Mark Fox’s Bulldogs picked a great time for their first win of the season outside of the state of Georgia. In fact, Georgia’s 77-64 win over Arkansas in the first round of the SEC Tournament was Georgia’s first victory in an SEC Tournament game outside of Georgia since 1997 when the Bulldogs made a run to the tournament finals in Memphis.

Georgia knew from experience that Arkansas was more than capable of making a second half push that could erase a Bulldog lead, but this time the Dawgs were ready. The Razorbacks’ Courtney Fortson dominated the game down the stretch in their win over Georgia in Athens, but Georgia’s duo of Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie took over this time. With 5:27 left, Fortson hit a shot that cut Georgia’s lead to five. A Thompkins basket and a few free throws pushed the margin to seven, and then Georgia turned to its gameplan to put the game away. The Bulldogs exploited a size advantage by bringing the posts outside and letting Travis Leslie get position inside. Fox explained,

…we walked through that very set that we ran there in our shootaround today, and we felt like, if they played three guards, that we would have an advantage with Travis on the low-block area. And so those two kids were dialled in mentally and were able to take advantage of that.

Leslie found himself in that position on consecutive possessions, and he converted two easy baskets that iced the game. The Bulldogs held on the defensive end, cleaned up on the glass, and made sure that their lead would not evaporate again. Thompkins finished with an impressive 23 points and 14 rebounds, and Leslie added 21 in one of his best games in weeks.

The win earns Georgia another shot at Vanderbilt. The Dawgs handled the Commodores in Athens, and we still have a pretty fresh memory of that heartbreaking last-minute collapse in Nashville and the overtime loss just a few weeks ago. Georgia matches up well with Vandy, but we know that the Commodores are a quality veteran team that has to be tired of hearing about how well Georgia has played them. The Bulldogs will have to continue to own the glass, be a bit more judicious with fouls among the frontcourt players, and continue to reduce those “November turnovers” as Fox called them. Thompkins and Leslie will have to show up big again of course, but the ability to defend Jermaine Beal and John Jenkins could be the biggest key for the Bulldogs in tonight’s game.

Clay Travis made note of the disappointing turnout by the Arkansas faithful, and that was pretty apparent on TV too. I guess it is kind of sad. I also remember some of those great tournaments in the 1990s when Arkansas and Kentucky, led by Richardson and Pitino, were slugging it out in the years after Arkansas joined the conference. We know all about the “Catlanta” phenomenon these days when the tournament comes to the Dome, but Arkansas fans turned the Memphis Pyramid arena into the “Pigamid” in the years that the tournament was held on the banks of the Mississippi. It was surreal experience for fans of other schools for the Kentucky and Arkansas fans, who basically shared about 90% of the arena, to go back and forth between “GO BIG BLUE” and calling the Hogs in the middle of a game that involved neither team.

It seemed that Georgia had to face Arkansas every year in the quarterfinals. The Dawgs would get by a team like LSU on Thursday, and then Thurman and Williamson and 10,000 fans in a different shade of red were waiting to send Georgia home the next day. Arkansas hasn’t been that scary in a long time, and as Travis writes, those once-fearsome and omnipresent fans aren’t buying what John Pelphrey is selling.

The subject of Tim Tebow’s draft status continues to take shots from all sides, and many are getting a chuckle from LSU quarterback receiver Russell Shepard’s admission that Tebow’s struggles played a role in Shepard’s decision to move to wide receiver.

Shepard observed that in college “you can get away with being an athlete sort of like what Florida did with Tebow,” deftly claiming Tebow’s plight as Shepard’s own cover for not hacking it at quarterback. The key words there are “sort of.” Shepard wasn’t remotely anything like Tebow either as a quarterback or as an impact freshman in the SEC. To say Tebow “got away with being an athlete” is a bit like saying that Bill Gates got away with being a college dropout.

Tebow, though mainly used as a change-of-pace in short yardage situations, still managed to complete 67% of his passes, throw five touchdowns against a single interception, and finish his freshman year with a quarterback rating over 200.

Shepard, despite playing in 10 games as a true freshman, didn’t attempt a pass. Oh, he was just in there to run? Even on the ground Tebow had a better freshman season with nearly 200 more yards than Shepard. Shepard had a long way to go before he started earning comparisons with Tebow – try Kodi Burns or Randall Cobb first.

Tebow might or might not stick in the NFL – far be it from us to make the case for him. The backlash though is to the point now that even this Georgia fan is starting to hope he does. Tebow might thrive or flop or become a serviceable role player in the pros, but but none of that has anything to do with Russell Shepard just being a good football player who runs fast instead of being an SEC quarterback.

