Blutarsky needs no help pointing out the faulty thinking underneath John Feinstein’s latest column railing against the BCS, but I’m still amazed that Feinstein concedes that college basketball has more or less a three-week regular season.

It’s true that one of the biggest tradeoffs between college basketball’s emphasis on the postseason and college football’s emphasis on the regular season is the quality of regular season nonconference games. Because a loss or two during the regular season for a college basketball contender isn’t the death knell that it might be for a football contender, basketball fans get some very high-quality matchups. In two of the last three basketball seasons, the national finalists had played each other earlier in the season.

But, as Feinstein unintentionally implies, those great pre-January games are little more than exhibitions because the games that get the real scrutiny are those “played the last three weeks of the season.” College basketball did itself a great disservice by marginalizing those major early-season clashes. A team’s performance in its final 12 games was one of the selection criteria used in determining the NCAA Tournament field, essentially setting aside portions of the regular season as less important.

Feinstein’s view of the three-week college basketball regular season was so entrenched in the sport that the NCAA recently had to clarify that a basketball team’s final 12 regular season games will no longer be considered as part of the selection criteria. “Parsing a particular segment of games and implying it had greater weight than others seemed misleading and inconsistent,” said SEC Commissioner and Division I Men’s Basketball Committee chair Mike Slive.

Feinstein asks, “Are the BCS apologists trying to say that the college basketball regular season has no meaning?” It’s not just the BCS apologists, John. The recent admission and correction by Slive’s committee is proof enough that even college basketball’s inner circle is struggling with the issue.

An e-mail sent a few weeks earlier notified fans that July 6th would be the date of the annual stampede to buy football parking spaces in one of four campus decks. Since certain decks, specifically Hull St. and the South Campus Deck, had sold out quickly in the past, the appointed hour of 8:00 AM was an important detail.

So it was a pretty big shock to those who logged on right at 8:00 to see the Carlton Street Deck as the only option for purchase. Nearly half an hour of refreshing didn’t reveal a solution, and the message boards soon became active with complaints from fans with similar stories. Those who were able to reach Parking Services by phone could only say that Parking Services was aware of the problem and a fix was coming. A temporary “hack” was found in the meantime: the missing decks could be located by using the web site’s Search feature, and at least those who knew about the workaround could complete their purchase.

Soon after 8:30, the glitch was fixed and all decks became visible on the correct page. The Hull Street Deck has since sold out.

You can currently buy spaces for $120 in the three remaining decks: Carlton Street (Coliseum), the South Campus Deck, and the North Campus Deck.

I don’t know if it was the best decision to start the parking land grab the Monday morning after a major holiday, but it was a pretty big screw-up on the part of UGA Parking Services not to be ready right at the promised hour of 8 AM. I hope not too many of you were inconvenienced.

UPDATE (9:55 AM): Now Hull Street and the South Campus Decks are sold out. Parking remains available in the North Campus and Carlton Street Decks.

Rivals.com has an outstanding look from a national writer about the job ahead for Georgia’s new basketball coach. It talks about developing a winning culture at Georgia and also illustrates the mandate to recruit well in the state and in metro Atlanta.

Anyone who’s followed the program during the last few years can really relate to this quote:

“He really emphasized that to be a winning team, you can’t have external problems. He really pushed to eliminate any of the simple mistakes you can make.”

While catching up with some friends in Athens a few weeks ago, we agreed that you could pretty much say the same thing about Joe Cox as you could about new basketball coach Mark Fox: everything sounds great so far, but now let’s win some games.

Fox, for his part, has made all of the right moves. His staff makes sense. He’s reached out to the fans whether meeting with local boosters or evangelizing on the football-focused Road Tour. He’s even signed a player at a position of need and hit the recruiting trail hard in the talent-rich state of Georgia. Short of actually putting a competitive team on the court, he seems to be off to a great start.

It’s much the same for Cox. Coaches rave about his attitude and ability. His teammates speak well of his leadership. Strong marks in those intangible areas aren’t a form of homely-person-has-nice-personality; Cox has talent. Greg Biggins of Rivals.com gushed at the 2004 Elite 11 camp,

In fact, with the exception of Mark Sanchez, no one was more impressive than Cox. He won every accuracy contest during the week, showed better than average arm strength, is incredibly smart and is a natural born leader. In fact, the college counselors voted Cox as the Best Leader of the group….He drew raves from all of the college counselors because of his mature game and his keen understanding of the position.

There’s that leadership thing again. Anyway, all that’s left to do is actually take the field, as Jim Donnan was fond of saying, when the band’s playing.

