BIRMINGHAM – During a session with beat writers, Mike White was asked about one area of improvement he’s already seeing from this year’s squad compared to last season.
“Competitiveness. I probably should have said it earlier at the press conference, but I just feel like these guys enjoy working,” White said. “They embrace drill work, but when the ball is tipped and we officiate and something is live, these guys get after it. When we end practice, for the most part, guys are asking to continue to go or have another competitive drill. That’s a good sign.”
Justin Hill agreed.
“Practice has been very competitive,” he said. “Emotions can be shown sometimes. It just shows how bad people want to win. When we control those emotions, I think we’re going to be very good.”
White hopes so, too.
“It’s pretty consistent throughout. There are four or five guys that epitomize that the most, but it does permeate after those guys, it spreads: (Jalen) Deloach, (Noah) Thomasson, (Matthew-Alexander) Moncrieffe, (R.J.) Melendez, (Sunny) Sunahara, those guys, they love to compete. (Silas) Demary, (Blue) Cain, they enjoy competing with one another.”
Thomasson shrugged when asked about the fact Georgia was picked to finish 12th in the SEC this year.
He actually was not surprised.
“I knew that was going to happen because I think that everybody doesn’t know what we have in Athens,” Thomasson said. “We like to keep that to ourselves. But I think it’s big. It’s something we can wear on our shoulders every day. When it’s time in March and we see a better result, I can say, ‘Hey, I told you guys so.’”
Georgia was picked just ahead of LSU and South Carolina.
…Two RJ’s on the team wasn’t going to work. Hence, RJ Sunahara will go as “Sunny” Sunahara, so as not to be confused with RJ Melendez.
“He took it for the team. Kind of fits his personality too and where he’s from. A leader by example. Not as vocal as Noah, but talk about a guy that’s just out there trying to make winning plays and gel and fit,” White said. “He’s glue. He’s a very, very accountable player. Like, he’s flying to the offensive glass, he’s closing out with high hands, he’s blocking out, he’s sprinting the court. Defensively, he’s where he’s supposed to be at all times. He’s a hard-nosed, dependable, accountable player.”
…The season-opener against Oregon in Las Vegas remains three weeks away, and it’s probably a good thing. White says his team still has much work to do, especially when it comes to trying and figure out the different lineups the Bulldogs will ultimately put on the court.
“I guess we’re selling out at this point to continue to evaluate, not making long-term determinations as to who we think should play the most on every given night because it could be different guys on different nights. We continue to watch these guys develop, not only individually but also develop with each other,” White said. “We change teams every day in practice. In most drills we change teams, we might change 2-3 different times within a practice. Certain guys are consistently – in all honesty – separating themselves, just a few, but after that, there’s a lot of parity.”
…On Justin Hill’s leadership: “I think Noah has rubbed off a little bit. I think Noah’s got elite leadership qualities, and he’s representing our program with some of those SEC leadership opportunities. I asked him as we landed, ‘Have you been to Birmingham?’ He said, ‘Yeah, Coach, I’ve been up here for some of those leadership conferences.’ As a reminder, I’d forgotten,” White said. “But he’s got great characteristics along those lines, and I think it’s rubbed off with some of the other guys, returners, especially the young guys. But Justin’s grown. He’s been more consistent daily in practice. He’s strung together a bunch of good practices, learned how to pick his spots and when to be vocal and when to lead by example.”
…On Georgia’s non-conference schedule: “I’m confident in or guys’ abilities and our program’s ability to be more competitive this year. We wanted to give our guys the chance to compete against the best, give our guys the best chance for postseason opportunities, and ultimately, we know that’s what this fan base wants as well,” White said. “We want to grow this program. In year one, we played a pretty weak non-conference schedule, we just did. Not that it’s the strongest in our league this year, but it’s significantly stronger and we’ll continue to make it stronger.”
…What White needs to see leading up to the scrimmage on October 30 against Eastern Kentucky: “Continue maturity with decision making, with responses to adversities, with a call in practice, with a missed shot, guys just ultimately learning to win at a high level consistently. It starts in practice. I like our connectivity, I like our selflessness, the ball is moving, our assist-to-turnover ratio compared to this time last year is at the opposite end of the spectrum,” White said. “We’re much better with decisions and ball security. We’ve got to get better at rebounding. We do pretty well on the offensive end, but our defensive rebounding leaves a little bit to be desired to compete at the highest level in this league.”