Thursday Links (3/11)

We might be a bit lighter on posts than I was anticipating during my stay in Nashville. My hotel room doesn't have WiFi (seriously, they still make hotels like that?) so I'll mostly be working from the arena -- where I'm headed in a few minutes.

Before I head out though, I'll leave you with a handful of links...

-- As I wrote in today's Telegraph, this has been a year of small steps for Georgia, but now they'll need to take a huge leap forward if they want their season to continue.

-- I had a commenter tell me Georgia is a 200-to-1 longshot to win the SEC tourney. I certainly don't think they're going to win, but I think that's a number I'd be comfortable laying a few bucks on.

Sports Illustrated seems to agree that the Bulldogs are a dangerous team in this tournament, and it also suggests the SEC needs to reconsider how it seeds teams.

-- Tim Tucker looks at the interesting career path of one-time Georgia walk-on Ricky McPhee.

-- T Kyle King peers into the future and breaks down what the UGA schedule in 2013 will look like and debates the merits of renewing the rivalry with Clemson. Just a thought here, since I was discussing it with our pal Fletcher Page last night: What happens if we see some significant conference realignments between now and then? I'm not suggesting that the SEC should go changin', but if the Pac-10 and Big Ten start absorbing teams and grow to 12- or 14-team conferences, the landscape around the country could look a good bit different by 2013.

-- Of course, while King wants to see Clemson in the 2013 slate, Clemson's head coach wouldn't mind playing Georgia -- next month! Now that's thinking outside the box, and I love the idea.

-- Washaun Ealey ditched No. 24 but Chip Towers writes that Ken Malcolme is ready to slide into that jersey when he arrives in Athens.

-- UGA Blog kicks off the unofficial Heisman campaign for A.J. Green.

-- Chris Low is impressed by the intense work ethic of Aaron Murray. Which reminds me of this quote from Mike Bobo about Murray back in December...

"Aaron Murray comes in every day like he’s the starter, looking at the game plan and takes notes and does a phenomenal job mentally of preparing like he’s going to play every week."

-- While Todd Grantham and the QB competition will garner the majority of the headlines, Dawgs Opinion thinks Orson Charles could be the key player for the Bulldogs in 2010.

-- BlogTalkRadio has a terrific interview with Rennie Curran about how he's getting ready for the NFL draft. Definitely worth a listen.

-- Bernie is getting excited about the future of Richard Samuel, who could help Georgia fans forget how much they lost when Curran left.

-- Former Bulldog Charles Grant says he wants to be able to play against the Saints -- who released him last week -- next season, and has his eyes set on joining the Falcons.

-- The Baltimore Sun profiles Georgia swimmer Anne-Marie Botek, who will be leading Georgia into the national championships next week.

-- Gordon Beckham is expanding his horizons beyond baseball. He's going to be showing off his musical talents in a charity event hosted by teammate Jake Peavy, too.

-- Conan O'Brien has officially announced the tour dates for his traveling show, and he'll be in Atlanta on June 14. My tickets are already purchased.

-- Betty White is officially on board to host "Saturday Night Live" on May 8. I'll be interested to see how the SNL writers make this not funny.

-- Here's the background on how Jimmy Kimmel put together the terrific Handsome Men's Club skit.

-- I've stated before that I don't think "Family Guy" is nearly as amusing as it used to be, but this would have been a fantastic idea.

-- And finally, Michael Emerson talks about playing the new, nicer Ben Linus.

OK, hoops the rest of the day. Be sure to follow me on Twitter, where I'll post any breaking news or reviews of the free food spread at the arena.