Congratulations to Trey Thompkins – he’s Georgia’s first All-SEC first-teamer since Jarvis Hayes. He’s made the transition from promising freshman to legitimate SEC star, and he’d be in position to challenge for SEC player of the year honors if he returns next year.

I wondered why Travis Leslie didn’t make the second team, but I’m not bent out of shape about it. Leslie had his breakthrough season, and he’s positioned to be one of the league’s most visible players as long as he chooses to remain at Georgia. I think that visibility might have worked against him later in the season. Leslie’s eye-opening performances at Kentucky and against Tennessee in January set expectations as high as they were for anyone including Thompkins. It’s unfair to say that Travis faded down the stretch, but three of the four games this year in which he didn’t score in double figures came in the last weeks of the season. It also doesn’t help that his best late-season performance, at Vanderbilt, ended in a loss in which Leslie had a chance to win the game in regulation. There are an awful lot of quality players on that second team, and I can’t really quibble with any of those selections. Leslie would have been as good of a choice as most of them but not a heads-and-shoulders better choice.

I should also say something about the coach of the year selection. Chris Littmann smells a rat, and I’m finding it hard to disagree with him. Kevin Stallings and his team had a really nice season, but John Calipari turned in the best coaching job of the season.

The only argument to be made against Calipari is this: well of COURSE Kentucky finished first. My [sports-averse female relative] could have coached that bunch to an SEC title.

There’s something to that – the best coaching job isn’t necessarily done by the coach of the team that finishes first. Pat Summitt did another fine job leading Tennessee back to the top of the SEC on the women’s side, but the biggest accomplishment belonged to Matthew Mitchell who led Kentucky from a preseason forecast of 11th place to a solid second place finish. That was an exceptional coaching job, and – though Kentucky didn’t win the league – Mitchell was deservedly named the coach of the year.

It’s unwise to automatically dismiss a successful coach from a team loaded with talent. To begin with, it discounts the role of the coach in assembling that talent. We think of great coaches as those who could get the most out of any bunch of players, but championships are won by those who can teach the game and attract the highest quality of players. Wooden would have been a success anywhere, but you don’t have a dynasty without bringing men like Alcindor and Walton into the program. There’s a tendency for a coach with so much talent at his disposal to be disregarded as a caretaker with a just-don’t-screw-it-up mandate.

Even after you assemble a loaded roster you still have to get that talent to perform, understand roles, and buy into a system. It’s not a given. There is no shortage of analysis of what has gone wrong with the 16-15 North Carolina Tar Heels, but you don’t have to search very long to find a common theme: for whatever reasons a team loaded with 7 McDonald’s All-Americans was almost uncoachable. Calipari brought in a great recruiting class, meshed it with returning players like Patterson, and got a roster with one eye on the NBA committed to winning a title. As we discussed last week, Kentucky’s turnaround has been as much about defense as it has been about the entertaining offense. Changing a program’s culture in one season and persuading so many key newcomers to embrace the work and sacrifice required by high-level defense is a tremendous coaching job.

Vanderbilt had a good season probably highlighted by a sweep of Tennessee. I don’t want to diminish anything they’ve accomplished. They were picked to finish third in the SEC East. They finished second with a roster that returned its top four scorers and didn’t exactly feature scrubs – four Commodores earned some sort of postseason mention. Good results, good coaching, but hardly up to the level or impact we saw from what Calipari was able to accomplish in his first season.

SEE ALSO: Complete list of SEC basketball postseason honors

  It’s time again for my annual indulgence.  There’s always a great vibe around a conference tournament, and the SEC women’s tournament returns to the Arena at Gwinnett Center on Thursday for the first of three visits over the next five years. Since the tournament is right down the road, I’ll be camped out there throughout the weekend to mix with the fans and students from around the conference.  I might have an update or two here throughout the tournament about Georgia’s experience, but I’ll probably be a lot more active on Twitter.

Georgia got a bit of a disappointment on Sunday when they finished in a four-way tie for third place but came out on the short end of the tiebreaker with the #6 seed.  That outcome might not be a terrible thing.  The seeding lets Georgia avoid possible matchups with Tennessee, Vanderbilt, or LSU until the finals.  Georgia would have to play some tough opponents regardless if they plan on advancing to Saturday or Sunday, but the seeding would help them avoid some of the hotter teams in the conference.  In a season where Georgia has lost to teams as low as the #10 seed, there’s no such thing as a truly “easy” path through this tournament.

The Lady Dogs slipped to the #6 seed after starting the season 16-0 thanks to a midseason slump that included losses in six of eight games.  They’ve righted the ship somewhat and won three of their final four regular season games.  Midseason injuries still linger, but they’re as healthy as they’ve been since the start of conference play. 