The level (or lack) of experience and quality among SEC quarterbacks is a big topic this week getting play everywhere from Get the Picture to Dr. Saturday to EDSBS to TSK. Without getting too deep into that discussion, it seems that it’s a pretty normal year with a few standouts, some teams dealing with known rubbish, and a healthy group of teams hoping that their young or inexperienced (or both) quarterback is going to develop into someone who can do more than just “manage the game” (a euphemism that usually means you’d better have a strong running game and defense).

Georgia is firmly in that final group. Cox isn’t a proven quarterback yet. Yes, there’s the Colorado comeback. (Everyone remembers the Colorado game, but memories become hazy when his subsequent start at Ole Miss comes up.) Though we’ve seen Cox on the field, he’s still as unproven as any incoming Bulldog starter since David Greene in 2001.

Depending on your level of pessimism, you’ll see Georgia’s quarterback situation in one of Hinton’s scenarios:

If your team has a quality returning starter, or a long history of producing quality starters and strong candidates to continue the line (a la Aaron Corp and Taylor Potts at Southern Cal and Texas Tech, respectively), that’s one thing; you have nothing to worry about except injuries.

The vast majority of offenses are either breaking in new starters or welcoming back a so-so option they’re just hoping will emerge as a respectable within-the-offense type, in which case, don’t get your hopes up.

During the offseason I’ve seen Cox compared to every recent Georgia quarterback but Quincy Carter. The comparisons, I’ve found, have little to do with Cox and more to do with how people view the state of the program. Cox is neither Shockley nor is he Tereshinski (or Zeier or Bobo or Stafford or Preston freaking Jones), but the split is definitely there between those who see him as the next in a long line of quality starters and those who see him as a placeholder until one of the younger quarterbacks is ready.

No one’s claiming that Cox will be able to step in and duplicate the throws we saw from Stafford. We’re talking about someone in Stafford who left as the #1 draft pick after his junior season. It’s hoped instead that a more experienced and healthy offensive line will give him enough time and room to do what he’s able to do well. You don’t need a first-rounder under center to win in the SEC, but you also can’t do much with a stiff. Cox is neither, and Georgia will find out pretty quickly against some quality competition whether he’s up to the job.

How do you expect the season to go for Cox? Will his leadership and talent make him an above-average performer in a relatively weak year for SEC quarterbacks? Will he prove to be more like Snead and Tebow or Crompton and Burns? How much will he struggle with a young group of receivers? Will he make the most of his one year as starter, or could someone else finish the season at quarterback?

On the fifth anniversary of Damon Evans’ first day as Georgia’s athletic director, how things have gone depends on the metrics you choose.

Business can hardly be better. The core “product” of football is second only to Texas in the amount of revenue it generates. The overall athletics program, under Evans’ stewardship, remains one of the few nationwide that are firmly in the black. Additional revenue from SEC television contracts and a new marketing and broadcasting contract with ISP Sports will only strengthen that revenue stream.

Facilities have taken a step forward. There’s been impressive investment in the basketball programs and gymnastics. The football program is about to get a big boost from an expanded Butts-Mehre facility.

Academics are another strong point. The APR is solid across the board, and policies have been put in place that all but drag a kid out of bed to go to class. The Rankin Smith Center is a tremendous resource for student-athletes, and the academic support structure is comprehensive.

So from the point of view of a business, things are great. Meanwhile, fans are most concerned with what’s happening on the field. Business is athletics, and teams are judged not by revenue or graduation rates but by wins and titles.

Since the “Titletown” year of 1999 that brought the program four team national championships and and Georgia’s highest-ever Sears Cup finish, the program has finished out of the Top 10 four times. Two of those instances have come in the past three years.

Georgia’s Sears Cup / NACDA Learfield Sports Cup position

1999: 2nd
2000: 12th
2001: 3rd
2002: 8th
2003: 15th
2004: 5th
(Evans took over on July 1, 2004)
2005: 7th
2006: 9th
2007: 12th
2008: 10th
2009: 18th

Georgia’s spring sports were its strongest this year. Baseball, softball, tennis (M+W), golf (M+W), and track (M) contributed more to Georgia’s point total than fall and winter sports combined. Yes, football counts. No, equestrian does not.

Is it a slide? It looks that way. Is it a collapse? Not at all. If the program continues to slide out of the top 20 next year, there might be a trend worth talking about.

