I have completed my in depth review of the 2024-2025 Non-Conference schedule for us, and am going to post them day by day. For some stretches where we play weak programs with not much to say, I will post a bunch of them at once. By doing this day by day it will give me time to work on the conference schedule predictions and for us to engage on what I have to say, as I love to hear what everyone else seems to think and like. I will start today with an example of what it would look like when I kind of "****-post" a bunch of lower quality teams at once. Stay excited though as I have put a lot of time and effort into this and hope you guys like it when we get to the more exciting teams and bigger names. (Also enjoy the small intro I wrote that I am going to throw on this one because it is just a bunch of small D1 programs).



The 2024-2025 season is an incredibly important season for the basketball program. There seems to be a split on the status of Coach Mike White's job security amongst fans. There is a half that believes CMW is safe for another season or two purely due to the turn around of talent and hype he has brought into the program again. There is no doubt Crean left an absolute dumpster fire behind, ruined HS and coaches relations, a talent drain, and lack of funding and support. CMW has improved every season, reaching the NIT semifinals last season, and building his most talented, and complete roster to date (is an expensive one too).


The other half of us (more so where I find myself leaning), feel like this season is make or break for CMW. The belief that if he can't produce and take this team to the NCAAT, he needs to be gone, is one that holds some value. I think this roster has the chance, if coached right, to make the tournament, but that is also where my issue lies with CMW. I do not understand at times his rotations or mid game adjustments, and I do not think he is special. While he is a great guy, the SEC is such a competitive league and there are so many great coaches out there, while I appreciate all he has done for us, I think eventually we have to start to expect more, rather than get stuck in an endless cycle of mediocrity.


For those close to the program and have been following along this offseason, have a general idea of what the roster will look like, but here is a quick recap of what I think the roster will look like.

Starters:
PG- Silas Demary Jr.
SG- Dakota Leffew
SF- Rj Godfrey
PF- Asa Newell
C- Justin Abson


Reserves:
PG- De'Shayne Montgomery (Savo? Maybe)
SG- Blue Cain
SF- Tyrin Lawrence
PF- Dylan James
C- Somto Cyril

*I do think eventually Somto and Abson will switch roles, but to start the year my gut tells me CMW will roll out with Abson due to the experience and being a little less raw*

I think the strengths of this roster are clear- our athleticism stands out on paper, we have lots of explosive guards, and the few bigs that we do have are extremely athletic. We are quick and should be deep enough where we are a team that gets out and runs. We have good finishers that are tough and fly high around the rim. I think defensively, depending on what CMW decides to roll out with, we should benefit from all the previously mentioned things.

Weakness, shooting is one that I think most people can agree on. There needs to be a lot of growth from our guards and the hope is that the shooting transfers over with the guys like Leffew and Montgomery, and the guys who can't shoot, like Godfrey, Lawrence, can take a step forward. One more note that is not entirely detrimental but what separates the good teams from Great teams is having that go to guy at the end of the game. I am assuming that might be Leffew for us, but regardless, we do lack "That Guy", which all great teams have.

Anyways, as this is not an in-depth roster look, let's get into the schedule.


11/04 - Tennessee Tech:

• There should not be much deep diving into games like these. Tennessee Tech has been one of the worst programs in D1 college basketball, and this game should not be close.

Record: 1-0


11/10 - Texas Southern

• While undoubtedly a better program than Tennessee Tech, this game should be another win, maybe not "close", but closer for sure.

Record: 2-0


11/12 - North Florida

• After the loss of Chaz Lanier, I doubt this team puts up a similar fight to the one they had in the second half of the game against them last year. I imagine it will look a lot more like the first half of the year, and that this UNF team regresses back slightly.

Record: 3-0

Also going forward-

Most of these previews (against competitive teams and programs not these lower level schools) will be to highlights players, matchups, weaknesses/strengths of the opposing teams we will be facing. If you guys want I can put more effort into highlighting exactly how we might play in regards to the people on our roster (who I think will be an x-factor that game, who might have a good matchup, etc.) but for the time being I am going to use this as a chance to bring awareness and highlight some players on the opposing teams that some might not be familiar with.
I have watched a lot of college basketball these past few years and want to share this unhealthy knowledge so we can revisit these previews closer to game time and be more informed against the teams we are playing as a collective fan base.

Also, discussion, discussion, discussion, I absolutely love talking college basketball, especially UGA basketball, so please if you know more than me, have a different opinion, question, please say it and allow me to engage with you, it does not offend me if someone disagrees and I love to hear all inputs.

Yes, looking back and hearing what you guys have to say, I definitely am overly critical of some aspects. His shooting is SEC caliber and if he could focus on more of a catch and shoot role this year I am confident his % will rise too.