Georgia’s all-conference honorees tell the story of the season.  Ashley Houts was every bit the senior leader that she was expected to be and earned a spot on the all-SEC first team. Georgia’s fortunes turned this year on the arrival of six freshmen, and two in particular – Jasmine James and Jasmine Hassell – have played big roles.  The pair was named to the all-freshmen team this week.

Georgia’s path through the tournament

• Thursday:  9:00 PM vs #11 Alabama (Fox Sports South)
• Friday:  9:00 PM vs. #3 Mississippi State (Fox Sports South)
• Saturday: 6:00 PM Semifinal (ESPNU)
• Sunday: 6:30 PM Final (ESPN2)

Now on to the teams (get the bracket here):

The Favorite

1. Tennessee (15-1): After a relatively disappointing season a year ago, the Lady Vols are again the regular season SEC champs. They have a single blemish on their conference mark: a road loss at Georgia that came down to the final shot. Tennessee isn’t back to where they expect to be on the national scene – not many teams can stand out from underneath UConn’s shadow – but the Lady Vols are at least back to their customary position as SEC Tournament favorites. That’s not to say that they’re a lock to win. They’ve looked vulnerable several times away from home. They lost at Georgia and had very close calls against Ole Miss, Florida, and South Carolina, and they will face one of those teams in the quarterfinals. Tennessee can get past most teams by leaning on good defense, but their scoring can run streaky.

The Surprise

2. Kentucky (11-5): Kentucky rolled through nonconference play with only one loss, and most of us chalked it up to a weak schedule. They started just 1-2, and it looked as if preseason expectations of a difficult season would bear out. UK was picked to finish 11th by the coaches and media before the season, but Matthew Mitchell has done another great job building this team. They rolled off eight straight conference wins and soon established themselves as the league’s second-best team. Their formula has been simple: defend the home court and ride the star. They are a perfect 14-0 at home this year, but they only faced Tennessee in Knoxville. Victoria Dunlap is top 5 in scoring, rebounding, steals, and blocks. The emergence of freshman guard A’dia Mathies makes them that much more of a complete team, and they lead the league in scoring. UK ended up sweeping the coach, player, and freshman of the year awards in the SEC.  If the tournament were at Rupp Arena, you’d like their chances.

The Logjam

Four teams finished tied for third place, and it’s fitting that they went 2-2 as a group on Sunday in order to end up with identical records just a game over .500. All four teams are good enough to earn NCAA Tournament consideration, but they all have weaknesses and inconsistencies that have led to seven conference losses each. It wouldn’t surprise me to see one or more from this group playing for the title on Sunday, but they’re just as likely to be done by Friday.

3. Mississippi State (9-7): Congrats, Bulldogs. You started the day in 4th place, had a 30-point loss hung on you, and moved up to 3rd place as a result. MSU can thank the SEC tiebreaker rules for its tournament seed, but the foundation for that seed was laid with wins over Georgia and Vanderbilt. MSU loves to shoot the outside shot – no other team has attempted more than their 655 three-point attempts. Unfortunately they’re in the bottom half of the league in three-point percentage. Their outside shooting has been enough to land them among the top seeds in the conference, but it hasn’t quite been good enough to keep them in the rankings where they started the season. Alexis Rack is the three-point specialist, and the team’s fortunes often ride on her outside shot. Chanel Mokango is enough of a presence inside to force teams to respect the paint.

4. LSU (9-7): LSU enters the tournament as the hot team you’d rather not play. The Tigers endured a rough start to SEC play that saw them sputter to a 4-6 league record by mid-February. They’ve since won 5 of 6 games with the only loss coming at Tennessee. No shame there. The difference has been a rededication to a smothering style of defense. LSU has given up an average of just 44 PPG in their last five wins and now leads the league in scoring defense. Their offense can be summed up in the name of Allison Hightower, but their midseason turnaround has come as others have started to contribute. A likely LSU-Vanderbilt game on Friday could be one of the most entertaining quarterfinal matchups.

5. Vanderbilt (9-7): Find a team with no key players over 6′1", and that team’s probably in trouble. It’s to Vanderbilt’s credit that they’ve managed to remain a very competitive and successful team with only one real frontcourt player. Hannah Tuomi, at 6′1", is facing taller opponents every night but still finds a way to be effective, tough, and – in the eyes of opponents – pesky while doing the rebounding, screening, and other dirty work that has to be done for a team to win. With Tuomi as the extent of the frontcourt Vandy had better shoot well from outside, and they do – they lead the SEC at just over 38% from behind the arc. Veteran guards Jence Rhoads and Merideth Marsh fit right into the talented, tough, and smart style we’ve come to expect from Melanie Balcomb’s teams. Vanderbilt, the league’s defending tournament champion, is one of those teams that knows how to turn it on for the postseason even if they’re not a top seed.

