Georgia Basketball: Observations After a 2-0 Start

Most Improved

After two games, the two players who seem to be most improved over last season are Turtle Jackson and Tyree Crump. Jackson is a junior and is the team’s starting point guard. Crump is a sophomore who comes off the bench and is relied upon for his outside shooting. Both players have seemed to be more aggressive on the offensive side of the ball and both appear to have improved their defensive skills as well. These two players will be important contributors for the Dawgs this season, especially in the area of 3 point shooting.

Areas of Concern

There are 3 major areas of concern that this team will need to address if it wants to make it to postseason play this year. 1) free throws; 2) turnovers; and 3) on-ball defense.

One thing the Dawgs will miss in particular about J.J. Frazier was his free throw shooting. He nearly shot 90% from the line during his career at Georgia and often led the Dawgs in attempts and free throws made. Over the first two games this season, the team’s free throw shooting has been mediocre. And while the Dawgs could afford to give up some of those easy points against two inferior opponents, that will not be the case when SEC and postseason play begin. I’m sure Mark Fox has taken notice of the team’s struggles in this area thus far.

While Georgia hasn’t had that many overall turnovers in the first two games, the team has had way too many that simply should never happen in the first place. Blatant passes to the other team and not being able to hold onto the ball are just two examples of turnovers that could be drastically reduced.

In watching the first two games in person, I’ve noticed that Georgia is getting beat off the dribble to the basket far too often. This team is simply too long and athletic to be getting beat off the dribble, especially by inferior opponents. And while oftentimes Yante Maten and others are able to block shots to bail the defense out, that won’t always be a foolproof safeguard against better opponents.