Scouting the Five: Georgia Bulldogs

With Beisner nursing, I have been charged with the duty of bringing you this deeply insightful preview of tomorrow's matchup with the Dawgs of Jawja. Please, hold your applause until the end. The Cats come into the game heavy favorites, what with their flashy 15-0 record and Presidentially approved freshman phenom. The fans have survived this miserable week of too much snow and not enough basketball, and the players are sure to be excited to see a court besides the one inside the Craft Center. Still, Georgia presents a daunting task for the blue-clad warriors. They have all the makings of a team that can cause the Cats fits...one decent player and a bunch of guys who might get lucky, a first-year head coach who wishes he was still in Nevada and an average margin of defeat of almost 20 points on the road. Nevermind. We're going to beat the ice cream out of them. But, nevertheless, I refuse to rest on my laurels. You wanted a preview of Georgia (or not) and you're getting a preview of Georgia. Trey Thompkins; 16.2 ppg; 8.0 reb.; 46.6 %FG And we'll start with the only player Georgia has that is remotely big time. Thompkins is just a sophomore, but leads the team in both scoring and rebounding and, interestingly, turnovers at 3/game. In Georgia's most recent game, a win against Georgia Tech, Thompkins had a solid 20 and 6 and outplayed highly touted frosh Derrick Favors in the process. He has four double-doubles on the season and doesn't scare Patrick Patterson one bit. Travis Leslie; 12.8 ppg; 5.5 reb.; 49.2%FG Georgia's most potent option on the wing has, despite being 6'4", attempted only two three-pointers all season. He is primarily a penetrator (TWSS) and lives at the line, scoring roughly 25% of his points from the stripe. He has yet to top 18 points in a game this season, but has been held to single-digits only twice. His favorite music includes Taylor Swift so, um, there's that. He is an efficient and productive player although, with CJ in town for the weekend, he won't even be the best Leslie in Lexington. Ricky McPhee; 9.3 ppg; 1.7 ast; 47.7%FG; 41.3%3pt McPhee transferred to Georgia from basketball powerhouse Gardner-Webb. And here I hoped I'd never hear that name again. 75% of his shot attempts are threes and he's the type of guy we could all end up hating by the end of the day, although if no one calls him chicken he'll probably never work up the courage to do much of anything. Albert Jackson; 3.6 ppg; 4.2 reb; 1.5 blk; 53.1%FG Jackson is the muscle in the Bulldogs' frontcourt. He doesn't score much, although he leads the team in field goal percentage, but he is a big body that likely will draw the assignment of being the guy who stands closest to Boogie while he does whatever he wants in the paint. There is a 97.5% chance of a DeMarcus Cousins mean-mug directed at this guy tomorrow. Dustin Ware; 8.2 ppg; 2.9 ast; 34.6%FG; 32.6%3pt The captain of the ship, so to speak. Ware is a point guard who is undersized at 5'11", a suspect shooter and has an assist/TO ratio of 1.5/1. And he starts. All the time. Georgia is not very good. Other important players: Jeremy Price - 6'8" junior who is a key part of the big man rotation. Like Daniel Orton, but without the ability. He and Jackson basically split minutes and both are getting dunked on tomorrow. Averaging 6 and 5 in 18 min/g. Chris Barnes - Another 6'8" junior who will likely be outmatched by our front line tomorrow. Plays 15 min/g and averages 3 and 3. Everyone else - Weak. Notes: This would be win #2004 if the Cats TCOB...Kentucky is 110-24 all-time against UGA...Georgia won the last meeting 90-85 in Rupp...Kentucky's largest margin of victory in the series is 77 in 1956...Georgia is winless on the road this season...if you want to read about their struggles with consistency, here's Matt's post from earlier...these things take a lot longer to write than I expected...John Wall is 2nd nationally with 7.3 apg...with 15 points Patterson will pass Sam Bowie for 29th on the all-time scoring list...with 49 rebounds tomorrow Boogie can pass Patterson for 5th on the all-time freshman rebounding list