Roundball Dawgs 2019

[Thomas]

Hopefully Crean has more of his style of run-n-gun players this time around. Last year dealing with all the losses was worse than pulling a tooth but maybe we can sniff .500 in the conference or better this year. Yeah I know, thats a lot of hoping right there but at least his style of ball is fun to watch where as the Fox teams were half court all day long by design. Not saying Fox didn't win games but it was ugly and we just never advanced postseason when we did get there. Believe when Sahvir Wheeler and Edwards are on the court together it will be a blast to watch. A warmup game in Charlotte will be a good peek not that long from now.

Dawgs to visit NC Charlotte 30 days from today, October 25 at 7 p.m. for a charity exhibition game.

[Thomas]

Guess Penny's cash can only go so far. Dawgs take out #9 Memphis in a game that went down to the wire. Actually had a full team win and it was truly by necessity. A surprise and big win for UGA.

[Thomas]

So a main problem the Dawgs have was really on display late last night and it is similar to a big one of the Hawks. Rebounding defined the outcome in the second half. Crean loves to run and be aggressive but we are playing a natural SF at both big spots. Hammonds is very skilled and what we have to go with but when he is up against a physical/strong big he struggles mightly. Howard's impact is a year away or more for us. Anyway playing Kentucky while being competitive does add to our recent win over Memphis though a loss still stings. Crean has taken a boring half court Mark Fox team and flipped it completely in really just one year. Fun team to watch. 

[Thomas]

So am just guessing Jeff Schultz somehow, someway did not make it to the Tropical Storm Nestor game between Georgia and Kentucky football right? At least that one absolutely had a good excuse for a not so loud and proud crowd. The Slosh Bowl. Football wise the lack of atmosphere won't be on the Dawg fans. Remember us at Notre Dame 2018? The Irish were ranked and the Dawg fans filled up three quarters of the Irish arena. That is not abnormal for us but it is truly very consistent.

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MorSo the atmosphere for this Georgia-Kentucky basketball game is way better than any Georgia-Kentucky football game I've ever been to. Just saying.

[Lurker]

Edwards played a pretty controlled game offensively I thought last night, although I'd like for him to drive to the basket more. His defense disappointed me. I know he has awareness issues on that end but whew. There was at least two down to the hole drives where it was like he was expecting a pick or something but it didn't come and he didn't even move or try to do anything to defend the drive.

Anyway, the real story was too many people were still not contributing much. Outside of the burst that Christian Brown had and Jordan Harris, there wasn't much else in game besides Edwards putting up points.

[Thomas]

So there is quite a bit of difference in the level of play between a #5 team and the Dawgs. Auburn abused us after the first ten minutes or so of the game quite consistently. It started off ok and we looked pretty quick but then....lets say at the end of the game the difference is...uh...about 22 points?

[Thomas]

Only saw a few minutes off and on against MSU. When Edwards drives we score one way or another. When he gets tired of fighting through the defense he pulls up from long range and that hasn't gone well more than a couple of games. An article mentioned a bit back about how he may feel he has to take several threes a game to convince NBA scouts of his range but to me it seems he gets tired of the work to score in close. He should be trying to shoot as many foul shots as James Harden does, you know, all game long. Gonna have to drive to do that. Last night seems like a prime example. Hammonds put in a big man role is not likely to ever work out against these physical fronts like MSU and we don't have a physical option there. Howard is a and plays like a string bean. Also think that Wheeler's ankle was probably an issue last night and he is really the only other true ball handler on the team. All the other guards are hybrids, including Gresham.

[Thomas]

So when Jordan Harris is the only Dawg that can hit the side of a barn then we are gonna lose the game. Edwards really struggled tonight and was surprised we didn't lose by a good bit more than we did. Terrible shooting by us. Wheeler looked healthier than the last couple of games so thats a plus but the end result tonight is we have lost three conference games in a row. Mizzou is up next. 

