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

We learn this morning that redshirt freshman quarterback Zach Mettenberger was arrested Saturday night in Remerton, Ga. near Valdosta and will face five misdemeanor charges. The big news of course is that we have an alcohol-related arrest that didn’t involve the Athens police. Let the hand-wringing about offseason discipline begin.

After you get over the shock of learning that an underage college student had a few on spring break (Valdosta, Talladega, whatever), this little story will very likely have an effect on one of the biggest questions facing the 2010 Georgia team: the starting quarterback. It should no longer be news that any alcohol-related arrest carries an automatic one-game suspension. If these charges hold up, Zach will, at the very least, sit out the season opener suspended.

I admit to having my biases about the quarterback position and have the luxury of not being responsible for the decision of naming the starter, but in my view Mettenberger has done us a favor. With the automatic suspension likely to sideline Mettenberger for the season opener, he’s no longer in the discussion to start. The staff isn’t going to spend fall camp preparing for the season with someone under center who won’t be available to start in the first game. They’re even less likely to change the starter after one game and give someone else his first career start on the road in Columbia.

That whittles the list down to two, and one of those two has kicked around the idea of playing a position other that quarterback if it would get him on the field. Still, Gray will “take the first reps with the #1 offense” as the Bulldogs begin spring practice. Things still might not be settled after the spring, but at least now we know that we’re looking at a Gray vs. Murray competition. That in and of itself simplifies things tremendously.

  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.

…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 78 – Florida 76

Black continues to be the color of mourning when Georgia and Florida get together. We all remember the failed gimmick at the WLOCP last fall. Only a week ago the Lady Dogs went black and lost a game in Gainesville that would have earned them a #3 seed and first-round bye for the SEC Tournament. The Florida men’s basketball team returned the favor on Saturday with their homage to the New York Mets, and the result was predictable: Georgia has now won two straight over Florida in Athens.

The win didn’t come easy, and it took a nice defensive stand in the final ten seconds to secure the win. One big development in the game was the performance of Georgia’s bench. Depth has been one of Georgia’s bigger problems during the year, and the reserves have had their problems. But the quick turnaround from Thursday’s overtime game along with some early fouls meant that some reserves were going to have to play meaningful minutes, and they came through by outscoring Florida’s bench 31-8. Most surprising (and welcome) was the play of freshman DeMario Mayfield who scored five points and showed some nice presence of mind on an assist over an important run to close the first half.

Florida, with its postseason future very much uncertain, was desperate for the win and came roaring back from 15 down. Chandler Parsons made play after play, and Kenny Boynton was virtually unguardable from behind the arc. Jeremy Price scored Georgia’s final points on a huge putback with nearly 3 minutes left, and the Dawgs relied on defense to hold on to the remains of their lead.

Lady Dogs 69 – Arkansas 48

Following a midseason 2-6 slump, the Lady Dogs finished the regular season on Sunday by winning three of their last four games. The convincing 69-48 win over Arkansas gives Georgia a meager 2-game winning streak, but it’s their first taste of sustained success since January. There were three SEC upsets on Sunday throwing the league standings into a bit of chaos, but a 12-0 start against Arkansas ensured that the Lady Dogs wouldn’t be one of the upset victims.

The Lady Dogs were picked to finish third in the SEC before the season, and that’s where they ended up thanks to the late-season push. The SEC Tournament opens this week in Duluth, and the Lady Dogs will feature in the nightcap at ~9:00 p.m. on Thursday against Alabama – a team that Georgia has already faced and defeated twice this year.

Diamond Dawgs sweep Stetson

Georgia held on for a 7-5 win over visiting Stetson on Sunday to earn the series sweep. The weekend started well with a 12-2 rout on Friday, but the Diamond Dawgs had to rally with two in the bottom of the 8th to win 9-8 on Saturday. Alex McRee closed the door by striking out the side in the top of the 9th. Sunday’s game was a little easier, but Stetson did creep back from a 7-3 deficit with two late runs before falling short. Georgia had a perfect 7-0 week after returning from Waco, and they stand at 6-2 overall.

The competition ratchets up this week. Wednesday’s midweek game against Alabama in Hoover, Ala. is a rare midweek meeting of conference foes, but the game won’t count in the SEC standings. Then it’s off to Tallahassee for a big weekend series against FSU at the site where Georgia’s 2009 season ended.

In other news…

• The Gym Dogs remained undefeated at home with a win over LSU. It wasn’t their best effort of the year, but they held on to their #5 ranking.
• We’ve talked about UGA sprinter Torrin Lawrence before, and the AJC catches up with him (figuratively) as his career continues on its upward trajectory.

