Last night’s 66-61 loss at Vanderbilt might seem like just another close road SEC loss, but there are two trends developing that might continue to hurt this team in SEC play. It’s not just about the past two losses; Georgia has even been able to overcome these things and win, but I don’t know how many more wins you can expect with these things happening.

• Georgia’s offensive decisions. Takais Brown did not attempt a shot nor go to the foul line for the entire last ten minutes of the game. I don’t know how many touches he got, but he was not a factor on offense. The leading scorer and a guy shooting 5-for-8 from the night is completely taken out of our offense due to shot selection and bad decisions. Meanwhile, Mike Mercer leads us in attempts again and shoots for another low percentage. Surprised?

  Honestly, I don’t blame Brown or Mercer. This wasn’t the first game that Mercer took too many shots and played out of control. If Richt had a quarterback whose favorite check was to throw deep into double-coverage no matter what was called, we’d first get on that QB, but eventually we’d wonder why Richt kept him in the game. Bad shot selection in basketball is bad enough, but when it comes from your leading shooter, it’s twice as bad. Think in terms of possession. If you have, say, 15 turnovers as a team and your leading attempts guy takes 10 shots that are rushed or low-percentage for him, that’s actually 25 possessions where you didn’t get a good shot. That’s a lot of pressure on the defense.

  Coach Felton must tighten up his offense. Georgia didn’t learn from the Kentucky game, and they shot under 30% from outside in the past two games on an average of 25 three-point attempts in each game while Brown attempted just 8 shots in each game. Why should we expect anything different against Florida and down the road?

• First half production. In the four games leading up to and including the Alabama game, Georgia averaged 39.5 first half points in each game. They didn’t fail to score fewer than 30. Since the Alabama game, Georgia is averaging 28.5 points in the first half and has scored 30 or fewer in three of those games and no more than 33 points. They have trailed at halftime in each of the past four games.

  The point isn’t that Georgia came back to win two of those games or that they scored 39 points in the second half at Vanderbilt. When you dig yourself that kind of hole in the first half, it requires a lot of energy to come back. Against Kentucky and LSU, Georgia had the home crowd and good enough defense to completely stifle the other team in the second half. Still, because of the first half, all of that great second half play just meant that Georgia had a shot at the end of the game.

Are these two trends related? You tell me. Here’s Georgia’s three-point shooting in each of the past four first halves: 2-15, 3-11, 1-14 , 3-10. Less than 30% in each game.

If this team is going to choose to live or die by the three-pointer, they have to shoot much better and make sure the people they have on the court taking the deep shots can hit them. If they want to be a more balanced team and take advantage of the improving Brown inside, then he shouldn’t be third or fourth on the team in attempts.

Finally.

Georgia has had some excruciatingly close losses to LSU over a three-year drought that dates back to the end of Sue Gunter’s coaching career. Whether it was the 2004 Elite Eight or the 2005 SEC Tournament or the game in Athens last year, Georgia played LSU down to the wire but came up just short each time during the period that LSU briefly rose into the elite of women’s college basketball. It wasn’t that one team outplayed or outcoached the other; LSU was just the team left standing at the end.

With that recent history, you’d have to figure that when Georgia finally got over the LSU hump, it would take some sort of play at the end of another close game. That’s exactly what happened last night as they beat LSU 53-51 in Athens on a buzzer-beating shot from freshman Ashley Houts. 53-51. That wasn’t the halftime score…26-21 was all these teams could manage after 20 minutes. This was a close, defensive game the whole way.

Georgia used the same defensive strategy they’ve used over most of the games in this three-year stretch: they focused on and doubled up on LSU’s primary weapon and dared other LSU players to make the shots. This strategy (the triangle-and-two from the 2005 SEC Tournament game in particular) has caused fans to go nuts when they saw LSU players left wide open, but more often than not the plan has worked. LSU hasn’t really run up big point totals in many of these games, and their stars have generally had good but not career-type games. The same strategy worked against last night. All-American center Sylvia Fowles faced constant double-teams. While she ended up with 17 points, she never got on the kind of roll that allowed LSU to get into any kind of offensive rhythym. There was a little wrinkle in the strategy as Quianna Chaney started burying three-pointers, and she scored 14 of LSU’s 26 first half points. Georgia adjusted, and Chaney was held to just six points in the second half while they continued to double up on Fowles.

