Texas A &M earlier fired Kennedy and I suspect Will Wade will be out at LSU.

Will be a bunch of "transition seasons learning new systems " in the SEC next season. Opportunity for us to improve our record a lot.

We were set to improve a bunch with the roster additions anyway, but these changes sure won't hurt. The SEC was tough this year! 4 teams in the Sweet 16....

Exactly, everyone that says we can't make a big jump next year, doesn't know much about college basketball. You look at how close we were to beating a sweet 16 Auburn team, we lost by one point on the road to an NCAA tourney team in Ole Miss, beat a Florida team on the road that won an NCAA game this year. Played LSU a tight game in Athens, a team in the sweet 16, lost by 1 point to Miss State that made the dance. My point is, even as bad as we were this past year, we lost some really close games down the stretch-yes, we also had some really bad losses but take a look at the conference-we have 4 teams in the sweet 16, Kentucky is always going to be good, but always turnover there. Tenn, Schofield is gone after this year, will Grant Willams also go as a JR?? Auburn loses Bryce Brown-will they lose Harper??, LSU will likely have a new coach-who knows what happens when the dust settles there. Bama, Vandy, A&M will have new coaches, SCarolina loses their best player in Silva, you can look across the league and see that it is not like football, turnover happens EVERY year at EVERY program so we most certainly can jump from winning 2 games in conference to winning 10, and if we do that, we likely make the dance next year. Getting Claxton and Hammonds back will be huge should they stay, and also need Crump and Harris to stay.

Haney, do you really think Hammonds and Claxton are SERIOUS about leaving?? They are no where close to making an NBA roster!! How these kids think is a mystery to me!!!

I have heard unsubstantiated and unverified rumors that none of Claxton, Hammonds, Crump or Harris are fans of Creen, and are reportedly on the transfer watch list. I've also heard chatter about Toppin and Fagan.

I hope this is all wrong.

Claxton looked like he had free range to do whatever he wanted to do on the court!! Hammonds ended up getting hurt but he was consistently inconsistent during the season!! One game he might have 15 points and 7-8 rebounds then next one 4 points and 2 rebounds and a bunch of fouls!! Harris, I thought was playing as good as anybody the last 6-7 games of the season!! Looked like he was coming back strong from his injury!! This sounds like heresay to me!! Being juniors and upcoming seniors, I would hope they would do a little thinking about transferring or trying to jump to the league!!

I honestly have a hard time believing that. Claxton and Harris improved immensely as players. After Crump's terrible first half in the SEC tourney, Crean made it a point to find him, put his arm around him, and encourage him. Crean didn't cause Crump's poor play. Hammonds is an enigma - consistently inconsistent. Yet, I think he started every game he was healthy, or at least very close to every game. Yet, Hammonds turned the ball over, committed fouls and disappeared in games far too often. Crean sure didn't cause that.

Monk, I agree with you completely!! Next year is going to be the turnaround in UGA Basketball!! Even though we will have a lot of freshmen or Juco Pt G (Hopefully) it will be a whole lot of fun to watch!! I hope we can look somewhat like Auburn looked against Kansas!! Up the floor, Slam Dunk or 3 pt shot , get back down the floor and play defense and create turnovers!! YES!! Will be interesting who goes to TexA&M, Vandy, Alabama, Arkansas and probably LSU!! BIG TURNOVER IN COACHES THIS YEAR!!! WOW!!!!

Monkdawg said:

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I honestly have a hard time believing that. Claxton and Harris improved immensely as players. After Crump's terrible first half in the SEC tourney, Crean made it a point to find him, put his arm around him, and encourage him. Crean didn't caused Crump's poor play. Hammonds is an enigma - consistently inconsistent. Yet, I think he started every game he was healthy, or at least very close to every game. Yet, Hammonds turned the ball over, committed fouls and disappeared in games far too often. Crean sure didn't cause that.

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Especially Harris. He played less and less under Fox. Was ready to get kicked off the team. He really regressed from his Fr to So yr. Crean gives him an extra chance and look at the improvement he made. Especially the final 1/3 of the season. He was UGA's best player. Give him another offseason under Crean. He should be really really good next year. No way he's transferring

Won't be surprised if Toppin and/or Fagan transfer, but that would have nothing to do with whether or not they like Crean.

I have to agree with Monk, allanhixon & jpzd33 here as well. Crump and Harris would have to have a hole in their head to transfer. They both have one year of eligibility left, and if they went somewhere else, they'd each be playing for their 3rd coach in 4 years. They are both good players, but they're not the kind of immediate impact players where they would benefit either themselves or a new program in one season. Clax & Hammonds are in a similar boat. They have two years of eligibility, but they'd still be on their 3rd coach in 3 years. And both of their skillsets match pretty well with Crean's style. And Clax is nowhere near NBA ready. Unless the pre-draft camps guarantee he'd be a lottery pick (zero chance of that, btw) then it's highly unlikely he'd make an NBA roster. Before either thinks about the Association, Clax and Hammonds both have aspects of their game that need serious work, and they both need serious work in the weight room. Love Crean or hate him, there just are not many places they could go where they'd get both along with nearly guaranteed playing time, particularly against upper tier competition. It really is a no brainer for all 4 of them.