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.

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.

That’s not a headline you’re likely to see in most papers, but I get the feeling that it could pretty much tell the story of an incident involving Knowshon Moreno and an intoxicated 18-year-old at an Athens bar over the weekend. The 18-year-old, who was so drunk that he had to have friends fill in the details of the incident the next day, claims that three men “jumped him.” Unprovoked and out of the blue, I’m sure. According to the Banner-Herald, “Moreno said that he was struck first,” and Moreno spoke with police on Tuesday about the incident.

Knowshon might well be at fault here and had nothing better to do on a Saturday night back in Athens then to punch out a random merrymaker. He did enjoy the nightlife during his days in Athens though there were never any incidents. Then again most anyone who’s been out and about in downtown Athens knows that there is no shortage of overserved heroes who get up the courage to prove their invincibility against a football player. Better still if the player is drawing an NFL paycheck. That’s why players are often discouraged from places like that – trouble has its way of finding you whether or not you’re looking for it.

I’m sure the owners of the bar are thrilled that a fight at their place involving a drunk 18-year-old is sure to get plenty of media and police attention.

With the temperature inching up over 40 late this week, it must be time for baseball season. We all know about Georgia’s recent odd success in even-numbered years, but that biennial success will be put to the test this year. The Diamond Dawgs lost a lot of firepower and experience from its lineup, and they’ll be altering their approach this season in order to compensate for those losses.

The 2010 season kicks off this weekend as the Diamond Dawgs head to Texas for a tournament that will have them play Baylor and Duke twice. Georgia opens the year ranked #22 by Baseball America and were picked by the conference’s coaches to finish 3rd in the SEC East behind perennial Florida and South Carolina. If the Diamond Dawgs are going to make another even-year trip to Omaha, they’ll have to battle through one of the nation’s ten toughest schedules to get there. Georgia made a large step towards sustaining success last year with a return trip to the NCAA Tournament, and extending that streak to a third straight postseason appearance is the baseline for expectations this year.

With so much turnover from year to year, I usually like to ease into the baseball season and see what and who emerges over the first month of the season. This team is very young, and they don’t have a lot of veterans on which to lean especially among the position players. Others are on the ball with more detailed previews, but it looks as if we can boil the outlook down to three things entering the season:

• Georgia is going to be much more of a “small ball” team this year. They lost a lot of power in Poythress alone, and other players who moved on were no slouches with the bat either. They have the speed to play that style of ball. The question is whether the team can be disciplined, smart, and execute well enough to manufacture runs or if we’re really talking about a team that just has no power and will struggle to score runs.
• Pitching should be deep and strong. If runs will be at a premium, you’d better be able to keep the other guy from scoring. Georgia is confident that their pitching staff can do just that. There’s a good group of starters, an experienced bullpen, and McRee hoping to return to form.
• If there’s a strength among the position players, it’s in the outfield. Johnathan Taylor, Zach Cone, and Peter Verdin are well-known to fans, and they should make a big jump from their freshman seasons. They’re solid defenders, quick, and can do some damage on the bases. Georgia’s top infielder is another sophomore – 3B Colby May who earned Freshman All-American honors last season.

The opening weekend tournament format with a quick four games in three days will give the team an early hint whether that pitching depth and strength is as advertised.

Friday: Georgia vs. Baylor, 6 p.m. ET (WRFC 960 AM; georgiadogs.com)
Saturday: Georgia vs. Duke, 6 p.m. ET (WRFC 960 AM; georgiadogs.com)
Sunday: Georgia vs. Duke, 11 a.m. ET (WRFC 960 AM; georgiadogs.com) Georgia vs. Baylor, 3 p.m. ET (WGAU 1340 AM, georgiadogs.com)

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.

All of the attention on Georgia’s defense lately has moved to the back burner the all-important competition to be the next starting quarterback, but I’m sure that will change soon. It will be a major storyline in spring, and we’ll see if this search for the next starter will follow the angst-filled 2006 model or the relatively calm 2009 example.

The odds-on favorite to win the job, at least in my opinion, is redshirt freshman Aaron Murray. There was even some talk well into the 2009 whether he would play, but a bout with tendinitis made the issue moot. To get a head start on his goal of starting at quarterback, Murray became one of a handful of signees each year who enrolls during the spring semester prior to his freshman season. He talks about that experience with the AJC and discusses the negatives – missing the end of his senior year of high school – along with the positives.

Today is Founder’s Day at the University of Georgia: 225 years ago today, the state legislature approved the charter that made the University of the Georgia America’s first state-chartered university. Anyone have 225 candles?