The Georgia defense became stifling in the second half. When a Fowles basket with over nine minutes left gave LSU the 40-35 lead, Georgia held LSU to only two points over the next seven minutes. A 40-35 LSU lead turned into a 49-42 Georgia advantage.

The difference in this game was simply Angel Robinson’s offense. For the past two years, Tasha Humphrey had been the sole focus of the Georgia post offense. She’s more than held her own against Sylvia Fowles in some epic battles, but no one else could do much of anything inside. With Fowles matched up on Humphrey, Robinson presented a matchup problem for LSU. Because Humphrey is a threat to score from anywhere in the halfcourt offense, Fowles had to respect her shot and step out from the low post.

Georgia countered by going high-low or getting Robinson isolated on the low post against a much weaker post defender than Fowles. During a pivotal second half run where Georgia extended their lead to 49-42, Robinson scored three straight baskets. She sealed off position nicely and made smooth moves to the basket to finish. It was very similar to the late run Georgia made against FSU a couple of weeks ago when Angel also made the difference down the stretch.

Only Robinson’s fifth foul stopped the Georgia run, and that created a big problem. Suddenly Georgia had fewer options to double up on Fowles, and their offense also suffered. A couple of free throws, another Chaney three-pointer, and the seven-point lead was reduced quickly to two to set the stage for the finish. Houts missed the front end of a one-and-one with 23 seconds left, and Fowles tied the game with eight seconds left. Houts brought the ball upcourt and faced pressure right in front of the bench. It looked as if she would be trapped in the corner and unable to get a shot off, but she stepped through the defense and found an opening. Her ten-foot prayer from the baseline as time ran out was on-target, and Georgia had finally broken through against one of their biggest obstacles of late.

For the football fans out there, this felt like the win over Tennessee in 2000 (minus the field-storming and hedge-trampling). It wasn’t the prettiest game, and this might not be the biggest monkey on Georgia’s back (just like Florida was still there for the football team), but the overwhelming sense of relief and accomplishment just to get a win in this series was palpable.

What does the win mean? It moves Georgia, for the time being, into a tie for second place in the conference with LSU and Ole Miss at 6-2. All three teams still must play Tennessee starting with Georgia this coming Monday night in Knoxville. Though there are still six SEC games left, and four are on the road, Georgia seems to be in a good position to finish at least fourth and earn the first-round bye in the conference tournament, and they have a very good chance to finish as high as second. Who knows – if they beat Tennessee on Monday and get a little help down the road, the conference title is still very much in the picture.

The team is certainly there defensively. They’ve been very strong recently against LSU, Ole Miss, FSU, and Vanderbilt – four teams who have been ranked and are likely to be in the NCAA Tournament. If there’s an area to improve, it’s shooting the ball. Georgia won last night despite an atrocious night shooting by the guards in particular. Though they were able to chip in a few points, seniors Chambers and Hardrick were a combined 3-for-22. It’s not that the rest of the team was a lot better – Humphrey, Darrah, and Rowsey were 6-for-22 themselves. Still, this team could be so much more explosive with its senior guards filling the basket. Chambers has been mired in a deep slump since a great performance at Mississippi State. Hardrick has been up and down at times, and she was 1-for-14 last night with a lot of missed layups and chances around the basket. She made some great moves and worked so hard to drive and get to the basket, but she just couldn’t finish. If this year’s team is going to make a push to finish in the top two of the conference and try for a nice postseason run, these seniors really need to get into some kind of consistent form on offense soon.

Though UGA is closed due to weather today, tonight’s big women’s basketball showdown with LSU will go on as scheduled at 7:00 p.m., according to the University Web site. This is a very important game for the Lady Dogs, and a good home crowd is key. If you’re in the Athens area, don’t let the weather keep you at home.

Tickets $5 adults, $3 for high school age and younger, free for faculty/staff/students with valid ID. Free ticket pick-up begins at 5:30 PM at Stegeman Coliseum booth 4.

There were a lot of bad things about last night’s 82-71 loss at Tennessee, but defense has to be at the top of the list. When Tennessee is able to shoot 57%, score 82 points, and hit 11 three-pointers with Chris Lofton sitting injured on the bench, it’s not a good defensive performance.

