All right . . . so, wait, you can build up an early lead, lose it, be trailing at the half, come back, and then win? Are you sure they allow that, 'cause I thought the formula was play hard, build a lead, let them cut into it before the break, go into the locker room up by a couple or three but feeling demoralized, and let it get away at the end in the most agonizing fashion imaginable.

So you're saying the Fox Hounds actually are allowed to win one that's close at the half?

I'm sorry, I'm not buying it. I'm thinking the league office is going to review this one and say we have to forfeit it or something. I mean, being down at the break and outscoring the other team after intermission has to be against the rules when we do it, or else we'd do it all the time, wouldn't we? Hang on, I'm checking . . . wait a second while I Google that. . . .

Well, I'll be danged. It turns out we are allowed to do that. Georgia was behind 26-23 and came back to outduel the 'Dores by a 49-32 margin in the second half. Who knew?

Great job, guys. Maybe all those nailbiters were a learning experience, after all.

Could it really be that things are turning around in Bulldog Nation? Could it really?

Go 'Dawgs!

There was a basketball game tonight.

We lost. Oh, well.

No one cares. It’s national signing day. What are we, Kentucky?

Do I look like Ashley Judd to you?

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So, basically, it's like Mark Fox is Lane Kiffin with better manners, since all the Georgia Bulldogs seem capable of achieving on the basketball court are moral victories.

The last few minutes of the first half stunk for the Red and Black, so a visiting squad that ought to have been out in front by several points instead went to the locker room clinging to a slim 38-36 advantage. The Palmetto State Poultry outscored the Fox Hounds 42-39 after the break, largely due to torrid three-point shooting. The Classic City Canines' lead held up almost to the very end, but, once again, it was close but no cigar for the Hoop Dogs.

At this point, I would like to present the family-friendly edited-for-television version of Orson Swindle's 2007 post-Cocktail Party thoughts; viz.:

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The South Carolina Gamecocks are coming off of what probably is the biggest win in their program's history. The Georgia Bulldogs are coming off of a stomping administered to them on the road by the accursed Florida Gators. Does that mean the Classic City Canines are in a position to upend the Palmetto State Poultry in a basketball season in which no one seems to be able to cope with success?

I hope so, but, once again, I'm not holding my breath until the Fox Hounds prove they can win on the road. A fired-up Mark Fox drew a technical foul in Gainesville, so I'm sure he has the troops fired up for this critical conference test. Whether the Hoop Dogs win or lose, however, you are welcome to join the conversation in the comments below.

Go 'Dawgs!

OK, so, um, that stunk!

It’s, like, tough to win on the road, or something. I mean, it shouldn’t be as tough as the Hoop Dogs are making it, what with their 0-7 record in away games and all, but, still, it’s difficult to do, particularly when no one in the SEC seems able to handle prosperity.

The moral of the story is, you know, you kind of don’t want to be down by a dozen in the other dude’s building. That sort of tends not to end well. The good news is that South Carolina is next on the docket, and the Gamecocks just pulled off the biggest upset in their history, so they’re ripe for a letdown . . . of course, the game is in Columbia, so I wouldn’t hold my breath out much hope.

If Paul Westerdawg is right, this was the third-toughest of the Fox Hounds’ remaining games, so it mostly gets easier from here . . . but, after a night like tonight, it had better.

Go ‘Dawgs!

You know the drill, and you know the consequences: Mark Fox's Georgia Bulldogs head into Gainesville with a chance to prove that last weekend's triumph over Bruce Pearl's Tennessee Volunteers was no fluke. Can the Fox Hounds sustain the momentum in a key conference game on the road against Billy Donovan's Florida Gators? My head says "no" but my heart says "boy, I sure hope so" . . . and Paul Westerdawg says this is the third-toughest of the Hoop Dogs' remaining games.

Join in the conversation in the comments below as you root, root, root for the road team.

Go 'Dawgs!

Mark Fox’s Georgia Bulldogs, now with a newly-minted triumph over Bruce Pearl’s Tennessee Volunteers to lay alongside the Fox Hounds’ earlier wins against Illinois and Georgia Tech, have revived interest in Red and Black roundball, but are they ready to make some noise in the SEC?

At least for the moment, survey says . . . not so much. What the Hoop Dogs accomplished over the weekend did more to harm the Vols’ prospects than help their own. Georgia’s middling overall 9-8 record is inflated by a 5-0 mark against teams ranked outside the top 200 in the CBSSports.com RPI. The Bulldogs boast meager resumes against the teams rated first through 25th (1-2), 26th through 50th (1-2), and 51st through 75th (1-3).

While the Athenians are an accomplished club in Stegeman Coliseum at 9-2, Georgia has stumbled to a woeful 0-6 road record, including an 0-4 ledger in non-SEC contests played outside the Classic City. Those are troubling figures for a team with upcoming dates against Florida in Gainesville on Wednesday, South Carolina in Columbia on Saturday, 14th-ranked Tennessee in Knoxville on February 17, and 21st-ranked Vanderbilt in Nashville on February 25.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, folks. Coach Fox has this program pointed in the right direction, but let’s wait for back-to-back wins over decent teams before we start dreaming of the day when Georgia will appear in the field of eight 16 32 40 48 52 53 64 65.

Go ‘Dawgs!

(Please note that MaconDawg is the basketball expert around here. My descriptions of basketball action are so rudimentary, they sound like they were thought up by Benjy Compson. Accordingly, this is my utterly ignorant immediate reaction to today's game, upon which you are invited to improve in the comments.)

Uh . . . dang. Bruce Pearl's Tennessee Volunteers were, like, good, and had, um, won some games against, you know, some other teams that also were good, and, well, Mark Fox's Georgia Bulldogs, I mean, beat them, and all.

The Fox Hounds started strong, took a fifteen-point halftime lead into the locker room, faltered a little in the second half, yet still matched the Big Orange point-for-point (36-36 after the break, if you must know) to claim a fifteen-point victory over a quality team. Travis Leslie and Trey Thompkins seem to be good, and stuff. The victory was historic, because Andy Landers's Lady Dogs beat Pat Summitt's Lady Vols a few days ago, so this was the first time Georgia had beaten Tennessee in both men's and women's basketball in the same week in approximately eleventy gazillion years. That's just a guesstimate.

As I wrote in the comment thread, "there’s the slightest sliver of a chance that, at some indeterminate point in the future, there may come a day when the possibility arises that, at least for sporadic periods, it might not totally suck to be a Georgia Bulldog!" Clearly, Mark Fox has this program headed in the right direction, which brings us to the two relevant questions:

1. How long will the process take?
2. How high is the ceiling on this program?

The last five games have offered some indication of the answer to the first question. In the next couple or three years, we're going to go a long way toward learning the answer to the second.

Go 'Dawgs!