AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > January > 24 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USWin gives Dogs reason to believe
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Athens — The feeling has persisted these past two months: For as many strides as Georgia had made, the Bulldogs hadn’t yet grasped how good they can be. They should know a bit more about themselves today. They should know that their pulsating overtime defeat of the nation’s winningest program wasn’t a home-court fluke but an accurate measure of these teams in the year 2007.
Kentucky is still pretty good.
The Bulldogs are simply better.
The Bulldogs shouldn’t be satisfied with winning the occasional big game. They have it within themselves to win games in March. When Georgia topples some towering seed in Round 2 of the Big Dance, don’t say you weren’t warned.
Owing to post-Harrick sanctions and the general disinterest toward Georgia basketball that exists even in the best of times, the Bulldogs have built a good-looking roster without benefit — indeed, perhaps due to the lack — of fanfare. “We’ve got the team,” Sundiata Gaines said. “We’ve got every player. We know we’re under the radar right now, but if we keep doing what we do, we’re going to win a lot of games.”
If not for a second-half lapse in Tuscaloosa, Georgia would have beaten Arkansas, Alabama and Kentucky in the span of eight days. The Bulldogs were unlucky at the end against the Tide, but such a loss, however poorly adjudicated, is often a reflection of a low-profile team that still isn’t sure it deserves to beat a high-falutin’ opponent. Wednesday’s second half and overtime should help disabuse Georgia of that notion.
The Bulldogs yielded 43 points in the first 17 1/2 minutes. (“The worst basketball we’ve played in a long time,” said Dennis Felton, the Georgia coach.) And then, for no reason other than that these Bulldogs are too talented to do so little for much longer, they turned the game and left the proud Big Blue looking outclassed.
Kentucky managed but 26 points over the final 27 1/2 minutes. The Wildcats could find no one other than Joe Crawford to score, while Georgia found all manner of playmakers. Gaines was terrific all game — there’s no SEC point guard, not even Florida’s Taurean Green, who ranks as his superior — and Takais Brown overwhelmed all the big ‘Cats, Randolph Morris included, down low. Terrance Woodbury made four massive baskets down the stretch. Mike Mercer shot poorly but did everything else nicely.
Georgia trailed only once in the final 10:48, and the Wildcats were thankful just to reach OT. (Gaines missed two free throws and a contested shot at the shank of regulation.) Anyone following this lopsided series — the Wildcats had won 30 of the past 35 games — would have been excused for thinking the teams had switched jerseys, that there was no way the callow Bulldogs should have been the ones with the better and more resourceful players, but that’s the new reality.
And maybe this will be the game that finally alerts Georgia to its vast potential. It’s a hard sell for any coach, persuading some of the same guys who were 8-20 only two seasons ago that they’re now capable of standing toe-to-toe with the sport’s giants. “It’s part of our progress,” Felton said, “convincing them that we’re good enough and that what we do is good enough, persuading them to stay with what we do and to stay in character.”
Georgia didn’t have to soar above and beyond to beat Kentucky. Georgia had only to trust itself and its talent. Felton again: “We haven’t been in position to impose our will [the last few years]. We were competing really hard just for self-respect. But we’re working at turning the corner, at not just competing but expecting to be successful.”
The job isn’t anywhere finished. The job has only just begun. LSU comes to town Sunday, and mighty Florida arrives Feb. 7. But the feeling here — actually, the conviction — is that Wednesday was no one-off moment. It was, on the contrary, the first of many.
Permalink | Comments (37) | Post your comment | Categories: Mark Bradley, UGA / SEC
Comments
By Buck Cochran in the NW
January 25, 2007 12:36 AM | Link to this
When the games are shown on LF, those of us on the wrong side of the “Big Ditch” can see them. Saw Gonzaga which at the time was a big deal. Since then all I’ve had were the newspaper reports. Yes, I was happy to see them come from behind and win. Since I’m really a Dawg basketball supporter, I’m going to with hold judgement. I can see why neither team is ranked. It appears that the dawgs have talent but they’ll lose a more than they’ll win based on what I saw tonight. Mercer played some good ball tonight but overall he was nowhere that I could see’m. Thank goodness for Gaines because he put the team on his back and carried them. Do the post players have hands? Couldn’t tell for sure the way they would try and grasp the ball under the basket. So it was thrilling come from behind victory and I saw a lot of potential so I’m pullin for them. BTW, Felton’s coaching moves through me off because nither KY., the announcers or my self could follow what he was doing. Fooled us all and won.