It doesn’t help that Georgia insisted on attempting 26 three-pointers despite hitting only one in the first half and shooting under 25% for the game.Takais Brown only had eight attempts in 34 minutes. I think we need a new rule of thumb until Mike Mercer breaks out of whatever slump he’s in: if Brown is attempting fewer shots in a game than Mercer, it’s not a good thing.

This is life in the SEC, and even a team missing its biggest star can have its way with you when you leave the defense and the strength of your offense at home. While Georgia is having a good season and can win several more games, the hype has gotten a bit ahead of itself. Georgia is going to be in a fight to finish with the conference record they need to make the NCAA Tournament, and we’ll see what they’re made of in February.

It’s time to put the LSU game to bed and get on with tonight’s challenge at Tennessee…after this highlight video.

Riding high at 5-2, the Georgia basketball team is about to enter what might be their toughest stretch of the SEC season. Their next three games:

• at Tennessee
• at Vanderbilt
• vs. Florida

Because of the nature of SEC road games and the quality of the competition, this is every bit as demanding as the Clemson-Wisconsin-Florida stretch a month ago. As PWD points out, road wins in the SEC are ridiculously rare this year. Georgia has one of the six, and that makes the missed opportunity at Alabama even bigger. It’s a very good thing that Georgia has been able to hold serve at home thus far. With road wins so scarce around the conference, you have to take care of things at home and steal what you can on the road if you hope to have a strong enough conference record when the season ends.

Tennessee has dropped five of their last six with all five losses coming on the road. That’s a pretty brutal schedule – the Vols have played five road games and just two home games in January. The good news for them is that they have four of their next five at home, and they are undefeated at home this year. Even with neither Pat Summitt or Phil Fulmer showing up topless, they’ve done very well at home and have knocked off Memphis and Texas there. The bad news for them is that Chris Lofton remains injured. Even if he tries to go, he won’t be 100%. Without Lofton, South Carolina was able to put a scare into the Vols at home. Georgia hasn’t won at Tennessee since 2001, so they’ll have a lot more than just Lofton to overcome.

Vandy is one of the hottest teams in the league, though a midweek trip to Florida might cool them down a bit. They’ve knocked off Alabama and Tennessee at home, but they’ve also impressively downed Kentucky and LSU on the road. Georgia’s 85-73 win earlier in the month is the only thing keeping the Commodores from a six-game winning streak. Memorial is always a unique and tough place to play, but Georgia managed to take a game there last season. Can they do it again?

Florida of course is the nation’s #1 team. If Georgia can get one or two of these road games, the Stegeman effect should be in full force for the Gators even better than it was for Kentucky. If Georgia could ever pull off that upset, they’ll need the crowd.

Georgia is carrying a lot of momentum entering this stretch, and it’s important for both the team and the fans who have gotten so excited over this 5-2 start to maintain this enthusiasm no matter what happens over this three-game block. If we can get a couple of wins from it, all the better. The SEC season is a long haul, and the difference between teams that make the postseason and those that don’t is the ability to keep up focus and high level of play over the course of the season and not for just a couple of weeks.

It’s an exciting time – in ten days the possibilities for this season will become a lot more clear. At the very worst, they’ll still be above .500 but fighting for postseason position with each game over the last month of the season. But there’s also the possibility to take a big step forward over these next three games and leave no doubt about the return of the Georgia program.

I’ll start with the sappy stuff that everyone else has already thought and probably said…how fitting that Georgia beats LSU by three on a three-pointer at the buzzer on the day that they honored the memory of #3.

Photo: AP

With that out of the way, this was another nice win for the Dawgs as they continue to hold serve in the SEC at home. The win moves them to 5-2 in the SEC, and they remain tied with Vanderbilt and Kentucky for second place in the East. They’ve now beaten consecutive ranked teams and are a blown lead at Alabama away from owning a six-game SEC win streak.

Though the dramatic finish and outcome makes much of the details of the game less interesting, this was a very frustrating game. Georgia fell behind early by failing to control the defensive glass, and they managed less than ten points over the first twelve minutes of the game. LSU did everything they could do to let Georgia take control of the game, but the best that Georgia could do once LSU’s shooting went cold was to draw even and set up a back-and-forth second half.

