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Friday, November 5, aoio | The Red * Black
Early signs reveal little
about a lengthy season
Growing up in
Atlantic Coast
Conference coun
try, where basketball
reigns as king of sport,
there was little doubt
where I could be found
Thursday night.
Abandoning my
responsibilities at the
office, the destination was
South Campus —a beau
tifully renovated
Stegeman Coliseum to be
exact.
With Georgia opening
their basketball season
with an exhibition against
the Augusta State
Jaguars, this was the first
opportunity to see the
BuUdogs in what has been
an offseason of built-up
expectations.
So I stopped by to
catch the first hah, and
made a few quick notes on
the performance. For the
'record, this is an evalua
tion of merely the first 20
minutes I have seen this
team play. But evaluating
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a basketball team at first
sight is a dangerous road
to go down. As the popu
lar saying goes, there’s a
reason the NCAA
Tournament is in March,
not October.
There are many facets
of this team that are
bound to change, but in
the meantime, here are a
few thoughts on those
first 20 minutes:
► Forward Trey
Thompkins is the pivotal
piece of the puzzle if this
team has SEC
Championship or NCAA
Tournament hopes With
the Preseason SEC Player
of the Year on the bench
with what is rumored to
be a severe ankle injury,
Georgia’s offense is stag
nant in the half court.
Thompkins provides not
only a go-to scorer on the
blocks, but also has the
ability to draw big men
out of the paint with his
shooting range.
► Building off of
Thompkins’ absence,
frontcourt players Chris
Barnes and Jeremy Price
are strong role players,
but struggje if asked to be
the focal point in the post.
Neither impressed in the
half-court offense, though
both ran the court well,
played strong defense and
were able to score some
points on putbacks and
fast breaks. However,
against an undersized and
overmatched team like
Augusta State, the
Bulldogs should have
done much better putting
up points down low.
► All-SEC guard/forward
Travis Leslie is still one of
the most exciting athletes
in college basketball.
Leslie was a fast break
nightmare for the Jaguars,
throwing down two thun
derous dunks —with one
being right over a bigger
defender on just his verti
cal leap —and running
the floor at ease. But he
still looks stiff on his out
side shot, which was an
obvious flaw last season.
► Transfer guard Gerald
Robinson was not as good
as advertised, but he was
damn close. Like I said, it
is hard to evaluate a play
er or team in 20 minutes,
but Robinson was broader
than I thought he would
be and he proved to be an
explosive athlete on a
couple occasions.
► The starting lineup of
Leslie, Barnes, Price,
guard Dustin Ware and
forward Connor Nolte
should not last long. With
the imminent return of
ThompkinS, the emer
gence of Robinson and
the promise of true fresh
man forward Marcus
Thornton, the lineup will
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look drastically different.
Thornton looked a little
timid, but he is a smooth
6-foot-7 athlete that could
start sooner rather than
later. Expect a lineup of
Thompkins, Leslie, Ware,
Robinson and whoever
has the hottest hand
among Barnes, Price and
even Thornton.
> Speaking of Ware, last
season’s starting point
guard looked like he could
easily handle playing the
off-guard to Robinson.
Ware drained 3-for-4 from
distance in the game and
looks like he could fill in
nicely as the outside
threat opposing defenses
need to respect.
In conclusion, as I
believed when heading up
to the Coliseum, this team
has Sweet 16-type talent
in the starting lineup, but
it will desperately need to
avoid injuries. Any injury
especially to Leslie and.
obviously, Thompkins
and this team will be
struggling to simply make
the Tournament.
Last night’s perfor
mance was less than
expected, but the absence
of Thompkins can not be
underestimated.
Either way, exhibition
or not, it served as a nice
primer for the upcoming
season.
Especially for an ACC
native.
New coach opens with rivals
By CHRIS O'ANIELLO
The Red & Black
You cannot ask for a more demanding
first match as a coach than to face the
top-ranked team in the country.
But that is exactly what the interim
head coach for Georgia volleyball, Chad
Hanson, has on his plate tonight as the
Bulldogs host No. 1 Florida.
The University announced in a press
release Monday that head coach Joel
McCartney had been relieved of his duties
and Hanson, then an assistant coach,
would take over as Interim head coach
until a replacement is found.
