Thompkins Staying Put

I couldn't attend tonight's UGA basketball awards dinner, but the big news from the event is that Trey Thompkins announced he'll be back for his junior season.

You can read his comments from the awards ceremony at Marc Weiszer's blog HERE.

SEC Tourney Post-Game Reactions

About to close up shop here in Nashville, but some final input from Mark Fox and his players...

Fox on the game and the season:
“I’m upset we lost. I didn’t plan on losing. We were planning on being here (Saturday) afternoon. I am proud of this team because when I came everybody kept telling me how terrible we were. I don’t know if we were necessarily a great basketball team, but we beat some people maybe we weren’t supposed to beat, we’ve given our program some momentum, and we earned some respect back. In rebuilding, those are steps you have to take. So I don’t feel empty because we did take some steps forward, but I’m angry that we lost.”

Fox on Travis Leslie's 34-point performance:
"Travis played very well. I think that he's really matured as a young man and as a player, and he played very well last night, and was able to put back-to-back games together. I wish we had a couple more guys that could have done that. He's really maturing as a player, and that's good to see."

Fox on Trey Thompkins' scoreless first half:
"They zoned us the majority of the ballgame and they were shaded towards Trey. We had a tough time finding openings for him, but he's been our best player and our leading scorer all year. So obviously when you go into a game, the defense is going to be geared to slow him down. And when we've been most effective, we've had more than one guy that has scored next to him. Tonight, we really only had Travis effectively scoring around Trey and just couldn't draw some of that attention away from him."

Fox on his post-game message to his team:
"I just told them that we were prepared to play tomorrow. I never felt like this team wanted this season to be over. I didn't have that sense at all today. Often times at the end of the year, you sense guys that are just waiting for it to end. I never sensed that with this team. And they were excited to come to the gym every day, and today also. I just told them that they've made some momentum forward and earned some respect back for our program, and I'll always be appreciative of that."

Fox on the decisions facing Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie about the NBA:
“They need to decompress, but I’ll sit down with them and talk about their futures and find out what the pro people say and manage the process. Travis has already said he’ll be back, but Travis needs to approach the offseason the right way, and both of them mean a lot to me. Those are great kids and I’ll help any way I can.”

Fox on UGA's chances of a postseason tourney bid in the CBI or CIT:
“We’re not going to get an invitation somewhere to play. We don’t have a winning record, and I’m pretty sure we’re done playing.”

Jeremy Price on his thoughts if UGA did get a chance to keep playing:
"We're a competitive team, and if there's a chance to compete of any kind, we'll go in and win it."

Price on the second-half shooting of Vandy's John Jenkins:
“Jenkins is a great 3-point shooter and it seemed like he just made those 3s at the right time for them and the wrong time for us. Right when we were making our run to get back in the game and get ahead, he squeezed in two wide-open ones and two tough ones, and that was a game-changer.”

Trey Thompkins on Vandy's performance:
“They’re at home. They had momentum. They had a crowd, and they were confident. They played hard, relentless. And that rewards you.”

Thompkins on his NBA decision:
"That's something I don't even want to think about right now. If that time comes, I'll talk it over with my coaches and make the best decision for me."

Thompkins on whether the team's progress makes him want to stick around another year:
"We're maturing as a group and everybody's getting older -- we'll all be a year older and more experienced. A lot of those games we were close in and we lost, we'll start pulling out."

Travis Leslie on his future:
"I'm not thinking about that right now. If I do, it's going to be up to my parents, and we'll figure that out whenever we get a chance."

Damon Evans on his assessment of the team:
"I saw a lot of growth this year. We're building a program, and I'm excited we were able to come to this tournament and win a game to move our program forward. The young men fought hard, and I think Mark and his staff did a really good job to start that process, and I'm excited about what the future holds."

Evans on whether the team exceeded his expectations:
"I always felt Mark would come in and do a good job, but where this team really showed me something is the improvement from the players individually, the improvement from the overall chemistry together, and how hard they fought. I think they exceeded a lot of people's expectations, and I'm pleased with the progress -- extremely pleased."

Searels & Thompkins: UGA's Two Best Big Men

Just finished up at basketball practice, but the real show had little to do with the UGA hoopsters.