Does the Director’s Cup standing really matter? When Georgia does well, it’s a nice point of pride on a summer’s day. As far as many fans are concerned, the strength of the football team is a proxy for the state of the athletic department, and that area is doing just fine. That’s not to belittle the other sports; it’s just that it’s hard to indict the golf team for not winning the national title or men’s tennis for not three-peating. These are the kinds of sports on which we usually depend for the higher Director’s Cup finishes, and a year in which the Lady Dogs only make the field of 64 instead of reaching the Sweet 16 isn’t the end of the world.

As Evans begins his sixth year on the job, he’s to be commended for having a program that’s strong and successful by every administrative standard. But with much of the focus on “budget” and “brand” these days, the lowest finish in the Director’s Cup in over 10 years is a reminder that athletics is still the point of the athletic department.

See also:

• UGA showing strong progress in Evans’ first five years (ABH)
• The Steady Erosion of UGA Athletics? (GSB)

Kendrun Malcome, a self-described “power running back” from SW DeKalb HS, has committed to join the Georgia signing class of 2010. He’s currently 6’0″ and 215 lb. but also has the speed and vision to be more than just a straight-ahead power runner.

Malcome had offers from Oklahoma, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, FSU, and several other schools. The deciding factor seemed to be Georgia’s style of offense and reputation for putting running backs in the NFL. With Knowshon Moreno going in the first round this year and three other recent tailbacks making NFL squads, the system is in place for a quality tailback to succeed.

“My top two were Florida and Georgia. Oklahoma had another guy commit before me so it was Florida and Georgia. In the end, I felt my running style fit best at UGA. I like the pro style offense they run, and I took a long look at the lifelong benefits of being a Georgia alumnus,” Malcome told UGASports.com.

Georgia running backs coach Bryan McClendon was also a big part of Malcome’s decision. McClendon’s young age and Atlanta roots made it easy for Malcome to relate to the former Bulldog receiver, and that relationship was a factor. Malcome has friends and family like Mack Brown and T.J. Stripling also considering Georgia, so the good news from DeKalb County might not be finished just yet if Malcome has anything to say about it.

If you’re a Rivals.com subscriber, they have no fewer than five features up about Malcome and his commitment:

• Photo Gallery
• Commitment story
• Comments from his SWD coaches
• Malcome stood out at an early age
• Analysis: What is Georgia getting in Ken Malcome? (Short answer: Musa Smith)

Matt Hinton adds a few thoughts to the SEC’s run-pass balance discussion and looks at whether the pass has overtaken the run at the national level. He touches on a fundamental point – how a game develops affects a team’s run vs. pass decisions later in the game.

What would be illustrative is to look at when teams run. If you build a first half lead through the air and then seal the game by running the entire second half, your offense will look balanced (or at least more balanced than it looked at halftime). Was it? If you had a 1,000-yard back who put up most of his yards in the second halves of blowout wins, would it make you think differently about the player? Of course not all successful teams can or do skew rushing numbers this way – some just don’t have the running game, and others keep the foot on the pedal until the scoreboard need an additional column.

On the other hand, Hinton notes, “passing is a result of losing.” If you find yourself behind often, it makes sense that you’re going to be forced to the air even if you might consider yourself balanced or even a run-first team.

Boxscores-by-half would be really useful for topics like this, but, sadly, that’s an idea that has never taken off.

Trending younger?

Eric Berry’s 13-year-old brother has committed to play for Tennessee. Of course nothing is binding until Berry signs several years down the road, and we don’t even know who the Tennessee coach will be 4 years from now.

I’m not really worried about football following down the road of basketball and getting involved in earlier and earlier recruiting. You notice how football really isn’t feeling pressure to allow one-and-dones or draft straight from high school, and it’s for the same reason we’re not going to see a slew of offers go out to high school underclassmen, let alone 13-year-olds. Whether from high school to college or college to the pros, the physical development that takes place at each level in football is just to significant to skip over.

The junior year still remains the line in the sand for most of college football recruiting. Coaches are aware of younger prospects, but it’s that late junior year and on into the summer camps where much of the action remains.

Speaking of recruiting…

Georgia’s secondary got a big boost with the commitment of Newnan’s Alec Ogletree, the nation’s top safety prospect according to Rivals.com. The comparison to Thomas Davis was used a lot over the weekend.

It’s been a fruitful couple of weeks on the recruiting trail for the Georgia defense. Will the offense make a statement of their own soon?

We do what gets rewarded

I have no doubt that Steve Spurrier’s team will meet the APR threshold that gives him a bonus. Remember, the APR only measures progress; it doesn’t measure the relative quality of that progress. Spurrier meeting the target will be the story and not the behind-the-scenes wrangling that goes on at a lot of schools to make the numbers work. That’s old news, after all.