“It's a weird way to be thrust into this
new position,” Hanson said. “But the
team has responded as well as you could
ask. They've agreed to have a day-to-day
focus and my job as interim [head coach)
is just to monitor that.”
Hanson has only worked under
McCartney since coming to Georgia in
2008 as an assistant, so the team has not
seen many, if any, changes since he took
over as interim head coach on Monday.
“It’s the same system,” junior captain
Kathleen Gates said. “Coach Hanson has
been here, he’s been around. He’s been
with me all of my three years at Georgia.
Nothing’s really different.”
Though this “same system” did lead
GAME: Transfer impresses early on
► From Page 1A
evolves.”
Junior guard Dustin
Ware and senior forward
Jeremy Price led the
Bulldogs in scoring, each
picking up 14 points. Ware
was also 3-for-4 from three
point range.
Guard Gerald Robinson,
making his Georgia debut
after sitting out last season
due to NCAA transfer rules,
wasted no time making his
presence felt In anew uni
form.
Robinson earned his
first double-double as a
Bulldog, scoring 12 points
and adding 10 rebounds.
“It’s been a long time
coming and I’m very excit
ed about it," Robinson
said. “It’s been a long year
waiting, and in the back of
my mind I knew that this
was what I’ve been waiting
for the whole time, and
when the time finally comes
I’m going take advantage
of it."
One of Robinson’s
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PHOTOS BY MEGHAN PITTMAN | Tn Rid • Blaci
(Above) Transfer Gerald Robinson impressed in
his Bulldog debut. (Below) Georgia won 85-48,
but struggled consistently scoring in the post.
When: Tonight at 7
Where: Ramsey Student Center
Opponent: Florida
Admission: Free
the Bulldogs to a 3-11 conference record
thus far, it also helped them take the first
set against the top-ranked Gators before
losing 3-1 when the teams faced off earlier
this season in Gainesville.
“Honestly, the confidence comes from
our unity as a team and the way we are
able to establish ourselves when the ball
comes over the net, getting it to land on
the opponent’s side of the floor. That’s it,”
he said.
Tonight at 7 p.m., that opponent will
be the No. 1 Florida Gators and on
Sunday at 1:30 p.m., the South Carolina
Gamecocks.
South Carolina (2-11 SEC), who
Georgia has already defeated 3-1 in
Colombia, S.C., is the only team in the
SEC East with a worse conference record
than Georgia, while Florida is 13-0 in the
SEC.
But with two more SEC teams visiting
Athens this weekend, Hanson is already
faced with a pivotal weekend in his first
week as head coach.
assists was a successful
full-court alley-oop to
Travis Leslie, the first of
two dunks for the standout
junior who has gained
national popularity for
going above the rim.
“At first I wasn’t expect
ing a dunk,” Leslie said.
“But it was so perfect, I
had to just throw it in.”
Leslie, a preseason first
team All-SEC selection,
was the team's leading
scorer in the first half,
where he scored all 10 of
his points. He was one of
four players in double fig
ures for Georgia.
The win also featured
the premiere of the
Bulldogs’ two freshmen,
Marcus Thornton and
Donte’ Williams. Both
played 19 minutes, combin
ing for 16 points on the
night.
“I thought it was good
outing for Marcus, and
Donte’ as well," Fox said. “I
was really pleased with the
fact that they can go back
tomorrow and see on the
VOLLEYBALL VS. FLORIDA
tape that they made some
good plays, but also to see
what they will need to
improve on.”
The Bulldogs never saw
a challenge on the score
board, even from the start.
Their 11-0 run to start
the game ended up being
the smallest deficit they
faced the entire night.
Georgia stretched its
lead to 18 points only five
minutes into the half, while
never allowing an Augusta
State scoring run to go
higher than seven points.
“We knew it was going
to be tough coming in, but
it , was a great opportunity
for the guys,” Jaguars head
coach Dip Metress said. “I
really want to thank Coach
Fox for playing us this year.
We’re going to learn from
this opportunity and get
better.”
Augusta State was led
in scoring by Travis Keels
with 12 points. George
Johnson also hit double
figures for the Jaguars,
with 10 points.
