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Is Georgia Better Off Post-Harrick or Post-Felton?

SicEmDawgs.com

In recent weeks, it’s become painfully obvious that the Georgia Bulldogs basketball team has been poorly coached and lacks the talent of other teams. They also appear to have essentially given up on the season. And last night’s 79-48 blowout loss at Tennessee only emphasizes those points.

Some UGA fans are saying we are equal to or worse off now than we were after we fired Jim Harrick and son. I disagree with that. If you look at the overall Georgia Bulldogs basketball program, we are better off today post-Felton than we were post-Harrick.

Back then, we were the laughingstock of the nation. Late night talk shows were mocking us. Station after station was ridiculing the sham basketball exam given by Harrick, Jr. Then there were the NCAA ramifications. We were placed on probation and lost several scholarships. All of that combined tarnished UGA’s image and turned off basketball recruits.

Fast forward to today. Sure, we are 9-15 and 0-9 in the SEC, losers of 11 straight. Dennis Felton was fired mid-season. But outside of Georgia Tech, who is embarrassing in their own right, and the rest of the SEC, who’s making fun of us? We aren’t the butt of jokes nationwide and we aren’t under investigation by the NCAA.

We have a decent group of young players, a great recruiting tool in the Stegeman Practice Annex and a number of minor improvements have been made to the Coliseum. In addition, there is talk and plans of more improvements.

With the right hire, Georgia basketball can be turned in to a winner, possibly next season. The State of Georgia has most, if not all of the high school basketball talent we need to be successful. We just need the best coach available who can sign that talent AND coach a good game on the floor. With all of that, maybe we can make the NCAA Tournament in 2011!

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