No Words for the Dawgs

Now that the Dawgs have started 0-3 in the SEC after falling to MSU in Starkville, 24-12, with our lone overall win against the ULL, I have no words to describe what is happening.

But here are just a few.

• Penalties 
• Big Plays against 
• Red Zone Meltdowns 
• Confusion 
• Run Stopping Failures 
• Off-Season stupidity 

 I don't want to write what I'm thinking, so I'll just say this.

I'm a Dawg, will always be a Dawg, and will always pull for the Dawgs.

But I have not felt like this since some of the Goff years. And now it's time to do some soul searching.

NCAA Expansion Part 2

Well the splits have started. Colorado has left for the Pac-10 (Pac10+1). Nebraska is slated to go to the Big10+1 (now Big12??). So what happens to the Big 12 as it stands. They are down to 10 teams. Do some leave and go to the SEC, Pac or the other Big?

Word has it, the Pac10 is going after 6 teams and most of those from the Big 12. This would totally do away with an regional aspect to these conferences. I can see the Pac10, going after the Colorado schools and maybe Air Force. Toss in a Utah and maybe Boise St. Hell toss in Fresno St to get your 16. I just can't see the Texas schools wanting to travel to Washington and Oregon several times a year. I know that some of those schools just don't fit the level of academics and athletics, but the Pac-10 better have this as Plan B. 

So if the Big 12 drops only 2 schools, or rather is able to hold on to 10 schools, who do they go after. I think a good fit would be Arkansas and LSU. These fit the regional aspect of things. I know there is a lot of money in the SEC, but sometimes you have to make a change is the price is right. Or maybe they go after Iowa and Indiana. 

Now a biggie would be if the SEC says, Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, Oklahoma, OKie St, and Texas Tech, come on down. In doing so, we work Vandy and Kentucky into the ACC and Big 10+1+1. The SEC would have a new alignment in it's divisions. Take the Big 12 schools with LSU and Arkansas as the West and everyone else in the East. Now that's a power conference. 

As I sit here and write this, each move forces another move unless it involves a mid-major school. As we all know, there are only so many Big Schools and only so many can actually fit into a single conference without totally killing college football. 

I know in the end, that the Big 12 schools with go with that Pac-10, unless the SEC makes a better offer. I think this offer needs to be made, just to screw the Pac-10. And while we are at it, lets ban football at Notre Dame. If they would have just joined the Big10+1, this could have been put off for a while.

What are you're thoughts as we wind down this road. 

Dawgs vs Tigers, War Eagles and Plainsmen

Georgia (10-11, 2-6) vs. Auburn (11-12, 2-6)
Date / Time	Wednesday, February 9 at 9:00 p.m. ET
Location	Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum | Auburn, Ala.
Television	Live regional coverage on CSS (Dave Baker and Daymeon Fishback)
Radio	Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network (Atlanta: 750AM, Athens: 100.1 FM & 960 AM)
Internet	Live audio on GXtra (subscription required), ESPN360.com

The Dawgs are still seeking their first road win and the team down 85 seems just like the team to provide us that win. Downside is the Dawgs are coming off the huge win of Vandy. Which by the way makes us 2-0 versus the state of Tennessee. But I believe the team is on the verge of crossing that line, one that all the SEC coaches are worried about. The one that gives the Dawgs to confidence to win on the road and how to hold a lead. So what can the Dawgs expect as they take on AU:

• Home Court advantage

Games in Athens: UGA leads 58-22
Games in Auburn: AU leads 55-22
Neutral-Court Games: AU leads 9-7

• Auburn is planning an orange out. Guess they are pulling out all the stops
• 6 Common opponents this each. Each beat AU, we have wins over Vandy and TN
• AU is getting 70 points per in SEC play
• 4 players averaging more that 12 points per in SEC play
• Not much off the Bench
• AU is getting 62% from Free Throws (SEC Play)
• AU is grabbing 35 boards a gome

So the Dawgs need to crash the boards, use their fouls wisely and play within themselves. This is a common theme this year, so the same still applies.