Though LSU’s Glen Davis had 18 points and 14 rebounds, a big story in this game was Takais Brown’s ability to hold his own. Brown had 14 points and 10 rebounds including a tremendous eight offensive rebounds. Georgia’s 14 offensive rebounds were critical on a night where they shot under 35%.

It was basically a two-man game for both teams with one big man and one outside shooter. LSU had Davis and 16 points from guard Terry Martin, and Georgia had Brown and 16 from Levi Stukes. Georgia just had more guys doing a few little things to make the difference, and for one of the first times their depth really showed. Whether it was two big three-pointers from Woodbury or a critical offensive rebound and dunk to tie the game by Mercer, the Dawgs got just enough of those little plays.

Georgia has an opportunity to steal one on the road this week. Tennessee is vulnerable with leading scorer Chris Lofton likely out due to an ankle injury, and the Dawgs can win in Knoxville as well as they’re playing now. Though we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, this game against Tennessee is going to serve as a good test to see whether or not Georgia will enter the second half of the SEC slate as not only legitimate postseason participants but also a factor in the SEC standings.

PS…if I never have to hear Cliff Ellis talk about “candy”, “Big Baby”, or “bonus sphere” again, I’ll be a much happier spectator.

UPDATE: You can watch the entire Lincoln Financial broadcast here.

Georgia will open the 2007 baseball season in two weeks against the defending national champions Oregon State. The Beavers started the defense of their title in grand fashion last night by no-hitting Hawaii-Hilo. Yep…win the national title, head to Hawaii for a few days, toss a no-hitter. Not bad.

That’s right – it might be 35 degrees outside, but we’re just a few weeks from hearing this again in Athens, and spring won’t be far behind.

Ole Miss has emerged as a challenger to the usual teams on top of SEC women’s basketball (Tennessee, LSU, Georgia, and Vanderbilt). Carol Ross, forever the coach at Florida, finally has Ole Miss rebuilt and competing at a high level. They started 5-0 in SEC play, scored home wins over LSU and Vanderbilt, and cracked the top 25. They feature a sharpshooting guard attack and lead the SEC in scoring behind superstar Arminte Price.

With consecutive SEC games against Vanderbilt and Ole Miss, Georgia saw the two teams most capable of taking Georgia’s place in the SEC power rankings. The Lady Dogs proved to be up to that challenge. They held off Vanderbilt last week, and last night they prevailed in a tough game against Ole Miss.

We thought that Tasha Humphrey was back after big games against Vandy and FSU last week. She even earned SEC Player of the Week honors for her work. We hadn’t seen anything yet. In leading Georgia to a 69-60 win over Ole Miss, Humphrey scored 32 and pulled down 14 rebounds. Georgia did a good defensive job on the Rebel guards, outrebounded them in the second half, and cut down on turnovers. If Georgia had been able to hit a few three-pointers, the job would have been a lot easier. Georgia attempted a lot of field goals in the first half – nearly half their total shot attempts – but few fell. After Humphrey hit two quick three-pointers to start the game, they went cold. Coach Landers said afterwards that many of those shots were rushed.

It wasn’t until Megan Darrah hit three huge shots from outside in the second half that things loosened up. Humphrey was good enough in the first half, but once Darrah began to draw defensive attention, Humphrey had a lot more room to operate down the stretch. Strong defense kept Ole Miss from answering, and they were in the tough spot of trying to counter Humphrey’s high percentage inside shots with lower-percentage jump shots. After struggling over the past month, it was great to see Darrah contribute in a big way and find some of the form she had earlier in the season and all of last year.

Georgia made a good statement by taking care of Vandy and Ole Miss, and they made a strong case for being no worse than the third-best team in the conference. Though there’s still more than half of the SEC schedule left, it’s not too early to start thinking about the standings. Because of SEC scheduling quirks, Georgia will have to face Tennessee and LSU twice this year. Ole Miss plays LSU, Tennessee, Georgia, and Vanderbilt only once. With that in mind, Ole Miss should be favored in all of its remaining games except the game at Tennessee. They’ve already beaten LSU and Vanderbilt. Even if they lose at Tennessee, they’ll still only have two conference losses with no games left to play against ranked SEC teams. What that means is that Georgia, already with two conference losses and games still left against LSU and Tennessee, is going to need to take care of their own business and get some help to get a top 3 seed in the SEC Tournament. Next Thursday’s game against LSU in Athens will be tremendously important in terms of the #2-#4 spots in the SEC standings. First things first, though – let’s get a win Sunday and finish a season sweep of Florida.

