Sports

The Georgia Bulldogs opened up spring practice in Athens, Georgia on Thursday afternoon. As practice begins, their are multiple question marks heading into the 2011 season.

1. What will Aaron Murray do for an encore?

QB Aaron Murray was phenomenal in his freshman year throwing for 3,049 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions.

Murray finished the year with a passer rating of 154.48 which was the best rating for a freshman QB in the nation, and second best in school history.

He is coming off of an injured ankle that he suffered following an incident while playing soccer. However, he is out of the walking boot and crutches, and looked great on the football field.

Murray was able to plant, and make strong throws, which is what made him so good his freshman year.

He still has room to grow, and even though he might not put up as strong of numbers as he did in his freshman year, Murray will certainly not disappoint in his sophomore campaign.

2. Wide Receivers have depth, but how talented are they?

One of the biggest question marks on the offensive side of the ball is how are they going to replace A.J. Green.

The 2011 Bulldogs don’t have one standout receiver like they had with Green, but they have a receiving corp that is very strong.

The group will consist of Tavarres King, Israel Troup, Rantavious Wooten and Marlon Brown.

Other additions include members of the Dream Team, Chris Conley and Malcolm Mitchell.

Conley will participate in spring practice because he enrolled early at the University of Georgia.

3. Will Todd Grantham’s defense be better in year 2?

It can’t be much worse than what it was last year. If it is even close, then Mark Richt will most likely be looking for a new job.

The defense has to improve, and Georgia Bulldog fans, don’t worry, it will.

By improve, I don’t mean slightly improve, there has to be a drastic change in the result of this upcoming season.

John Jenkins has not arrived yet and he will make Athens his home during the summer. He is the missing piece for Todd Grantham’s defense.

Earlier, I wrote an article about why Georgia’s defense will be better, which you can read here.

These are just some of the multiple questions regarding the Georgia Bulldogs as they begin the 2011 season.

For all the coverage and then some of Georgia football, make sure you continue to visit WUOG for continuous updates of spring practice.

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Post Game Brain Dump

I’ll spare you the game write-up becuase let’s be honest, this game was over as soon as Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie hit back-to-back threes.  The rest of the game was basket trading.

Instead let’s talk about some of the big themes from this victory and how it relates to tomorrow’s re-match against Alabama.

His name is Howard, but he goes by Trey.

Trey Thompkins most likely played his finest game this season, and quite possibly the best game of his career at Georgia.

His line: 22 points on 8-15 shooting, including 3-5 from three; 10 rebounds (8 defensive), and one block.  All in 31 minutes.

Thompkins said yesterday that his foot was “100%” and today it sure looked like it.

“Trey, he’s a very good   offensive   player.      When   he   is scoring,  it  really  helps  us  a  lot.    He  can really   pull   up   some   points,” said forward Chris Barnes. “With   him scoring inside, it really opens it up for our guards, like Dustin and Travis and Gerald to really hit that outside shot.”

Indeed, one of the biggest beneficiares of Thompkins play was easily Leslie who also registered a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.  However, the play of Thompkins actually helped Leslie more on the inside game.  Auburn attempted to double-team Trey regularly and were sometimes successful forcing some misses.  Instead of collecting the rebound though, Auburn would fail to contain Leslie who had seven offensive boards.  Five of his points came from the line where he often ended up after attempting to put Thompkins’ and other players’ misses in.

Like Barnes said, Thompkins play elevated everyone on the floor, but that does much more than open up the outside game.

As for his “best” game?  Coach Fox was unsurprisingly reticent to crown it, but he admitted it was certainly up there.

“It’s his best game in a long time. I   think   he   had   25   against   Kentucky, maybe.  But he really played well.  It’s the best he’s played in a long time,” said Fox.  ”Whether or not it’s his best game of the year, I don’t know.  But he did play very well.”

For Thompkins, it was another day at the office.  One with high expectations all around.

“I hold myself to a higher standard because my teammates do, my coaches do.  My coaches and my teammates expect a lot out of me and I expect a lot out of myself,” said Thompkins.

I’ll say this much.  It’s very difficult to beat Georgia when Thompkins plays like this.

NCAA Tournament Mumbo Jumbo

Of course, the press conference was alive and well with questions concerning UGA’s NCAA tournament hopes.  I haven’t seen Joe Lunardi’s sixteenth incarnation of his bracket of the day, but I’m assuming Georgia is now in his “Last Four In”.  However, it’s pretty obvious Georgia has no interest in talking about bubbles and bids.

Chris Barnes on whether or not  the team keeps up with the latest “Bracketolgy”, fighting laughter: “We  don’t.  We try not to look at that.  We just try to take it one  game  at  a  time.  Every  game  is critical.  We  got  to  come  out  and  play every game the same, no matter who the opponent  is.  And  that’s  how  we  go  into every game.  We just got to come out and just play hard. A  lot  of  people  been  saying  stuff about the NCAA, but us as team, are notlooking   at   that   right   now.  We’re   just looking  forward  to  the  next  game.”

Fox added: “Today was a chance to play in the SEC  tournament  and  a  day  to  try  and advance.  And  that’s  all  we  have  talked about  all  week.  And  I  haven’t  allowedthem to talk about anything else.”  Later adding, after being asked if he thought the game against Alabama was an elimination game or not: “No, we have played the  entire  season  to create a tournament resume in which the committee will evaluate.    And  we  have  tried  to  do  what the  committee’s  asked  us  to  do.  Play  a schedule  that’s arranged in the top 40 in the country, win enough games with their RPI’s in the top 40, win more games than we  lose  in  our  league,  have  a  winning record on road.  We tried to do the things that the NCAA committee has traditionally asked for. So  that  body  of  work  hopefully  will be   evaluated   as   it   always   has   been. Alabama’s  probably  tried  to  do  the  same thing.”

Georgia is an NCAA tournament team and today proved that.  Win or lose tomorrow, I think they’re in.  A win certainly wouldn’t hurt things though.  I’m such an idiot.

I’ll have a little bit later tonight previewing tomorrow.

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