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▲ Meredith Mitchell and the Bulldogs are looking to avenge
last season’s elimination from the NCAA tournament.
Landers approves of Stegeman upgrade
By MITCH BLOMERT &
MICHAEL FITZPATRICK
The Rep & Buck
HOOVER, Ala. When
Andy Landers started at
Georgia in 1979, the
Stegeman Coliseum looked
nothing like it did today.
Where the student sec
tion is, there once stood a
hydraulic stage with velvet
curtains.
There were no seats on
the concrete floor and the
building was “snow white.”
The Coliseum obtained the
gray and red exterior it
sports today during the
Olympics when organizers
gave the Stadium a face
lift, but it never sat well
with Landers. “It was
beautiful when it was snow
white," he said. “Just mag
nificent, and I thought it
had a lot of character."
But as the expansion
nears its end, Landers
expressed his approval for
the new glass exterior.
“Sometimes you can fix
something to make it func
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SEC BASKETBALL MEDIA DAYS
tion better but you ruin
the way it looks, but that’s
not so in this case. It looks
great. I like it. I have
always thought the
Coliseum was an attractive
building.”
James to step in for de
parted Houts
Last season, Jasmine
James had a luxury few
players have: a role model
in senior point guard
Ashley Houts.
When James had a
question, she went to
Houts.
Now Houts is gone, but
not the impact she had on
James’ play. Even as a
freshman, James’ poise
was unmistakable and it
only seemed like a matter
of time before the keys of
the Lady Dogs offense
were turned over to her.
“When you play and
start as a freshman you
tend to make mistakes,”
Georgia women’s coach
Andy Landers said. “And
J. J. got a lot more things
Junior to fill leader’s role
By MICHAEL FITZPATRICK
The Red & Buck
HOOVER, Ala. - When
Georgia Lady Dog Meredith
Mitchell stepped onto the tar
mac in Birmingham, Ala., for
the SEC basketball Media Day,
there stood two uniformed
Jefferson County (Ala.) police
officers.
Mitchell, however, was any
thing but in trouble, as she
went to the officers and game
them each big hugs.
They were, after all, her par
ents.
“It was good to see them,”
Mitchell said. “I got to spend
about 10 to 15 minutes with
them and it was great.”
For the Junior guard, the
upcoming basketball season
can’t come soon enough. Last
season ended with a humiliat
ing 73-36 loss to Stanford in
the Sweet 16 and Mitchell still
hasn’t forgotten about it.
“That was an awful and
tough loss and it still haunts
me to this day,” the Midfield,
Ala., native said. “But it helps
us realize that we need to be
tougher and more focused and
we need to be more competi
tive."
With that mind-set of turn
ing around a negative for the
benefit of her team. Mitchell
right than she got wrong,
and that helped her a lot.
J.J.’s realistic and she
knows what she’s got to
change. Every day she
stood there watching
Houts. You know a candle
will flicker in the wind?
Houts is a straight-up
flame and nothing fazed
her, and J. J. took notes on
that.” This offseason,
James became more vocal,
and Landers attributes
that to the leam-every
thlng mentality she had as
a freshman. And now, the
Lady Dogs season may lie
in her hands. “She is one of
the most important play
ers on our basketball
team,” Landers said. “She
could be our best defender
and she is gonna make the
dirty plays like taking
charges, and she might be
the best half-court passer.”
Coaches unhappy with
summer recruiting rule
change
Starting in 2012, the
NCAA will ban recruiting
in July while prospects
play for their AAU teams
—and coaches aren’t
happy about it.
It was believed that
AAU coaches were having
too much influence on
recruits, who often played
in front of numerous
scouts over the summer.
Georgia men’s head
FOX: New coach needed to alter mentality
► From Pago 3
give everything that we have. But we
appreciate the freedom that he gives
us.”
If Georgia was to turn around an
unfortunate past, it meant working
the players harder than ever before.
It meant running up steps in Sanford
Stadium.
All of them.
“That woke us up,” Thompkins
said. “When the school year had
started, he had a couple of issues off
the Door just not taking care of
business as a team. And he addressed
it."
But Pox didn’t just see it as stren
uous punishment to discipline his
players. It wasn't even about punish
ment.
Instead, it was Fox’s way of intro
ducing a work ethic to his players
that would develop them from high
school athletes into college stand
outs.
