SEC Basketball Update: Georgia Bulldogs Move Into Third Place in East
by T Kyle King on Feb 23, 2011 10:53 PM EST
in SEC Basketball
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PrintFor those of you who haven’t been in front of your televisions tonight---no, "Justified" doesn’t count; I’m referring to sports, do you mind?---there were a couple of important results on the hardwood in the SEC this evening:
First of all, the Kentucky Wildcats went on the road and lost again, this time to the Arkansas Razorbacks. As Seth Emerson noted, the loss of some of the luster accompanying the Georgia Bulldogs’ victory over the Bluegrass State Bobcats makes the Red and Black’s victory over the Tennessee Volunteers all the more important. More immediately, Kentucky’s loss drops the Wildcats into a two-way tie with the Volunteers for fifth place in the East at 7-6. This leaves the Bulldogs all alone in third place at 7-5, a half-game behind the second-place Vanderbilt Commodores. A win over the Florida Gators on Thursday night would tie the Classic City Canines with the Music City Mariners for the runner-up spot in the division, which would be huge as teams jockey for position in the SEC Tournament.
Secondly, the woefully bad Auburn Tigers, of whom the best that can be said is that they are not the LSU Tigers, traveled to Tuscaloosa tonight and pushed the Alabama Crimson Tide to the brink before falling 51-49 following a furious comeback by the home team. Yeah, I know that Auburn took Georgia to overtime in Athens, so I’m not pointing fingers, but Alabama is as overrated a division frontrunner as may be imagined. Even if the Sunshine State Saurians prevail tomorrow evening, the Fox Hounds ought to end the regular season on a three-game winning streak. ‘Bama is utterly beatable.
Go ‘Dawgs!
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I still think Kentucky wins their last 3...
Florida, Vandy and @UT.
Their luck in close games continues to be abysmal though.
Even if they finish 2-1, that would put them at 9-7, and we wouldn’t win the tiebreaker. So we’d have to go 3-1 in our last 4. Definitely not impossible, but it would require a road upset tomorrow or at Alabama.
Fair enough, . . .
. . . but I’m increasingly convinced that a Georgia win at Alabama would be only nominally an upset. The Crimson Tide are as flawed a team as the Bulldogs, and there’s a reason why the tournament projections have Georgia on much sounder ground than the Tide.
Florida is a legitimate division champion. Alabama is a mediocre team benefiting from playing in a weak division.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Feb 23, 2011 11:12 PM EST up reply actions
Beating them wouldn't surprise me.
But they’ve played a lot better during conference play than they did to start the year. The SEC West sucks, but they’ve still won most of their conference games by solid margins while beating Kentucky, winning at Tennessee, and taking Vandy to the wire in Nashville.
Ken Pomeroy’s ratings have Alabama at #33 but Georgia only at #58. Florida #31, Vandy #28. The SEC West is bad, but 11-2 anywhere is pretty solid.
Tennessee’s likely to win its next 2: @SC, Miss. State. If they do that and if UK beats UF and Vandy at home while we lose to UF but beat SC and LSU, then we will go into the final Saturday needing to win at Alabama and have Kentucky win in Knoxville… just to stay in 4th.
Bama and the smell test
Their offense is awful. Awful. Their sets are sloppy, their passes lazy, their shooting non-existent. They play excellent D and have benefited from crummy West teams playing crummily, but I’ll go ahead and say a double digit Georgia win in Tuscaloosa would not be surprising. Bama will require Dustin Ware to wilt entirely against the press; elsewise we’ll have a handful of highlight dunks.
by D.N. Nation on Feb 24, 2011 12:42 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Bama and the results test
Their defense is amazing. Absolutely amazing. They are 11-2 in the conference with wins against Kentucky and Tennessee. They should have beat Vanderbilt, to be honest. They lost to an Arkansas team that has beat Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee. We’ll learn more of who Alabama is before Georgia when they travel to play against Florida, but the fact is that this Bama team is playing very well overall right now and a double-digit loss to Georgia would be very surprising, given their results so far.
______________________________________________
That's (333333jorkland)^2 and $$$$$$$$immons to you, chump.
Results
“They are 11-2 in the conference”
…playing each West team twice..
“with wins against Kentucky”
…so did Georgia, albeit of the going-away variety while Bama’s was last-second…
“and Tennessee.”
…who was without Hopson, in a game that went to OT and in a game in which Bama didn’t hit a shot from the field in the final nine minutes of play…
“They should have beat Vanderbilt, to be honest.”
…but didn’t…
“They lost to an Arkansas team that has beat Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee.”
…but not Georgia.
by D.N. Nation on Feb 24, 2011 9:45 AM EST up reply actions 3 recs
The key to Bama's offense is Tony Mitchell.
When he’s hitting the offensive glass with authority, our shooters have the confidence to take shots (that they usually miss). It’s true we don’t have any pure shooters, but we do have bigs.
I haven’t watched UGA at all this season, but no other team has walked away with a “handful of highlight dunks” against Bama in Coleman Coliseum. Your predictions may end up being correct, but they certainly are bold.
Audemus jura nostra defendere
by animalcracker on Feb 24, 2011 9:36 AM EST up reply actions
There hasnt been a game where UGA hasnt had a "handful of highlight dunks" either.