Chad Simmons of UGASports.com reported yesterday that Richard Samuel committed to the Georgia football program for its 2008 signing class. Samuel is the sixth junior to commit to the Bulldogs for the 2008 class. Before the class of 2007 has been wrapped up and signed, Georgia is nearly 25% of the way to a typical class of 25 for next year.

It was a big deal a few years ago when A.J. Bryant committed to Georgia on Signing Day as a junior. The special circumstances with Bryant and his dying father made that a huge story, but it was also noteworthy that the commitment came a full year before Bryant could sign. Others follow this much more closely than I, but I don’t remember an earlier commitment at the time. It wasn’t long ago that the first commitments of a recruiting class would come in August or September of the senior year. We’ve since blown that benchmark out of the water; there are now six committed for 2008 who made their pledge even earlier in the process than Bryant did.

All of this leads up to the question, should there be an early signing period in football? After all, junior commitments are nothing new in college hoops, and the NCAA allows them to sign during the autumn of their senior years. Football starts before basketball in college, yet basketball players can sign before footballers.

I see the appeal of the early signing period on both sides. Prospects can make their decisions and focus on more important things like academics and their senior season. Colleges can wrap up prized prospects and not have to worry about stringing them along until February. Bill Curry seems to like the idea, and I can be open about this kind of thing.

The timing seems to be the big sticking point. It’s not likely that the early signing period would happen during the junior year, so that leaves early in the senior year. But that’s right in the thick of the football season. As distracting as recruiting is now, the pressure to make that decision early and make it binding would be even more of a distraction. I think it can be to the benefit of both the prospect and the college to let that senior season play out. As Rich Brooks notes, relying on junior evaluations and limited contact before the senior year to make the decision can be very risky. I would add that it’s potentially risky for both parties. Where basketball can gauge rather well the size and skill of prospects early in the process, the physical development (not to mention damage) that can take place between the junior year and the arrival on a college campus is so much greater for a football player.

It sounds from all accounts that Georgia’s six early commitments are the cream of the crop. If you’ve seen the A.J. Green videos going around, you see why people like our early commitments. I just wonder in which direction this trend will head. Will it become an arms race between schools to get commitments earlier and earlier with more imprecise evaluations? Maybe basketball provides some guidance. Though junior recruiting and early commitments have become a big part of the hoops recruiting process, it’s not like the commitments are spilling over into the underclassmen (at least not yet).

One impact the earlier commitments are having is to diminish the drama of Signing Day and the weeks leading up to it. Again, it wasn’t long ago that as much as half of a recruiting class was filled in the final few weeks leading up to Signing Day. Colleges hosted dozens of prospects on these weekends with the pressure to get handfuls of commitments each time. Those situations still exist, but for many schools January is becoming a time to 1) shore up the commitments you already have and 2) land the three or four remaining pieces to the puzzle. This is an interesting development to me because the attention and suspense heaped on those who hold out until the end is a huge ego boost to those prospects, but it seems as if more are realizing that the real prize is that scholarship to a major program.

I’m not a recruitnik in the sense that I can name the Top 50 prospects in Georgia or that I get bent out of shape about stars and rankings, but this is still pretty interesting stuff to keep an eye on. It’s the future of the program after all, and shifts in how the recruiting classes are assembled are worth keeping an eye on.

What an incredible comeback overtime win over Kentucky for the Georgia basketball team tonight.

They looked dead in the water in the first half. Kentucky led by as many as 17, scored 43 first-half points, and shot over 55% for the half. How was Georgia able to turn it around so dramatically in the second half?