“The Sanford Stadium tour was
Introducing /
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BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
coach Mark Fox says it
takes away a crucial time
for coaches to get an eval
uation of a player over an
entire month against a
harder opponent at the
AAU level. “If we eliminate
the July period, I would
not support It unless I saw
that would have some
chance to evaluate outside
of it,” Fox said. “What are
they going to replace It
with would be my first
question.”
Transfer brings speed to
team
Georgia players have
been impressed by the
speed of Gerald Robinson,
a junior guard who trans
ferred last year from
Tennessee State.
“He’s one of the fastest
players I’ve ever played
with," forward Trey
Thompkins said.
Robinson sat out last
season after transferring.
During the 2008-09 season,
he led Tennessee State
with 17.8 points per game.
“He’s got terrific speed
with the basketball,” Fox
said. “A lot of guys can run
fast, some other guys can
run fast and dribble the
ball at the same time. He
has a unique level of
speed.
really to change our way of function
ing,” Pox said. “All college athletes
were successful in high school. And
you can be a successful high school
player and still have work habits that
maybe aren’t conducive to you being
successful at the next level. I think
that for us, the football stadium trip
was really more about functioning as
successful men, not really as play
ers.”
The stadium workout never hap
pened again, but one time was
enough for Thompkins. So far, it’s
worked, as Thompkins was named
the preseason SEC Player of the Year,
and was named to the preseason All-
SEC First-Team.
“I think with Trey, the one thing
that we really try to instill in him is
that a good player shows up every
day, and a great player shows up
every day and makes everybody bet
ter;” Pox said. “And the one thing he
has talked about time and time again
is winning, and he wants to win. He’s
one of us, and he shows up every day.
started to emerge as the leader
the Lady Dogs sorely need
after the graduation of point
guard Ashley Houts last sea
son.
Having both parents in law
enforcement “For 18 to 20
years, I think,” she said kept
Mitchell in line, but it also
defined her character as a
hard-working and dedicated
member of her team.
Mitchell knows her team
has voids to fill rebounding
and creating team chemistry,
to name a couple —and she
knows the steps required to
send the team forward.
And It starts with being
heard.
“I know I have to be more
vocal,” Mitchell said. “Being
vocal leads to better communi
cation and I’ve been trying to
work on it during practice and
I’m getting there. I still have a
lot of work to do, but you need
that ability to communicate
with your team and I think
that’s been a struggle for us
since Ashley [Houts] graduat
ed.”
Head coach Andy Landers
had no doubt in Mitchell’s abil
ity to be a leader he just
knew it was only a matter of
time before the daughter of
two hard-working Alabama
police officers stepped into the
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▲ (Above) Troy Thompkins has boon selected
as the preseason men's SEC Player of the Year.
(Below) Women’s head coach Andy Landers will
lead a less-experienced squad in 2009.
role.
“She’s the way you want
your daughter to grow up,”
Landers said. “She is some
body that you can trust and
she’s your basic remarkable
young lady. The kid is liked
and respected by her team
mates, and when you try to
lead. If they respect you they
might follow you, but If they
like and respect you they have
no choice but to follow you.”
Mitchell Isn’t the only Lady
Dog assuming anew leader
ship role, as Landers noted
three others sophomores
Jasmine Hassell and Jasmine
James and senior Porsha
Phillips were taking over the
leadership reins.
“It’s the most kids I’ve had
that have showed leadership
since I’ve been here,” said
Landers, who Is entering his
31st season at Georgia. “It’s a
function of buying in. You have
to really commit to something
and buy into it before you can
lead anybody else or you just
wouldn’t be an effective leader.
They know how they are sup
posed to act, how they are sup
posed to practice and how they
are supposed to play. They
have bought Into trusting
themselves and trusting the
coaches and It’s a really healthy
situation.”
And if he doesn’t, we remind him
what he has to do.”
A year after his hiring. Pox is still
changing the Georgia basketball pro
gram.
He has upped the importance of
recruiting by bringing highly-touted
in-state recruits such as Marcus
Thornton, who makes his debut this
season.
Pox’s Bulldogs will also play in a
renovated Stegeman Coliseum this
year, which will be completed in time
for the team’s home opener on Nov.
12 against Mississippi Valley State.
Needless to say, there are a lot of
changes. But Fox stresses that the
best is yet to come.
“A year ago I reminded our team
often, not to believe what people said
on the outside because no one
thought we were going to be any
good,” Pox said. “This year, although
many people think we’re going to
have a better team, I’m telling them
the same thing don’t believe what
people say on the outside.
I