Vote for Travis

The SEC Sports office has a poll on its main page about “Who is the best dunker in the SEC.” Well the easy choice is Travis Leslie, but apparently folks think it is Wall out of Kentucky. Below are the current standings. So get out there and vote for the Highlight Film #2. (‘Nique was #1 for those out of the know)

Go to http://www.secsports.com/default.aspx to vote

 

If you have forgotten what it looks like, here are a few reminders

Basketball is almost there

After having played 3 ranked teams in a row and coming out of that with only a single win, some might think that is a bad sign. I’m on the other side. I was courtside for the win and a loss and saw the other one on TV. I can see that we are right there with the big boys of the SEC. Do I think we are better, no. Do I think we can take one or two from the top SEC teams this year, yes. I say yes, but it depends on a few factors.

• This team needs to mature and mature quickly. Note: The team even admits this in the post game interviews
• This team needs confidence that it can win the big games like the Illinois and Tech games.
• Need to play within ourselves and not let the other team dictate what we do.
• Fans need to get in the seats, even for the unpopular games. Luckily in the SEC, those are few and far between.
• Continue to do what we do well (shoot free throws) and improve on the other areas
• Find some bench points.
• Need to find a new scoring threat. Travis and Trey lead the way. McPhee and Ware get their share, but we need someone to step up and find their shot.

I don’t think we need all those listed and I’m sure I left some out, but this is a new start. We are young and will have issues, but I see promise in the losses. Coach Fox posted the tweet below after the game this morning. So as long as we continue to strive forward, we have a chance. I couldn’t agree more.

Here’s my little note to fans:

Like many in the Dawg Nation, we knew nothing about Coach Fox when he came in, all we saw was his record. It was impressive. But to see is work in action, gives me hope that we may have a team that can challenge and win today and in the years to come. This will bring in more talent.

One thing I would like to say to all of the Dawg Nation. Just because we have a new coach, and we seem to be playing well and above what many perceive as our under talented squad, I want to you understand that this road is a long one. Yes many are jumping on the basketball band wagon, the same happened under Felton and then even with some nice wins, the support dropped, fans stopped coming to the games and basically the team fell under the radar except for when it made the police blotter. Now with the team we have now, I don’t see many of the issues that led to the failures of the past. We have players that appear that they want to be here. The players seem to be buying into the new system. So as fans, we MUST continue to support the team not only this year but in the years to come.

To close out here are some numbers from the Ole Miss Game

• Dawgs shot 67.6% (23-34) from the line, about 15 points lower than our average. If we hit our average, game would have been tied. Also we dropped from 75% in 1st half to 61% in 2nd half
• Dawgs Bench 10 Points even though the bench had more minutes than against Kentucky
• Ole Miss hit 8-18 three’s (Only 1-7 in 2nd Half), 1 below their average, but I knew going in they would put it up a lot.
• Had a Kentucky hangover as Coach Fox feared.
• Game was tied 7 times and had 11 lead changes, the Dawgs played most of the second half playing catch up after quick start to the second half by Ole Miss.
• Dawgs had 17 second chance points. Not bad, but would like to see more.
• Out rebounded the Rebels 41-34
• Dawgs had 14 assists to 13 turnovers. Not too bad in the scope of things

To End, Gooooooooo Dawgs. Stay Strong.

Numbers Overload in Basketball

I was looking around the NCAA stats site and luckily they were able to break down our hoop stats before we started conference play against the Wildcats this past Saturday. So I’m including a couple of screen shots of the stats. First is Georgia against the Nation for the 09-10 (current season) and the 08-09 (Last Year) Season.

