At this point, it is the elephant in the room for Georgia.
Nobody in the Bulldogs’ camp wants to talk about what next season might look like without Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but that is a reality they may have to deal with soon.
The sophomore guard in the past week was named SEC Player of the Year and scored 32 points in his only game in the SEC tournament. He almost singlehandedly brought the Bulldogs from a 23-point deficit against LSU. He scored 25 points in the second half before his 3-point attempt in the final seconds bounced off the rim and the Tigers held on to win 68-63.
That ended the season at 15-17. Caldwell-Pope finished as the Bulldogs’ leader in 12 of the 20 statistical categories kept, including scoring (18.5 ppg), rebounding (7.1), steals (2.0) and minutes played (33.9).
So what, one is left to wonder, might Georgia look like next year if Caldwell-Pope makes the decision enter the NBA draft?
“I’m not going to address our team without him until he makes that decision,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said in a hallway of Bridgestone Arena after Thursday’s game. “Certainly, what he decides to do has a major impact on our team. But we will serve our players’ best interest first.”
Caldwell-Pope has until April 16 to inform the NCAA whether he intends to enter the draft as an underclassman.
In any case, Georgia won’t be in a position to replace Caldwell-Pope through recruiting. The Bulldogs signed two prospects in the early period this past November: 5-foot-9 point guard J.J. Frazier of Glennville, and 6-4 shooting guard Juwan Parker of Tulsa, Okla. The late signing period begins April 17, but rarely is a player of Caldwell-Pope’s pedigree still available at that point.
Nevertheless, Fox contends the Bulldogs might be better than people think. Though officially Georgia would lose three starters off this year’s team should Caldwell-Pope depart, John Florveus and Vincent Williams played far fewer minutes than their “backups,” freshman Charles Mann and sophomore Nemanja Djurisic. Georgia also will return forwards Donte Williams and Brandon Morris and guard Kenny Gaines, along with post players Tim Dixon, John Cannon and Houston Kessler. Also, forward Marcus Thornton will return after being sidelined for most of this season because of a knee injury.
“We finally have a lot of returning pieces,” Fox said. “All respect to J.J. and Juwan, we’re not going to have to start a freshman next year. We’ll have a more experienced roster — finally. That should work to our advantage. And all these guys that have had so much experience early, they need really good offseasons. But I have a lot of faith in Brandon and Charles and Kenny and Nemi and Donte and all the guys who will be back.”
Mann was the player who showed the most growth this season. The 6-4 point guard led the Bulldogs in assists (92) and free-throw attempts (170) and finished as the team’s third-leading scorer (6.7 ppg). He was named to the freshman All-SEC team.
Mann bristled when asked what the Bulldogs might be like without Caldwell-Pope. “We have a young team,” he said. “We have a bright future. This team plays with a lot of heart.”
“Playing with heart” certainly was the team’s dominant trait this season. Other than home and away losses to Florida and a road loss to Missouri, Georgia was in position to win every other SEC game it played. In fact, the Bulldogs’ last five losses all could have gone the other way. Four of them were decided on the game’s last possession and the other was lost in overtime.
Of course, Caldwell-Pope had everything to do with Georgia being in those games. Entering the SEC tournament, Caldwell-Pope averaged 5.4 points in the last five minutes of conference games. That works out 43.2 points over a 40-minute game while shooting 65 percent from the field, 63 percent from 3-point range and 83 percent from the free-throw line. Thirty-one percent of his scoring in SEC play came during the last five minutes.
Defeat still fresh on his psyche, Caldwell-Pope wasn’t sure what he was going to do when last approached on the subject of his future. He sat with his elbows on his knees and his head down in front of his locker at Bridgestone Arena and spoke barely above a whisper.
“I’ve still got to figure it out,” he said. “I’m not even thinking about that right now. Right now I’m just worried about finishing school.”
By all accounts, Caldwell-Pope enjoys college life. He has a girlfriend and hangs out with his teammates off the court. It’s anything but a done deal, his coaches and teammates insist.
“This will be his decision,” Fox said. “He’s got a great family, and I have a great relationship with them. We’re all on the same page. He may or may not think about it. The one thing he knows is he doesn’t have to. It might be his time but it might not be.”
Either way, Caldwell-Pope’s decision will have a major impact on the team, just like his play did all season.
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