Georgia Basketball: End of Season Review

Let me start by saying I am glad Mark Fox is the coach of my favorite basketball team. He has done a very good job in bringing Georgia Basketball back to national relevance. I say national relevance because they are legitimately in the discussion of in or out of the NCAA tournament.

That being said, my view is that the things that were weaknesses/struggles at the beginning of the season remained through out the season/never improved. In correlation, this team should not be sitting at home with what should be A LOT of worry about whether or not they're in. For what it's worth, I don't think they're in nor do I think they should be in. I'm a firm believer in winning your way in and the 2011 Georgia basketball team did not do that.

Chief among the aspects that never improved for Georgia is the fact that Fox allowed guard Gerald Robinson to play out of control for several possessions in several different clusters in many games. Robinson would try, at times, to take the game over with dribble drives ending in highly contested shots and/or virtual trick shots, which turned into crucial misses or turnovers. Georgia is a better team with Gerald Robinson no doubt but, he also hurt them in quite a few games.

Free throw shooting; especially Trey Tompkins. Somehow, some way, free throw shooting has to be close to/virtually automatic. No legitimate reason for it not to be. This doesn't warrant any in-depth discussion. Bottom line, make your free throws.

Execution against the press. One could argue that it got better later in the season by way of number of turnovers (of which the Dawgs had A LOT versus the press) but, turnovers due to the press are merely one aspect of beating the press. When facing the press it comes down to getting across half court then running the offense. When they did get it across half court they were so out of rhythm that the half court offense went nowhere and possessions were basically lost.

2nd half implosions. We all know this song, not just in chorus, but verse by verse. Needless to say, improvement was basically non-existent. And the chance at a tournament berth ended with another 2nd half implosion.

I believe the Dawgs are NIT bound which is probably best for them to have a chance at playing more than one game. If they get in the tournament they will be no better than a 12 seed and will probably be one and done. As a matter of fact, they are likely to be a "First Four" participant if they get in and may never make it to a Thursday/Friday game. Georgia earned the NIT, bottom line.

Top 5 Sports Post Seasons

1. College Football: Bowls/BCS- In my head, I'm a playoff guy. HOWEVER, in my HEART, I'm a college football guy above any and all else. I want a college football playoff to crown a national champion BUT, I love the bowl system for those not in the NC mix. The bowl system gives us more, more, more by way of games to watch than a strict playoff system would. And, lets all be honest, we LOVE the debate created by the BCS. It brings about A LOT of attention and emotion.

2. College Baseball: College World Series/Omaha- I like the regional/Super Regional format as it offers some really good college baseball overall. Not to mention the Coellege World Series which, for me, is the one event that each year I feel like I'm there even though I'm watching it on TV. There is an emotional aspect by players and coaches that I've not noticed/felt at any other level of baseball. I hate they're leaving Rosenblatt and I worry that the loss of Rosenblatt will change some of the unbelievably unique atmosphere. However, as a simple post season, I can't imagine it would be passed by any below.

3. Major League Baseball: Playoffs/World Series- It was really hard for me to decide between MLB and NFL post seasons in the three and four slots. In the end, I went with the MLB post season because it offers more fluidity in that it offers weekday games. Additionally, the World Series still has a magic to it that few others have. I love football much more than baseball but, I get more on a fluid scale from MLB than the NFL offers. Additionally, as you'll read below, I feel the NFL goes too far with the Super Bowl.

4. NFL: Playoffs/Super Bowl- Some call the Super Bowl the greatest singular sporting event in America, some say the World. I'm not quite that poetic with the Super Bowl. For one, I get REALLY tired of the two week build up that merely turns into rhetoric to fill air time for NFL TV affiliates. It's simply too much: too many talking heads that build up story lines for the game that rarely come through. As for the playoffs as a whole, they're good most years and offer some good weekends, but overall they tend to be a little to cut and dry for me.

5.NCAA Basketball: March Madness- Let me start by saying I'm not a basketball fan as a whole. I pull for Georgia, and that's where it ends. However, I am not ignorant to what March Madness is as a post season event. It is exciting and it does draw me in annually for short periods of time. I love filling out a bracket and Cinderella stories as well as learning who got what seeds and who made the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, and Final Four. The Championship Game itself is something I may not watch altogether.