Georgia (8-5) Men's Basketball National Ranking Summary Thru Games 01/07/2010

 

Category	Rank	Actual	National Leader	Actual
Won-Lost Percentage (334 ranked)	124	61.5	Kansas Kentucky Purdue Texas	100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Scoring Offense (334 ranked)	256	65.6	VMI	91.4
Scoring Defense (334 ranked)	96	64.5	Southern California	54.5
Scoring Margin (334 ranked)	179	1.2	Kansas	27.6
Field-Goal Percentage (334 ranked)	153	44.2	Syracuse	53.8
Field-Goal Percentage Defense (334 ranked)	141	42.0	Florida St.	33.7
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game (334 ranked)	323	3.9	VMI	12.9
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage (334 ranked)			Columbia	46.8
Three Pt FG Defense (334 ranked)	180	34.3	Wake Forest	24.3
Free-Throw Percentage (334 ranked)	80	71.7	BYU	78.9
Rebound Margin (334 ranked)	102	3.2	Kentucky	11.5
Assists Per Game (334 ranked)	233	12.2	Sam Houston St.	21.1
Assist Turnover Ratio (334 ranked)	233	0.83	Notre Dame	1.65
Blocked Shots Per Game (334 ranked)	27	5.6	Connecticut	9.8
Steals Per Game (334 ranked)	179	6.8	Missouri	13.1
Turnovers Per Game (334 ranked)	204	14.7	Houston	8.9
Turnover Margin (334 ranked)	269	-1.8	Houston	10.1
Personal Fouls Per Game (334 ranked)	22	15.4	Mississippi St.	12.9

 

Category	Player	Rank	Actual	National Leader	Actual
Points Per Game (250 ranked)	Howard Thompkins III	146	16.2	Aubrey Coleman, Houstn	25.2
Field-Goal Percentage (250 ranked)	Howard Thompkins III	165	46.6	Dexter Pittman, Texas	74.1
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game (250 ranked)	Ricky McPhee	209	2.0	Rotnei Clarke, Ark  Kelvin Lewis, Houstn	3.9 3.9
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage (250 ranked)				Noruwa Agho, Clmbia	59.0
Free-Throw Percentage (250 ranked)	Dustin Ware	71	83.7	Clevin Hannah, WichSt	95.2
Rebounds Per Game (250 ranked)	Howard Thompkins III	114	8.0	Damian Saunders, Duqsne	12.9
Assists Per Game (250 ranked)				Ronald Moore, Siena	8.7
Blocked Shots Per Game (250 ranked)	Albert Jackson  Howard Thompkins III  Travis Leslie	137 172 243	1.5 1.3 1.1	Hassan Whiteside, Marsh	5.1
Steals Per Game (250 ranked)	Ricky McPhee	176	1.7	Aubrey Coleman, Houstn	3.4
Double Doubles (30 ranked)				Damian Saunders, Duqsne	12.0
Assist Turnover Ratio (250 ranked)				Jon Scheyer, Duke	4.58
Triple Doubles (30 ranked)				Evan Turner, OhioSt	2.0

Georgia (9-6) Men's Basketball National Ranking Summary Thru Games 01/08/2009

 

Category	Rank	Actual	National Leader	Actual
Won-Lost Percentage (20 ranked)			Clemson Pittsburgh Wake Forest	100.0 100.0 100.0
Scoring Offense (330 ranked)	174	68.4	VMI	96.7
Scoring Defense (330 ranked)	107	64.4	Washington St.	51.2
Scoring Margin (330 ranked)	138	4.0	North Carolina	25.0
Field-Goal Percentage (330 ranked)	170	43.6	Utah St.	51.9
Field-Goal Percentage Defense (330 ranked)	58	39.9	Dayton	35.2
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game (330 ranked)	194	5.9	VMI	13.6
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage (330 ranked)	128	35.2	California	49.5
Three Pt FG Defense (330 ranked)	31	0.297	St. Louis	0.235
Free-Throw Percentage (330 ranked)	309	62.0	UC Davis	81.6
Rebound Margin (330 ranked)	123	2.5	Washington	12.1
Assists Per Game (330 ranked)	123	14.3	North Carolina	20.5
Assist Turnover Ratio (330 ranked)	229	0.85	Notre Dame	2.02
Blocked Shots Per Game (330 ranked)	29	5.2	Mississippi St.	9.0
Steals Per Game (330 ranked)	72	8.2	VMI	14.1
Turnovers Per Game (330 ranked)	298	16.9	Houston	9.3
Turnover Margin (330 ranked)			VMI	8.1
Personal Fouls Per Game (330 ranked)	67	16.9	Notre Dame	12.9