• Rebounding. Kentucky outrebounded Georgia in the first half. By the end of the game, Georgia had a 43-31 rebounding edge. Georgia outrebounded Kentucky by 15 in the second half alone. That’s pure effort. Very few of the Kentucky second half rebounds were on the offensive glass (I believe Coach Felton said it was as few as two). As a result, Kentucky only had 21 second half field goal attempts.
• Getting Brown and Gaines going. After impressive showings at Alabama, it was disappointing to see Gaines with just three points and Brown with two points at halftime. What was most disappointing was that Randolph Morris got in foul trouble in the first half, and Georgia didn’t really attack inside. They attempted 15 first half three-point shots and hit only two. Georgia was choosing to play as a perimeter team, and failing at it, when Kentucky was vulnerable inside. That changed in the second half. Brown finished the game with a team-high 20 points as he asserted himself and his teammates got him the ball. Gaines likewise responded in the second half and finished with 19 points. Much of Gaines’s damage came attacking the basket; he hit only one three-point shot in regulation.
• Help defense. Georgia’s aggressive defense relies a great deal on help and rotation, and they didn’t do it very well in the first half. Kentucky frequently went backdoor or found wide-open men on the weak side as the help was slow or nonexistent. The result was a shooting percentage over 55%. Georgia was much more active in denial of those passes in the second half, and it led to much more difficult shots for the Wildcats; they shot just 33% and scored just 22 points in the second half.

As impressive as the comeback was, they nearly squandered it at the end of regulation. Georgia again saw a lead fade in the final minutes as Kentucky came back from 65-60 to tie the game. The Bulldogs didn’t score in the final three minutes of regulation. Georgia again had the ball with a tie game and less than a minute left, and just as in Saturday’s game at Alabama, a way-off-target desperation heave by Gaines as the shot clock expired was the best shot they could manage. Fortunately Kentucky had less than a second to work with, and Georgia was able to regroup in overtime. Georgia’s going to have to get better at managing leads late in the game and making their final possessions count. It’s mattered in two straight games now and will surely come up again during the remainder of the season.

This big win moves Georgia to 4-2 in conference and has them tied for second in the East with Kentucky and a surprising Vandy team that has defeated three straight ranked opponents since losing at Georgia. Vandy’s latest conquest was LSU in Baton Rouge. Perhaps that’s a good omen – Vanderbilt beat Kentucky last weekend before the Wildcats came to Athens, and LSU will be next up for the Bulldogs this Sunday (right – Sunday at 3:00 and not Saturday).

Drew Butler, the son of legendary Bulldog placekicker Kevin Butler, has committed to Georgia ($) today after receiving a scholarship offer earlier in the week. Butler will likely have a chance to contribute first as a punter. 2006 punter Gordon Ely-Kelso graduates while placekicker Brandon Coutu will return for his senior season.

Hopefully Butler will be more successful than the last two placekickers who entered Georgia on scholarship. Brett Kirouac found a niche as a kickoff specialist, but that was the extent of his role. Andy Bailey gave way to Coutu in 2004 and has never overcome the inconsistency he showed as a freshman. Bailey got a second chance in 2006 when Coutu was injured, but he still performed poorly under pressure. Georgia’s last two placekickers of impact (Bennett and Coutu) have been walk-ons who eventually earned scholarships, and it was expected that Butler would follow the same path if he chose to attend Georgia. It was a mild surprise that Georgia offered a scholarship. Even Butler was surprised. "I did not see that happening," he told UGASports.com

If Drew does become the placekicker in time, he’ll surely be in the spotlight because of his pedigree, a pressure that surely would have been lessened had he gone to Duke or some other school. But he has chosen to embrace that legacy, and we’ll see if the next Butler can take his place in Georgia history alongside his father.

If you’re a college sports junkie, this is the kind of week you love to see. Four ranked opponents are coming to Stegeman Coliseum in five days:

• Wednesday night (7:00): Georgia men vs. #25 Kentucky. Tubby Smith and his fax machine are coming to town, and this is always the hottest ticket of the year for men’s basketball. Kentucky is definitely beatable this year but could be refocused after losing to Vanderbilt over the weekend.
• Thursday night (7:00): #14 Georgia women vs. #22 Ole Miss. Ole Miss at 5-0 is the early surprise in the SEC standings. They beat LSU at home and have two conference road wins unde their belt, but Georgia will be their first quality road test. Did the Lady Dogs turn a corner against FSU? This game will tell us a lot.
• Saturday afternoon (4:00): #2 Gym Dogs vs. #1 Florida. This is a regular season turf war. Florida has recently moved into the #1 ranking, and Georgia looked vulnerable last weekend. If Georgia is to remain as favorites for both the national title and SEC title, winning this meet is very important.
• Sunday afternoon (3:00): Georgia men vs. #22 LSU. This is a big game for a number of basketball-related reasons, but the biggest reason is that Kevin Brophy and his family will be honored at this game. Fans are encouraged to wear red.

