ATHENS — Two freshmen and two sophomores started for Georgia in the SEC tournament quarterfinals Friday night in New Orleans. In this coach Mark Fox takes much solace.
The Bulldogs endured a long, tough season, with only five conference wins and a 15-17 record overall. But with one of the league’s younger teams they managed to defeat three Top 25 teams and win three of their last four games before the season ended bluntly with a 63-41 loss to Vanderbilt.
“I feel very good about the experience that those guys were able to get,” Fox said of his young charges. “I feel very good about the players we’re bringing into our team. And this group had a challenge because we had so much inexperience [after] a couple guys leave early. I thought they accepted that with great class, and that experience will be very valuable for us moving forward.”
Sophomore forward Donte’ Williams started every game, and freshmen Kentavious Caldwell-Pope started all but one and was named freshman All-SEC. Meanwhile, freshman Nemanja Djurisic and sophomore Marcus Thornton were starters by the end of the season.
That group was pretty much “thrown into the fire,” Fox said, because of the early departures of Travis Leslie and Trey Thompkins for the NBA. The team had the ups-and-downs of inconsistency that come with youth. That was especially evident when they bumped into one of SEC’s elite, such as Vanderbilt or Kentucky.
But on the rare occasions when they got it going on offense and defense, the Bulldogs could be impressive to watch. Such was the case when they dispatched a 21-win Mississippi State team Thursday night. It was the second time Georgia defeated the Bulldogs. UGA also knocked off No. 11 Florida, a Tennessee team that finished second in the league and Notre Dame, which is ranked 23rd.
“We do have some confidence going into next season, and we gained a lot of experience,” said Djurisic, who started 12 games and averaged eight points and eight rebounds in the last three. “We learned a lot of things from the older guys, and we all had an opportunity to play early in our careers. It should help us in future.”
Said Caldwell-Pope: “I’m encouraged. We’re just going to have to continue to play and get experience. We’ve got to play more consistently on defense and finish plays and continue to play hard.”
There will be major adjustments, however. The Bulldogs will lose one of the more solid backcourt tandems around in seniors Gerald Robinson and Dustin Ware.
The heirs apparent are Vincent Williams and Sherrard Brantley, who will be seniors next season. The Bulldogs signed two other guards in 6-foot-6 Charles Mann of Milton High and 6-4 Kenny Gaines of Whitefield Academy. Their third signee is 6-foot-8 forward Brandon Morris of Miller Grove.
The obvious missing piece is a physically imposing post player similar to others in the league. Williams is an athletic presence whose high-flying dunks always brought crowds to their feet. But with barely 220 pounds on his 6-9 frame, he was overmatched trying to defend the low block against heavier players.
Georgia remains in the hunt for 6-9, 250-pound forward Tony Parker of Miller Grove, but will have to beat out Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio State to get him. However, they do have the advantage of proximity and familiarity. Parker was a teammate of Williams and Morris at Miller Grove and in AAU ball.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs have some “bigs” who showed improvement over the course of the season. John Florveus (6-11, 230), a junior-college transfer who will be a senior next season, was the first option off the bench. Freshman Tim Dixon (6-9, 230) is raw, but has long arms and a tall upside. And 6-10, 245-pound freshman John Cannon didn’t play much, but was impressive the few times he did late in the season.
And 6-foot-10, 245-pound freshman John Cannon didn't play much but was impressive the few times he did late in the season. He was the Bulldogs' leading scorer in the first half against Vanderbilt, scoring 6 points on 1-of-1 shooting and 4-of-4 foul shooting, and had 4 points in 14 minutes in a February game against LSU.
"John Cannon practiced very well the last couple of months," Fox said. "We kind of had a rotation established, but he's going to be a really good player. Of everybody on our team, it probably took him the longest to really get comfortable in the season. But he played well once he did."
"I think we've got a bright future," said Williams, who averaged 8.0 points and 5.3 rebounds despite almost nightly foul trouble. "Everybody's got to continue to work hard and keep getting better."
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