By RD
January 25, 2007 02:21 AM | Link to this
The game was played at warp speed. From my seat it seemed like the second half was played in 5 minutes as both teams literally flew down the court.
When the Wildcats lost Morris to foul trouble it was over though. He was the only force inside that had a chance of controlling Takais Brown but he paid for it dearly with 5 fouls.
It will be most interesting to see if the Bulldogs can carry momentum into Sunday’s LSU game.
By Ryno
January 25, 2007 03:16 AM | Link to this
I’m proud of the Dawgs. I’m proud of the crowd coming and supporting them last night too. And it wasn’t all Kentucky fans filling the upper sections either, it was the Dawg fans. Great student section, proud to say since I was one myself. But these dawgs are something. I have been to all but one home game this year and I really do think that we have something to show people in the SEC. Coach Felton does a great job in my oppinion. Some folks complain about stuff, but please, this guy is building a winning team that we can all be proud of. Support him and the players and show up for LSU Sunday and the games the rest of the way. Just think, if we controll our home, we’ll be no worse than 9-7 in the conference. And maybe we could get a win on the road and surprise alot of folks. GO Dawgs!
By Tom
January 25, 2007 04:09 AM | Link to this
SOunds like the SEC told the refs to throw the game to UGA after the Bama alum paid off the refs to get a win in Tuscaloosa. I will never waste another minute watching a fixed SEC “game” again. Maybe UGA can make a run in the SEC tourney. At least, the refs will be lefit. Bamer will be a first round flop.
By John
January 25, 2007 06:24 AM | Link to this
Bradley, you lost me at “Gaines was terrific all game — there’s no SEC point guard, not even Florida’s Taurean Green, who ranks as his superior.”
By Craig
January 25, 2007 06:52 AM | Link to this
Tom - get a life. Mark - not sure you and I watched the same game. A win is a win, especially over UK, but you can’t tell me that this game was played well down the stretch. Missed free throws, bad clock management with desperation shots thrown up at the buzzer… I’m happy for the win, but I’m feeling more lucky than I am proud.
By NationalChamps
January 25, 2007 07:28 AM | Link to this
Yeah us gators continue to fear UGA and Dave Bliss.
By steve
January 25, 2007 07:36 AM | Link to this
guess this was a fixed sec game too. y’all need to let the bama game go, you blew a big lead and got outplayed and outcoached the second half(just like y’all did uk) it’s just going to be tough to win on the road in the sec ROLL TIDE!!!!
By Unimpressed
January 25, 2007 07:46 AM | Link to this
I don’t think I’ll start making any plans for March until the Dogs actually beat a team ranked in the Top 25.
By 82DAWG
January 25, 2007 07:46 AM | Link to this
Hey Florida #^($, No one cares what you think.
By IMF
January 25, 2007 07:58 AM | Link to this
Craig, You’re right that GA didn’t play flawless basketball down the stretch, but neither did Kentucky (passes bouncing off finger tips out-of-bounds and rebounders crashing into one another trying to get a missed free throw). So, yes, UGA was lucky to pull out the win, but the flipside is Kentucky was lucky to be in the game. UGA was lucky to bank in a 3-pointer, but Kentucky was lucky to get a three bounce 3-pointer to go in too. It goes both ways.
By ugarph79
January 25, 2007 07:59 AM | Link to this
You mean like they did last night? Kentucky = #25 in ESPN/USA Today poll.
By IMF
January 25, 2007 08:05 AM | Link to this
Unimpressed, Did you start making plans after UGA beat #17 Gonzaga this year? Or now that they’ve beaten #25 Kentucky?
