Tag: Dawgs basketball

Georgia forward Rayshaun Hammonds makes final decision on NBA Draft

Georgia F Rayshaun Hammonds had made his final decision on his senior year in Athens.

Georgia basketball’s star forward Rayshaun Hammonds announced his final NBA Draft decision on Saturday, via Twitter.

Hammonds will forgo his senior season to pursue the next chapter of his basketball career in the NBA.

Hammonds, who stands at 6-foot-9, 235 pounds, averaged 12.9 points and 7.4 rebounds a game as a junior last season, showing great improvement from his 6.7 and 4.9 as a freshman.  He shot 35% from three-point-range and 46% from the field.

Hammonds was the second-highest scorer on the team behind likely number one overall lottery draft pick Anthony Edwards. The Dawgs’ head coach Tom Crean, entering his third year with UGA, will have to somehow replace the loss of 32 points and 12.6 rebounds a game that Edwards and Hammonds produced last season.

“Rayshaun let me know the other night of his decision and he is following his heart and dreams,” Crean told the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Saturday.  “We will continue to support him in every possible way as he pursues his future and he will always be apart of the Georgia Basketball family and the University of Georgia community.”

Georgia’s 2019-20 season suddenly ended after a victory over Ole Miss in the first-round of the SEC Tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Crean will also be losing his seniors Tyree Crump, Jordan Harris and Donnell Gresham as well as the transfer of freshman Rodney Howard to Georgia Tech. The Dawgs will have to recruit well and rebuild around their only returning starters Sahvir Wheeler and Toumani Camara.

Recruiting will only get harder with the NBA G-League announcing its new pathway program for high school players to take, detouring the NCAA.  There has already been a ripple effect seen, with the nation’s top high school player Jalen Green entering the pathway program.

“We are in the midst of restructuring and remodeling,” said Crean on the matter of the Dawgs recruiting process. “It will be ongoing each year with the landscape of college basketball.”

 

Vote: Which former Dawg drafted best basketball team made up of Georgia football players?

We asked four former Bulldogs to draft a basketball team made up of Georgia football players. Vote for your favorite here.

The UGA Wire staff voted and we gave our starting five that we would take if we were drafting a pick-up basketball team composed of Georgia football players.

Next, we reached out to former Georgia players Isaiah Wilson, Mecole Hardman, Tavarres King and Dannell Ellerbe to get their starting five of former or current players.

The players only had one rule: They were asked to draft players who played at Georgia from the time they started their careers to present day.

(Example: Mecole Hardman, who started playing for Georgia in 2016, was able to choose UGA players from 2016-2020.)

(Another example: Dannell Ellerbe, who played for Georgia from 2004-8, was able to choose UGA players from 2004-2020.)

So, the older players certainly had an advantage, but let’s see who had the best squad.

Now, it’s time for you to vote on which of these five squads you would take.

Here are the teams:

Vote for the best team at the bottom.

1. Team UGA Wire (We picked from current players only):

Point Guard: Jamie Newman (6-4, quarterback)

Shooting Guard: Richard LeCounte (5-11, safety)

Small Forward: George Pickens (6-3, wide receiver)

Power Forward: Jermaine Johnson (6-5, outside linebacker)

Center: Darnell Washington (6-7.5, tight end/defensive end)

We went with all current Georgia players for our picks to keep things in the present, even though we gave players to option to pick former Dawgs.

Wake Forest transfer QB Jamie Newman would be a commanding point guard with great court vision, complemented by an athletic and scrappy defender in the backcourt with Richard LeCounte. George Pickens would be the go-to scorer while JJ and D-Wash would hold things down in the paint.

2. Team Zay (Isaiah Wilson)

Able to choose Georgia players between 2017-20:

Point Guard: Jamie Newman (6-4, quarterback)

Shooting Guard: Richard LeCounte (5-11, safety)

Small Forward: George Pickens (6-3, wide receiver)

Power Forward: Bill Norton (6-6, defensive tackle)

Center: Jordan Davis (6-6, defensive tackle)

There were a lot of similarities between Isaiah’s team and ours, both selecting Newman, LeCounte and Pickens. Wilson then went with size in his picks, taking defensive tackles Bill Norton and Jordan Davis (both standing at 6-6) as his front court.