"One thing I will never do as long as I’m at Georgia is lose to Florida." - Herschel Walker
fair
enough
Audemus jura nostra defendere
by animalcracker on Feb 24, 2011 11:41 AM EST up reply actions
Thanks, to be honest -
We have more immediate concerns tonight. By the time the Bama game rolls around, things are very likely to be in one pot or the other. Best of luck to finish out the West.
"One thing I will never do as long as I’m at Georgia is lose to Florida." - Herschel Walker
Ahem.
< cheekybastard >
In the spirit of victory laps, in a comment thread on Valentine’s Day, I said this:
As for Kentucky, I will be shocked if they go lose fewer than two games over their final six. Say what you will for RPI, but at some point, a team just isn’t as good as expected. I think the Cats will struggle against Arkansas on the road [emphasis added], they have tough home matchups against both Florida and Vandy, and I don’t think there’s any way in hell that they go into TBA and beat the Volunteers in their last SEC matchup of the season.…to which you responded:
I’d put a lot of money on the opposite side of that bet. The MST, SC, Arkansas games are lay-ups. Arkansas is awful. UK just destroyed UT at home. Vandy and UF went to the wire with UK on their home courts. Home court likely tilts the game in UK’s favor. My guess is a 6-0 finish.After this, I pointed out that the Ole Miss game was supposed to be a layup as well, and you responded, “not to the extent the Arkansas game is.” Well…I’m halfway there, and your boy Ken Pomeroy has the odds in my favor (even if only slightly). I guess that awful Arkansas team wasn’t such a layup after all.
< /cheekybastard >
by hailtogeorgia on Feb 24, 2011 10:04 AM EST up reply actions
In addition to this,
I actually tried to nail down a wager, but was unsuccessful. It’s all in good fun, of course, but I’m just sayin…
by hailtogeorgia on Feb 24, 2011 10:07 AM EST up reply actions
In my defense,
I was posting in jest, and tried to indicate that by the fake, self-deprecating html code at the beginning and the end. If I failed at that attempt, then I apologize.
by hailtogeorgia on Feb 24, 2011 3:17 PM EST up reply actions
You didn't fail, nor do you have any need to apologize.
Given the trend of recent comment threads around here, though, I thought offering some praise for reacting appropriately was wise. The carrot as well as the stick, and all that.
Go 'Dawgs!
Fair enough.
I just wanted to make sure I hadn’t stepped out of line, as that wasn’t my intent.
On another note, today’s a big day for DawgSports:
It marks the birth of Kristin Davis. Incidentally, I’ve actually seen both February 23rd and February 24th listed as her birthday, but since my birthday is February 24th as well, I’ll opt for the latter, rather than the former.
by hailtogeorgia on Feb 24, 2011 3:41 PM EST up reply actions
Please read this carefully...
The shrieking about insulted honor and what not was misplaced hysterics.
My words were direct and strong but carefully chosen. I did not say anyone was not a UGA fan. I said that rooting for schools (meaning, ever) that are screwing over our university and spitting in the face of our officials, coaches, and players is a behavior that should make one question how much a person engaged in that behavior cares about UGA.
Here’s the problem…
If the presidents, ADs, and coaches of these schools came to Athens today, and torched several buildings on UGA’s campus, then went back to business as usual, and for whatever reasons escaped prosecution, no one here would root for their teams going forward. No one would just say, “Hey, some bad characters, but go ‘S-E-C!’” Instead we would all be livid about the officials at these schools and wish the worst for their teams and schools. When Big 12 and ACC fans told us how much their behavior sucked and how pathetic it made the SEC looked, we would agree and point out that at least UGA doesn’t act in such a manner. We might not root for Big 12 and ACC schools to beat the teams of the schools whose officials torched UGA’s campus, but we certainly wouldn’t root for those SEC schools to win either.
So were I to question the level of UGA concern held by a UGA fan carrying on rooting for these people, no one here would have any problem with that. They would join me in questioning why these UGA fans weren’t so outraged at these schools as to quit rooting for them against non-SEC opponents.
So, assuming you and others agree that there are certain behaviors that would justify us in questioning UGA fans who continued to root for the people committing them, then we can put aside the outrage about insulted honor. We’ve agreed that there are times when it is OK to ask the question. We may disagree about which behaviors qualify, and that’s fine, but that is a totally different question warranting a completely different response. The response in THAT case is to argue why the behavior in question doesn’t rise to the level of dropping the “S-E-C!” rooting. Again, fine, but a long way from silliness about insulted honor.
While I would quibble with portions of that, . . .
. . . my points of contention would be just that: quibbles.
If you adopted a similar tone all the time, even when expressing yourself vehemently (which I would never ask you not to do, particularly about issues such as this, which undeniably are of tremendous importance), I believe no one here would have an issue with anything you post.
Well said, Rangers100, and thanks.
Go 'Dawgs!
I am still excited...
…that we are having meaningful roundball (okay, more specifically, large, orange roundball) discussions this late in the season.
While I always follow March Madness, it’s fun to have our team in the mix. If UGA makes it, I wouldn’t be shocked if we are considered by some to be a sleeper. UGA hasn’t been blown out in any game and has the potential to beat almost any team in the country.
I still remain cautiously optimistic given our propensity to keep games close.
Good times!
I am a fan of the Dawgs, Falcons, and Braves...oh...and tacos, but I like the other three more.
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