6. Georgia (9-7): Georgia might be kicking themselves for a last-second loss to Ole Miss that could have earned them a much higher seed, but they’ve been on the happier end of close games far more often this year. Big games from the offense have been the exception, so the expectation is for closely-contested games decided by defense. Injuries and fatigue in the middle of the season kept Georgia from playing the kind of defense that propelled them to a 16-0 start, but the team has showed signs of life down the stretch. They have a trio of nice frontcourt players, but the team will go as guards Ashley Houts and Jasmine Jones go.

Upset Specialists

The four teams leading the bottom half of the division all failed to post winning records in conference, but each has at least one quality win to their credit. All four of these teams were able to beat Georgia. Auburn beat LSU and Kentucky. South Carolina just won at Vanderbilt. Ole Miss swept LSU and beat Mississippi State. With that kind of upset potential from this group, top seeds Tennessee and Kentucky could face a stiff challenge in the quarterfinals on Friday.

7. Florida (7-9): Florida just wasn’t quite able to break through this year. Their only win of note is an upset of Georgia a little over a week ago. Like Vanderbilt, Florida is an undersized team. It doesn’t help that Azania Stewart, one of their few frontcourt players, has been sidelined due to injury. Stewart had 21 points and 11 rebounds in Florida’s overtime win over first-round opponent Auburn back in January, and there isn’t anyone to take up that slack. Guards Steffi Sorensen and Jordan Jones will have to come up big, and the Gators will have to outwork Auburn on the glass to advance.

8. South Carolina (7-9): Coach Dawn Staley’s rebuilding project continued to move forward this year. Just a couple of years removed from the league cellar they were nearly .500 in conference this year. They’ve won in tough road environments at Auburn, Georgia, and Vanderbilt. A late four-game slide will keep them from doing much more this season, but that season-ending win in Nashville shows that they have plenty of fight still. South Carolina has a classic inside-out combo: Freshman Kelsey Bone has made an immediate impact by finishing top 10 in both scoring and rebounding. Valerie Nainima is one of the league’s top outside shooters.

9. Ole Miss (7-9): Ole Miss looked for a while like a team that was headed for a memorable season. They started SEC play 5-1 which included consecutive wins over LSU, Mississippi State, and Georgia. They’ve only won two games since and have slid down the standings and likely out of the NCAA Tournament. Bianca Thomas is the SEC’s leading scorer and could carry her team past the first round. One player to watch is forward Nikki Byrd – she’s a key contributor and was injured in the season finale.

10. Auburn (5-11): Wins over Kentucky, Georgia, and LSU show what Auburn is capable of. They just haven’t been able to play at that level in many other games. They lean on the post play of KeKe Carrier and the streaky outside shooting of Alli Smalley. Carrier could be a devastating force against an undersized Florida team – she scored 24 when they met in January and won’t have Azania Stewart to worry about. If Auburn can advance past Florida, they’ll play Kentucky on Friday, and Auburn beat UK less than a week ago.

 Leaving the Bus Idling

For the first time in several years, the teams at the bottom of the league aren’t automatic outs. Both Alabama and Arkansas have made some noise this year and could make their opening round opponents very nervous.

11. Alabama (4-12): Alabama has had a rough few years in the conference, but they’re beginning to show signs of progress. They won as many SEC games this year (4) as they’ve won in the past three seasons. They’ve even managed to sweep Florida this year, and a win over rival Auburn has to be one of the program’s bright spots lately. They lack any real stars, but forward Tierney Jenkins is nearly averaging a double-double.

12. Arkansas (4-12): Last year Arkansas rolled off a string of wins to rise from the bottom of the league to middle-of-the-pack respectability. It looked as if they might be headed in a similar direction this year when they posted thre straight wins in February including road wins at Auburn and South Carolina. But the Razorbacks have faded down the stretch and have lost three straight entering postseason play. They played first-round opponent Vanderbilt close back in January and have the athleticism at guard to match the Vanderbilt backcourt.

I’ve been enjoying David Hale’s look at some of the stats that could play a role in the outcome of the 2010 football season, and we can turn some similar analysis on the basketball team to understand what’s behind Georgia’s rebuilding effort.

Most sports have stats that aren’t listed in the box score but have become part of the vocabulary of those trying to understand the games. Sabermetrics has taken over baseball analysis. Football fans talk about hidden yardage and SDPI. Basketball fans try to identify hustle plays and are even starting to apply Sabermetrics-like analysis to hoops.

There’s a basketball stat that goes back over 50 years – points per possession (PPP). It’s a way to measure a team’s efficiency: the more points you can get out of each possession the more efficient your offense. The reverse holds true for defense. It applies whether you are a slow-paced team or an up-tempo team. There are many ways to determine the total number of possessions in a game (other than outright charting them as some teams do), but a formula like this can be used to approximate total possessions from most box scores:

Possessions = field goal attempts – offensive rebounds + turnovers + (0.475 x free throw attempts)

Generally speaking, better offenses seem to have a PPP around 1.10 or higher. A number under 1.00 isn’t great, and below 0.90 is putrid.