Georgia's assistant football coaches were playing a pick-up basketball game in the practice gym -- going the width of the court rather than length-wise -- and I would have happily paid admission to watch that -- and make a few jokes about it.

The star? That would be Stacy Searels, who not surprisingly played like Bill Liambeer -- throwing elbows, sweating profusely and occasionally draining a shot from the perimeter you wouldn't have expected him to hit.

Mike Bobo played the point and did so with a new-look goatee. Or perhaps that was Mike Bobo's evil twin. Either way, John Lilly was no match for him.

But the real bummer here was that there was no appearance by Scott Lakatos, who should have been stepping in to represent the Big East. (And note, there was no Todd Grantham or Mark Richt either, despite Richt's penchant for the trick shot.)

And the quote of the day comes from Mark Fox: "I told them if they wanted to keep playing here they had to start going the long way and not the short court."

A few other hoops notes:

-- Talked to Fox about playing at Vandy, where the benches are on the baselines instead of the sidelines. He said the team has practiced that, but added, "I don't know how much they listen to me during the games anyway."

-- Fox also said he has never coached in Vandy's gym before, but it was one of the places he was looking forward to going when he took the job. Added Trey Thompkins: "It's one of those places you can tell it was used for something else before it was a gym." That's exactly how I feel about places that used to be IHOPs.

-- Fox said he's fine with playing Thursday-Saturday this week, which is part of the deal with the new SEC Network agreement. He said that's what he did every week while at Nevada, so he's used to it.

-- Talked to Trey a bit about his NBA future. Here's what he had to say...

On whether he considered the NBA last year...
"I didn't think about it because I knew personally I wasn't ready. I just wanted to come back to school. I became a much better player, and with the coaching change, it didn't slow that process down at all. ... Coach Fox let me know things individually that I had to improve, and I think I've become a better player."

On whether he considered transferring after last year...
"Every now and then, but when Coach Fox came in, we had our meeting, I talked to him about it, we settled it, and obviously I'm still here."

On whether he gives much thought to people writing about him and Travis Leslie being potential lottery picks in 2011...
"Not at all. We take it one day at a time and play basketball. If that's what people say, that's what people say. We just try to stay within our team and stay focused on the task at hand."

On what it's like playing alongside another player being talked about as a lottery pick...
"It's a blessing because Travis is a great player. He's showing the world what he can do and it makes our team so much better."

On whether he has thought about leaving for the NBA after this year...
"I haven't really thought about it just because I want to take care of this season before I let anything else come to my mind."

On what he wants to work on as a player before heading to the NBA...
"Being more of a vocal leader and taking care of the ball. Those are two things I need a lot more improvement on."

On whether the team's turnaround makes his decision harder now than it would have been...
"Yeah, because I want to be known as a guy who helped the program go from where it was to where it will be."

Fox's Dawgs Have Some Bite

I haven't been able to cover much basketball so far this season with football and the coaching search and various other distractions cropping up. I'm hoping that will change as we get into the new year, but in the meantime, we've kept up some excellent coverage of Mark Fox's crew thanks to Fletcher Page, who has been on the beat for the majority of the Dawgs' games for us.

Of course, I wanted some hoops talk on the blog, too, so Fletcher was kind enough to put together some thoughts on Georgia's huge victory over Illinois and what might still be to come for the Dawgs. Here goes...

I’m still trying to get my head around Georgia’s big win over Illinois, four days after the fact. And just to get a couple notes out of the way.

1. I didn’t give the Bulldogs a chance to win.

2. After watching warm-ups, keeping the game within reach, in my mind, was a stretch.

3. I don’t think I was alone in this line of thinking (judging from the amount of Georgia fans in the Gwinnett Arena. There may have been more Illini faithful filling the seats.

But I was proven wrong from the opening tip.

Following the game I joined four of my closest buddies for a quick trip to a Harrah’s Casino to partake in some post-graduation (University of Georgia, December class of 2009) gambling.

And as we surveyed the casino floor for the first hour or so, I gravitated toward the blackjack tables, despite never playing live before. I tell this story because my blackjack experience felt like the Illinois game. I’ve played, and won at the slots before (let’s say, teams like St. Louis, New Orleans or Jacksonville St). I’ve also wasted money sitting at said slots (in similar fashion, UAB and Wofford). No disrespect to the slots, but blackjack and poker is where it’s at in casinos, and Illinois was Georgia’s blackjack.

