No shit. Sorry dude, but you’re 264 lbs……go at the rim like an effin’ madman….play with some damn force….there are not many guys on the court that are bigger..wait..heavier than you. And Trey Thompkins (who was supposedly a STUD recruit this year, take into consideration that means ‘great’ by UGA standards…we’re not talking Carolina, Duke, UConn worthy)…Trey plays like he thinks he’s as good as he isn’t. Confused. Me too. I mean, I watched Trey play today and he shot 3 pointers…and missed, he attempted layups, and missed, he shot from 10ish feet, and missed, he…..you get the point. On top of that, he pulled down … oh wait, he actually had 10 rebounds. Maybe he is worth a shit. Even a blind dog finds a bone if he digs enough holes (Dollhouse anyone?) 6 points and 10 rebounds for the phenom. Ok, so he’s only a phenom in his head (or at least he appears to think so…what in the hell is he doing taking 3 pointers anyway?). The aforementioned Price…0 points and 1 rebound in 10 minutes….awesome, awesome performance.
Wait, there was a bright spot….Terrance Woodbury had 19 points….oh, yeah, he’s a senior (was HE even actually recruited by Felton?).
Folks, the Dawgs lost to Ole Miss (a 15-11 team that’s 6-6 in the SEC…which might field the worst crop of conference basketball teams in history…with UGA bringing up up the rear. Wow.) by 22 points. They lost by 22 to a shitty team. (and from what I saw, the future looks pretty damn bleak if you’re talking about the young players on the Dawgs’ roster…not to mention losing Woodbury and cornerstones Albert Jackson and Corey Butler…ok, I’m being sarcastic, but they actually do seem like nice guys)
What this team needs, and the University, and the fans, and the WOW supporters, and the country, and …. ok, maybe not the country, but the state of Georgia (at least) is……….
Bobby Knight. It’s a no-effin’ brainer….I mean, honest to God, there is no effin’ way it can get any worse. Unfortunately, I’ve got a feeling that ”Adams the arrogant” and ”Evans the equivocal” feel like they’ve gotta have the “Perfect” man for the job. Dudes, I’m here to tell you….a rampaging chimpanzee could do a better job than Felton (ok, sorry, that was over the line, damn you New York Post!!!). Seriously, though, Georgia doesn’t need the “perfect” coach….just someone with a proven track record that can garner some respect for a University that lost by 22 to Ole effin’ Miss today. Oh, huh, you don’t say? Bobby Knight is available…and interested? Well, by all means….oh, wait….our standards are “just” a little higher than the ALL-TIME WINNINGEST COACH IN NCAA HISTORY!!!
Maybe UGA will get a guy that can recruit 265 lb. players who can score “1″ point and get “2″ rebounds. That would be 1 pound bigger, 1 point better, and 1 rebound more than the 2nd ”best” big man Felton recruited in 5 years. The best? Well, he’s probably out right now admiring his own plummeting jumpshot….what an oxy-”moron”.
Hallelujah, Holy Shit…..where’s the tylenol!!!!
I’ll talk at you all again later.
“it’s time to move on, time to get going, what lies ahead I have no way of knowing”
7 comments
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February 23, 2009 at 2:57 am
james
Bobby Knight is not the guy for the job. If it was 10 years ago, absolutely.
The Knight has done an outstanding job for basketball and will forever be remembered for what he has accomplished within the game. Today’s players don’t want to play for someone like Bobby Knight. His no nonsence, get in your face attitude style is prehistoric. Recruiting would be his down fall. Hate to say it, because I am a gamecock fan, but South Carolina has made that mistake by hiring SOS.
February 23, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Steve
I’ll give you credit, Willo. You realized in high school what it took some poor NFL team millions of dollars to realize. That guy, whose name I can’t even find on-line and who you probably gave up 6 inches and 60 pounds to, had no heart.
As for UGA hoops, this team has two fatal flaws. They’re not very good and they’ve quit. Pretty lethal combination.
Here’s the scary part. UGA won the SEC tournament last year with basically this same team, minus Trey Thompkins and plus Dave Bliss (hardly a game changer) and Sundiata Gaines. That should tell you a little something about how good Gaines really was.
