UGA blog finds new home
Morning all. As I’ve said a couple of times this week, we’re converting this blog over to a WordPress platform and it will be a permanent move the first of next week.
Those of you who are regulars probably know that I’m not what you’d call techno-wizard when it comes to these things. But from what I understand the technology offered in this new format should make the blogging and commenting experience better for all. Of course, I’ll be learning as we go along, too. But I’m hoping to provide more pictures and video and things like that which should bring the blog more to life.
Of course, this blog is nothing without all you guys so I want to heartily invite (read: beg) you to come over to the new site by CLICKING HERE ON THE NEW ADDRESS and save it in your browsers. As of Monday, Feb. 23rd, this will be the permanent home of the UGA blog you so love or, in the case of some of you, love to loathe. If you’d prefer to copy and paste or just memorize, the new address is: http://blogs.ajc.com/uga-sports-blog/.
See at the new place!
AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2009 > January > 29
Thursday, January 29, 2009
UGA players in the loop this time
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At least Georgia got it right this time.
I’m not saying the decision to fire Dennis Felton was right. Time will tell on that one. I’m talking about the protocol they used for informing the players was right this time. It flat-out wrong when Jim Harrick was let go in 2003.
We just got through interviewing selected Georgia players a little while ago. I say “selected” because we didn’t have any choice which ones were made available to us. They brought out the three captains — Corey Butler, Albert Jackson and Terrance Woodbury — along with sophomore point guard Zac Swansey. I wanted to talk to Trey Thompkins because he’s a top-notch freshman and one person in particular profoundly affected by this decision. But we were told he and all the other players were “not available.”
On a separate note, Dennis Felton also was “not available.” He didn’t attend the press conference and he didn’t issue a statement, which I don’t think was the best way to handle it. I made a separate trip out to his house in Bogart and his wife Melanie answered the front door. She went into another room to ask if he’d come talk to me but came back and said he’s “not available.” Very kind, very cordial, just “no comment.”
The important thing is Felton was available to address the situation with the players. According to all accounts, players were summoned via text message and phone calls from ssociate AD Arthur Johnson about 7 a.m. Thursday morning that they needed to be in the locker room at 7:30 a.m. for “a team meeting.” “Of course we knew something was up when Arthur Johnson called us at 7 in the morning,” Butler said. Starting closer to 8, Felton came in and addressed the team and told them he’d been relieved of his duties as coach and Pete Herrmann was going to take over in the interim.
Butler said Felton had nothing but encouraging words. “You know Coach Felton, he was still in there coaching,” Butler said. “He said, ‘guys, stay after it. Keep fighting and keep your heads up.’ He said he was still going to be in touch and making sure we’re doing the right things. He walked through, gave everyone a hug, shook hands, things like that. He said it was effective immediately. Then he left.”
Then Evans and Johnson came in and gave them a pep talk regarding their future and the future of Georgia basketball.
As mundane as all that may sound, the order of events was really important to the players. Last time the Bulldogs had a change, the players found out via the media that their coach had been dismissed and the team yanked from postseason play. And lest we forget, the players are, after all, the ones most intimately affected by these changes.
Said Swansey: “Tough is the word I’d use. It’s been tough all year. We haven’t been able to put it all together. We lost however many games in a row, then this happens. As players we have to continue to fight. You don’t have a choice but to put everything aside. But it was definitely a shock this morning.”
And while they didn’t have a choice, while they had no input, at least they got a chance to hear it from the guy they signed up to play for.
“It’s rare that a walkon gets a chance to be a Divisioin I basketball captain his senior year,” said Butler, who got just such a chance. “So, you know, I have so much respect for this guy, just the fact that he’s given me the opportunities he has to play at this level… . But I did get a chance to say a few words to him and thank him.”
For a player, that means a lot.
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Felton’s run over at UGA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dennis Felton’s 5-1/2 years at Georgia have ended after last night’s 83-57 loss to Florida, which afterward Felton said his team was “overwhelmed.” The school has announced a press conference to discuss the state of the program.
Last night’s game featured these grizzly facts: Georgia’s seventh loss in a row. 0-5 in the SEC, Georgia’s worst conference start since 1998. And Georgia’s 11th loss in a row to the Gators since March 2004.
From Tim Tucker’s blog earlier this morning: This was Felton’s analysis on his post-game radio show: “At halftime, I thought clearly the difference in the game was the turnovers. Clearly if we would have taken better care of the ball — they had seven more shots at the goal than we did at halftime, even though we had out-rebounded them, and it was all because of the turnovers. And several of the turnovers led to straight un-guardable baskets by them and really got their building going. That was the main thing we talked about at halftime. And we came out in the second half and started the half with several turnovers that led to scores, and the building got going. The momentum was clearly in their favor at that point, and it becomes even easier to score and put it in the hole at that point. And we got overwhelmed.”
A few things that jump out at you from the box score: Georgia’s 17 turnovers to Florida’s seven. Just two turnovers in 37 minutes by Dustin Ware, Georgia’s freshman point guard. And of course Nick Calathes’ triple-double for the Gators: 20 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists. He led both teams in all three categories.
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Felton: ‘We got overwhelmed’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Chatter:
— Florida 83, Georgia 57. Surely this is rock bottom, or thereabouts, right? Georgia’s seventh loss in a row. 0-5 in the SEC, Georgia’s worst conference start since 1998. And Georgia’s 11th loss in a row to the Gators since March 2004.
— This was coach Dennis Felton’s analysis on his post-game radio show: “At halftime, I thought clearly the difference in the game was the turnovers. Clearly if we would have taken better care of the ball — they had seven more shots at the goal than we did at halftime, even though we had out-rebounded them, and it was all because of the turnovers. And several of the turnovers led to straight un-guardable baskets by them and really got their building going. That was the main thing we talked about at halftime. And we came out in the second half and started the half with several turnovers that led to scores, and the building got going. The momentum was clearly in their favor at that point, and it becomes even easier to score and put it in the hole at that point. And we got overwhelmed.”
— A few things that jump out at you from the box score: Georgia’s 17 turnovers to Florida’s seven. Just two turnovers in 37 minutes by Dustin Ware, Georgia’s freshman point guard. And of course Nick Calathes’ triple-double for the Gators: 20 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists. He led both teams in all three categories.
— This didn’t make the article I wrote yesterday about the comeback trails of football players Trinton Sturdivant and Jeff Owens, but wanted to pass it along here: Sturdivant said offensive line coach Stacy Searels has made it clear the line must shoulder more responsibility in ‘09 because of the loss of playmakers Matthew Stafford, Knowshon Moreno and Mohamed Massaquoi. “Coach Searels has straight-up told us that it’s our team now,” Sturdivant said. “We have to make the most impact on offense because we don’t have a Stafford, don’t have a Knowshon, don’t have a Mohamed Massaquoi, the senior leader on our team. We’re going to … will this team to wins.”
— And from defensive tackle Owens: He said the loss to Florida (football, not basketball) provides off-season motivation. “They called two timeouts after they were up big,” he said. “I mean, you just [think] about that. That shows the respect they have for us.”