By GW
January 25, 2007 08:47 AM | Link to this
Luck counts. It beats losing no matter your history or your opponent’s history, or Florida’s history. The world does not revolve around Florida.
By gdawgs77
January 25, 2007 08:56 AM | Link to this
Great win tonight! Just want to encourage ALL dog fans to show up at the LSU game ready to be LOUDDD and CRAZY! The place needs to be rocking! It is a big game for a our basketball team and we will have 2 or 3 big time UNCOMMITED football recruits there this weekend! Lets make a good impression on them and show them Dawg fans know how to support their teams!
By whosnext95
January 25, 2007 09:25 AM | Link to this
Congrats to the Dawgs for not quitting, after being down by 17 at one point. Folks, this is the true testiment of this group of young men and their coaching staff. Think of this; they just came off a gutt-wrenching loss just 4 days ago and so after getting “rolled” early and not having any luck with the 3-ball; I think a lesser class team would have folded. These guys seem to “will” themselves back into the game. Another great thing (and I must say a refreshing thing) is that Coach Felton plays a lot of guys. (we have 10 guys that avg. more than 10 minutes a game). I believe it is this philosophy that helps us late in the games and also just makes us really look like a “team” and not just 5 or 6 guys, with a bench full of jumpsuites! Great job coaching staff! Great job to all the fans that came out on a mid-week night! And great job to the players who never gave up! Keep the momentum up and lets see if we can make “Big-Baby Davis” get out his crying towel come sunday afternoon in the Felt House!!!
By Tournamentbound
January 25, 2007 09:32 AM | Link to this
Hey Steve, You’re right, you probably don’t need to fear Bliss…he’s a role player this year. However, you better be worried about Takais Brown. He is playing as good as any big man in SEC this year. GO DAWGS!!!
By jt
January 25, 2007 09:40 AM | Link to this
great win last night against a pretty good uk team. as for the florida fan running his mouth…way to pull out a close win against a really tough miss. st. team last night. doesn’t seem like you should be mouthing off after we just beat a ranked team, while the gators were struggling against the cellar dwellers of the sec west.
dawgs are putting together a pretty good squad. yes georgia got some lucky bounces last night, but there were some bounces that went uk’s way in the first half. it’s part of the game. the fact that the dawgs hung in there being down by as many as they were speaks to the character of this team.
thanks to the crowd as well. it got really loud in there last night. my wife is a uk grad and has seen many games in rupp, and she looked at me last night and said that she has never heard a basketball game that loud. way to go fans…bring it for lsu this weekend. go dawgs.
By ChampDawg
January 25, 2007 09:54 AM | Link to this
Congrats to the Dawgs……. what I saw was a UGA team that was athletically superior to UK and a UK team that is just not very talented. Tubby needs to go. He has not been able to keep UK at the high level unless he had Rick Pitinos players.
By Unimpressed
January 25, 2007 09:55 AM | Link to this
Well I did make March plans after the Gonzaga win, but had to cancel them after the Zags went on to lose four more of their next seven. As for Kenyucky, I thought this was an AJC site? My morning paper shows Southern Cal in the #25 spot. It does show Florida, Wisconsin, Alabama and Clemson though. I looked hard but couldn’t find Western Kentucky or Georgia Tech.
By dawg5
January 25, 2007 09:55 AM | Link to this
I am proud of the Dawgs. It looks like we could be a very good team. We will also beat florida at home like a drum. MARK IT DOWN
By Matthew at the SLC
January 25, 2007 10:01 AM | Link to this
Wow, all of you idiot haters are definately Yechies or GaTurds. Wow, did you amoebas even watch the game last night? There was one desperation shot in overtime, and Gaines took it, and kissed a three off the glass. All of the other shots that went down to 1 or 2 seconds on the shot clock, where executed well, many drives and dishes, especially to Brown. So obviously, the haters were paying attention.