February 23, 2009 at 3:00 pm
zconnoisseur
James. thanks for the comment. I have to respectfully disagree though. All I keep reading is how Knight can’t recruit. the game’s passed him by….he doesn’t do the AAU thing….”today’s players don’t want to play” for him. Listen….college coaches (in my opinion) need to drive home the point that “players” are players and “coaches” are coaches. Quit all this BS of pandering to 18-19 year old kids just to get them to come to your school. If they’re too “good” to play for someone that will teach them invaluable lessons about life and the game…guess what….I don’t want to watch them play. Somewhere the line must be drawn and who better to draw it than Knight and there’s no better place (I’m biased) than UGA.
Look at his record at Texas Tech….look at their record before he was there. that doesn’t indicate a poor job of recruiting in my opinion. Not to mention, he doesn’t need to get 12 blue chip players, just some solid recruits that he can “coach”. With the amount of players in Georgia alone, and the exposure that UGA will receive by ESPN if Knight is hired…that won’t be a problem.
I want to watch a well coached team for once…not a bunch of average players playing below average.
February 23, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Jake
I have to agree with Will and respectfully disagree with James.
Bobby Knight could take this same “talent” (can we even call it that) and win some games. That’s what you need in a basketball coach. Felton needed 12 blue chippers to get something going, and he could never get even 1 or 2.
Knight would bring some noise to the program and give it a jump-start that could last a long, long time. We need someone to build a base that will last a while, as everyone else has come up short of doing that at UGA.
As for the Spurrier/USC thing, it goes like this (and Will, I believe I told you this when he was hired): The deal there is that he coaches in a state that doesn’t produce a plethora of tap talent. He was brilliant at UF because he had to drive a maximum of 100 miles to field a team. It’s much harder to recruit in a state like SC just by the numbers….there isn’t a great lot of players to go around – and then you’ve got border states plucking top talent away on top of that.
February 23, 2009 at 5:51 pm
zconnoisseur
thanks for the comments Steve and Jake.
As for the Spurrier comparison:
First of all, I believe South Carolina had a top ten recruiting class this year if I’m not mistaken. (which defeats the crappy recruiting angle)
Second, football is TOTALLY different when it comes to keeping up with the times than basketball. Has College Football passed Spurrier by? Possibly. When he was killing it at UF, his offense was cutting edge, hard to defend, impossible to prepare for. now, half the damn offenses (and more each year) are trying to spread it out and run some BS offense just to keep defenses on their toes. That means that defenses are able to adjust because they see it on an almost weekly basis.
Football is a sport that has endless possibilities as far a plays and schemes. Basketball is not. In basketball, there are a few offensive plays that are run and defensively (99% of the time) you run either a man-to-man or zone D. So what makes a great basketball coach? A guy that can teach his players how to “fundamentally” do things right to maximize their talent while limiting mistakes.
How does this apply to my argument?
Easy. Spurrier is a great coach because he’s an offensive genius that was unrivaled on the sidelines. times have changed. folks have tapped into the genius’s tricks.
Knight, on the other hand, is a great basketball coach because he takes 12 or so guys, gets them buying into his brand of basketball and makes damn sure that they do what he says or someone else will get the chance. It’s just that simple. It works and always will….as long as he gets the chance.
I don’t want Georgia to spend the next 10 years trying to get to a Final Four. How about spending the next 2 or 3 playing decent basketball?
February 24, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Jake
Not that this topic is about SC football – but I have to disagree with the recruiting bit. I really do think this has a LOT to do with Spurrier’s lack of success there….and something he didn’t consider when taking that job.
Recruiting Rankings
2009 12th
2008 34th
2007 7th
2006 33rd
Safe to say if he had the state talent that Florida or even Georgia have, he’d be much more successful. Not to mention, the conference is MUCH more different that it was when he was at Florida.
Just hire Bobby Knight and get it over with so I can watch basketball again.
February 24, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Jake
Just to add my favorite Bobby Knight quote:
When my time on earth is gone, and my activities here are passed, I want them to bury me upside down, so my critics can kiss my ass!