Basketball in Georgia: UGA, Tech and Hawks

If you don’t already know, I’m a huge football fan and with me covering the Falcons for the past three years for SCORE Atlanta (check us out at http://www.scoreatl.com/), my blogs on this site tend to be more focused on the pigskin. But this time I want to talk about basketball and where it stands in the state of Georgia when it comes to college and pro.


First, I want to focus on the Georgia Bulldogs. I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched a lot of Georgia Basketball this year, but I ask myself “are they ever going to turn that corner?” After winning the SEC Tournament in Atlanta last year, I thought this team is taking a step in the right direction. But I was wrong. In their last game against the Kentucky Wildcats, the Dawgs only shot 31 percent from the floor. In fact, they have yet to beat an SEC opponent this season. Now I will say the team is relatively young with Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie both true freshmen and they second and third on the team when it comes to scoring, respectively. But from what I’ve seen, somebody has to step up if they want to make another run at the SEC crown. With Florida improving and Tennessee continue to play at a high level, it’s going to be a hard road for the Dawgs to get back to their winning ways.


Now on to Tech. Before I go any further, Georgia has an excuse for struggling because they do not get the recruits that Tech does. It seems that GT has the tools to compete in the ACC, but they have yet to win a conference game and are standing at 9-9 overall. Former Norcross standout Gani Lawal has played well, leading the team in points-per-game and rebounds-per-game. But it seems as if the Jackets are out of sync and have a lot of growing up to do. They have the ability to get off to fast starts, but for one reason or the other, they cannot close out games whether its turnovers or missed opportunities, the Jackets are struggling and the schedule is not going to get easier with Clemson and Wake Forest on the horizon. I’ll say this, Derrick Favors and Glen Rice Jr. cannot come to Tech soon enough.


And now the Hawks. This team is a prime example that if you continue to build through the draft and acquire the right players via trades, you can be successful in the NBA. They currently stand at 25-16 which is good enough for fourth in the Easter Conference. They are doing this with good backcourt play by Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby, and solid bench play by Mo Evans and Flip Murray. They have been better defensively and can shoot the trey if they need to. They still need that a good post player, but they will make the playoffs and could possibly win their first round series. They just need to get healthy as Marvin Williams, Al Horford and Acie Law are out due to injuries.


So I’m disappointed that the Georgia and Georgia Tech, but the Hawks are finally back to their winning ways after a decade hiatus. With high school basketball big in the Atlanta area, Georgia and Tech fans can hope that both teams can improve keeping the best high school players in the area in state. If they can do that, they will get better. As for the Hawks, they just need to keep playing at a high level and try to better their seeding. But nonetheless, Philips Arena should be rocking this spring as they make another playoff push.