DEL.ICIO.USYoung Bulldogs eager to hit hard court
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Athens — Zac Swansey knows what Sundiata Gaines’ stats were last season for Georgia: 15 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals a game. But Swansey is concerned with just one of Gaines’ numbers right now — his phone number.
“Well I don’t have him on speed dial but I do talk to him a couple or few times a week,” said Swansey of Gaines, who is playing professionally in Italy. “He mentored me last year and he’s kind of telling me how I should do it with these younger guys.”
Rich Addicks/raddicks@ajc.com
Guard Zac Swansey averaged nearly 4 points and 1.6 assists as a sophomore for the Bulldogs. He replaces Sundiata Gaines at the point.
Swansey, a sophomore from Dunwoody, has the task of succeeding Gaines as the Bulldogs’ point guard this season. He’s one of nine freshmen and sophomores who will join two juniors and two seniors to try and create a new identity for Georgia. Preseason practices for the 2008-09 basketball season start at 5 p.m. Friday.
Gaines did everything but fill up the water bottles for Georgia the last four seasons. Now Georgia’s former captain is playing ball across the pond and Swansey must figure how out to go from backup to the backbone of this year’s team.
“I learned so much from Yata last year,” said Swansey, who averaged 16 minutes and 3.9 points a game last year. “On the court, off the court, in practice, just sitting on the bench watching him play, I learned so much. I liked the way he handled himself when things were good and bad. He never got too high or too low and that’s one thing that I’m trying to get in my game. That’s one of the biggest thing I learned from him this last year.”
But neither Swansey nor his teammates expect him to become Yata Jr. Gaines was 6-foot-1, 210-pound rebounding two-guard converted to point guard out of necessity.
The 6-1, 180-pound Swansey is a pure point guard. He’ll look to distribute the ball to Georgia’s wings and frontline players first and knock down the open 3-pointer if the defenses collapse around the basket.
Swansey displayed those skills with Gaines fouled-out against Kentucky in the SEC tournament last March. Swansey hit the game-winning 3-pointer to propel the Bulldogs to the semifinals.
“People still come up to me and talk to me about that shot all the time,” he said.
And Swansey won’t have to go it alone. The Bulldogs recruited point guard Dustin Ware out of North Cobb Christian High School to compete with him.
“I know for a fact that Zac’s ready,” junior center Albert Jackson said. “Both he and Dustin bring a different aspect to the table that Yata didn’t bring. Yata wasn’t a true point guard. They are true point guards.”
Swansey said the Bulldogs are eager to prove that the run to the SEC tournament championship and the NCAA tournament wasn’t a fluke.
“I think that we have a lot to prove on this team,” Swansey said.
Swansey, maybe most of all.
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