Reporters’ notebook: A step close to a parade down Peachtree

His Georgia Tech team beat No. 21 Mississippi State on Nov. 30, then turned around and knocked off No. 7 Duke on Saturday. Both victories came at McCamish Pavilion and on the heels of a 35-point loss at Cincinnati on Nov. 22.

Those victories garnered Tech two votes in the most recent Associated Press Top 25.

That was all nice and well for Stoudamire, the former NBA star in his first season in Midtown. But the carrot at the end of the stick is much larger and much further away.

“It was definitely the vision, but it wasn’t the goal,” he said Monday about knocking off teams like Duke. “Ultimately, at the end of the day we wanna have a parade down Peachtree, you know what I mean? It’s a step. And it’s early. It’s only six games in and the only thing you do, and I’ve been telling the team this, I told ‘em all morning, the only thing you do is you put a bull’s eye on your back and now the expectation is a little more.

“Early on, I’m pleased with our performance, I’m pleased with our effort, but we can’t be content with where we’re at right now.”

Stoudamire must have stressed his team isn’t quite ready to handle some pats on the back. On Tuesday, the Jackets had their worst shooting performance of the young season and lost 76-62 at rival Georgia.

Thus, Tech still has a long way to before ever reaching national-championship-parade level status.

Drake London off to slower start than Mike Evans

When the Falcons took wide receiver Drake London with the eighth overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft, some compared him with Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans.

Comparing their first two seasons in the league, London is off to a slower start, even though both started with less-than-ideal quarterback situations.

As a rookie, London caught 72 of 117 targets for 866 yards and four touchdowns while playing in 17 games. As a rookie in 2014, Evans caught 68 of 1,051 passes for 1,051 yards and 12 touchdowns while playing in 15 games.

London, who has missed one game this season, has caught 46 of 73 passes for 573 yards and two touchdowns. He’s on pace for 67 catches and 834 yards. In his second season, Evans caught 75 passes for 1,206 yards and three touchdowns.

As a rookie, London had Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder as his quarterback. Evans had Josh McCown and Mike Glennon. This year, London has had Ridder and Taylor Heinicke. Evans had rookie Jameis Winston in his second season.

London has studied video of Evans.

“I think a lot of great players, there are certain things you can take from anybody when you study,” Falcons coach Arthur Smith said. “They are relatively the same size, I guess. They’re different players. I remember we had a coach on our staff in Tennessee that loved Mike Evans. I remember watching a lot of him coming out of Texas A&M.”

London is 6-foot-4 and 213 pounds. Evans is bigger at 6-5, 231.

“Different, in my opinion,” Smith said. “They were different in college, but Drake’s been pretty consistent since coming into the NFL, but I think he should look at all of those great players that have had success, whether it’s Jerry Rice or Mike Evans or a long line of guys that have done it.”

On Sunday, Evans became the first player to have 1,000 yards receiving in each of his first 10 seasons.

“You’re just looking for something that’s made them successful for that long period of time, so if you can do that, and you look for the right things, I think it helps,” Smith said.

Desmond Ridder’s advice to Florida State

Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder, who guided Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff when they weren’t in a Power 5 conference, had a little advice for Florida State, which was left out despite an undefeated record. “All I can say is that some teams such as Cincinnati might’ve put it together years in advance and kind of stacked those undefeated seasons and one loss seasons and years,” Ridder said. “All I guess you can say is do it again next year Florida State.”

The Bearcats, who now are in the Big 12, made the playoff after the 2021 regular season. They didn’t make the playoff in 2020 when they went 9-1, with Ridder at the controls in both seasons.

Leader in steals

The Hawks’ defense still has room for improvement. It sits toward the bottom of the NBA in defensive rating, and defensive rebounding had been the team’s strong suit.

But the Hawks have been doing something right. As of Thursday, they lead the league in steals per game. At least they’ve executed their defense, sometimes.

Hawks coach Quin Snyder has praised his team for their aggressive approach on defense. While he recognized that playing aggressively can sometimes lead to gambling, the team has forced many of those turnovers by sticking to the game plan.

“The steals that we’ve gotten, when you watch them, they’re not plays that we’re gambling, and we’re hurting our defense,” Snyder said. “I think they’re generally, it’s ironic, it’s usually when we’ve executed well, defensively in some of the things we’re doing in our defense.”

