2010-11 University of Georgia Winter Athletics Digital Magazine

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CONTENTS

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Men’s Basketball Season Preview Women’s Basketball Season Preview Video Feature: Gerald Robinson, Jr. Video Feature: Lady Bulldogs’ Community Service Senior Spotlight: Trey Thompkins Senior Spotlight: Porsha Phillips Gymdogs Season Preview Gymdogs Seniors Profile

MEN’S BASKETBALL CONFERENCE PREVIEW

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eorgia Basketball under coach Mark Fox has already traveled light years in a very short time. The Bulldogs are frequently mentioned in many discussions about the sport’s national landscape. They’ve gotten votes from the weekly Top 25 pollsters, a sure sign of relevance on a wide scale.

Where Georgia likely sees progress the least – in baby steps rather than in light years – is in its own back yard.

Georgia in Year Two of the Fox era figures to show marked improvement from its 14-17 and 5-11 showing of 2010. The Bulldogs are the only team to welcome back two All-SEC performers, and they also unleash a transfer who may outshine everyone.

Still, though the Bulldogs may improve in 2011, that doesn’t guarantee them upward mobility with the Southeastern Conference in general, and in particular the Eastern Division, where four of six teams played in the NCAA Tournament a year ago. “The competition within the SEC will be tremendous,” Fox said. “I believe we will have the toughest league in the country this season.”

True to form, the SEC East has already flexed its considerable muscle in the early going this season. Five of the six Eastern teams have either cracked the Top 25 polls or they’re receiving votes. Pre-season league favorite Florida and Kentucky have reached the Top 10

while the remaining four members have all posted impressive non-league wins already.

For Georgia, the challenge is simple: to build upon the snowball of momentum created by the successes of 2010. The Bulldogs made most of their noise once the SEC season began, highlighted by wins over Top 25 foes Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Those “signature” wins collectively served notice that the battle in the SEC had been joined.

“We’re excited about the season, yes, but at the same time, we still haven’t accomplished anything,” Fox said. “We haven’t arrived.

We still have to come to work every day, believing that we have a chance to improve ourselves and get better as a program.’

Georgia’s hopes in 2011 will depend upon the continuation of progress it showed last season, as well as the impact made by its small cluster of newcomers. Most notably, the latter group is led by Gerald Robinson, a jet-fast guard who transferred from Tennessee State. Robinson sat out the 2010 season but impressed everyone with his performance in practice.

“We are making progress,” Fox said. “We have continued to improve and for us, our focus remains to get a little bit better every day.”

Given Fox’s charge of daily improvement, and the pace he has already set for the 2011 season, the ride henceforth could be something to watch.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SEC PREVIEW

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here have been many positive signs that the Georgia Lady Bulldogs are taking steps to return to the up-tempo, transition brand of basketball that made the program one of the nation’s elite. After employing a half-court demeanor for much of the past several seasons, Andy Landers’ stated intent for 2010-11 was to push the basketball at every opportunity.

“Our goal is to fly to the lanes, fill the lanes and see who can get out quickest,” Landers said in the pre-season. “Whoever gets left out is bringing it. All of our guards are relatively versatile in that they can handle it, they can all create, they can all pull up off the dribble and they’re all reasonably good passers.”

this winter in separate pre-season balloting of league coaches and a panel of national and regional media.

Both bodies picked Tennessee and Kentucky to finish 1-2 and also agreed on Georgia to finish fourth, Auburn sixth, South Carolina seventh and Mississippi State 12th.

The media voted Vanderbilt third, LSU fifth and Arkansas, Alabama, Ole Miss and Florida in eighth-11th places, respectively.

The coaches voted LSU third, Vanderbilt to tie with the Lady Bulldogs for fourth and Alabama, Ole Miss, Florida and Arkansas in the eighth11th positions.

Georgia’s youthful nature – the Lady Bulldogs’ roster features just one senior and one junior – should provide for continuous improvement throughout the season.

“We need to get consistent,” Landers said following an earlyseason win over perennial NCAA Tournament participant Chattanooga. “Our inside people need to develop more intensity, and we have to step out and defend better on the wings by putting more pressure on the ball. That is the great thing about it being early in the season. There are a lot of things for us to work on, and we are getting exposed in those areas every time we play. It’s obvious what we need to improve on, and we are excited to go to work on it.”

Landers built a non-conference slate that would challenge his team while also allowing it to improve. Before the rigors of SEC play, the Lady Bulldogs’ slate included four 2010 NCAA Tournament teams and two more WNIT participants from last spring.

Georgia was tabbed to finish fourth in the SEC

In addition, two Lady Bulldogs were tabbed pre-season All-SEC. Porsha Phillips was a firstteam selection by league coaches, who also included Jasmine James on their second-team.