 

Category	Player	Rank	Actual	National Leader	Actual
Points Per Game (100 ranked)				Stephen Curry, Dvdson	29.2
Field-Goal Percentage (100 ranked)				Patrick Patterson, Ky	71.3
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game (100 ranked)				David Holston, ChiSt	4.9
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage (100 ranked)				Rihards Kuksiks, ArizSt	51.2
Free-Throw Percentage (100 ranked)				Darren Collison, UCLA	97.6
Rebounds Per Game (100 ranked)				Blake Griffin, Okla.	14.0
Assists Per Game (100 ranked)				Brock Young, E.Caro	7.9
Blocked Shots Per Game (100 ranked)				Jarvis Varnado, MissSt	5.5
Steals Per Game (100 ranked)				Travis Holmes, VMI	3.8
Assist Turnover Ratio (100 ranked)				Kalin Lucas, MichSt	4.94

Now I want to point out just a few numbers. The ones I’m picking out are some of the topics that I have brought up in previous posts. Keep in mind that numbers and data can be twisted to say whatever you want them to say. So with that being said. What do the numbers so.

• Free Throw Percentage – From 62 to 71.7. This is a HUGE improvement. This alone can win games. In both years the Nations leader was only at or around 80%.
• Turnovers – 16.9 to 14.7. Not a big drop, but the leader is at 8.9 per game. This number can lose you games. Would like to see this drop another point or two when I do this comparison later in the year and then next year.
• Scoring. When you look at the numbers, it shows what we already knew. We are not a great shooting team. We don’t have the scorers and that is reflected in the numbers. Nicely though our scoring defense has not changed much. When the scoring offense and the percentage made are compared, yes we scored more last year, but we are actually hitting more of our shots this year. I believe this is why our scoring is down. We are looking for the better shot. Which in theory would explain why we are actually scoring less because of less shots.

So now that we are into conference play, how does this years team look against the conference.  