But with inconsistencies plaguing the team, other parts of the team’s game plan become victim to that.

“The transition defense to me is, that and the defensive boards, you look at your defense and you can analyze a lot of different things about your defense,” he said. “But if you don’t get back and you don’t rebound, you’re going to struggle to defend.”

Georgia O-line is Joe Moore finalist

For the third year in a row, Georgia’s offensive line is a finalist for the Joe Moore Award. With Michigan out of the mix, perhaps the Bulldogs will actually win it this time.

The Wolverines, who won the award the past two years, didn’t make the finalist cut this year. Michigan claimed it the week before it played Georgia in the 2021 Orange Bowl, and the Bulldogs thoroughly dominated the Wolverines up front on offense and defense in that 34-11 victory. Michigan also won it last year despite Georgia going 15-0 and winning its second consecutive national championship.

Joining the Bulldogs in the final four this year are LSU, Oregon and Washington. It’s ironic that this Georgia group, which did not make the College Football Playoff, might win it this time. Despite losing preseason All-American right tackle Amarius Mims for six games to ankle surgery and for the last three quarters of the SEC Championship game, the Bulldogs lead the SEC and rank eighth nationally after allowing only 12 sacks in 13 games this season (0.92/g).

No. 6 Georgia (12-1) ranks ninth nationally in scoring (38.4 ppg), eighth in total offense (482.9 ypg) and yards gained per play (7.1). The Bulldogs stand second nationally in third-down conversion percentage (55%).

Earlier this week, junior center Sedrick Van Pran was named a finalist for the Rimington Trophy given to the nation’s top collegiate center.

Georgia retools baseball ticket plan

Georgia baseball has retooled its ticket plans for Foley Field.

Fans still can buy season-ticket packages for all SEC games, plus Georgia Tech and Clemson. However, those blocks will not include all the other midweek games during the season. Those will be sold all year as single-game, general-admission tickets. Premium seat locations such as the Dugout and Press clubs, will continue to be available for all games.

The new plan was implemented with the hopes of improving attendance and the overall spectator atmosphere for midweek home games. Too often, fans who have locked up seats via season-ticket allotments are no-shows for midweek games, leaving some of the best areas empty.

“This not only creates more ticketing opportunities, but gives us the ability to have larger crowds for the non-conference and mid-week games,” Athletic Director Josh Brooks said. “This will enhance their game-day experience and help support our student-athletes.”

Fans can order the “powerhouse package” for $125 per seat, which includes reserved seats only to SEC games, Tech and Clemson. Deadline for renewals is Jan. 17.

The Bulldogs are under the direction of first-year coach Wes Johnson, who most recently was pitching coach at LSU. Georgia’s returning lettermen include All-American 1B/OF Charlie Condon and senior pitcher Charlie Goldstein.

The season begins Feb. 16 with the first of three games vs. North Carolina-Asheville.

John Anthopoulos’ curiosity on the Braves

John Anthopoulos is a huge sports fan. He loves the Braves.

It just so happens that his father, Alex, is in charge of baseball operations. And at 11 years old, John is invested in the Braves – so much so that he wants daily updates from his dad about how things are going.

Before Alex spoke with reporters at the winter meetings, he was on the phone with John, filling him in on what he’d been working on that day.

“He has strong opinions on stuff,” Alex said of John. “He definitely has some opinions.”

In 2021, John wanted the Braves to acquire Joc Pederson. John knew Pederson from his Dodgers tenure, as Alex was in the front office there before joining the Braves. John must’ve known something, as Pederson helped the Braves win the World Series.

And then …

“There were some signings that we made that didn’t work out that he was against at that time, so I give him credit for that,” Alex said.

One time, Alex said, the Braves and Marlins were talking about potential trade ideas. The Marlins asked for Ozzie Albies, which the Braves weren’t going to do. But John learned about that, and eventually let it slip.

This was a lesson.

Now he knows he must stay quiet to get information.

Nowadays, he wants his dad to call people in the car. Around the time the Braves acquired Aaron Bummer from the White Sox, John asked Alex: “Can you call Chris Getz?” (Getz is Chicago’s general manager.)

Does John think the Braves need a starter this winter?

“He has opinions on the roster, but I don’t want to out him,” Alex said.

-Staff writers Chad Bishop, Lauren Williams, Chip Towers, Justin Toscano and D. Orlando Ledbetter contributed to this report.