Anyway, back to my gambling. I finally worked up the nerve to sit at a $15 dollar minimum bet table (hey, at my budget, I felt like Michael Jordan laying down $100,000 a hand. (All I lacked was a cigar. And a real amount of money). I started with $40, and doing quick math, I realized I could be heading back to the ATM in less than five minutes. But I had a strategy, developed by my good friend Heath. Since I’d never played before, but kind of knew what was going on, I needed to keep things simple. If the dealer wasn’t showing a face card, and I had 12 or more, I was staying. I wasn’t concerned with splitting cards, doubling down and all that. If the dealer was showing 10, or a face card, I’d hit. That simple.

My first hand: a measly 14, with the dealer showing five. I stayed put, and the dealer busted. What a rush, and I was on my way from there. Second hand: I had a King and nine, dealer showing a King. He flopped a nine, and push. Wow, I almost lost $15, but I took a shot and kept playing.

I went on to win six of the next nine hands, and started to build confidence. After a few more hands I cashed out at $115, stood up and realized, I can play this game, and hold my own. Yet, I still wasn’t quite sure what I was doing.

And Georgia’s experience with Illinois was much the same. The game started, and like me, they won the first hand. The Bulldogs weren’t flashy, working methodically on offense to get shots and at times Illinois got some easy baskets, but Georgia wasn’t losing it’s money. Finishing tied, 32-32, at halftime Georgia players had to be thinking: We can play this game and hold our own.

Well, I couldn’t stop at just 20 minutes of blackjack. My buddy Heath and I, joined by another friend, sat back down at a $10 table. And I won my first four hands. At this point I’ve got the swagger, thinking how easy this was and wondering why I hadn’t played this enjoyable game in the past. And then I lost $170 dollars in about 15 minutes. Nervous, but still focused on my next hand, I was dealt two sixes. Not quite sure of what I was doing, I split the pair. My first card dealt was another six. “Hell, split it again,” Heath said. So I did. Ended with a 16 for my first hand. Then a five came, so I doubled down. That hand turned into a 17. And then another six game, so I split once more. I’m now working with four hands against the dealer, with my last two showing an 18 and a 15. These were not strong hands, but the dealer had a seven.

At this point I’ve got a crowd behind me, and the dealer, Bob, swears he’s never seen a hand like this. I didn’t believe the guy. Had to have the dealer bust, or I was flat broke. Adding to his seven, he flipped a ten. Yes, he’d have to hit again. And….BOOM! Bob flips a nine, for a 24. And I went from nothing to $220. Our party of five, joined by random players went wild, high fiving and screaming. Even the pit boss (who looked eerily similar to Avery Johnson) was smiling. That’s saying something.

Anyway, in a roundabout way, I started connecting my blackjack experience to the Illinois game. Georgia got up by as much as nine in the second half, and got somewhat ahead of itself. The Bulldogs started working the clock, and soon enough, the riches turned into a deficit. Blowing the lead, the Illini pulled ahead with 30 seconds to go. Georgia needed this win, to prove big games could be won. Sophomore forward Trey Thompkins gave the Bulldogs their “split sixes” moment, hitting four free throws, and securing a crucial rebound down the stretch.

Comparisons to blackjack aside, Georgia needed this win. Illinois rolled into Duluth with an 8-2 record, with wins over ranked Clemson and Vanderbilt. And just so you know, I did attend last year’s game in Chicago’s United Center when the Illini embarrassed the Bulldogs by 34 points. That game was a bust.

When I told my friends about the huge win, I got the “How in the world did that happen?” response, and questions about how Illinois played. But the Illini didn’t lose this game. They had only eight turnovers, shot 80 percent at the free-throw line and guard Demetri McCamey scored 21 points and looked like a cornerstone player.

But Georgia was the bigger team, wanted to play more physical, wanted to make more hustle plays and wanted to prove they could hang with a power program.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Georgia outrebounded Illinois 37 to 29, scoring 12 second-chance points.

“The boards really killed us and points in the paint did too,” said Illinois head coach Bruce Webber.

The Bulldogs scored 38 points in the paint.

