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DEL.ICIO.USDogs improve, but pay the price
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Athens — They’re far better than they were, but deep down Dennis Felton wonders if these Bulldogs, or any Bulldogs to come, will ever work as hard as last season’s motley crew. That overmatched lot was the least talented SEC aggregation since the league started taking basketball seriously, but somehow those untalented Dogs never allowed themselves to become truly hangdog.
“They kept up their effort against very discouraging odds,” said Felton, Georgia’s demanding coach. “I don’t know whether those players would ever admit it, but there had to be nights when they thought they had no chance.”
Most nights they didn’t. Georgia did well to finish 8-20 last season. Because Felton has developed the players he had and has added five gifted freshmen, the Bulldogs have a chance in most every game now. They beat Georgia Tech by 16 points in December and beat Alabama, the preseason choice to win the SEC West, by nine Wednesday night. They’re 13-8, which Felton believes puts them in the NCAA mix, though the NIT seems a more likely destination. This seems a program on the clear rise. Thing is, no program rises without turbulence.
“We’ve taken some steps backward,” Felton said, and those retreats have been in the only area in which the 8-20 Bulldogs actually excelled, and that’s effort. And that’s the way of the basketball world.
A team strapped for resources will play defense because it has no choice. A more talented team will be tempted to cut a corner. Even a coach as forceful as Felton can’t always persuade his men to defend if some of those men believe their true calling lies at the offensive end. Yes, Georgia has started to score points at a major-college rate — it had 46 points in the first half against Alabama, against which it managed 47 in a game last season — but the all-court ferocity Felton tries to foster sometimes goes missing.
“We have not defended with the tenacity I want,” he said. “We’ve been soft on defense and in rebounding more nights than I would have imagined.” He smiled. “Last year we dreamed of scoring like this.”
With an eye toward ramping up intensity, Felton changed his lineup for Alabama — freshmen Mike Mercer and Terrance Woodbury started ahead of Steve Newman and Channing Toney — and the revamp achieved the desired effect. Four days after a deflating loss at Auburn, Georgia played hard and well.
When nine of a team’s top 11 men are freshmen or sophomores, there will always be inconsistency in production. What Felton seeks is a benchmark for sheer will. When Georgia achieves that, it will have something.
Felton can really coach, and more than a few of these guys are learning to play. Witness Younes Idrissi, the Blockin’ Moroccan. As a freshman, he managed 38 baskets in 27 games. As a sophomore, he has developed a hook shot and scored 14 baskets against Nevada’s Nick Fazekas and Alabama’s Jermareo Davidson, two of the nation’s better big men. Witness Dave Bliss, who infamously was called for five fouls in four minutes against Tech last season but who whirled around Davidson for the biggest basket of Wednesday’s victory.
“Alabama’s a pretty good team,” Bliss said, “and to be able to beat them really says something. We’ve got enough guys now.”
There will be wobbles ahead. Georgia could lose six of its last eight regular-season games, which would render even the NIT problematic. Mercer could decide he needs to shoot even more — he already leads the team in shots — or the Bulldogs could figure that a team capable of scoring 88 points on Alabama doesn’t need to guard all that hard. Felton sees the potential, but he also sees the potholes.
“We’ve traveled some distance,” he said, “but we’ve got so much more distance to travel. I feel pressed to continue to move forward.”
He’s a coach. That’s what he’s supposed to say. But the most talented Bulldog since Jarvis Hayes senses, correctly, that a corner has been turned. “One of the reasons I came here was to be part of building something special,” said Mercer, and he’s on track.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Categories: Mark Bradley, UGA / SEC
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By FRED B
February 2, 2006 08:30 PM | Link to this
i think d felton has done a very good job in rebuiding this program after the jim harrick fiasco but they need to get tougher down low singleton needs to work on his inside game this summer and he also needs to bulk up
By northwestDAWG
February 2, 2006 10:42 PM | Link to this
a coach who’s not afraid to make a change and stick by his rules and regs. Keep going coach, I lot of people out here are all for what you are doing. Players who don’t understand what it takes to get to and stay at the top should get plenty of Pine Time
By mark
February 3, 2006 02:40 AM | Link to this
No where too go but up. Dennis Felton has these kid’s believing they can compete with anybody. Hopefully they can finish with a winning record and build on it. Go Dog’s.
By Tom
February 3, 2006 05:52 AM | Link to this
Felton is one of the most impressive coaches I’ve seen. He’s extremely tough and disciplined yet fair. Witness the fact that Channing Toney was taken from the starting lineup on Wednesday and proceeded to miss three straight 3-pointers in a span of 15 seconds. Toney got the ball again about 20 seconds later and hoisted another trifecta. He nailed it and there was Felton five feet onto the floor smackin’ Toney’s butt in approval. Tell me a player doesn’t respect a coach like that.
The big men will be developed. Just give it time. Jeremy Price coming soon and Albert Jackson as well. I think Felton brings us back to the days of Tubby.
By Bob
February 3, 2006 07:27 AM | Link to this
A nice reference to last year’s team. If ever a team with an 8-20 record deserved respect, that team did. Fans that watched them closely had to realize that those players had a work ethic and attitude that was incredible. Felton and UGA basketball will be fine — give it another year or two.
By GW
February 3, 2006 08:09 AM | Link to this
So the team didn’t defend with tenacity against Alabama and they ran up and down the court. THEY WON! It doesn’t hurt to let the Dogs out occasionally.
By Don
February 3, 2006 09:17 AM | Link to this
Sorry, GW, but I have to disagree. At this point in their development, getting the team to play hard on defense is MORE important than a win or a loss.Did you see Felton’s teams at Western Ky? If Mercer and Humphrey will buy in to that style of ferocious defense,UGA by next year,can be like Villanova this year.
By GJJ
February 3, 2006 12:23 PM | Link to this
Well said….
By honest abe
February 3, 2006 12:28 PM | Link to this
“if mercer can buy into that style of ferocious defense?” are you serious…he’s the best defender we have! he plays his butt off on the defensive end harder and more intensely than anyone else on the team!! he just needs to stop taking those ill advised three’s…