[Thomas]

How low can we go? How low can we go? Mizzou made us look like a church league team in the second half. Our effort is looking consistently bad these days. Play defense for maybe ten minutes on a good day. Easily gave up a double digit second half lead with ice cold shooting again and of course a lazy version of D. Add to that it appears that Hammonds has just fallen off a cliff lately. We heavily count on him for points and rebounds. Feels like a downward spiral right now. 

[Thomas]

Hey, guess what, a very average Dawgs team beat a very average Texas A&M team. But what was not so average was that Edwards showed up big time and owned the floor and in particular the second half where we have pretty much bit this year. This game was an example of why scouts do follow Edwards. Glad we saw this version of him today because it is absolutely required to win against anybody in the SEC for us this year. Hey I will take the win. Uh....Go Dawgs!!

[NBASupes]

Edwards floor isn't high but his ceiling is offensively. While I am not team Edwards for the Hawks. If I was a team like Charlotte, I would do it in a heartbeat. 

[Thomas]

Don't want to sound like I am backing up on Edwards but lets see him control any part of a game against a seriously ranked team. He is a crazy talent but when he lets down he just pulls up long range or doesn't get back at full speed. Am more into seeing him win games whether expected or much more difficult than that. Think he needs another year in Athens and yeah that is not a bad thing for a Dawg fan. 

[Thomas]

So as this season has progressed the Dawgs truly have not. We are a two man SEC starting quality team. Edwards and Wheeler. Hammonds will only try to score around the basket now and that is when he is awake. Harris is ok sometimes. Fagan, Camara and Brown are decent backups but man was expecting something more positive for this season. Camara is forced to consistently start these days. We just can't or won't defend at all and then if Edwards misses his threes that he is obsessed with taking we are dead. Fun watching a running high scoring game like yesterday but it would also be nice to win the game you know. Uh....just a tad frustrated.

[Thomas]

Well, this turkey is cooked. Not gonna delude myself anymore we are simply a bad team. My expectations for Edwards moving forward are spiraling downward this season. Had a lot of hope for this year's record. The permanent suspension of our center with anger management issues started it all off way early in the year and pretty much since then the starting front court guys are all out of position and then except for the Memphis game and the first half against Kentucky one game we have been free falling. Oh the horror.....Have hopes for our decent undersized point in Wheeler for next year because he is fast and at least tries to get folks involved. Wishing good luck to Edwards trying to constantly prove he can nail threes every game next year no matter where he is at.

[Thomas]

As for our game yesterday against A&M....see just about any post above....more of the same. Our typical second half mess. I really need to find a new hobby.

[Thomas]

Hey if there is one team UGA has to beat not named Tech....its Auburn. We actually got a win. Neither team could shoot at all but Auburn did indeed miss more shots than we did.

[Thomas]

Did not watch the game against Vandy but the stats show we shot well for once and did indeed take a close one. Two in a row now. So am good for a change.

[Thomas]

OK, so if there were any scouts at the game last night (definitely had to be am guessing) Edwards put on a show especially late. Had to watch random clips but he sealed the win himself in the last minute of the contest against the Razorbacks. That would be considered a clutch gene moment do believe. The NBA really, really likes that kinda thing. Pretty sure Edwards would like this particular game to be his EKG for the draft.

[Thomas]

So feel like a bigger question than whether Edwards jumps or not (he absolutely goes into this draft) is who replaces Crean as coach of the Dawgs after the 2020-21 season. Don't think UGA will can Crean before then but feel he will definitely be looking for a low level color analyst job at that time. He is what AAU guys are like. Run and gun with precious little X and O coaching. 

[Thomas]

The Dawgs ended up with a non losing season. Lo and behold....16 and 16. Of course it took a catastrophic event for it to wind up that way. So I can't actually say Crean had two losing seasons in a row here but then of course look at his two year SEC conference record with us and just weep. 7 and 29. Never cared for Mark Fox myself because the game was pretty boring with him coaching but at least he could spell the word "defense" and it helped gain quite a few wins. Will restart all this stuff in the Fall I guess and hopefully with much better results but its iffy at best about any serious improvement.