THOMBS TAKES: Assessing Georgia Basketball season, early returns on Wes Johnson

This week for Thombs Takes, I’m going with a bit of a catch-all of topics discussed on the message board. With a week to go before the start of spring practice, there will be a fair share of football talk to come. However, I know folks have enjoyed our baseball thread and there’s been plenty to talk about with the Georgia Basketball season as the Bulldogs begin wrapping things up on the 2023-24 campaign. Here’s my assessment on both, year two of the Mike White era and the first few weeks of Wes Johnson’s tenure in Athens…

Basketball: I know it’s been a frustrating season for folks watching this Bulldogs’ squad, especially the ending of it all, but you have to admit that there have been some things to get excited about.

It starts with the way Georgia turned over its roster from last year to this year. Talent-wise, there’s no doubt that the Dawgs are better fit for playing in the SEC with the likes of Silas Demary, Blue Cain and Dylan James representing exciting youth and capable older contributors too like Jabri Abdur-Rahim, Noah Thomasson, RJ Melendez, Justin Hill and Russel Tchewa. Those guys all played a part in some way, shape or form to the highlights of the early season as Mike White’s squad was tested in the non-conference slate and took three games from ACC opponents and rode the momentum into one of the program’s longest-ever win streaks and a strong start to SEC play. Georgia’s issue however has been consistency, and that’s shown not only over the course of the whole season, but also in individual games. Blown leads have become all too common, and it’s resulted in nine losses in the last 10 outings.

As for the future, it’s a big offseason. Five-star Asa Newell is signed and set to join the group in Athens. Who will be around him remains to be seen with Thomasson, Tchewa and RJ Sunahara all out of eligibility and potential departures from seniors Abdur-Rahim, Hill, M.A. Moncrieffe and Frank Anselem-Ibe. Of course, in the era of the transfer portal – and no restrictions on the number of times a player can transfer – there’s really a decision to be made for every player on the roster. If everything goes according to plan and the young talent returns and capable contributors out of the portal are added, the future is bright. If not, there could be more frustration and disappointment to come. All that being said, White isn’t going anywhere after this year and he’ll have a defining year ahead in Athens.

Georgia plays tonight at Stegeman Coliseum against Ole Miss and hits the road to Auburn on Saturday to close out the regular season before attention turns to the SEC Tournament in Nashville next week where it’s looking likely that the Bulldogs will play on opening night, Wednesday at Bridgestone Arena, as one of the league’s bottom four.

Baseball: We’re just a matter of weeks into the Wes Johnson era, but so far so good. UGA is 10-1 (11-1 if you want to include a rain-halted game against Georgia Tech where the Bulldogs only needed three outs, leading by six, for it to officially count) and has shown what you want to see out of a group that features as many newcomers as this year’s squad.

Charlie Condon is one of the top players in all of College Baseball. Folks knew that coming into the year, but he’s only further solidified it with the second-most home runs in the country (8) and an outstanding .568 batting average – good for third in the NCAA. He’s not the only one in the Georgia lineup that can hit though as the Bulldogs lead the nation as a team with 30 home runs and slugging percentage (.672) while being top-20 in scoring (10.1 runs per game).

Other stars early on have included several transfers like Slate Alford, Logan Jordan, Clayton Chadwick, Kolby Branch and Dylan Goldstein. All either have a batting average above .300 or at least 12 RBI. Dillon Carter has contributed in some timely moments as well – and has been a stalwart defensively. Freshman Tre Phelps has come through clutch at times too and is continuing to earn consistent at bats as he grows up and gets comfortable.

One thing you’ll notice: in all the names, there aren’t a ton of pitchers. That’s because it’s far from a strength of the Bulldogs. You would have to imagine that’ll come with time as the pitching coach guru that Johnson is gets his hands on developing guys further, and has an opportunity to recruit ones he wants. It’s much easier to build a batting lineup through the portal than it is a pitching rotation and bullpen. For the football crew, I compare it to the line of scrimmage and skill players. It’s important to have talent at both, but one is easier to address in the portal (skill players / batters) while the other (line of scrimmage / pitchers) takes time – and is so crucial to keeping you in games.

That’s not to say that there aren’t guys that have impressed on the mound. Kolten Smith has thrown 12.1 innings – all out of the bullpen – and has a team-high 16 strikeouts. He could be pushing for a spot in the starting rotation where it’s been Charlie Goldstein (9.0 innings pitched, 2.00 ERA, 14 strikeouts, 4 walks), Christian Mracna (9.2 innings pitched, 1.86 ERA, 11 strikeouts, 9 walks) and Leighton Finley (9.2 innings pitched, 3.72 ERA, 9 strikeouts, 2 walks). Finley has allowed 10 hits while it’s just four for Goldstein and Mracna’s seven falling in between – all respectable numbers for each having started three outings.

There are others that have thrown consistently including Jarvis Evans, Josh Roberge, Brian Zeldin, Zach Harris, Brandt Pancer, Blake Gillespie, Tyler McLoughlin and Daniel Padysak all having at least three appearances in the 11 official outings. Georgia’s nearly 2-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio (116-to-50) could be improved, and it all will need to be improved as a tough SEC schedule is ahead, but at this point, the Bulldogs on the bump are doing their job of just keeping UGA in games and allowing the bats to do their job of winning those contests.