The Dawgs team is worthy of our love, Dawg fans. These guys are just as scrappy as their grid-iron brothers had to be this year. And for the idiot who calls himself “unimpressed,” I don’t know what rankings he follows, but they’re not the ones printed in the paper. Maybe they’re the “special” rankings which contain Yech as number 1 or something.
The issue here, is that those of you who profess to be Dawg fans, and not just football fans, need to come out this Saturday. Toss out the Honey-Do list, come back to Athens, and get ready for another roller coaster ride with this exciting team. They play with so much heart out on the court. Brown and Gaines are a 1-2 punch that are up there with best the SEC has to offer (and yes, that’s pointed to the GaTurd fans). Mercer can be a mixed bag, but he plays good defense, and he is exciting to watch. This team deserves our support, so alumni and students, come out and support them!
For those who don’t realize it yet, like the bitter Yechies and big-headed GaTurds, this team is Tournament Bound, and will make some noise in both the SEC and Big Dance. The stink that Adams and Harrick left this team with is washing away. There are no Tony Cole’s on this team. Coach Felton has built us a team of character. Evans and Adams better not let this man get away. They better make sure he feels wanted in Athens, and part of that is up to us, too. Coach Felton can build this program the way Donovan built Florida. Florida wasn’t anything until Spurrier and Donovan showed up, which you GaTurds seem to always forget (no, your history did NOT begin in 1990). Richt and Felton have and will brought and bring (sorry) Georgia back. We support one team unconditionaly. It’s time we support both teams unconditionaly.
And another thing: It’s nice that the Gymnastics team sells out. But why can’t Andy Landers’ Lady Dawgs get any love? Come out tonight, students and alums! These ladies deserve love to!
By Don
January 25, 2007 10:19 AM | Link to this
Maybe not the greatest Kentucky team that Georgia has ever faced but an impressive win because of the comeback that it required. Doubters can say what they want but Georgia’s strength of schedule is 13 based on the latest RPI. They lost a couple that they should of won to W. Kentucky and Alabama. They have beat a few good teams. They have yet to be completely dominated by an opponent although Georgia didn’t look real good against Florida in the second half of that game. Needless to say a win over Florida in Athens in a couple of weeks could shut a lot of doubters up. Unfortunately Florida is the team to beat again this year.
Go Dawgs!
By gdawgs77
January 25, 2007 10:29 AM | Link to this
Hey fellow UGA fans lets come out Sunday and get there EARLY to get the team fired up from the beginning! Lets have the Steg LOUD and ROCKING against LSU!
By IMF
January 25, 2007 11:02 AM | Link to this
Unimpressed, Don’t you think what they have done so far is a recipe for an NCAA birth? The only bad loss was the 2nd game of the year when they didn’t have Takais Brown. Then you lost on the road to your rival. Otherwise, you’ve lost to 4 top 17 teams (3 of the 4 on the road). On the plus side though, you’ve beaten 4 other projected Tourney teams (according to today’s ESPN Bracketology - Vandy, Kentucky, Gonzaga, and Arkansas). Plus you throw in a road win at an ACC school. Not a bad NCAA resume so far IMO.
By INcredibility
January 25, 2007 11:03 AM | Link to this
Wait, how do you spell “O-V-E-R-R-A-T-E-D??”
By INcredibility
January 25, 2007 11:12 AM | Link to this
Oh, it must be like this: “K-E-N-T-U-C-K-Y.”
By Unimpressed
January 25, 2007 11:52 AM | Link to this
I’m not sure which I’m least impressed with, the lack of quality wins for UGA or the literacy rate of it’s fans. If someone can show me one team UGA has beaten in the Top 25 of today’s AJC (page C4), I’ll buy them a chili dog and frosted orange at The Varsity before the LSU game. And by the way, I wouldn’t necessarily count a win over current #21 LSU Saturday as quality either. That would give fading LSU a total of 7 losses, including four of their last six.