Finally…

Law enforcement agencies in Athens used the occasion of Athfest to set up DUI checkpoints over the weekend, and 48 violators were nailed. In a sign that things might really be different this year, it looks as if no Georgia student-athletes were among the 48.

Georgia picked up their tenth commitment of the 2010 class on Thursday, and it’s the Bulldogs’ sixth pledge so far from the state of Florida.

Linebacker Deon Rogers of Treasure Coast High in Port St. Lucie, Fla. committed after attending Georgia’s camp two weeks ago and receiving an offer. Rogers’ offer sheet at the moment isn’t overwhelming – it includes Buffalo, Florida International, South Alabama, and Duke – but Georgia’s offer came only after the coaches were able to see Rogers at camp competing against some of the most talented prospects in the southeast.

Rogers’ position is a little up in the air. Two weeks ago, he told Rivals.com that Georgia was recruiting him as a weakside defensive end. The Rivals.com article on his commitment though has him at linebacker. At right around 200 lb., he’d have to really fill out to play defensive end, but he has the 6’3″ frame to do so. Do the Dawgs see another Marcus Howard in him? Last year Rogers recorded 14 tackles for loss and 12 sacks, so he does know how to get into the backfield.

It has to be noted that Rogers’ teammate is Jeff Luc, the nation’s top-rated inside linebacker prospect. The two are by no means a package deal, but Luc is also considering Georgia.

Robert Dozier, who once committed to play hoops at Georgia, was selected by the Miami Heat with the 60th and final pick in last night’s NBA Draft. For some reason, it seems oddly fitting that the closest Georgia came to the draft was a player who never actually enrolled at Georgia and who was involved in some sort of shady academic deal.

It was a weak night overall for the SEC with only a trio of players from the conference going in the second round (Meeks, Thornton, and Calathes). A couple of individual teams can claim to have had as much of an impact on the draft as the entire SEC.

David Hale and Anthony Dasher both had conversations this week with starting left tackle Trinton Sturdivant about his personal progress since his season-ending knee injury. There’s also some good information about the composition of the starting offensive line. From left to right, the current first team line is:

• LT: Trinton Sturdivant (RSo.)
• LG: Vince Vance (Sr.)
• C: Ben Jones (So.)
• RG: Cordy Glenn (So.)
• RT: Clint Boling (Jr.)

If you’ve heard Mark Richt speak at any of the Road Tour stops, this is pretty consistent with how Richt had the line. The only real question was at guard and whether Justin Anderson would work his way into the starting lineup, and he still might – there’s still plenty of time for things to change before September.

Regardless of the ultimate lineup, if everyone stays healthy (always a big “if), we’re left with two statements we haven’t been able to make about the Georgia line for years: every Georgia starting lineman returns with starting experience, and the Dawgs are going to be able to bring in guys off the bench with multiple starts under their belts.

The biggest unknown with the line has been whether the injured players will be able to step back in at a high level of play. That might be more of an issue with someone like Chris Davis whose more recent hip surgery still leaves him in a likely reserve role. But for Sturdivant, it’s going to be less of a concern. Sturdivant “no longer has to wear the brace on his knee and doesn’t even have to go through treatment any longer,” according to Dasher.

If Vance and Sturdivant are able to return anywhere near full strength, the composition of the line will also allow the Dawgs to bring along newcomers at a more normal pace. In the past two years freshmen like Austin Long, Chris Burnette, and Dallas Lee might be forced into starting roles. Now, if injuries can be avoided, many of them will have the opportunity to redshirt and not hit the field as starters until 2011 when they’ll have had 2+ years of development.

Though the return of Sturdivant is one of the most important developments of the preseason, the depth situation at tackle is still a big concern relative to the strength of the interior line. Sturdivant and Boling are solid starters. After that, Josh Davis was able to step in last year, and Anderson is able to play right tackle. Vance stepped in for Sturdivant last season at left tackle before Vance’s own season-ending injury. Austin Long is an incoming tackle, but he will redshirt after back surgery earlier this year and isn’t an option. Kiante Tripp is back on defense. So there are options in the event, God forbid, of injury, but they’re largely the same as last year and better interior linemen than answers at tackle.