To illustrate how far Georgia’s offense has come under Mark Fox, Georgia’s PPP last year was a dismal 0.88 – Georgia managed far less than a point per possession. You’ll have to dig to find many major programs worse than that. In a typical game with 65-75 possessions, Georgia could expect about 57-66 points. That won’t win many games.

Georgia’s PPP has improved this year by a whopping 20% to 1.06 PPP. Defensive efficiency has dropped marginally this year, but it pales next to the improvement on offense. Anyone watching Georgia hoops has seen it; these numbers quantify the improvement.

For all the talk of Wall and Cousins and Patterson and the rest of the explosive Kentucky offense, their PPP on offense is only one tick better than Georgia’s: 1.07 vs. 1.06. What’s propelled Kentucky to the top of the national rankings has been its ability on defense to hold opponents to 0.93 PPP. A Basketball Prospectus notes, Kentucky is holding opponents to 27% from behind the arc this year.

Georgia’s ability to play close at Rupp Arena earlier this year raised a lot of eyebrows. Was it a case of Georgia playing well that kept it close? Not really – it was one of Georgia’s least efficient offensive performances of the year. Kentucky managed about 1.02 PPP in that game – slightly below their season average but not by much. It was an above-average performance by the Georgia defense. The key stat was Kentucky going 2-14 from behind the arc. Georgia on the other hand had a PPP of just 0.92 – far below their season average but pretty close to Kentucky’s average defensive efficiency. Georgia stayed in the game thanks to shooting 43% on three-pointers, but their 26 turnovers destroyed their efficiency and ultimately cost them down the stretch. If Georgia had managed a PPP of just 1.00 in Lexington with the same number of possessions, they would have scored around 74 points and made the ending much more interesting.

Valuing possessions is important in any sport, but it becomes acute against a team like Kentucky that has been so effective all year in crippling opponents’ offensive efficiency. Georgia will have to shoot well, but they’ll have to focus on turnovers in order to have a chance tonight. That’s not just a concern for Ware the point guard – Trey Thompkins led the Bulldogs with 6 turnovers against the Cats in January, and the inability to hold on to the ball was truly a team effort. If Georgia can maintain possession and get off a good shot within their offense, chances are they’ll be able to score in the 70s and give us a much better result this time.

…is keeping one of your rivals out. Though just one man’s opinion, this bit of prognostication warmed my heart on this cold morning:

The Gators are not [among the first four teams left out of the NCAA tournament] because of Tuesday night’s loss to Vanderbilt, at least not by that defeat alone. The failure to beat Georgia in Athens may haunt this Florida team, especially if they end up in the NIT for the third straight season.

We do what we can. A few of us were watching the usual SportsCenter bubble discussion over lunch today. Teams like Illinois and Georgia Tech came up for discussion. Both teams might be on the outside looking in, but the most satisfaction came from not seeing Georgia listed as a “bad loss” for either. On the contrary; for teams like Virginia Tech who are fighting the stigma of a weak schedule, a win over Georgia is becoming a point in their favor.

Georgia dispatched Arkansas by more than 20 points on an emotional Senior Day, but they faced the unusual “reward” of  falling in the standings at the same time thanks to the quirks of the SEC tiebreaker system. It was that kind of day in the conference on a Sunday that saw three big upsets and  seven teams finish the season within two games of each other.

The Lady Dogs entered the day with a pretty firm grip on 5th place in the SEC standings.  There was a realistic shot of moving into 4th place:  an LSU win over Mississippi State in Baton Rouge would place those teams in a three-way tie with Georgia for 4th place at 9-7 in conference.  Since those three teams were all 1-1 against each other, Georgia’s win over Tennessee would be the trump card that landed them the 4th seed and the coveted first-round bye.

That scenario actually unfolded. Unfortunately South Carolina’s upset of Vanderbilt in Nashville was all it took for Georgia to fall from the 4th seed to the 6th seed.  Vandy’s loss meant that four teams – Vandy, LSU, Mississippi State, and Georgia – all finished tied for 3rd place at 9-7.  The same tiebreaker system that would have awarded Georgia the #4 seed in a three-way tie scenario was much kinder to Mississippi State and LSU in a four-way tie.  Those two teams earned byes while Vandy and Georgia are left to play on Thursday. 

