Thursday, March 12, 2009
Well, Georgia's bball season is over...
Now bring unto me, a new coach!
After watching the dysfunctional mess that was the 12-20 2008-09 UGA basketball team I'm ready for a reason to feel good. Now your mission Damon Evans is to do what has never even been attempted in Athens before, make Georgia hoops nationally relevant.
This will not be easy. Already many in the NCAA hoops pundit class are chattering away about Georgia's not a good job, low fan support, blah, blah.
To them I say... SHUT IT!
Georgia is potentially a HUGE bball power in the making. Consider what is in place already:
The facilities are first class, ok the arena is mediocre, but the practice facility is top of the line and the academic building for athletes is the best of it's kind anywhere.
The recruiting base is top 5 nationally. Athens is 60 miles NE. of Atlanta. Atlanta is arguably one of the top 3 cities in America for HS hoops. Nearly 10 percent of the 2009 Top 150 prospects in the nation hailed from Georgia. Dennis Felton signed none of them, the next coach could recruit a full class of top prospects without using anything more fancy than a QT gift card. If anyone ever manages to truly lock top Georgia hoopsters in state look out.
We can pay top dollar. Really. We haven't before, we've never really invested in hoops, but that doesn't mean we can't. Some 70% of division 1 athletic departments operate in the red. Georgia is over $20 million in the black, in short if we want to go big swinging dick on the college bball world and offer somebody $4 million a year we could. Money will not prevent us from getting a coach.
Fan support is a negative only because we haven't won. If you build it they will come. The Steg was full for Tubby and Harrick's best assemblages, and could easily be so again. Some 1+ million folks live within about 45 minutes of Athens, some of them will watch bball.
The time is right, comparatively speaking the SEC is down bball wise right now, which offers the perfect opening for the rise of a new power. If Florida can win 2 NCs in bball there is no reason UGA can't shoot for at least one. Get it done Damon, dazzle us with a hire so sparkling that recruits say woah, and rivals say, Shit. Do it now, for you may not get another shot.
After watching the dysfunctional mess that was the 12-20 2008-09 UGA basketball team I'm ready for a reason to feel good. Now your mission Damon Evans is to do what has never even been attempted in Athens before, make Georgia hoops nationally relevant.
This will not be easy. Already many in the NCAA hoops pundit class are chattering away about Georgia's not a good job, low fan support, blah, blah.
To them I say... SHUT IT!
Georgia is potentially a HUGE bball power in the making. Consider what is in place already:
The facilities are first class, ok the arena is mediocre, but the practice facility is top of the line and the academic building for athletes is the best of it's kind anywhere.
The recruiting base is top 5 nationally. Athens is 60 miles NE. of Atlanta. Atlanta is arguably one of the top 3 cities in America for HS hoops. Nearly 10 percent of the 2009 Top 150 prospects in the nation hailed from Georgia. Dennis Felton signed none of them, the next coach could recruit a full class of top prospects without using anything more fancy than a QT gift card. If anyone ever manages to truly lock top Georgia hoopsters in state look out.
We can pay top dollar. Really. We haven't before, we've never really invested in hoops, but that doesn't mean we can't. Some 70% of division 1 athletic departments operate in the red. Georgia is over $20 million in the black, in short if we want to go big swinging dick on the college bball world and offer somebody $4 million a year we could. Money will not prevent us from getting a coach.
Fan support is a negative only because we haven't won. If you build it they will come. The Steg was full for Tubby and Harrick's best assemblages, and could easily be so again. Some 1+ million folks live within about 45 minutes of Athens, some of them will watch bball.
The time is right, comparatively speaking the SEC is down bball wise right now, which offers the perfect opening for the rise of a new power. If Florida can win 2 NCs in bball there is no reason UGA can't shoot for at least one. Get it done Damon, dazzle us with a hire so sparkling that recruits say woah, and rivals say, Shit. Do it now, for you may not get another shot.