The ability of everyone to stay healthy through the summer and into the season is meaningful not just for depth but also cohesiveness. Though everyone on the starting line has starting experience, this combination of players has never taken the field in a game. “We’re focusing on getting used to the player beside us because last year everybody was mixed up, switching positions every so often every week,” explained Sturdivant. A line full of experienced players is great, but it’s less of an advantage if the quarterback, tailback, and even the other linemen don’t know how the unit will work as a whole. The more time the guys have to get to know each others’ game and the more time Cox and the other members of the backfield have to get comfortable, the bigger positive impact the line will have on the season.

In today’s ABH, a letter writer suggests that the athletic department take some of the large new contract with ISP Sports and distribute it among Hartman Fund donors.

Why doesn’t the athletic association do the right thing and spread the wealth this contact (sic) will provide? …it won’t cost the association a dime. This new contract provides “found money,” and it’s only appropriate that a portion is returned to those who have helped make the program what it is today.

I’m sure this guy has also fired off a letter to Matthew Stafford reminding Stafford of the role of Hartman Fund donors in providing a place where Stafford could hone his skills and land such a lucrative pro contract. If we’re going to pander for a handout, let’s not stop at the Butts-Mehre building.

UGA has announced that the Sept. 19th game at Arkansas will be under the lights at 7:45 ET.

The Sept. 12 Georgia-South Carolina football game in Athens and the Sept. 19 game between Georgia and Arkansas in Fayetteville will both be televised at night by ESPN and/or ESPN2.

The Georgia-South Carolina game will be televised by ESPN2 at 7:00 p.m. ET. The Georgia-Arkansas game will be on either ESPN or ESPN2 at 7:45 p.m. ET.

It would have been an upset if she hadn’t won. Courtney Kupets was awarded the 2009 Honda-Broderick Cup on Monday as the nation’s top female student-athlete. Kupets, who’s won the award twice now, has now cemented her place not only as one of the best collegiate gymnasts of all time but also as one of the most-accomplished collegiate athletes in any sport.

Also, Lady Dog point guard Ashley Houts was one of 12 players named to the USA national team representing the country July’s World University Games. She and Trey Thompkins, named last week to the USA Basketball U19 team, will bring back valuable international training and playing experience against some of the world’s toughest competition.

I’m having trouble wrapping my head around this Monday afternoon post from David Hale. It’s nothing to do with Hale’s writing but rather the “star of the team is the team” approach taken by Mark Richt.

Chemistry is a very real issue with any organization, and we’ve all seen otherwise talented teams that just didn’t click. In that sense, Richt’s observation that the players “really decided that they have to come together as a team and work their tail off and get after it” is very positive. We’ve been treated since the end of the season to dozens of hazy accounts about leadership and chemistry on last year’s team, and most everyone has been quick to point out how different things are this year. I’ve said my peace about that, but we’ll go along with it.

I don’t get the connection though between all of that and the downside of “relying on a Stafford or a Moreno to carry the team.” If we’re talking about the Patrick Ewing Theory here, fine. Sometimes teams do have successful seasons when stars leave, and sometimes teams can get caught up waiting for the stars to take over. I can even see where that can have an impact on chemistry if others resent the attention. Is that what Richt is really getting at?

But was leaning on Stafford and Moreno really near the top of the list of last year’s shortcomings? The Georgia offense was 3rd in the SEC in scoring and 2nd in yardage. It seems as if they were up to it, even behind a patchwork line. Of course the Dawgs won’t have those two to lean on again this year, and that’s where comments apply about a stronger offensive line taking some of the pressure off.

Teams lean on, single out, and promote stars all the time. Of all of the things that made “last year one of the toughest years,” I’m having trouble seeing how “the Bulldogs fans and the media (focusing) on those two guys” was unfair or misplaced attention. They deserved it, and they much more often than not delivered. What did too much attention on Stafford and Moreno have to do with the SEC’s #10 scoring defense or a secondary whose interception total was challenged by the defensive line?

Here’s another thing: fans and the media are going to continue to focus on certain standout individuals even on a team that claims that “the team is the star.” It’s what we do. Fans and media focused on Stafford and Moreno last year, and they’ll focus on A.J. Green, Rennie Curran, and the Owens/Atkins tandem this year. We’re going to expect Green to make incredible catches and big plays – he’s going to have to with so little returning production at WR. We’re going to be looking for Curran to fly all over the field because someone has to be the spark on the defensive side.

The team-first approach is important, and whatever gets these guys ready to play together can only be a good thing. But few teams, especially at this level, succeed without bona fide stars. Successful teams have players who understand and embrace their roles whether they get top billing or are among the supporting cast. The trouble with last year’s team wasn’t so much leaning on some of the biggest stars ever to suit up for the Bulldog offense; it was that not enough of the rest of the team rose to that level of play.