Tickets remain for most of these events. Go to georgiadogs.com for more information.

I’m glad to see some basketball fans like the Georgia Sports Blog looking past some obvious officiating blunders in Georgia’s heartbreaking 78-76 loss at Alabama on Saturday and asking some critical questions about strategy and execution by the Georgia team.

Make no mistake, the officiating in the last 30 seconds would leave even Pac-10 football refs wondering about those calls. Coach Felton is right on when he focused on the calls at the start of the second half. Georgia had about 12 team fouls in the first two minutes of the half (only a slight exaggeration), and I can see how those calls made the Georgia defense, in his words, more "sensitive" to fouling. Was that a contributing factor to Alabama scoring over 40 in the second half or Georgia coming up with fewer transition opportunities? Probably.

To dismiss this loss as just poor officiating is to ignore what Georgia did down the stretch to lose the lead and the game. I think it would be a great disservice to this team to pat them on the backs for playing a Top 10 team that close on the road. It’s not OK to lose games that way.

Let’s not forget – this isn’t the first late double-digit lead that disappeared for the Dawgs this season. They led Western Kentucky by 10 with five minutes remaining before losing that game. Is there something else going on? Once I got past the refs, I had a number of questions about Georgia’s approach to the end of the game:

• Why was Alabama’s zone defense so effective? Georgia was held to a meager 26 points after an explosive first half. Was the unconscious shooting of Gaines masking some problems in the offense? Where was Stukes or any other guard to bust the zone?
• What happened on Georgia’s final possession? With over ten seconds left on the shot clock, Georgia had an inbounds play under their own basket. The only shot they could manage was an off-target heave by Gaines as the shot clock ran out. Brown, effective for much of the game, wasn’t involved in the play until he attempted to rebound the Gaines miss. Late-game situations often come down to individual execution and even improvisation (see the last play of the Arkansas game), but we’re still left wondering if that’s the best play they could come up with in that situation.
• Why are shot selection and clock management still issues? Sometimes the awareness and basketball sense of this team amazes me. You can see it the second that Gaines leaves the game. Why is Newman forcing bad entry passes early in the shot clock? "Toward the end of the game, we started rushing shots, taking quick shots and feeding their momentum," said Gaines. Anyone who has watched the team this year knows that these kinds of decisions are not isolated to one game.

I do disagree with the tone I’ve seen from some postgame fan comments that this game wasn’t important in the big picture or in the context of the postseason. Georgia missed a golden chance at the most valuable of all assets to have in the bank for Selection Sunday – a road conference win against a ranked opponent. It’s very dangerous to pick a conference record like 9-7 or 8-8 and work backwards towards it. True, most probably didn’t count a win at Alabama (or even Arkansas) in their ideal paths to 9-7. Still, each loss puts more pressure on the remaining games and removes a margin of error even from "should win" games like the return trip to Columbia. An SEC win in the hand that gets away isn’t something to write off so quickly.

The Lady Dogs nearly added another layer of misery onto the weekend, but instead they pulled it together for a nice comeback story of their own against FSU. FSU is a decent team this year – they have been ranked and are currently undefeated in the ACC. We knew this nonconference game sandwiched between SEC battles with ranked Vanderbilt and Ole Miss teams was a potential trap, and for 35 minutes it looked like much more than that.

After starting the game up 7-0, Georgia finished the first half with only 21 points. They shot 25% for the half and looked as impotent on offense as they had a week earlier against Tennessee. Tasha Humphrey was the only player hitting shots, and foul trouble once again put her on the bench. Nothing else was falling – around the basket, midrange, perimeter – nothing. For ten minutes, from roughly the 12-minute mark to the 2-minute mark of the first half, a three-point shot from Megan Darrah was the only Georgia basket. For the first time in a while, the team did shooting drills coming out of the locker room for the second half.