Phillips was featured as a second-team pick in voting of media as well.

During the early portion of the season, they were backing up those lofty expectations.

Through six November games, Phillips averaged a double-double of 13.2 points and 12.0 rebounds per game, while James led the team in scoring (13.5 ppg), assists (4.5 apg) and minutes played (33.5 mpg).

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TREY THOMPKINS

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ny discussion of Georgia’s big men this season – heck, of Georgia in general – usually begins with Trey Thompkins, the Bulldogs’ do-it-all, 6-10 junior forward.

The Lithonia native was a scoring and rebounding machine in his second season as a Bulldog.

He led last year’s team in scoring at 17.7 points per contest and was a unanimous first-team All-Southeastern Conference choice.

All of his on-court success led to the very real possiblility last spring that Thompkins might forego the remainder of his years at Georgia to become a professional. Such is the arc of most highly successful collegians anymore, yet Thompkins isn’t your average high-level player at the college level.

“Trey made a very mature and thoughtful decision, as I thought he would,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said of his star player’s return to Athens for at least another season. “He went about making that decision the right way, by listening to the right people. And he’s the kind of young man who truly enjoys the college experience.

Thompkins’ decision to remain at Georgia has been hailed as a harbinger of things to come for the Bulldogs in 2011. “I know this team has a chance to do some great things, and I want to be a part of it,” he said.

Things were sailing along according to plan until Oct. 30, when he went flying for a loose ball during a pre-season scrimmage. Thompkins badly sprained his right ankle and as a result, was forced into inactivity for the ensuing four weeks.

For an accurate gauge on his value to the Bulldogs, you need look no further than their performance in his absence. Yes, they won their first three games but were forced to come from behind in all three.

Thompkins was cleared to practice just one day before the Bulldogs faced their toughest

challenge of the young season, a stretch of three games in four days at the Old Spice Challenge.

Georgia struggled again but this time for different reasons, with players resuming their familiar roles and Thompkins trying to regain his old form against better competition. Still, there were glimpses in all three games of what this team will resemble once order is restored.

“It felt great,” Thompkins said. “It felt like I was back at home doing the things that I love to do.

I had some discomfort from certain things, a couple of cuts and things like that. But that was just from not doing anything for that long.

We’re still trying to figure it out but we’re getting there.”

In measurable increments, the Bulldogs are approaching their old selves again and perhaps, they’ll meet the expectations bestowed upon them at the season’s outset. At the very least, with a healthy Thompkins, they’ll contend to be the best Georgia team in quite some time.

PORSHA PHILLIPS

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t took three tries to get a member of the Phillips family to Athens, but Porsha Phillips is proving that the wait was well worth it.

Phillips is the younger sister of Brandon and P.J. Phillips, top-notch baseball prospects who inked letters-of-intent with Georgia before opting to pursue professional ball out of high school.

Porsha is the lone senior on the Lady Bulldogs roster for 2010-11 and got off to one of the best starts by a Georgia player in decades. Her best rebounding performance of 19 boards at Southern Cal equaled the ninth-most ever by a Georgia player and represented the most by a Lady Bulldog in a single game in 24 seasons.

Through six November games, Porsha was averaging a double-double of 13.2 points and 12.0 rebounds per game. Those type of numbers haven’t been produced by a Georgia player in some time. A Lady Bulldog has averaged a double-double for a season only seven times, and a Georgia player hasn’t done so since Katrina McClain’s 1987 National Player of the Year senior season.

Andy Landers attributed much of Phillips’ success to the work she put during the summer. Those off-season hours in the gym helped produce greater overall effort when the season started.

“It’s, without question, the hardest and best that I’ve ever seen her play, and those two things go hand-in-hand,” Landers said following the Southern Cal contest. “Your ability and talents can’t be on display until you play hard. She’s playing very hard and becoming very effective in a number of areas – rebounding, of course, is at the top of the list statistically.

“She has great quickness and can tell where the ball is coming off the rim,” Landers continued.

“Then she has tremendous jumping and leaping ability and good timing there as well.”

Phillips led the Lady Bulldogs’ rebounding efforts in each of the first eight games of the season and notched double-doubles in five of those

outings. By comparison, she recorded seven double-doubles in 34 games last season and 11 double-doubles overall in 104 games played in her first three seasons of collegiate basketball.

Landers was optimistic that Phillips’ performance would rub off on the rest of the Lady Bulldog roster.

“I just think she’s a great inspiration to her teammates and that’s what stands out to me,” Landers said. “As hard as she goes on every possession, you ought to feel at least a little bit guilty just standing around.

