Where are 2 more wins? Probably Mizzou at home. Best chance on the road is T A & M, but even that will be tough. Looking at 2-17 in conference, 11-21 overall. Most losses since Red Harbin.

I know the "new coach, new system" explanation, but we fired Harbin because of losing,replaced him with Rosemond, and we were better the first year. We fired Rosemond for losing and did not intend to replace him with Guthrie but got stuck with him and we were 4 games worse the year after Rosemond. We fired Guthrie for losing and replaced him with Durham. We immediately improved. We fired Durham for not winning enough, replaced him with Tubby and immediately won more games. We fired Jirsa for not winning enough and hired Harrick. We were 5 games worse Harrick's first season. We fired Felton for losing and replaced him with Fox and immediately won more games. We risk facing the biggest decline in record of any first year coach we had who replaced a coach fired for losing too many since Harbin.

We better recruit like hell in April.

On a positive note, we beat Tech at its place and the style of play on offense is more fun to watch when we aren't turning the ball over.

Our players can't shoot, dribble, pass or catch. It's hard to beat good teams with zero skill. The SEC right now is very very good.

Red Harbin? We struggled under Red Lawson as well (LOL - just gigging you there Judge ). But yeah, I agree, it's a real head shaker as to how bad this team is. No one was expecting us to compete for the conference or anything, but I never thought we'd be this bad. We just have no consistency at all, we are worse than the sum of our parts. Speaking of our former coaches' records, the only thing that gives me a shimmer of hope is that Harrick was 10-20 his first year. Ezra Williams became eligible and we improved to 16-15, then he brought in Jarvis and we went on a two year tear before the bottom fell out. If Crean can get that one more piece or two, maybe he can make a similar turnaround and avoid the disaster.

Good catch. I took basketball as as PE under Lawson so I should have remembered.

I do not know what to believe. Last year the message board consensus was that we had good enough talent but did not use that talent properly.

This season we are playing a style that last year was the style that would have taken us to the tournament and the problem is the players.

This season may be an epic fail. That doesn't mean that Crean's 2019-2020 results won't be excellent; he has a resume of Power 5 success as opposed to hiring a mid-major with a few round of 64 appearances as our previous 2 were.

My question to you is why, if we cannot pass or shoot, why do we not use a strategy to slow the game, reduce the number of possessions and hope to win ugly?

What advantage do we have in speeding the game up when we have such as talent deficit?

The advantage is for next year I'd guess. This gets them more accustomed to it by next year, so that even if right now seems like trying to fit square pegs into round holes (ala Kirby Smart and our running game that first year), by year 2 we'll see players much more ready to run. At least that can be the hope.

No one enjoys watching the slow down boring style of Mark Fox. If you want to recruit great players, you have to show them a fun style of play.
That is what Crean is doing this year. The crowds this year have clearly proved we were ready for a modern style of play. We just need some talent to play it. I'll give Crean three years before I judge him. When we occasionally shoot well, we look incredible.

I am giving Crean time, too, before I conclude whether he was a good hire, or not. As I said, he has the best resume of anyone we possibly could have hired and he coached sweet 16 teams in the tough, tough Big Ten.

That said, I am disappointed in the only results I can evaluate so far. I agree a slow the game down style is a whole lot more boring than an up-paced style, but winning 55-53 is a whole lot more fun than losing 90-80.

I get the strategy of using this year to get next year's players accustomed to playing a motion offense reflexively, but that strategy , to be successful, depends on the talent that is instinctively making the correct cuts and passes being good enough to take advantage and score.

If the players being groomed for next year are no talent bums then all the v cuts and flex cuts and sharp passes in the world are not going to make them good enough to make the tournament.

Do you contend that we do not have enough talent to win? Or do you contend that we do?

Surely if you've watched the games you've noticed that the talent level is poor. Slow afoot is the first clue and can't shoot is the next one. Claxton's good but not even he is equipped to play every position on the floor.

I am not arguing with you on that point. My question, then, is if our players cannot play an up tempo style then why do we not play a style that gives our guys the best chance to win?

Judgedawg said:

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I get the strategy of using this year to get next year's players accustomed to playing a motion offense reflexively, but that strategy , to be successful, depends on the talent that is instinctively making the correct cuts and passes being good enough to take advantage and score.

If the players being groomed for next year are no talent bums then all the v cuts and flex cuts and sharp passes in the world are not going to make them good enough to make the tournament.

Do you contend that we do not have enough talent to win? Or do you contend that we do?

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I'm not sure. I think we've got some talent, but it's more role talent or spot talent. Claxton seems a top option. Maybe Hammonds is as you say, just needing to make these cuts and reads reflexively before he joins Claxton. But Crump, Harris, Hightower, and the freshman, those I'm not sure what should be expected. I'll be much better equipped to answer that after next season when we can watch how the returning players grow. I don't think they are as bad as we've seen the last two years. Or as good as we hoped on arrival (at least in terms of Crump and Harris, our primary perimeter weapons).

Fair enough response. Can't argue with it.

I have no idea whether it is a talent or development issue myself. That's why I ask.

Thank you for your insight.

I guess I'm most disappointed that nobody has outperformed expectations under Crean and the "freedom he allows". Turtle and Hightower seem to have regressed since last season. Claxton looks ok stats wise but not quite the breakout season I was hoping we'd see from him. Hammonds has been about like Clax, ok but not the play I'd hoped we'd get. Ogbeide and Crump have shown flashes of improvement but not consistently. Same ol' Wilridge and Harris. The freshmen are getting pretty much the same treatment and chance to develop that Fox was criticized for so frequently.

