Friday, March 2, 2012

Coach Hugh Durham

Excellent video. Made on the occasion of Coach Durham's induction into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. Features Dave Cowens, Coach Dean Smith, and a number of other guests.

I laughed out loud at the impersonations. They had him pretty much spot on.

Hall of Fame

Thanks, Coach Durham, for the all the contributions you made both to individual players and the Georgia basketball program.

Milton High over Shiloh (7 thoughts)

In no particular order, here are my impressions after watching the Milton High game from Wednesday night.

1. Carlton French does a nice job on milton.sportzcast.com. It's great to be able to watch the videos on demand (I mention the web site here just in case any of the readers want to watch the game as well). Mr. French has a future in sportscasting if he gets the right breaks. If he doesn't then I suppose he can look for Buffy and Jodie and see if he can get paid for taking care of them.

2. Missing out on Robert Carter was huge. Carter does not appear to play hard all the time, but the skills are definitely there. With the right coaching, he should be a good one for Tech.

3. Notwithstanding #2 above, hopefully we'll get serious consideration from Trayvon Reed. Dude is a 7-foot sophomore. By the time he's ready to graduate, he could be a top-25 recruit. Catches the ball well and finishes around the hoop. How many 7-footers fail because they can't catch and finish?

4. We should be all over Tevin Glass. He scored 25 points, doubling Robert Carter's output. Glass will no doubt be a perimeter player in college, but he looks like he can play SEC ball right now. I like his skills better than Evan Nolte's. As I have said previously, offer the guy (Glass) a scholarship, but ask him not to commit until we know what Tony Parker is going to do.

5. Shaq Johnson is the second coming of Travis Leslie. Unfortunately he will be playing for Auburn. Great burst of speed and incredible leaping ability. Doesn't have the outside shot just yet, but if he works hard on that, he could be a fantastic player.

6. Charles Mann is impressive. He drives the ball with authority and has nice release on his shot. Missed a few free throws, but his form was good on each one. Showed the ability to shoot the floater in the lane. Has the size of Vern Fleming with probably more upside if he continues to improve his overall speed and ball-handling. Love the look of him playing the point up top on the 1-3-1 zone. I also like the fact that he wants the ball, knows he's a point guard and seems to be able to drive it with equal speed going left or right.

7. Don't see any other team beating Milton. They have to be the favorite to win the state championship.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Stopped Watching

Not that anyone out there cares, but I just had to express my frustration. Kentucky seems to double our score constantly. We make a basket, then they shoot a three and get another bucket somehow. They miss one, and we don't have the athletes to get the defensive rebound.

We had irrational exuberance there for a while, beating a short-handed Florida team with only one serviceable big man. Patric Young is good, but he is no Anthony Davis.

Kentucky is just way better than we are. Calipari is an elite recruiter. Translates into a wide margin between us and them in shooting, inside play, defense. Hope we can get better next year.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Memory Lane (Georgia vs. Kentucky, 2009)

Great article on when Georgia beat Kentucky at Rupp. Terrance Woodbury played out of his mind to lead the Dawgs to victory. You have to think that the Dawgs' win in 2009 was the echo from the worst to first Dennis Felton SEC Tournament miracle in Atlanta.

Dawgs Over Cats

It will probably take similar divine intervention for the Dawgs to come away with a victory in 2012. Kentucky and Anthony Davis are playing championship-style basketball. They defend, rebound, block shots and score effectively. They don't have a John Wall, but they don't need one.

I hope that Coach Fox takes a page from Coach Herrmann and convinces his guys to drive to the basket. The only way to beat Kentucky is to beat them down the floor. If we do that and get some momentum, the threes will start to fall. Then who knows what will happen?

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Another Brandon Morris Slam

I linked the previous Brandon Morris baseline dunk in which he jukes a guy on the baseline and then rises high to throw it down. This one is just as impressive, if not more.

In the video below, Morris corrals a rebound and leads the fast break down the middle. Spotting an opening, he goes down the lane, leaps with two feet from just inside the circle and dunks the ball. I'm not sure if he commonly goes off of one foot or prefers to jump from two feet. Georgia used to have a pretty good dunker off of two feet-- Nique. Not saying that Morris can jump as high or run as fast as Dominique Wilkins, but Morris indeed has the kind of athleticism that you can't teach.

Wow!