JH (on the road tonight): it was a great game, up & down. JH has
a lot of disappointment about some things that happened. Some of it has to do
with our individual play - shot selection, etc. They had a couple of guys step
up late. Daniels getting in foul trouble certainly changed the momentum.
JH very surprised at Vandy beating Bama in Nashville. Stallings is getting a
lot done with what he has. Plus, playing at Vandy is very difficult. You've
really got to go over there and play well to win.
LSU beating Miss. State is
no surprise. They caught MSU after
Florida beat them. Two road teams won ..
Tennessee's win at Ole Miss surprised JH since Ole Miss doesn't lose
often. Also,
Arkansas scored only 37 points losing at home to
Auburn. JH is
afraid Arky will have a tough time this year, kinda like JH's first year
at UGA. And Cliff Ellis may be as good of a coach as there is on the western
side.
There are some things to address in practice. JH said he is disappointed in
himself, as he let us go 4 possessions without really trying anything against
a Florida match-up zone (at least not anything that worked). After that
we found something that would work - getting Jarvis in some good spots. Then
we got a tough call against Jarvis at the end which JH thinks should've
been a no-call. But those things happen and you've got to survive them.
Well into the show, a caller told JH he is to be commended for not killing the
ref. JH jokingly said if he'd gotten near the guy he might have. Scott Howard
chimed in that lots of help was needed. JH said he always tells the assistants
to keep their poise, so sometimes they give it back to him when he gets mad
at an official.
Give UF credit - they held Ezra scoreless in the second half. It's been
awhile since anyone has done that.
The first caller, Jeremy in Memphis pointed out that before Tennessee yesterday,
UGA had previously ended a long home-winning streak for Ole Miss there. He also
was concerned about Florida's offensive rebounding. JH agreed and said it
had been awhile since a team had hurt us.
John from Lawrenceville was concerned about that final call yesterday. Also,
why has Wayne Arnold been a forgotten man? JH - Wayne is doing fine, but just
got sick over Christmas. Also, Quentin Moses just came out on Monday and is
still trying to learn the offense. He's a good athlete and picking up things
quickly. But JH isn't sure if Moses will be able to help out this year.
What we do is based on building habits. It will be hard to get him playing time
in SEC games.
Teddybulldawg (Ted from Savannah) told JH not to let the team get down
after yesterday. He also thinks this is the best offensive team he's seen
and thinks this team has a chance to get to the Sweet 16 and beyond. JH thinks
this team is better than his best Rhode Island team that went to the Elite 8
(Regional Final). The UCLA National Championship team is obviously his
best team ever. This team hasn't proven it can do that, yet. There was another
team at UCLA that went to the Elite 8 in 1993.
We don't allow our guys to talk on the court and they've been very good
about that. There's a lot of class and dignity on this club. The kid who
hit the last shot was excited and will learn (about stuff like doing the
chomp towards Jarvis after hitting the game winning shot). [
My note -
I guess JH has gotten after the guys since Gibson did the chomp to taunt the
Florida fans last year when we won at the O-Dome.]
Ferrall (Robert in Atlanta) wondered about JH being on TV one day this
week. Also, we've had problems putting teams away this year and last year.
Do we need to re-establish the inside game? JH will be doing commentary on ESPN
on three different games Tuesday night.
JH isn't sure what the answer to putting teams away. He wants them to be
nice and mannerly, but cold-blooded on the court. He doesn't think yesterday
is any indication since Florida is ranked above us and was playing at home.
The assistants will go on the road this week and check on the signees. All five
have already qualified.
When will Fred Gibson be playing? JH wasn't sure if depth was an issue yesterday.
He wants to see Gibson get some work in a scrimmage and a bit more conditioning
before throwing him in. Gibson can help this team by finishing plays and with
defensive energy. JH says he picks everyone up. JH is not sure exactly what
Fred's role will be; he'll determine that himself.
The recent football success will help football more than anything else, but
when the football team has that kind of success, it helps everyone. We're
all in this together.
Being on the ESPN 9:00 Tuesday game three times will be unbelievable exposure
for the basketball team. Scott said there are only three games the rest of the
way not on TV. Sports Illustrated has been covering us, as has the ESPN college
hoops show.
This is our 3rd buzzer beater game of the year - 1-2 in those games. Lost at
Minnesota and yesterday at Florida, and won at Colorado on Jonas' shot.
JH says it makes him old. You can't handle too many. JH hopes we come back
and learn from the Florida game. Three of the losses have been on the opponents'
floor and the other was against Texas in Madison Square Garden.
JH took the occasion of the 2nd student caller of the evening to thank the students
for being the first to really get behind the basketball program. We'll begin
to watch Arkansas tomorrow. JH wants to watch a few more tapes before really
getting a handle on Arkansas.
Mimi in Roswell told JH the fan base really appreciates JH turning around the
hoops program. Is the pressure to beat Florida the same for JH as for CMR in
football? We play 16 league games in basketball while each game in football
is huge. The pressure is the same, but there are more chances in basketball.
Jeff Dunlap of our staff asked about one of the rims before the start of the
game. Our staff wondered if one of the rims didn't look a bit too loose.
JH was not aware of anything that went on at the half.
Damien Wilkins is trying too hard. He's trying so hard to please everyone
that he's pressing. JH is trying to get Damien to relax and thinks he'll
play better then.
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