Here’s how the order shakes out:

1. Tennessee
2. Kentucky
3. Mississippi State
4. LSU
5. Vanderbilt
6. Georgia
7. Florida
8. South Carolina
9. Ole Miss
10. Auburn
11. Alabama
12. Arkansas 

We’ll have our annual tournament preview soon, but start with this:  it might look as if Georgia got a bit of a shaft falling to the bottom of that four-way logjam, but the #6 seed means they avoid the side of the bracket with tournament favorite Tennessee, red-hot LSU, and pesky Vanderbilt.

Georgia Tech knew that they’re going to be without starting quarterback Josh Nesbitt for spring practice as he recovers from surgery on his ankle. That position took another hit today when the AJC reported that backup Jaybo Shaw would be transferring to Georgia Southern. That leaves rising sophomore Tevin Washington as the only Tech quarterback for spring who has taken a snap in a game.

Behind Washington are a pair of redshirt freshmen – David Sims and Jordan Luallen.

How is that different from Georgia, I hear you ask? Georgia, after all, is also entering spring with only one QB with limited playing experience and a pair of redshirt freshmen. But while Tech will now enter spring practice without either of the two quarterbacks on top of their depth chart, Georgia will at least have their presumptive starter and top three quarterbacks available for spring practice.

It’s been noticed this week that one RPI estimate puts Georgia ahead of North Carolina. Ordinarily that would be one hell of a benchmark for a program, but this year it’s a punchline and just a bit of trivia as Carolina’s season swirls around the bowl. (Other RPI estimates still have Georgia behind UNC.)

We’ve seen Georgia and Carolina against a couple of common opponents – Kentucky and Georgia Tech. It’s not close. Carolina has no one with the abilities of Travis Leslie, and I’d take Trey Thompkins right now over (a healthy) Ed Davis. The Dawgs beat Georgia Tech, and they gave Kentucky a much better game at Rupp.

Yes, there’s a bit of tongue-in-cheek here since we all know that Carolina lost a lot of punch from last year’s national championship team while Georgia, well, didn’t. Recruiting heals many wounds, and UNC is between waves of talent though their current lineup is hardly without highly-touted players. Georgia will add some interesting pieces next year to continue their rebuilding project, but Carolina will welcome what might be the nation’s best incoming class of perimeter players. An RPI in the 80s is a low point for Carolina. Can Georgia recruit well enough going forward to make sure that a similar RPI is also Mark Fox’s low point?

Aside: Georgia’s also not very far away from Oklahoma in the current RPI estimations. Sooner coach Jeff Capel was considered a leading candidate to fill the Georgia vacancy a year ago.

I don’t know whether to celebrate or bang my head against a wall. If a college hoops fan in your home or office has gone missing or shows up with bloodshot eyes, they’ve probably discovered the NCAA’s basketball vault – an archive of every game from the Sweet 16 and beyond over the last decade.

As someone who loves the game and the tournament, it’s bliss. As a Georgia fan, it’s beyond depressing to realize that even the relative glory years of Jarvis Hayes didn’t produce a team that made the cut for this archive. Look at the list. Alabama. Davidson. George Mason. Iowa State. KENT FREAKING STATE. Nevada – hey! Maybe there’s hope. Southern Illinois. Ouch – that one hurts.

At this point, I’d settle for getting kicked in the gut and watch the 1996 Syracuse game if it would get Georgia in the vault.

Moving on, Year2 over at TSK is right on when he offers this site as a model for what should be expected from the SEC Digital Network. The content on the SEC site is light years beyond where it was a year ago, but they could still take some cues from the NCAA about content and navigation for such an extensive video archive.

Worse is the SEC’s official iPhone app. The paid app ($1.99) from S2S Mobile is virtually useless. Most sports are left off, and what information there is incomplete or dated. Want scores and game stats? You’re much better off with the free ESPN app. The app’s main selling point is video highlights. The most recent video available through the app right now is from Georgia’s basketball win over Vanderbilt over two weeks ago. A fan of baseball, gymnastics, or women’s basketball? You get nothing at all. I expected this kind of fumbling approach to digital media while the conference was getting things together last summer, but the app has been out since September with no signs of improvement. I feel like the paperboy in Better Off Dead – I want my two dollars.

Chip Towers spotlights a report that Bill Hartman did about the recruitment of Herschel Walker. Like Chip, this is new to me though it might be old hat to some of you. I can’t imagine the circus that such a recruiting battle would cause these days with the whole process much more public. People who have followed recruiting much longer than I have maintain that Herschel’s recruitment was a sea change in how people followed and paid attention to recruiting, and this report doesn’t do much to discredit that argument. Check out the report and the video that goes with it.

While we’re talking about #34, not everyone was pleased to see Walker win the 1982 Heisman. Eric Dickerson and Craig James will be honored at this week’s Doak Walker Award banquet, and the Dallas Morning News suggested that splitting carries in the SMU system might have cost Dickerson the 1982 Heisman.

“I always tell Herschel he’s got my Heisman,” Dickerson said.

