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Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Youth will be served, but Dogs first
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Athens — In so many ways, the Bulldogs are the Yellow Jackets, and the Yellow Jackets are the Bulldogs when it comes to dribbling these days. They both have overwhelming youth wrapped around raw talent. They both have low expectations outside of their own minds.
Mostly, they both have gifted enough coaches to mold it all into something better than you think down the stretch drives of their conference runs.
There is the meantime, though, when they both will have these extraordinary moments of wonder and woe. On Wednesday night, before the majority of the gathered 9,827 wearing red and screaming so loud that you’d have thought it was Sanford Stadium instead of Stegeman Coliseum, Georgia was all wonder along the way to a thorough 91-75 victory, and Georgia Tech was the epitome of woe.
This is the same Georgia Tech bunch that nearly shocked splendid Michigan State on the road, but this also is the same Tech bunch that got clobbered at home by something called Illinois-Chicago. Get the picture? In fact, since the Jackets followed their ACC opening victory against Virginia with this sloppy performance at Georgia that featured Tech missing every kind of shot known to mankind, I guess you could say that these simply were more growing pains for Paul Hewitt’s team.
The thing is, a visibly peeved Hewitt wasn’t buying it. “They’re young, too, so I can’t say youth had anything to do with it,” he said. “We just have to play better than we did, plain and simple.”
In contrast, Georgia was aggressive and impressive during its first real game of the season. Following an opening loss to Old Dominion, the Bulldogs rolled to five consecutive victories against the mediocre likes of Fordham, Eastern Kentucky, Western Kentucky, Florida A&M and Savannah State. Then came Tech, among the opponents that Bulldogs love to bite the most, and Georgia used a lot of Levi Stukes early and Billy Humphrey late to keep their woes away for a while.
“I think we’re coming together quicker than we expected we would,” said Georgia’s Channing Toney. “In the first couple of games, we sort of struggled as a unit, but I think game by game, we’re taking to what [coach Dennis Felton] is trying to get us to understand pretty well.”
This isn’t the old days, when Stegeman Coliseum was a dark, cold, lifeless place that was more appropriate for a wake than a basketball game. Then again, Georgia did play host to more than a few hoop funerals back then whenever Tech dribbled into town. Entering this one, theJackets were DOA after each of their 10 previous trips to Bulldog country, but here’s the thing: This was the new Dawg House, with bright lights, cozy seats near the court, a fancy video screen to cover what was an ugly gray wall — you know, a bunch of stuff to give Tech a different feel and maybe a different result. It wasn’t different.
Speaking of different, these clearly aren’t the Bulldogs who simply were dogs last year along the way to losing 20 out of their 28 games. Such ugliness happened since the Georgia program was so haunted by the Horrors of the Harricks that it lacked skills and depth. Now the Bulldogs have both, with a nice group of freshmen, exemplified by the prolific shooting of Humphrey and Mike Mercer. Still, it was one of Georgia’s old-timers who provided the most energy for his team early and often to place Tech in a significant hole. When Stukes wasn’t sinking shots from near and far, the junior guard was blocking shots, dishing assists and becoming a disruptive force on defense. It also didn’t help Tech’s cause that point guard Zam Fredrick got his third foul with five minutes left before halftime. As a result, there was nobody to feed Ra’Sean Dickey inside, especially since Tech’s perimeter shooting was chillier than the December breezes outside.
When Fredrick returned in the second half, Dickey still wasn’t getting fed. That’s because only the big, bad Dawgs were eating.
At least on this night.
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The Ducks? Give me a break
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
The more that all of these Notre Dame Bashers continue to fume over the Fighting Irish getting a Fiesta Bowl bid over (yawn) Oregon, the more that all of these Notre Dame Bashers prove that the bytes and brains of the Bowl Championship Series got it exactly right.
Let’s start with this: All of these Notre Dame Bashers will be among the millions and millions and millions of viewers who will make the Fiesta the most viewed bowl this side of that little one two days later in Pasadena.
Nobody outside of three or maybe four miles of Eugene, Oregon, cares about the Ducks.
In contrast, everybody cares about the Irish, whether it is to cheer them or to boo them, which brings us to the essence of what bowls are all about. It is to invite a couple of teams that will generate absolutely the most interest (uh, money) as possible. You can’t get much bigger than Notre Dame versus Ohio State.
Yes, Oregon finished a slot higher than Notre Dame in the final BCS standings. No, Oregon isn’t the better team, even with a 10-1 record to Notre Dame’s 9-2.
Both teams lost to Southern Cal, and Notre Dame’s other loss was in overtime to a Michigan State team that was streaking at the time. And Notre Dame didn’t pad its record against the likes of Houston and Montana, the Ducks’ opening opponents.
All of these Notre Dame Bashers disagree with such truths, of course, but it doesn’t matter. Come the Fiesta Bowl, they’ll whine, but they’ll also watch.
Permalink | Comments (59) | Categories: Quick Hit, Terence Moore