And, despite 15 turnovers, the Bulldogs had 16 assists. Georgia shot 49 percent from the field, adding 13-of-18 from the charity strip.

Know this about Thompkins: He’s not quite an Ace and a King, in terms of blackjack hands. But he is a solid 18. He can win some games, but there is still improvement to go. He did have some forced shots and missed a few wide-open guys while being double-teamed. But when Georgia needed those two points at the end, there was no doubt who was getting the ball. And Trey came through in the clutch. When he hit those free-throws, there was no sigh of relief or weight off his shoulders feel. He looked like he had been there before, and that’s a needed attribute from a team’s go-to guy.

Also, Travis Leslie has his own blackjack likeness. Doubling down on the eleven is the only way to play. Sometimes you’re dealt a King for 21. Sometimes you get a four for 15. In the second half Saturday night, Leslie was a 21. He had 13 points, looking unstoppable off the dribble. He drew, by my count, four fouls in the second half alone while driving to the basket. Yes, he is an athletic freak, evidenced by the block he had with just over a minute to play that kept Georgia on top by two at the time. But don’t forget, we’ve seen Leslie come out mentally flat before, racking up turnovers and getting in early foul trouble. That’s what happened in the first half. But he is slowly putting his game together, and it’s been fun to watch his progression.

Georgia is building a decent team behind the two sophomores Thompkins and Leslie. And Ricky McPhee is becoming a solid third guy, a Steve Kerr-like shooter to join Georgia’s Jordan and Pippen (I know, I just compared Trey Thompkins to MJ. I’m sorry). But this team has some nagging deficiencies.

Georgia got only four points from the bench (not counting Thompkins’ 21, who came off the bench after having two wisdom teeth removed earlier in the week). At the end of the game, point guard Dustin Ware and Thompkins looked gased, with hands on the knees during stoppage in play and Leslie was cramping up. Chris Barnes and Jeremy Price combined for three points. Freshman Ebuka Anyaorah, Demario Mayfield and Vincent Williams logged only 16 minutes combined, totaling two points. And Drazen Zlovaric, or The Secret Weapon as I call him, struggled mightily Saturday. Georgia was minus-7 when he was on the floor in the second half.

As a team, the Bulldogs shot 3-of-13 from three. As Thompkins gets better, the double-teams will only increase. Somebody other than McPhee has to be able to shoot the ball with confidence to spread the floor to at least give Trey a chance to do work.

Ware is really the only player on the perimeter Georgia has that I trust with the basketball. This just isn’t a team adept at handling the ball.

Coach Mark Fox’ team is what it is. This is a team with size and talent in the frontcourt, and still working to find solid perimeter contributions.

But to finally sit at the blackjack table, so to speak, playing a formidable opponent, and to come out on top at the end of the night was huge for a young team in the first year of the Fox Era.

Sitting at the table was the first step, and taking home a profit with a win over Illinois proves Georgia can get the job done.

As for me, as the night wore on, I had my ups and downs gambling, but ended up tripling my money.

And you can bet, like Georgia, I’ll be sitting at the table again in the near future.

Saturday Odds & Ends: Tavarres, Thompkins and Tattoos

A few tidbits for your Saturday reading pleasure...

-- Georgia's scrimmage won't start until 8 p.m. tonight. Fletcher Page will have stats posted as soon as possible afterward, but it will probably be pretty late.

-- Speaking of Fletcher, he has a nice feature on Darius Dewberry in today's Telegraph that I encourage you to check out.

-- Another link for ya... Bernie's Dawg Blawg has video of yesterday's Watermelon cutting festivities. One note for Bernie: Baccari Rambo's not a good swimmer, so I think yesterday's fun in the pool was not as much fun for him.

-- Answering a couple of tweets...

First, @dukes01 asks: How is Tavarres King doing?

Rather than type up the whole response, I'll simply point you over to Macon.com. I had a story on TK and Israel Troupe earlier this week with some updates on their progress. Here's the money quote on King, however, courtesy of cornerback Brandon Boykin:

"A.J. (Green) is a great receiver, but T.K.'s just as good. He has the smoothest routes I have ever seen. It's tough guarding him, and I do it every day. I think this year you're going to see T.K. get on the field and make some plays."