Unfortunately the trophy was the one thing that couldn’t be purchased by an SMU booster. Walker probably told him to come and get it.

On the occasion of North Carolina’s visit to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech tonight, the AJC has a nice piece on the role that UNC coach Roy Williams had in the career of Georgia coach Mark Fox. Though Williams didn’t have a vacant position to offer Fox while Fox pursued his master’s degree, Williams – then the Kansas coach – allowed Fox to observe the operation of the program and provided Fox with a blueprint for running a successful, highly-efficient program.

Their relationship has continued through the years with Williams providing advice and support along the way as Fox climbed the ladder. Williams’ advice to Fox upon arriving at Georgia was to “be patient.” For a motivated coach used to winning, the challenges of taking over a program in rough shape can be frustrating. Patience will definitely be required as Fox tries to elevate the program, but his results so far should provide even more encouragement. Fox might even return the favor and share some motivational words with Williams – both teams are 3-7 in their respective conferences this year.

An astute observer took the opportunity of this article to question Fox on the weekly radio show about the possibility of playing the Tar Heels down the road. Fox indicated that there was a good chance of such a game taking place – neither team is afraid to step out of conference.

Georgia and UNC played a series of exciting games just over ten years ago. Carolina escaped with an overtime win in Athens in 1997 after Georgia blew an 8-point lead with three minutes left in regulation. That game was supposed to match Tubby Smith against Dean Smith, but Tubby bolted for Kentucky and Dean retired before the 1997-1998 season. With Ron Jirsa and Bull Guthridge roaming the sidelines, it was still a thrilling game in front of a packed house at Stegeman.

The teams met again a year later in Chapel Hill in the preseason NIT. It was Georgia’s turn to make a late charge from behind, but this time the home team prevailed at the end.

The NCAA Football Rules Committee has had its annual meeting, and their endorsement of one key rule change for the 2011 season is causing quite an uproar this morning. Specifically:

The NCAA Football Rules Committee endorsed a proposal Wednesday that penalizes unsportsmanlike conduct as a live-ball foul beginning in the 2011 season. The change would mean, for example, that if a player makes a taunting gesture to an opponent on the way to scoring a touchdown, the flag would nullify the score and penalize the offending team from the spot of the foul.

It seems like a pretty narrow focus. Consider: taunting/unsportsmanlike penalties after a non-scoring play (say, a sack) have resulted and will continue to result in a 15-yard penalty after the play. No change there. How about unsportsmanlike penalties after you score? No, “penalties for dead-ball misconduct fouls (for example, unsportsmanlike behavior after the player crosses the goal line) would continue to be assessed on the ensuing kickoff or the extra point/two point conversion attempt.” No change there. The only time a score would be taken off the board is when players make “a taunting gesture to an opponent on the way to scoring a touchdown.” Think Deion Sanders high-stepping it down the sideline.

In other words, this new rule wouldn’t have changed a thing about A.J. Green’s penalty last year. That sham of a penalty occurred in the end zone, so the score would continue to stand under the new rule. The rule is dumb, but its application will be much, much narrower than people seem to think. Most excessive celebration happens after a score, and that’s specifically exempted. Think about it this way – when was the last time you saw someone draw a taunting foul during a live play? Those are the only situations to which this rule applies. The misapplication of the unsportsmanlike penalty is reason enough to reconsider the whole thing, but we’re not going to see that many scores come off the board.

If there’s a gray area where we’ll see the most controversy, it’s on plays where the ballcarrier dives into the endzone. We’ve seen cases where there was doubt whether the player dove to avoid a defender or was just showboating. Under this new rule the infraction technically occurs in the field of play, so the ball would come back to the 15 or so. (Yes, I’m thinking of a certain player and game too.)

What we might see more of is ejections.

In these cases [when the contact is clearly flagrant and dangerous], the committee is instructing officials to eject student-athletes more frequently when warranted. The group will distribute several video examples to officials, coaches and conference administrators to educate and clarify what types of plays should result in an ejection. Additionally, any flagrant foul will automatically trigger a review by the offending player’s conference.

There are several other rules changes bundled with the one getting all of the attention. All of these rules are still proposals and still must be NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel. Some of the highlights:

– Call it the “Tebow Rule?” Players wearing eye black must now keep it solid black – no Bible verses, shout-outs to the home area code, or other messages. I wonder whether this applies to messages written elsewhere on the body. It might be more fitting to call this the Pyror Rule and not the Tebow Rule. Bible verses and area codes are one thing, but using the eyeblack to make more controversial statements might be the motivation for this rule.

– Any injured player, including those with a concussion or showing signs of a concussion, must be cleared by an “appropriate medical professional” before returning to the game. The rule though leaves it up to the school to define what an “appropriate medical professional” is. Mike Leach probably isn’t what they have in mind.