Things weren’t quick to improve in the second half. Landers called a timeout just to coach Angel Robinson who was being outworked and pushed around by FSU’s frontcourt. She responded and was the bulk of Georgia’s offense in the second five minutes of the second half. Still, Georgia trailed by 13 with twelve minutes left. They soon got it under ten and even closed within four points with eight minutes left. FSU responded immediately with a four-point possession to extend their lead. It looked to be over when the lead grew to ten at 60-50 with five minutes left. FSU’s Shante Williams was taking control of the game and breaking down Georgia’s defenders off the dribble in isolation.

Georgia quickly got a basket and a steal, and FSU began rushing shots. Georgia scored ten straight points, led by Tasha Humphrey, to make up the difference within just two minutes. Georgia continued to make big plays down the stretch for the win. Defense was solid and smart, and they hit enough free throws to put the game away.

The good news was that Humphrey played even better than she did on Thursday night. With two consecutive good games under her belt, it’s safe to say that she’s rounding back into form. Robinson responded when challenged by Landers and started to matter against FSU’s bulky frontcourt. Again, it needs to be noted that Cori Chambers finished this game and spent much of the second half on the bench. That’s three straight games where Georgia’s leading scorer hasn’t led the team in any respect. She really does need to get it together and play like a senior.

Ole Miss is up next on Thursday, and it’s a mild surprise that they currently lead the SEC with a 5-0 record. They’re ranked and riding high. They have a win over LSU at home to their credit, and they’ll take that momentum on the road to Athens.

With such a tough time of it against Tennessee last weekend, you’d hope that Georgia could look to its upperclassmen for leadership in the next game against a very good #14 Vanderbilt team.

That’s just what happened. Georgia pulled away from a tough Vanderbilt team in the second half for an 83-71 win last night. It was an upset of sorts as Vandy was the higher-ranked team, but Georgia certainly looked like the better squad. Tasha Humphrey started the game with two three-pointers and looked very much like the Tasha of old while she was on the court. The player of the game might have been senior guard Janese Hardrick who had a huge impact on both ends of the court and ignited Georgia’s second half runs. "I think the person that sparked us the most in the second half was Hardrick," said Coach Landers. She was active on defense, explosive in transition, and hit her free throws down the stretch. It’s the kind of game you’d hope she would have more often as a senior, so we’ll see if similar efforts are to come.

It wasn’t that high-scoring of a game (only 30-29 at halftime), but Vanderbilt’s pressure and fouls led to a very long final five minutes. Georgia was put at the line an incredible 42 times in the game and hit 76% of them – plenty good enough to keep Vanderbilt at a distance as they tried to come back. Vandy took the lead at halftime with a quick nine points from outside, but Georgia soon regained control in the second half by being much more aggressive on offense and attacking the Vandy pressure.

The Lady Dogs were usually able to solve Vanderbilt’s pressure defense, and Vandy’s aggressiveness on defense opened up a lot of chances for ball reversal and open looks. Meanwhile, Vandy was able to get some shots against Georgia’s 2-3 zone, but they were unable to make forward Carla Thomas much of a factor. The differences in the game were Georgia’s ability to create transition opportunities through plays on defense from Houts and Hardrick and then the play of Tasha Humphrey. Humphrey was big from outside in the first half with three three-pointers, and then she was effective inside for really the first time this season. She was only limited by fouls, and a few questionable calls led to her fouling out.

Cori Chambers continued to struggle. Held scoreless from the floor by Tennessee, she had two early three-pointers in this game but went cold. It started affecting other areas of her game, so she spent most of the second half on the bench. That wasn’t the kind of response you’d expect from a senior.

Because this win wasn’t over Tennessee or LSU, it’s pretty easy to overlook its importance. Vandy is a quality team though, and they could have easily beaten Georgia if the Lady Dogs were moping after the Tennessee loss. Georgia goes out of conference to play FSU this weekend at the Russell Athletic Shootout in Duluth, and they’ll face the next SEC challenge next Thursday when #24 Ole Miss comes to town. Ole Miss is playing very well right now, so that game plus this Vanderbilt win could go a long way towards establishing the 3-4-5 spots in the SEC standings.