3. Team JET (Mecole Hardman)

Able to choose Georgia players between 2016-20:

Point Guard: Terry Godwin (5-11, wide receiver)

Shooting Guard: Javon Wims (6-2, wide receiver)

Small Forward: Richard LeCounte (5-11, safety)

Power Forward: Lorenzo Carter (6-5, linebacker)

Center: Davin Bellamy (6-5, linebacker)

Mecole’s team would have a lot of skill and finesse with Godwin and Wims in the backcourt while also being very physical with Carter and Bellamy defending the paint.  Mecole’s big men are physical but also are quite athletic and in shape, giving them stretch 4 and 5 capabilities on offense.

4. Team TK (Tavarres King)

Able to choose Georgia players between 2008-20:

Point Guard: Tavarres King (6-2 wide receiver)

Shooting Guard: Brandon Boykin (5-10, cornerback)

Small Forward: A.J. Green (6-4, wide receiver)

Power Forward: Marlon Brown (6-5, wide receiver)

Center: Fred Gibson (6-4, wide receiver)

King went with a four receiver team, adding cornerback Brandon Boykin because he clearly has crazy hops. Believe it or not, Freddy Gibson actually had a short stint in the NBA D League (now the G League) with the Albuquerque Thunderbirds and the Austin Toros.

TK gave a little analysis to go along with his selections:

“Tried to go all WR squad but Boykin my son so he can play on my team. 🤣 I like that squad though! Other Hoopers: Justin Houston, Clint Boling, Rambo.”

5. Team 2 Rings (Dannell)

Point Guard: D.J. Shockley (6-1, quarterback)

Shooting Guard: Tony Taylor (6-0, linebacker)

Small Forward: Antonio Sims (6-1, safety)

Power Forward: Quentin Moses (6-5, defensive end)

Center: Leonard Pope (6-8, tight end)

Ellerbe’s squad is old-school, and may include a few names that are unfamiliar to some of our younger readers. Ellerbe showed some love to two of the greatest to ever do it at Georgia, Quentin Moses and Leonard Pope. Both of these men were monsters in Athens and can play bully ball down low.

Now that you have the teams, it’s your turn to vote.

Vote for your favorite team here. There are no losers, just Dawgs.

[opinary poll=”who-drafted-the-best-squad_collegewires-3oi6bJ” customer=”collegewires”]

Georgia basketball secures win over Georgia Southern

A trio of freshmen helped propel the Georgia Bulldogs men’s basketball team to a home victory over Georgia Southern this Monday night.

The Georgia Bulldogs outlasted a scrappy Georgia Southern team Monday night at Stegeman Coliseum by a final score of 73-64.

The Dawgs were led to victory by a duo of freshmen.  Freshman forward Toumani Camara shot a perfect 8/8 for 16 points and tacked on 7 rebounds and an assist to top it off.  Going with that was Anthony Edwards’ 23 points on 50% shooting, as well as 3 rebounds and 4 assists.

The 16 points out of Camara were his collegiate career high and Edwards remains the #1 freshman scorer in the country with his 23 piece.

Georgia Southern put up a fight for the entirety of the game.  Their zone defense was working until Edwards closed it out with a few big buckets late down the stretch in the 2nd half.  Georgia Southern’s Ike Smith led all players with 25 points on the night.

With Georgia down 60-59 and under 4:30 left in the game, Edwards had a consecutive assist, dunk, layup, dunk and dunk without Georgia Southern scoring to give the Dawgs a 69-60 lead and close out the game.

Here are two of his dunks from that clutch 2:30 stretch:

Edwards has been special all year, living up to the hype that has been surrounding him.  Right now he is a projected top-5 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.

UGA head coach Tom Crean credited freshman guard Sahvir Wheeler and Toumani Camara on their defensive effort in the game.  “We won the game because of what we did on defense.  Sahvir and Toumani didn’t come out of the game at all in the second half, two freshmen just rallied it up in a big way, we earned these two victories.” said Crean in a postgame interview.

The Bulldogs advanced to 8-3 on the season with the win and will face Austin Peay at home next on December 30th.

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