– Teams will be allowed to have TV monitors up in the booth. The home team must ensure that feeds and equipment are identical for both teams. While I doubt many coaches will have time to kick the feet up and enjoy Uncle Verne’s delightful description of the action unfolding in front of them (if there’s sound at all), implementation will be interesting. Will teams choose to provide the actual television feed to the booths or just use the feed that the rest of the stadium sees on the scoreboard video screen? You can imagine the benefits of replay aiding the decision whether or not to use a timeout to force a review.

– There will be a pregame DMZ. The committee recommended that no players allowed between the 45-yard lines beginning 60 minutes before kickoff during warmups.

– Raise those hemlines! Discerning teams with an eye on fashion might want to note that there will be no more requirement that pants must cover the knee. Scandalous!

– While they’re revamping kickoff coverage during this offseason, Georgia coaches will note that college football is considering following the lead of the NFL by banning the use of the “wedge” by return teams.

– Punters using the “rugby punt” who run outside of the tackle box are now fair game; they will lose their protection as kickers.

– UCLA and USC are no longer outlaws. Both teams can wear contrasting colored jerseys jerseys of color if neither team or conference objects.

If it’s Signing Day, it must be time for points and counterpoints about the value of recruiting services and rankings. I can understand the doubts (but, really, how many times do we have to hear Thomas Davis’s name in these discussions?), and I can understand why many journalists don’t care to touch the subject. Following recruiting can be borderline obsessive, harassing, and at times straight up creepy. It used to be the province of subscription newsletters and 900 numbers. Now it’s big business online and into the mainstream. Did you think ten years ago that the ESPN crawler would be flashing a commitment by some 3-star cornerback who picked SMU over Central Florida and Maryland? Me neither.

Doc Saturday does the work – with actual math – and finds out that top-rated prospects are much more likely (per capita) to become All-Americans. Not all of them do – not even half of them or even most of them. That’s the basis of much of the criticism of recruiting rankings, but, as Brian Cook reminds us, those critics often < ahref="http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/53433/when_evaluating_recruiting_services,_dont_forget_to_divide" onclick="javascript:urchinTracker('/outbound/www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/53433/when_evaluating_recruiting_services_dont_forget_to_divide');">forget to divide.

With 120 FBS schools signing 20 or more prospects each year, that’s at least 2,400 guys entering Division I. The Rivals 100 or whatever list of top prospects you use makes up less than 5% of the incoming class nationwide. It’s reasonable that you’re going to have several individual success stories from among that 95%. 50 of the 93 All-Americans Dr. Saturday examines – the majority – were rated 3 stars or lower. That’s impressive until you do the math and see that those three-star or lower prospects make up the long tail which contains over 85% of incoming players.

The recruiting rankings might not be able to identify which specific prospects will make it big, but if they could they’d be several steps ahead of even the best coaches.

By now this is pretty well-worn ground, but I’ll just add the points I try to keep in mind during recruiting season:

• Recruiting ratings aren’t perfect. Neither are the evaluations of coaches who are paid much more for their expertise.
• Ratings can’t take into account intangibles like academics, an enjoyment of firearms, or brooding over that girl back home.
• Since not every top prospect pans out, you’d rather have more than fewer and increase your odds.
• Ranking players gets sketchier the greater the geographic area covered. High school football is just too big to see everyone out there.
• Need matters as much as talent. You can fill your class with top-rated receivers, but not filling needs on the offensive line or in the secondary will lose you games.
• Highlight videos are just that. You notice how they never show anyone fumbling or missing a tackle?
• If you ever find yourself saying or agreeing with the statement “give me a bunch of 2-and-3 star guys who bleed [team colors] over some 5 star prima donnas,” don’t operate heavy machinery. Yes, of course we’d all like a fleet of 5-star guys who grew up reenacting in the backyard our team’s most famous highlight, but prospects choose schools for any number of reasons, and not all of them are warm and fuzzy. Give me the best talent every time.
• When in doubt, look at the offers. Again, the enormity of high school football makes it possible for many guys to fall through the Tim Jennings-sized cracks and become the exceptions to the rule. But on the whole you’d rather be competing against your peers for a prospect and not the teams you schedule for Homecoming. There might be a reason why your Top 10 program is going after a guy also considering Akron and UMass, but it should be a good one.

Not much of course, but the Dawgs – a unanimous pick to finish last in the SEC East – do share one bit of ignominy with the traditional ACC powers. As of today, 2+ months into the season, neither Georgia nor Carolina nor Duke has won a true road game. Last night’s upset of Duke by N.C. State in Raleigh kept the 0-fer going.

Duke will be the first team with a chance of breaking up this unlikely trio when they visit Clemson this weekend.