Southeastern Men's Basketball National Ranking Summary Thru Games 01/07/2010

Back to team selections

Category	Team	Rank	Actual	National Leader	Actual
Won-Lost Percentage (334 ranked)	Kentucky  Mississippi  Tennessee  Mississippi St.  Florida  Vanderbilt  Alabama  LSU  South Carolina  Georgia  Auburn  Arkansas	1 24 29 34 47 47 73 104 104 124 135 207	100.0 85.7 84.6 80.0 78.6 78.6 71.4 64.3 64.3 61.5 60.0 46.7	Kentucky  Purdue  Texas  Kansas	100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Scoring Offense (334 ranked)	Mississippi  Kentucky  Tennessee  Auburn  Vanderbilt  South Carolina  Arkansas  Mississippi St.  Alabama  Florida  LSU  Georgia	11 15 21 49 51 57 69 80 118 118 237 256	84.2 82.8 81.9 78.2 78.1 77.4 76.3 74.8 72.5 72.5 66.9 65.6	VMI	91.4
Scoring Defense (334 ranked)	Mississippi St.  Florida  Tennessee  Vanderbilt  Kentucky  LSU  Georgia  Alabama  Mississippi  South Carolina  Auburn  Arkansas	19 23 79 81 90 95 96 100 175 186 237 264	58.5 59.3 63.6 63.7 64.3 64.4 64.5 64.6 68.1 69.1 71.4 73.1	Southern California	54.5
Scoring Margin (334 ranked)	Kentucky  Tennessee  Mississippi St.  Mississippi  Vanderbilt  Florida  South Carolina  Alabama  Auburn  Arkansas  LSU  Georgia	8 10 20 21 31 37 81 85 95 139 152 179	18.5 18.3 16.3 16.1 14.4 13.2 8.3 7.9 6.8 3.2 2.5 1.2	Kansas	27.6
Field-Goal Percentage (334 ranked)	Kentucky  Vanderbilt  Tennessee  Mississippi  Arkansas  Alabama  Mississippi St.  Auburn  Georgia  Florida  South Carolina  LSU	6 19 31 45 56 70 76 78 153 157 159 220	50.2 49.1 48.3 47.4 46.7 46.4 46.2 46.0 44.2 44.1 44.0 42.6	Syracuse	53.8
Field-Goal Percentage Defense (334 ranked)	Mississippi St.  Kentucky  Vanderbilt  Tennessee  Florida  Mississippi  LSU  Arkansas  South Carolina  Georgia  Alabama  Auburn	5 16 31 33 54 91 108 123 139 141 170 195	35.6 37.8 38.4 38.7 39.6 40.8 41.2 41.6 41.9 42.0 42.7 43.4	Florida St.	33.7
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game (334 ranked)	Mississippi St.  Mississippi  Auburn  South Carolina  Kentucky  Vanderbilt  Tennessee  Arkansas  Florida  Alabama  LSU  Georgia	4 13 33 110 137 144 154 161 182 226 296 323	9.9 9.0 8.2 6.9 6.6 6.5 6.5 6.3 6.0 5.6 4.6 3.9	VMI	12.9
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage (334 ranked)	Mississippi St.  Kentucky  Mississippi  Arkansas  Vanderbilt  Alabama  Tennessee  South Carolina  Auburn  Florida	16 17 82 87 120 131 173 201 209 261	40.8 40.6 37.1 37.0 35.7 35.5 33.7 32.8 32.5 29.3	Columbia	46.8