And second, @allyugadawg hit on a big mystery with this question: Why do all of our coaches wear sweatshirts in the summer? Seriously, it bugs me. I need to know.

I asked Claude Felton, Georgia's excellent sports information director, and he said he always assumed it was a weight-loss tool. But the mystery got even deeper yesterday, according to Fletcher, who said Mark Richt even had long sleeves on in the pool!

Tyler Estep's best guess: Richt has some serious tattoos he doesn't want to show off.

-- And one final bit of info that should come as some good news. I'm doing a freelance story for a magazine previewing Kentucky's upcoming basketball season under John Calipari, so I interviewed Wildcats sophomore Darius Miller the other day to get some quotes.

Miller spent the summer playing with the USA Under-19 team, where he was teammates with Georgia's Trey Thompkins, so I managed to sneak in a question about that, too.

Miller's assessment is pretty encouraging...

"Trey's real good," he said. "I'd seen him before, and I think he's been working real hard because he's gotten a lot better. He really impressed me when he was over there. He had a lot of good games, a couple 20-point games, and that's tough to do when you play with a lot of good players."

Miller said he has stayed in touch with Thompkins over the summer and he's definitely looking forward to the Wildcats' first matchup against the Dawgs once the SEC season gets going.

"It should be a lot of fun," Miller said, "and we'll probably do a little bit of trash talking that day, too."

What, Me Worry?

Everyone else may have been sweating things out, but Mark Fox said he was never too worried about the future of star forward Trey Thompkins.

The sophomore, who will be Georgia's top returning scorer in 2009-10, had been reluctant to commit to returning to the team following the termination of former coach Dennis Felton in January, but announced last week that he would definitely be back next year.

The news came with a sigh of relief for fans of the team which doesn't figure to have much offense to spare next season, but Fox said he was always pretty confident that Thompkins would stay put.

"Trey never once told me I'm going to leave," Fox said. "He was just frustrated. They had a tough year last year. I listened to his frustration, and he had some very mature thoughts. But he always had a smile on his face when I've been with him, so I wasn't really overly concerned he was going to leave. But certainly he had to get comfortable with me before he said he was going to say."

SEC Notes: Anonymity Restored in Coaches' Poll

Mark Richt said he doesn't particularly enjoy being questioned about his vote in the USA Today Top 25 coaches' poll, but he can always defend his selections.

Whether the rest of his coaching brethren can do the same thing, however, will remain a mystery beginning in 2010.

The American Football Coaches Association decided Wednesday that starting in 2010, the final ballots of individual coaches will be kept anonymous, keeping fans from finding out which coaches may have submitted questionable votes at season's end.

The issue is of particular importance because the coaches' poll is a key component in the BCS rankings, which determine the teams that will compete for the national championship, and coaches could potential bump one team up or another down to suit their own interests.
While the public won't have the chance to judge, Richt said coaches have been assured that the administrators of the poll will continue to monitor ballots closely for outliers, so he's not particularly concerned about the consequences of anonymity.

"It's not that big a deal to me either way," Richt said. "There's some built-in accountability, and that's all we need, whether it's public display of the vote or someone watching it to make sure it doesn't get way out of whack."

MORE THE MERRIER

The number of graduate assistants allowed on the field for practices and games was a prime topic of debate when football coaches met with the SEC's athletics directors Wednesday.

The NCAA currently allows teams to employ just two graduate assistants as on-field coaches, which makes it particularly difficult to run scrimmages during practice sessions, Richt said. Teams already employ two additional grad assistants in capacities often deemed "quality control," but those assistants are not allowed field access.

"We just want to take those guys who already exist and allow them to be on the field," Richt said. "It's not going to cost any more money or anything like that."

Any changes will need to be ratified nationally, Richt said.

More specific to the SEC, however, is a rule that forbids coaches from attending coaching clinics in which they aren't speaking. Other conferences, including the ACC, do not employ a similar rule, giving SEC coaches a distinct disadvantage on the recruiting trail compared to some of their in-state rivals.

"You don't want your competition in recruiting to be able to spend time with coaches when we can't," Richt said, "so we're trying to free it up to if you have an in-state clinic, you should be able to go."

