Georgia-Vandy: Quite The SEC "Showdown"

This year, SEC basketball is pretty up-and-down. There's ranked LSU, with just one conference loss, and then there's Arkansas, at the bottom of the West Division, with just one conference win.

But there was no inconsistency Wednesday night at Stegeman Coliseum as the Georgia Bulldogs (11-17, 2-11) hosted the Vanderbilt Commodores (16-11, 5-8). Both teams played consistently poorly.

It's tough to be harsh to these two; I'm a UGA student, and my father's a Vandy grad. But if there was one thing that struck me about tonight's matchup as I sat in the stands, it's that these two teams are very much lost.

Georgia came in with just one SEC win to their names, a nail-biting victory over Florida a couple weeks back. Considering how they'd performed in games in the meantime (losses to Auburn and Ole Miss), the contest against the Gators might as well have been years ago.

Vandy's been treading water all season, managing wins against the likes of Alabama and Kentucky, but losing to division rivals Florida and Tennessee. To be fair, they're a ridiculously young team (just two returning starters, and nary a senior on the roster).

Of course, the same could be said of the Dawgs. Plus, those in the red and black are also under an interim coach, Pete Herrmann, following the firing of Dennis Felton.

Still, I expected more of these two groups coming into this game. From the tip, both were limp—there was simply no crispness to anyone's play. To put it simply, execution was a matter of luck.

It's probably that both coaches, in precarious situations, are trying hard to not overload their young, underconfident players with complex plays and huge demands. But that's really no excuse for both teams pretty much going about their business with no gameplan whatsoever.

Coach Herrmann has smartly decided that Dustin Ware is the Dawgs' point guard of the future, so he lets him bring the ball up, and I applaud that. But once he gets it over halfcourt, there is very little direction. That's too bad, because no one on the roster can create right now.

Of course, Jermaine Beal and Brad Tinsley, the main Commodore ballhandlers, looked equally clueless. Still, they knew who their shooters were, and eventually found them open. For Georgia, it was a matter of playing hot-potato with the rock until someone had enough space to squeeze off and off-balance jumper.

The difference tonight was, very plainly, field goal shooting percentage. The team that managed to get luckier on their heaves led. As a Dawg, I'm just thanking my lucky stars it was us tonight that found the bottom of the net more often.

Vandy shot 25 percent in the first half, 37 in the second, and 31 for the game. Georgia was only marginally better, ending the game at 39 percent.

Ricky McPhee could be considered a "bright spot" for the home team, as he hit three-of-five three-pointers and finished with 14. Dustin Ware had 10 and five assists and Trey Thompkins put in nine and grabbed eight rebounds. For the 'Dores, Aussie center A.J. Ogilvy had 12 and eight rebounds.

The remainder of both rosters? The stat sheet isn't particularly pretty. Not that one can expect that every game.

I do not blame any of these guys, and I don't blame either of these coaches. But it frustrates me when Corey Butler, one of two UGA seniors, twice dribbles the ball out of bounds.

But it's not frustrating because it's a turnover; it's frustrating because Corey was going full-tilt with no goal. On both drives, defenders stayed in front of him and all his teammates, making his efforts moot, whether or not he kept the handle.

In the end, this night did provide some excitement. Despite having built a decent halftime lead, the Bulldogs let Vanderbilt right back in it and relinquished the lead with a bit more than three minutes left.

But then, the Dawgs scored (for what seemed like the first time in eternity) and Thompkins grabbed a key rebound off a missed Vandy free throw to preserve a 61-57 win.

I will always be proud of my team, as long as they hustle. They did tonight; workhorses Albert Jackson (four points, four boards) and Chris Barnes (nine points) did their parts, and no one gave up.

Heck, no Commodore gave up either; Beal, despite struggling from the field (3-of-13), ended up with 11 for the game, and Steve Tchiengang managed seven and six rebounds.

In the end, though, I can say for sure that this is not the SEC's year to send anyone deep into the tournament, and success is still somewhere down the road for these two programs.