Three Pt FG Defense (334 ranked)	Florida  Tennessee  Vanderbilt  Mississippi  Mississippi St.  LSU  Georgia  Alabama  South Carolina  Kentucky  Auburn  Arkansas	15 23 75 92 138 172 180 195 210 249 269 307	27.7 28.9 31.4 31.8 33.1 34.1 34.3 34.6 35.1 36.1 36.9 38.6	Wake Forest	24.3
Free-Throw Percentage (334 ranked)	Georgia  Alabama  Florida  Tennessee  Vanderbilt  Kentucky  LSU  Mississippi St.  Mississippi  Arkansas  Auburn  South Carolina	80 111 137 153 159 161 172 182 222 236 260 282	71.7 70.6 69.9 69.1 68.8 68.8 68.6 68.2 66.6 65.9 65.1 64.1	BYU	78.9
Rebound Margin (334 ranked)	Kentucky  Mississippi St.  LSU  Tennessee  Georgia  Florida  Vanderbilt  Mississippi  Auburn  Alabama  Arkansas  South Carolina	1 11 53 96 102 103 135 151 155 222 257 292	11.5 8.5 5.4 3.4 3.2 3.2 2.0 1.5 1.5 -0.5 -2.3 -4.2	Kentucky	11.5
Assists Per Game (334 ranked)	Tennessee  Kentucky  Mississippi  Arkansas  Florida  Alabama  Auburn  Vanderbilt  Mississippi St.  LSU  Georgia  South Carolina	13 18 35 79 92 108 117 128 186 220 233 286	17.3 17.1 16.2 15.0 14.8 14.4 14.3 14.0 13.1 12.4 12.2 11.1	Sam Houston St.	21.1
Assist Turnover Ratio (334 ranked)	Mississippi  Tennessee  Alabama  Florida  Kentucky  Arkansas  LSU  Mississippi St.  Auburn  Vanderbilt  Georgia  South Carolina	32 35 50 69 76 81 131 146 156 164 233 242	1.29 1.28 1.18 1.13 1.1 1.1 0.99 0.97 0.96 0.94 0.83 0.82	Notre Dame	1.65
Blocked Shots Per Game (334 ranked)	Mississippi St.  South Carolina  Kentucky  Mississippi  Vanderbilt  Georgia  Alabama  LSU  Arkansas  Tennessee  Florida  Auburn	4 5 8 18 21 27 66 90 95 169 194 243	8.1 8.1 7.5 6.3 6.1 5.6 4.6 4.1 4.1 3.4 3.1 2.7	Connecticut	9.8
Steals Per Game (334 ranked)	South Carolina  Tennessee  Auburn  Alabama  Mississippi  Florida  Kentucky  Arkansas  Georgia  Vanderbilt  LSU  Mississippi St.	17 18 24 36 62 73 146 160 179 239 262 286	9.7 9.6 9.2 8.8 8.4 8.2 7.2 7.1 6.8 6.1 5.9 5.5	Missouri	13.1
Turnovers Per Game (334 ranked)	Alabama  LSU  Mississippi  Florida  South Carolina  Tennessee  Mississippi St.  Arkansas  Georgia  Vanderbilt  Auburn  Kentucky	44 54 59 85 110 114 119 127 204 211 219 249	12.2 12.5 12.6 13.1 13.5 13.5 13.6 13.7 14.7 14.9 14.9 15.5	Houston	8.9
Turnover Margin (334 ranked)	Tennessee  South Carolina  Mississippi  Alabama  Florida  Auburn  Arkansas  LSU  Vanderbilt  Kentucky  Georgia  Mississippi St.	5 7 29 34 45 79 150 196 203 225 269 296	6.6 5.6 3.8 3.6 3.3 2.3 0.5 -0.4 -0.4 -0.8 -1.8 -2.6	Houston	10.1
Personal Fouls Per Game (334 ranked)	Mississippi St.  Florida  Georgia  Kentucky  South Carolina  Alabama  LSU  Vanderbilt  Arkansas  Mississippi  Auburn  Tennessee	1 15 22 23 89 120 125 158 166 198 250 296	12.9 14.9 15.4 15.4 17.4 17.9 17.9 18.4 18.5 18.9 20.0 21.1	Mississippi St.	12.9