MIXING IT UP

One topic of debate among the SEC's basketball coaches was the scheduling of a tougher non-conference slate among the league's schools. With just three SEC teams making the NCAA tournament last season – and only one advancing beyond the first round – the issue of adding to the league's overall strength of schedule was at the forefront.

That's not an issue for Georgia, head coach Mark Fox said, since the Bulldogs already have several tough out-of-conference games lined up, including road dates with Missouri and Virginia Tech and a neutral-court game against Illinois. The bigger issue is finding teams that want to come to Athens.

"We have some teeth in our schedule," Fox said. "The concern for us right now is just securing home games."

Fox said Georgia is nearing agreements with several teams for the 2009-10 season, and contracts should be signed by the end of the week. Still, several open dates remain.

"We have made some progress, but we're not done by any means," Fox said. "But we've made a significant dent in it."

While simply finishing a schedule remains a daunting task now, down the road Fox would like to see Georgia play a number of big-name opponents once he feels his roster has enough talent to handle it.

"We want to play a high level schedule," Fox said. "Once we can establish the quality of our team, we'll play an extremely difficult schedule, but it's a process."

NATIONAL EXPOSURE

Georgia forward Trey Thompkins was one of 17 players selected to attend the USA Under-19 National Team trials next month in Colorado Springs, Colo., and will compete for one of 12 roster spots on the U.S. national team.

As a freshman, Thompkins averaged 12.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per game last season.

Video Blog: Fox on Recruiting

Georgia basketball coach Mark Fox discusses his approach to recruiting at his point in the year, along with his relationship with star forward Trey Thompkins.

Still No Decision From Thompkins

New Georgia basketball coach Mark Fox has spent his first month on the job frenetically trying to find a few new additions to his team, but he still isn't clear on the future of one of his top current players.

After Fox's hiring, freshman forward Trey Thompkins said he would wait until the end of the spring academic semester before he made any decisions on whether he would return to Georgia for his sophomore season, and while Fox said he has enjoyed a strong relationship with Thompkins thus far, that timetable hasn't changed.

"Trey will do what's best for him, as he should," Fox said. "Certainly there's a great future for him here, but he deserves time to get to know me. I understand that."

Thompkins was one of several Georgia players to admit he wasn't sure who Fox was when the coach was hired nearly one month ago, but said he would reserve judgment until he had a chance to learn more about Fox.

While NCAA restrictions have prevented Fox from overseeing significant practice sessions and workouts since he took over the program, Fox said Thompkins has remained a crucial part of the team. He simply hasn't assured his new coach he'll be around in the fall.

"He hasn't directly said that, but he and I and his family have had some great conversations," Fox said. "He's been a part of everything we do. He's hosted recruits, he's done everything. We've had some very healthy conversations, but right now he's focusing on finishing the semester."

Thompkins averaged 12.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per game as a freshman last season, but battled injuries early in the year, while getting little offensive help most of the time. That has been a key issue Fox said he hopes to remedy for 2009, which started with the addition of point guard Vincent Williams, who committed to Georgia earlier this week.

Thompkins will be the only Georgia player not to enroll in summer school, Fox said. Instead, he'll attend the Team USA Under-19 tryouts, a move Fox said he fully supports.

Sophomores Zac Swansey and Troy Brewer announced their intentions to transfer prior to Fox's hiring, and Daniel Miller, a commitment left over from Dennis Felton's tenure as head coach, was granted his release as well. Miller landed at Georgia Tech.

Several other players, including Thompkins, publicly discussed the possibility that they might follow suit, but Fox said that so far, he expects the rest of his team to return next season.

"I have not had one player tell me, 'I'm leaving' or 'I want to leave,' " Fox said. "Their response, their actions have shown that they're excited about the direction. I've been pleased with their reaction to what we want them to do."

With just one senior and few offensive weapons returning to a depleted roster that finished last in the SEC East a year ago, however, Thompkins' return will be the most crucial and it remains a top priority for Georgia's first-year coach.

"He's a great kid, and we've had a great start," Fox said. "We've enjoyed time in the gym, time in the office, and I look forward to helping him grow and improve. That's the goal."

Video Blog: Mark Fox

Georgia basketball coach Mark Fox discusses Trey Thompkins' future with the program, the reaction he has gotten from the rest of the roster, the input he's had from other SEC coaches and several other issues that have come up in his first month on the job.