UGA Athletics Launches Review of Basketball Program’s Culture Under Crean

DawgSports has learned more about recent events within the UGA basketball program after speaking to sources close to the situation.

Information discovered during an internal review by UGA Athletics into the physical altercation between basketball assistants Wade Mason and Brian Fish has lead to the creation of a new inquiry into the culture of the Georgia men’s basketball program under head coach Tom Crean.

The new review will examine all aspects of the program, and sources could not provide an expected timetable for its conclusion.

The altercation between Mason and Fish was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and occurred at halftime of Georgia’s 85-64 loss to LSU in Baton Rouge on February 16th. On February 19th the university acknowledged the incident between Wade and Fish. In a statement released in response to reports by this website and other outlets, UGA Athletics said the incident was, “reported properly as required by university policies and is under review,”

Just hours later, Crean’s team took to the floor for an 85-68 loss to Ole Miss. Following his postgame press conference, Crean was unknowingly overheard speaking to an athletic department employee in remarks first published by Dawgs247.

In those remarks Crean speculated that graduate assistant Rashaan Surles was responsible for helping to feed the media negative information about the UGA basketball program. DawgSports has learned that UGA Athletics found no evidence of Surles either contacting media members directly or facilitating contact between media members and other parties.

In those same remarks Crean was also critical of Senior PG Aaron Cook. Cook has remained in the starting lineup since that time and his 156 assists this year are the 5th most by a UGA player in a single season.

Crean is in his 4th season at the helm of the Georgia program and his team is 6-23 overall with a 1-15 record in conference play. The Bulldogs have regular season games remaining against Tennessee and Missouri before starting play in the SEC Tournament in Tampa on March 9th.