 

Category	Player	Rank	Actual	National Leader	Actual
Points Per Game (250 ranked)	Rotnei Clarke, Arkansas  Devan Downey, South Carolina  Tasmin Mitchell, LSU  Terrico White, Mississippi  John Wall, Kentucky  Chris Warren, Mississippi  Patrick Patterson, Kentucky  Howard Thompkins III, Georgia  Bo Spencer, LSU  Mikhail Torrance, Alabama  JaMychal Green, Alabama  DeWayne Reed, Auburn  DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky  Marshawn Powell, Arkansas	31 50 80 91 99 115 123 146 153 171 181 185 200 225	19.4 18.5 17.6 17.3 17.2 16.9 16.7 16.2 16.0 15.8 15.7 15.7 15.4 15.1	Aubrey Coleman, Houstn	25.2
Field-Goal Percentage (250 ranked)	Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi St.  Patrick Patterson, Kentucky  Storm Warren, LSU  JaMychal Green, Alabama  DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky  Rotnei Clarke, Arkansas  Jeffery Taylor, Vanderbilt  Lucas Hargrove, Auburn  Ravern Johnson, Mississippi St.  John Wall, Kentucky  Mikhail Torrance, Alabama  Scotty Hopson, Tennessee  Marshawn Powell, Arkansas  Tasmin Mitchell, LSU  Howard Thompkins III, Georgia  Terrico White, Mississippi  Chris Warren, Mississippi	2 6 20 35 50 63 68 70 71 78 82 95 107 156 165 208 248	64.7 63.0 58.1 55.6 54.1 52.8 52.5 52.3 52.3 51.9 51.8 50.7 49.7 47.2 46.6 44.7 42.8	Dexter Pittman, Texas	74.1
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game (250 ranked)	Rotnei Clarke, Arkansas  Ravern Johnson, Mississippi St.  Chris Warren, Mississippi  John Jenkins, Vanderbilt  Frankie Sullivan, Auburn  Terrico White, Mississippi  Brandis Raley-Ross, South Carolina  Ricky McPhee, Georgia  Bo Spencer, LSU	1 25 30 98 131 154 190 209 209	3.9 3.1 3.0 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 2.0	Rotnei Clarke, Ark  Kelvin Lewis, Houstn	3.9 3.9
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage (250 ranked)	Rotnei Clarke, Arkansas  Ravern Johnson, Mississippi St.  Chris Warren, Mississippi	3 10 64	50.0 48.5 38.9	Noruwa Agho, Clmbia	59.0
Free-Throw Percentage (250 ranked)	Frankie Sullivan, Auburn  Mikhail Torrance, Alabama  Dustin Ware, Georgia  Bo Spencer, LSU  Rotnei Clarke, Arkansas  Devan Downey, South Carolina  Chris Warren, Mississippi  Jemal Farmer, Arkansas  Tasmin Mitchell, LSU  John Wall, Kentucky  Dee Bost, Mississippi St.	19 39 71 77 111 150 160 197 205 205 241	90.2 87.1 83.7 83.3 82.1 80.6 80.0 78.8 78.6 78.6 76.9	Clevin Hannah, WichSt	95.2
Rebounds Per Game (250 ranked)	Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi St.  Storm Warren, LSU  DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky  Tasmin Mitchell, LSU  Patrick Patterson, Kentucky  Howard Thompkins III, Georgia  JaMychal Green, Alabama  Lucas Hargrove, Auburn  Murphy Holloway, Mississippi  Alex Tyus, Florida  Marshawn Powell, Arkansas	11 26 39 42 96 114 188 188 188 206 246	10.9 9.9 9.6 9.5 8.3 8.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 6.9 6.5	Damian Saunders, Duqsne	12.9
Assists Per Game (250 ranked)	John Wall, Kentucky  Dee Bost, Mississippi St.  Mikhail Torrance, Alabama  Erving Walker, Florida  Eniel Polynice, Mississippi  DeWayne Reed, Auburn  Julysses Nobles, Arkansas  Devan Downey, South Carolina  Chris Bass, LSU  Tyler Smith, Tennessee  Chris Warren, Mississippi  Stef Welsh, Arkansas  Kenny Boynton, Florida	2 28 40 60 82 97 114 158 178 197 203 223 238	7.3 5.4 5.2 4.9 4.6 4.5 4.3 3.9 3.8 3.7 3.6 3.5 3.4	Ronald Moore, Siena	8.7
Blocked Shots Per Game (250 ranked)	Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi St.  Sam Muldrow, South Carolina  Reginald Buckner, Mississippi  JaMychal Green, Alabama  Johndre Jefferson, South Carolina  Festus Ezeli, Vanderbilt  DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky  A.J. Ogilvy, Vanderbilt  Storm Warren, LSU  Daniel Orton, Kentucky  Marshawn Powell, Arkansas  Albert Jackson, Georgia  Mike Washington, Arkansas  Howard Thompkins III, Georgia  Vernon Macklin, Florida  Terrance Henry, Mississippi  Travis Leslie, Georgia	3 9 35 35 58 72 75 90 90 132 132 137 157 172 227 239 243	4.9 3.4 2.3 2.3 2.0 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.7 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.1 1.1 1.1	Hassan Whiteside, Marsh	5.1
Steals Per Game (250 ranked)	Devan Downey, South Carolina  John Wall, Kentucky  Tony Mitchell, Alabama  Frankie Sullivan, Auburn  Lakeem Jackson, South Carolina  DeWayne Reed, Auburn  Senario Hillman, Alabama  Ricky McPhee, Georgia  Dan Werner, Florida  Erving Walker, Florida	5 30 65 100 130 153 163 176 191 231	3.0 2.4 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.6	Aubrey Coleman, Houstn	3.4
Double Doubles (30 ranked)	DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky  Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi St.  Storm Warren, LSU	13 13 24	8.0 8.0 7.0	Damian Saunders, Duqsne	12.0
Assist Turnover Ratio (250 ranked)	Tyler Smith, Tennessee  Chris Bass, LSU  Erving Walker, Florida  Jermaine Beal, Vanderbilt  J.P. Prince, Tennessee  Kenny Boynton, Florida  Dee Bost, Mississippi St.  Chris Warren, Mississippi  John Wall, Kentucky  Mikhail Torrance, Alabama  Eniel Polynice, Mississippi  Stef Welsh, Arkansas  DeWayne Reed, Auburn  Julysses Nobles, Arkansas	15 22 36 44 59 90 122 131 137 162 165 166 168 200	2.75 2.65 2.46 2.39 2.28 2.0 1.84 1.82 1.79 1.7 1.68 1.68 1.68 1.54	Jon Scheyer, Duke	4.58
Triple Doubles (30 ranked)				Evan Turner, OhioSt	2.0

