UGA gets a Top 25 hoops vote … from its coach
Close observers of college basketball’s preseason coaches’ poll, released Thursday, might have been taken aback by at least one team in the “others receiving votes” category: Georgia.
Turns out, the lone vote for the Bulldogs was cast by their coach, Mark Fox, one of 32 Division I head coaches who are voters in the USA Today poll.
Fox put his team No. 25 on his ballot, a UGA spokesman said.
The Bulldogs were an improbable team to register a vote in the poll, given that they were 15-17 (9-9 SEC) last season and lost their best player, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, to the NBA draft. They are picked to finish 11th in the SEC this season, according to the league’s preseason media survey.
But Fox, in his appearance at SEC Media Days here Wednesday, sounded optimistic that his team could surprise people.
“We have a team that I’m excited about,” he said, citing its depth, physicality and experience.
“We have a deeper team this year. We finally return players at every position who have played significant minutes.”
Kentucky, which failed to reach last season’s NCAA tournament, is ranked No. 1 in the coaches’ preseason poll on the strength of a much-heralded recruiting class that included six McDonald’s All-Americans. The Wildcats got 16 of the 32 first-place votes, becoming the first team to enter a season No. 1 in the USA Today poll after ending the previous season unranked.
Michigan State is ranked No. 2, defending national champion Louisville No. 3, Duke No. 4 and Arizona No. 5. Louisville received 10 first-place votes, while Michigan State and Duke got three apiece.
Kentucky backlash: As SEC Media Days concluded Thursday, two of the league's veteran players lashed out about the amount of preseason attention focused on Kentucky's freshmen.
Tennessee senior guard Jordan McRae, the SEC’s second-leading returning scorer, took exception to a media panel that voted Kentucky freshman forward Julius Randle as the SEC’s top player going into the season.
“When you’ve played in the league, to see somebody who hasn’t played a game yet be preseason player of the year, it’s kind of a slap in the face,” McRae said.
And Florida senior center Patric Young made it clear he’s not buying into the hype that surrounds Kentucky’s half-dozen McDonald’s All-American freshmen.
“I hope they think that they can just walk on the court and … beat everybody,” Young added. “I hope that’s what they think. As soon as they step on the court and play a real top team, they’re going to see that it’s not just a walk in the park. One-and-done is not for everybody.”
Young also was unimpressed with Randle’s preseason player-of-the-year award.
“Coming out of high school, there’s all the hype and whatnot. It doesn’t really mean too much,” Young said. “The one (award) that counts is the one at the end of the year. This guy, he hasn’t gone through any adversity or played a single minute yet. We’ll see how things turn out.”
Etc.: Oddly, Georgia's schedule includes no home games against Kentucky, Florida or Tennessee this season. "Those are great draws for us, and that will affect our attendance," Fox said. "We're not happy about that. It's just one of the quirks of the new (scheduling) model, but we'll have to live with it." … Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings, asked what he thinks of Kentucky's freshmen: "I'm just jealous. That's all I think."
About the Author
Tim Tucker, a long-time AJC sports reporter, often writes about the business side of the games. He also had stints as the AJC's Braves beat writer, UGA beat writer, sports notes columnist and executive sports editor. He was deputy managing editor of America's first all-sports newspaper, The National Sports Daily.