By Don Ellis
January 25, 2007 11:55 AM | Link to this
Great win last night for the Dawgs and the fans!!! Yes there where some questionable calls late in the Bama game but the simple fact is we let that big lead go late in the game. Alot of poise shown last night. Felton has realy done a great job with this group of guys even after the off field tragedy in the offseason. This team is tourny bound as long as they don’t believe the hype and continue to play well TOGETHER. Remember to…teams go deep in tourny’s that have deep guard play…that is something we have. As far as Florida fan….much congrats to you guys for your sports program…not to proud of a DIE HARD DAWG FAN to say that. As far as unimpressed fan goes….3 losses out of 6 to top ten teams and 2 to top 5 teams isn’t that bad considering we where 500 last year….I wonder what would impress you…maybe We will call in the frisbee catchin dogs at halftime for you. GREAT JOB DAWGS!!!!! GREAT WIN FOR THE PROGRAM!!!
By BadgerDawg
January 25, 2007 11:59 AM | Link to this
“NationalChamps”, you should be worried about Noah getting banished to the women’s team.
By billdawg
January 25, 2007 01:06 PM | Link to this
As a fan since Ruff-Wood Hall, bill Ensley, Henry Cabiness etc. I am proud of my ‘Dawgs.
By Mark
January 25, 2007 01:31 PM | Link to this
Hey Mark, Have you ever heard of Ronald Steele? I think his game tying three pointer and game winning shot to beat UGA should have been enough to remind you. However, when Steele is healthy, he is by far the best point guard int he SEC, if not the country. Nonetheless, Steele does not miss free throws down the stretch. That should certainly factor into the equation when ranking players that handle the ball in the waning minutes of games.
By Traceman
January 25, 2007 01:38 PM | Link to this
VERY exciting game! My brother’s wife was fortunate enough to get 2nd row seats from a friend so I had a terrific few of the action. GA looked like a totally different team in the 2nd half as they played with FAR more intensity and they forced KY to settle for jumpers after they killed the Dawgs in the first half by taking it to the basket.
I think GA certainly has the talent to make the field of 64 and I will be rooting them all the way. Other than Florida, I think they can compete with any team in the SEC and they could even beat Florida on a given night.
All that said, I think Mark is giving Gaines WAY too much credit. He has talent but to be considered one of the best, you can’t almost have a meltdown as he did in crunch time. He missed FOUR huge free throws that would have iced the game and he waited too long to make a play at the end of the shotclock on at least 4 occasions late in the game. Fortunately, on 2 of those 4 occasions, we got lucky. On one, Brown was able to flip it up and in at the buzzer (I still don’t know how he got it off). On the other, he threw that lucky 3 pointer off the glass. Bottom line, he has talent but he needs to show a lot more composure and heart in crunch time.
By TechIsGay-ley
January 25, 2007 01:56 PM | Link to this
Unimpressed = Techie. Pathetic, simply pathetic.
By RAD
January 25, 2007 02:29 PM | Link to this
INcredibility - Tired of crying with the other yechies on your blog. By the way great game last night Techies! Did you set a record of 16 straight road loses?
We know who’s not overrated -Maryland. How bad did they beat you. I beat Yech does not even get to the NIT this year. Can you say fading fast. Go back to your cry me a river blog you Dermatologist Dream.
Go Dawgs soon to be Dancing Dawgs!
By IMF
January 25, 2007 04:29 PM | Link to this
Unimpressed, I guess I gave you too much credit. I thought that since you post on a sports blog, you might have the knowledge that there is more than one poll for basketball. I have no idea which poll is listed in the print version of the AJC, but the poll that ranks Kentucky #25 is the ESPN/USA Today Poll. Now take your pointless insults elsewhere.
By Cuz
January 25, 2007 09:43 PM | Link to this
Hey football gets most of the spotlight at UGA. I for one am glad to see the Roundballers playing like they were the favorite of the athletic program. Even with the Bama loss, they look to me like they are playing with pride and that is all I ask of any Dawg team. Play with pride no matter who you play. So what if we don’t make it to the dance. These men have shown they know what it means to be Georgia Bulldawgs. And I don’t care what you nattering naybobs of negativity have to say, I am proud of these Dawgs.