Sports

Georgia gets a win to close out a rocky 2009, beating Pepperdine 64-47. Mark Fox seemed satisfied with the effort.

For those of you wondering why the waves would coast all the way out to Georgia for a basketball game, Fox spent six seasons under Pepperdine coach Tom Asbury’s tutelage. In post game comments, Fox credited Asbury as coaching the “best man to man he’s ever seen.” Fox considers Georgia’s defensive effort tonight a “credit” to Asbury’s abilities as a coach and mentor.

Forward Trey Thompkins said that Fox told the team that this game “meant a lot to him.” Georgia’s defense certainly showed as much, tallying 6 steals and holding Pepperdine to just 34.6% shooting on the night.

Offensively, Fox thinks that Georgia is “starting to get more comfortable” on that side of the ball. Georgia had a more balanced attack tonight, Trey Thompkins contributed 12 points. Travis Leslie was the Dawgs’ leading scorer with 14. In total, eight players scored for Georgia on the night.

One area of weakness was at the charity stripe. Georgia came into the game leading the SEC in free throw percentage. Tonight the Bulldogs shot a paltry 50% which Fox contributed to a lack of focus.

On the whole not a bad effort out of the Bulldogs. Thompkins did chip in the double-double. Georgia had 15 second chance baskets and 32 points in the paint. Georgia won the rebounding battle 43-28… which was to be expected with their height advantage. The effort on the glass is going to be put to the test going forward. Georgia travels to Columbia, MO to take on the Missouri Tigers in a game Trey Thompkins has listed as a “resume win.” After that, its Georgia Tech and the meat of the SEC schedule.

For now, Georgia can close the book on a 2009 that has been rocky to say the least. If tonight is any indication, I don’t think that this Georgia team is going to be a doormat in SEC play. This is a tough team that plays good, hard-nosed defense and has some athletes on the offensive end.

I hope you enjoyed tonight’s blog. Everyone have a safe and happy new year and Go Dawgs!

Kirk Carter here with yet another live blog of Georgia Men’s Basketball.

It’s a cold and blustery night in Athens, a great time to be protected by the Stegemann Coliseum as Georgia gets set to tip off against the Princes of Malibu aka the Pepperdine Waves. The Waves will be a long way from the warmth of the California coast, we’ll see just how much the distance affects their performance here tonight. Georgia looks to close out a 2009 that saw three head coaches and more losses than any program cares to see. As a reference for Georgia basketball’s current stature, local radio is broadcasting the women’s game in favor of UGA-Pepperdine… there isn’t another program in the country where I could see that happening. By the way, the Lady Dogs are 12-0 and ranked #8 in the country… kudos. There is hope however, Georgia is coming off a win against Illinois and, despite some rough spots, has looked like a team that is really starting to mature under new head coach Mark Fox.

The battle hymn is playing and we should be underway shortly… stay tuned to the blog throughout the night. (more…)

The Georgia basketball team was always going to face an uphill battle this season. Former Coach Dennis Felton left the program with the mindset of losing and failed to bring in much of the vast pool of basketball talent from the state of Georgia. Coach Fox won’t be able to change the recruiting situation immediately, but his efforts to change the mental approach were in full display in Georgia’s (5-4) 70-67 victory against Illinois (8-3). (more…)

Welcome to Gwinnett Arena where the Dawgs look to knock off 8-2 Illinois. Georgia is coming off a tough loss in Madison Square Garden to St. Johns whereas Illinois have won 4 in a row. Looking around the arena that holds 13,000 it’s not even close to capacity. There’s a lot more orange than red. Luckily it’s not Tennessee orange because Tennessee orange makes me vom. (more…)

Gambling is something I’ve always been interested in. How does Vegas know where to set the lines? Why do the lines move — is it the big money bettors coming in or are the “Joes” laying silly money for parlay bets? Where do these guys get their information? (more…)

The rich get richer. It seems to be the theme this winter in the Baseball world. First the Yankees and now the Phillies. Heck even the Mariners have a great one two punch now. The three team blockbuster trade announced yesterday that sends Roy Halladay to Philadelphia, Cliff Lee to Seattle, and some top prospects to Toronto was finalized today with some new additions. Toronto is sending Philly’s OF prospect, Michael Taylor, to Oakland for Brett Wallace, a 1B/3B.
My first thought upon hearing the mega trade was why? Why is Philly shipping one of the best left handed pitchers in baseball away? Yes they get a phenomenal pitcher in Halladay but it’s also really nice to have a left handed stud on the mound for you. After further investigation I found that the main source is money. Oh how it always comes back to money. Halladay is willing to sign a deal below market value, where as Lee wants top dollar. Who can blame him though? And Philadelphia decided to part ways with the leftie and pick up the all star Halladay. Philly does give up their top two prospects but in return get some solid prospects from Seattle. So is this really a fair deal? Here’s the whole trade as reported:

* — minor leaguer

I’d have to say that on paper this doesn’t seem fair. Not only do the Phillies get what some say as the Mariners top two pitching prospects and a top OF prospect, they also receive 6 million in cash. Who knows how this deal will pan out in the long run. Only time will tell. If the prospects the Blue Jays picked up bust then it’s a horrible deal for them. If they help turn the Blue Jays team around then it’s gold. It will be interesting to see how all these prospects end up.
Seattle makes a big statement out there in the AL West with this addition of Cliff Lee. They now will have an outstanding one two punch with Lee and Felix Hernandez(who did wonders for my fantasy baseball team last year). The Angels need to get to work this off season if they want to continue their reign over the Mariners. Their former ace, John Lackey signed a five year, 82.5 million dollar deal with the Boston Red Sox, who also picked up Mike Cameron to boost their dwindling offense.
In other baseball news the Cardinals are pushing hard for Matt Holliday as they re-offered him a five year deal. The Mets continue to move strongly in signing Jason Bay.  And it appears the Braves are just sitting back quietly now after their early deals of solidifying the bullpen. They need to get things going and sign a big bat. If that doesn’t happen I look for them to perhaps trade Derek Lowe, which will be difficult since he has such a huge paycheck.
Who knew we’d be heavily talking baseball in December? Its America’s favorite past time and some teams continue to get stronger as others chances appear to slip away this winter. But there’s still plenty of time before the season starts and I’m sure lots more crazy deals will surface. Until next time…

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Welcome to WUOG’s first Bowl Madness Pick ‘Em contest! The bowls are all posted here. Copy and paste them into the comment section and capitalize who you think will win the game. You’ll get 1 point for each game. For the National Championship (The BCS one, not the SEC), also include a score which will count for 2 bonus points to whoever is closest. The winner with the most points will get an awesome prize. I haven’t secured it yet, so I won’t give anything away (read: it might be a picture of me). (more…)

The Big East/SEC Challenge is underway. While it certainly lacks the ESPN hype of the yearly showdown between the ACC and Big Ten, it is a challenge nonetheless. Speaking of challenges, Georgia looked challenged (in more ways than one) on a Wednesday night in Madison Square Garden losing to Big East benchwarmers St. Johns 56-66.

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John Isner returns to Heatin’ Up to discuss his upcoming charity event in Athens called Rock n’ Racquets. We also talked about his ranking, his “twitter account” and some issues with the ATP tour.

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Football Jesus is here to let you know the best play in the SEC Championship this week plus some thoughts on the rest of the country’s games.

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