Now that you have gone blurry eyed, you will see that the Dawgs are not highly ranked. But I think the key is we are not at the worst. I can see the improvement being made, which at this point is what we are looking for. Just a few notes:

• Last is scoring defense, but mid pack in scoring defense. Need to find another scorer. Maybe Ebuka?? More points from Albert or Chris or JP? Right now Trey and Travis lead the way, with Ricky coming in with just under 10 points a game. I don’t expect Ricky or Dustin to get many more points than they are currently getting, that’s why I think the scoring needs to come from those listed above.
• Free Throw Percentage – We still lead the conference with 71.7% with Dustin shooting 83.7%. This has to continue for the dawgs to stand a chance this year. As we saw in the game against Tech, free throws kept us in the lead. In the past, we would have lost such a game.
• One area that I was not really seeing, but it stands out is our assist rankings. Near the bottom in assists, same for the assist to turnover ratio. I knew that the turnovers were an issue, but didn’t realize how our assist numbers ranked. I firmly believe we can cut our turnover numbers from nearly 15 per game to near 10 if we stop the mental mistakes. I can count 3 or 4 a game where we just toss it away.
• Personal Fouls – This area is harder to judge, because many times its the flow of the game and the refs. And sometimes, you just have to foul. I thought we were committing too many, but as it turns out, we are not that bad. We are third in conference at 15.4 per game. This will be a number to watch as we move into conference play. Which didn’t start well against Kentucky, where we had 33.

I hope you enjoyed the numbers game. I don’t expect to do this until we wrap up the year, unless I see some trends occurring. Also, get on the band wagon now. I have been a season ticket holder for nearly 10 years as best I can remember and before that I was attending many games. Tickets are cheap and the “donations” requirements are still low. Although in a few years, these may go up as Coach Mark Fox guides the team into success. So go ahead, tell me how I’m too optimistic. But I’m also the first to call out the dawgs. I’m more than willing to say they stank the joint up. But to date, under Coach Fox, that has only happened once so far. We have had our ups and downs, but overall a better “team.” NOTE : For football readers. Kirbygate is still underway. 

Signs Football is Near

The other day I was driving through Athens and you could see the signs that football was around the corner. Now I'm a college football fan and only dabble in the NFL, but for those junkies there is a game this weekend. But for most that visit this site, College, SEC and UGA football reign supreme. Oh, that would be a good post, College vs Pro football. Maybe this weekend I can do that one.

Well back to the topic at hand, as I was saying, I was driving through Athens earler this week and started to see the signs football is near. So what did I see. Granted some are overall sightings. 

• Girls showing up and getting ready for rush


• Players hitting the football field. Players like Jeff Owens


• Season tickets showing up on the doorstep


• Twitter is a buzz with practice notes


• The Redcoats start to fill the air with Glory,Glory

I'm sure there are other signs but these are the ones I saw this week.

GOOOOO DAWGS