I agree with everyone, those 4 SHOULD be a lock to come back. Crump I read was so happy to be playing in Crean's type system instead of Fox's, Harris was kicked off the team by Fox and Crean invited him back. Hammonds got hurt but was very inconsistent but yet Crean stayed with him-and the kid has a lot of talent but just needs to show it all the time and not part of the time.

Claxton, kid has NBA ability-length, improving skills all around, but he is NOT ready for the NBA. However, these kids get advice from a lot of people, and you never know who might be in his ear. His Dad I am pretty sure stayed all 4 years, and he was bigger than Nic but didn't have the ball skills of course. We also have to recognize, this is the day and age of these kids always thinking the grass is greener. You would hope that older/wiser heads would prevail and give these kids advice that would say, STAY, but parents these days are not the greatest either. If you have been involved in youth sports like I have for the past 10-12 years, you see just how bad some parents are. They have a lot higher opinion of their kids than they should-no realism with parents. That is why you have so many travel teams in baseball, basketball, you name it sport these days. Parents chasing scholarships, parents thinking their kid is too good to play with this group of kids. I hope Nic stays another year, I think it would help him a lot, but if he goes, he goes. I would encourage him to do what Maten did his JR year, explore it all but then come back to school. We shall see I guess.

Driller, we've been waiting on this kind of play for a long time. I can't wait to watch. As painful as it was to watch some of those losses last year, next year could make for it and then some.

Yeah, Harris was gone if Fox was the coach last season. Crean kept him on the team. No way he goes anywhere.

I don't understand some of the comments about players not liking Crean. Do you think all of his players like Hugh Durham or Tubby Smith or Bobby Knight or most any coach? That's not what it's about. It's about - can this coach get the most out of my ability? Crean gave Claxton more freedom and responsibility than practically any coach would have. Crean kept putting Hammonds out on the floor even when he wasn't good. Same for Crump. Hightower's minutes greatly reduced and that's why he's gone. Ignas didn't play much, and it became obvious that he wasn't athletic enough to play right now at this level. So he's gone, too. It's not about liking the coach. It's about fitting the system. Some of our guys just weren't (aren't) good fits.

Claxton's Dad was a 4 year player BUT Phoenix Suns drafted him after his 3rd year. At that time the NCAA allowed underclassmen players to make themselves available for the draft and still return and be eligible as long as they did not sign with the NBA team or sign with an agent.
Charles Claxton did not sign with Phoenix or an agent and returned, hoping to be drafted even higher after another year. Instead he was not drafted and was signed ax free agent contract with Boston. If I recall correctly he played in only 3 NBA games in his career.
Had Claxton's Dad signed with Phoenix and not returned to UGA he would have begun his NBA career with a team that had a draft pick invested in him and a larger salary invested in him and would have given him a chance to play and improve.
Nic's Dad is an example of a player making a mistake in not taking an NBA opportunity when presented, so I would not necessarily put Charles Claxton into the category of unrealistic parent if he is advising Nic to go.
If Nic is getting reliable information that he will be drafted in the first round based on potential I do not know what advice Charles Claxton would give him but my advice would be to seize the opportunity and go, and get paid a whole lot of money to be in the strength and conditioning room.

Good point Judge, about dad not signing then coming back to UGA for his Sr year.

After his Jr year, he was projected as a late 1st round or early 2nd round pick, iirc. But there were a lot of bigs in that draft: Eric Montross from North Carolina, Juwan Howard from the Fab Five at Michigan, Dent from Kentucky, Dontonio Winfield from Albany Ga, Clifford Rozier from Louisville, Sharone Wright from Clemson, Eric Mobley, Jim Mcilvane, Alston who played with the Hawks for a short time, and probably a few others. Many of those guys were Juniors. Plus there were 4 or 5 foreign big men who entered the draft, all listed in the 7 foot range. They all had something to do with Charles slipping down the draft. I think pre-draft projections are more accurate nowadays, and tend to do a better job of figuring underclassmen and foreigners into it. Then after his Sr year, the top of the draft was loaded with bigs. Five of the first 6 picks were big men - 4 of whom were underclassmen - including Kevin Garnett out of High School (the first in 20 years), and Antonio McDyess, Joe Smith & Rasheed Wallace who were all sophomores. It really was a case of bad timing for Charles for two years in a row.

But since he went undrafted in 95, didn't Phoenix still have rights to him from the year before? Wasn't their "investment" still the same? He was still a 2nd round pick, and Boston wasn't able to sign him until after he was waived by Phoenix, right? (Someone else may have signed and waived him before Boston, or do I have that confused?)

Anyway, I think the point still holds that unless Nic is projected as a high 1st rounder, he's better off staying.

I am not trying to say Charles or Nic's Mom are bad parents, not at all and if this were my son, and he was projected to be drafted 1st round (even if that turned out to be incorrect and he slipped to the second) I would tell him to go. This is about doing what is right for the player, and I personally believe too many times, parents or advisors give bad information. Lou Williams, he slid to the second round when he was projected to be in the 1st, I remember he went to the draft that year and sat in the green room expecting to be drafted and then wasn't. Obviously Lou has made a lot of money and had a great NBA career, but I personally believe he should have played college ball for one year and then would have guaranteed himself of being a 1st round pick-then again, maybe he gets a bad injury and doesn't work out. It is a case by case situation. As I said before, I would (again if this was my son and he had the body/ability of Nic), tell him to go through the process as Yante did prior to his SR year, see what happens and then make a decision.