Hammonds and Claxton are legitimate All-Sec players. Ogbeide and Crump are solid SEC caliber talent. Turtle and Hightower combined are serviceable at the point along with Fagan. Add Wilridge, Harris and Ngumezi to the mix and this team has the talent to play much more competitively than what we've seen thus far.

SidVicious your observation sounds good on paper until you put them on the floor!! That is where other teams talent rises above ours!! We shoot lights out against Texas and win , then Texas turns around and beats Kansas!! Does that mean we can beat Kansas, I don't think so!! Ogbeide goes 2/11 on free throws against Arkansas, we lose and out rebounded Ark by 21!! He hits 6 straight against USC and we shoot about 20 % on 3 pt shots and lose by ten when they hit 11 out of 15 three pointers !! Every team we play has a quick, good passing and good shooting PG which we DO NOT HAVE!! We have some good (not great) support players but not Starters!! Two or three good starters can turn this thing around in a heartbeat!! Harris, Crump, Hightower and Fagan cannot stop most PG's in the SEC!! That is a fact!! If we can somehow get A. Walker and the Kesler kid this program can turn around 180 degrees SOON!!! We lose Ogbeide, Jackson, Wildridge, Edwards and ALL can be easily replaced with better players NOW!! It takes TIME to get players that fit certain systems!! It took Jim Harrick 3 years to start getting the players to run the John Wooden system !! He went from 10 to 16 to 20 wins or more in his 3rd year!! It can be done!!

Judge, his name was Harbin but it was his first name in Harbin "Red" Lawson!! Good guy but lost every year for about 14 years!! I think they paid him an extra $1000/yr to coach UGA Basketball!! I guess we got our moneys worth!! He worked his butt off at the State Agriculture Dept and Legislature to get the Coliseum then never got to coach in it I believe!! RIP!!

Didn't he coach the first varsity game at the Coliseum?

Agree, Driller, that he had zero chance to succeed at UGA with th ed lack of support from the AA and the lousy gym we had.
IIRC he was head basketball coach at a JC in Alabama before he went to Athens and did well, even if, I understand, won as championship.

We kept him on the payroll as a PE coach for years until he was able to retire with a pension. He earned that loyalty by agreeing to coach us under those circumstances.

Hope you are doing well. I always appreciate your comments on the old days.

Thanks! I am sort of a history buff on GA Basketball since I started school here in 1959 and moved back to Athens in 1970!! I just want to go to ONE more FINAL FOUR before I cross over!! I think Crean can do the job but he has to get better players!! I believe a lot of folks on these sites make comments from their hearts rather than facts!! We have some pretty good role players but we need at least two or three front line players to be competitive in the SEC now a days!! I believe it will come at the end of year 2 and year 3!!

Am I hearing ya'll correctly? You actually want Fox style ball back????
Oh my?
Just bring in a new coach and these boys will instantly be better!
Well yall got half of what you wanted.

Untill we recruit REAL ball players we will be stuck in the mud. plain and simple.
As i stated last year. NO ONE on this team starts for another team in the SEC.
Fox got more outta these guys than anyone believed.
I don't want Fox back either. I want to see better recruiting.
It will come just be patient.
In the next 50 years we will be great

Go Dawgs

begger said:

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Judgedawg said:

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I get the strategy of using this year to get next year's players accustomed to playing a motion offense reflexively, but that strategy , to be successful, depends on the talent that is instinctively making the correct cuts and passes being good enough to take advantage and score.

If the players being groomed for next year are no talent bums then all the v cuts and flex cuts and sharp passes in the world are not going to make them good enough to make the tournament.

Do you contend that we do not have enough talent to win? Or do you contend that we do?

---

I'm not sure. I think we've got some talent, but it's more role talent or spot talent. Claxton seems a top option. Maybe Hammonds is as you say, just needing to make these cuts and reads reflexively before he joins Claxton. But Crump, Harris, Hightower, and the freshman, those I'm not sure what should be expected. I'll be much better equipped to answer that after next season when we can watch how the returning players grow. I don't think they are as bad as we've seen the last two years. Or as good as we hoped on arrival (at least in terms of Crump and Harris, our primary perimeter weapons).

---

Yes.UGA has players. But not a complete team. Hammonds and Claxton are good, but probably a year away from truly breaking out. Crump, Harris, Ogbeide and Hightower are all solid players. But they're not lead guys. UGA also has no lead guard. Hightower is too inconsistent and too wild to be that guy.

Georgia has plenty of talent even though we seem to lacking a good point guard. Our starting front line of Claxton, Obeide and Hammonds can match up with almost anyone. Crump is great three 3 point shooter who is not getting the ball when open or enough playing time. The biggest issue I see is the constant rotation of players that Crean seems to prefer. If a bulldog player gets really hot from the floor they are almost always taken out of the lineup quickly. An example of this was Obeide early against Alabama. Why sit your hottest players down??

I agree Dawgman, this team's talent level is better than their 1-8 results. Ole Miss is coming into The Steg losing 4 of 5 and fortunate to have won at home against A&M in their last game.

The Reb's were picked dead last coming into the season. This is a game we should win. The talent level is there for us to go 4-5 or even 5-4 this half of conference play. If we go 1-8 or 2-7 this half to finish with 2 or 3 Conference wins then Crean and Staff did a poor job. Can they do better? Saturday at home is a good place to show us they can.

We are praying for a better second half of the season also. The dawgs have had some runs in a number of games that show what they are capable of. We just need more consistent play and a more stable lineup barring foul trouble.