Friday, February 2, 2007

UGA Preview

Vandy's 5 game win streak heading into the Florida game allowed the Dores a bit off lee-way in that it wasn't a must-win situation. I hesitate to use the phrase must-win for this contest against the highly-underrated Bulldogs, but if we want to be considered as the number two team in the SEC, these are the guys we have to beat.

While we have been capturing the majority of the headlines from the national media (surprisingly), Georgia has gone under the radar for several weeks now. Their SEC wins include Kentucky, LSU, Arkansas, South Carolina, and a victory against the Commies in their trip down to Athens. We're both tied for third in the SEC East with 5-3 records.

Players to watch out for on the Dawgs are Jr. F Takais Brown, who's averaging 14.4 ppg and has been playing lights out of late, So. G Mike Mercer, who's averaging 13.7 ppg, Sr. PG Levi Stukes who's directed the Bulldogs' offense for as long as I can remember, and Jr. G Sundiata Gaines, who's had big a couple of big performances, particularly a 19 point game against Kentucky, a 22 point performance against Alabama, and a 21 point game against Tennessee.

Georgia is underrated, dangerous, and cannot be looked past. However, now that we're running on all cylinders, I think that we are the better team, and I think our performance early in the season was a lapse. No one on the Dawgs can match up with Derrick Byars right now, who has proven to be difficult to defend for even the #1 team in the country.


What we do need is for Shan Foster to rebound from his rather atrocious Florida game and provide that additional scoring punch. It was evident that he got frustrated in the O Dome, but he should benefit from the home atmosphere. On that note, the Dawgs won't be playing in Stegman, they'll be playing in Memorial, and that in my mind should give us a huge edge.
This is an important win to pick up for the Commodores and would leave us to battle it out with Kentucky to be the second best team in the SEC. And since we've already beaten the Wildcats at Rupp, chances are we can do it again at home, where we've won nine in a row.

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