“Rebounds are ultimately possessions and more possessions give you greater chances for scoring,” Landers added. “As well as we’ve been rebounding, I feel we can do better. We’ve got a couple of rebounders who could grab two or three more rebounds per game, which would be huge.”

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GYMNASTICS SEASON PREVIEW

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he Georgia gymnastics team embarks on the 39th year in program history focused on a return to its status as the nation’s elite team. The Gym Dogs will have a roster that includes nine sophomores and freshmen and just five seniors and junior. Despite narrowly missing out on the NCAA Championships, the team had a lot to be proud of last season, including an AllAmerica season by senior Courtney McCool, a perfect 6-0 home record, top-10 final rankings in all four events, the highest overall team score in the SEC, the No. 1 attendance average in the nation, and a regular-season win over the eventual national champion UCLA Bruins.

Head coach Jay Clark will be entering his second season at the helm of the gymnastics program.

Clark will be looking to guide the Gym Dogs back to the familiar stage of the NCAA Championships April 15-17 in Cleveland.

After going 6-0 in home meets in 2010, the Gym Dogs have now won 24 straight inside Stegeman Coliseum dating back to their last home loss on Feb. 18, 2005 vs. Alabama, and is unbeaten in its last 34 competitions. The Gym Dogs have a tough home slate this season, set to take on half of the 2010 Super Six field in Utah, Florida, and Alabama in addition to West Virginia, Auburn, and Michigan all in Athens. Incidentally, the Coliseum will be newly renovated in time for the start of the gymnastics season.

One of the big storylines of the 2010 season for Georgia was injuries. Regulars Taylor, Ding, Newby, Shayla Worley, and Noel Couch all missed time or were limited in their events at some point last season. Returnees Worley, Couch, and Ding are back and healthy after a restful offseason and the Gym Dogs will hope to avoid the injury bug in 2011.

The Gym Dogs on April 2 will serve as a host of the Southeast Regional for the first time since 2006 and the eighth time in history.

Georgia was host to the regional in 1985, 1991, 1993, 1998, 2000, 2003, and 2006, winning six times at home.

The Gym Dogs do lose the services of line-up regulars McCool, Grace Taylor, and Marcia Newby, but bring back a pair of SEC individual champions in Kat Ding (bars) and Hilary Mauro (vault). They also add five freshmen - two from out of state in Kaylan Earls of Chicago and Cat Hires of Tampa, Fla., and three from Georgia in Bekah Bennetts (Woodstock, Ga.), Lindsey Cheek (Watkinsville, Ga.) and Laura Moffatt (Kennesaw, Ga.).

Georgia, ranked No. 7 in the preseason, will face seven teams that competed in the 2010 NCAA Gymnastics Championships. The Gym Dogs open the season Jan. 8 at Denver, then return home for three straight home meets against Alabama, Utah, and Auburn. Georgia will travel to meet the 2010 national champion UCLA Bruins in a tri-meet with Arizona March 6 in Los Angeles.

GEORGIA SENIORS PREPARE FOR FINAL SEASON

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hen Gym Dog seniors Hilary Mauro and Cassidy McComb came to Georgia in 2008 as freshmen, neither of them had considered coming to Georgia at first. McComb had originally planned to commit to the Utah Utes and Mauro didn’t even think she was good enough for the squad.

However, during their freshman campaign, both athletes proved themselves to be future staples in the Georgia program. The now-seniors won two back-to-back national championships in 2008 and 2009, respectively. In route to the 2008 championship, McComb scored three 9.90s in the Super Six Finals, and Georgia eventually defeated the Utes 197.450 to 197.125. “[My most memorable moment] came at the 2008 nationals,” said McComb. “It was crazy being thrown into it my freshman year, but it was amazing to be able to win at home, in front of our fans.

Overall, it was a great experience.”

Mauro said she hadn’t really considered Georgia until her club coach, former Olympic coach Mary Lee Tracy, urged her to give the Gym Dogs a shot.

“I came to visit and knew right away that this was the place for me,” the Boston native said.

“Now I love the South and I want to stay here.

I really want to work with the team next year while finishing up school.”

Both agree that during their time here at Georgia, head coach Jay Clark and his staff has taught them life lessons that they otherwise wouldn’t have learned.

Mauro says she has learned skills that she can take with her in the future, including leadership and commitment. The senior from Boston, Mass., also said she has learned how to “fight through the hard times”.

McComb, from Henderson, Nev., says that her teammates and coaches have been invaluable to her development and that her overall experience as a Gym Dog has been a great one.

“You come into Georgia as an individual, but you leave a part of a family,” she said.

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