Welcome to the Bulldawg Illustrated Hoops Report. Now George Washington may not have lied about that Cherry tree, but he lied when he said he’d beat the Dawgs Monday night. In what was by far UGA’s best showing of the year, they took down a very talented and well-coached GW team. What’s the reward for the victory? The Dawgs get to play Kansas at 10 pm tonight in Kansas City, MO in what’s considered at neutral site game on paper.
 
 
The Dawgs don’t get many chances to play big out of conference games like this on national TV, so it would be good to make a statement. Who knows, this game may be the only thing some NCAA committee panelists remember about the Dawgs all year. So we need to make the memory strong and lasting. Plus, this is a good barometer to see where the Dawgs are right now in what will have the feel of a second-round NCAA game. But before we talk KU, let’s look at the game with the Colonels.
 
 
It’s a recurring theme when the Dawgs play that JJ Frazier and Yante Maten are going to show up and score. Those two are right up there with the sun rising thing. They led the Dawgs again with 18 points each. The problem has been finding the third guy every night. Last night Derek Ogbeide and Juwan Parker scored 11 and nine respectively. Parker also added 11 rebounds to his stat line. Both guys played solid games. The rest of the team provided enough scoring to get us over the top. Surprisingly, the Colonels did a great job early of not allowing JJ to get in an offensive rhythm early on. Then with four minutes to go in the game and the Dawgs up three, Yante fouled out. You could easily see the look of concern in Mark Fox’s face. But somehow the defense tightened, Pappe Diatta hit an old fashion three-point play with 42 seconds left and JJ went 4-4 from the stripe to seal the deal in what was a resume-building win for the Dawgs.
 
 
Now, let’s talk about what’s on deck.
 
 
Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk? Who cares? And by the way, aren’t they still paying Charlie Weiss for that 5-22 record he posted? But I digress. Anyway, KU is good. Number 5 in the country good. Bill Self should still be their coach. So this won’t be easy. But it will be fun, and it will be entertaining. It works out perfectly too being over the Thanksgiving break for the kids. And for the adults who love to drink and watch the Dawgs. I am a huge fan of both. So I’ll be drinking heavily and watching the Dawgs intently. Plus, it’s Hate Week in the Bulldawg Nation. This makes tonight’s game even better for me. It’s truly difficult to get too upset at tonight’s outcome because every bit of anger and discourse in my body will be solely focused on one institution and it ain’t KU. So let’s raise our glass to a major upset? Or if that doesn’t happen, just keep it close and allow me to watch the entire game. We got a big win last night. So anything else is gravy. But remember, if you aren’t thinking about the real enemy this week, your mind is wandering. And if you don’t understand who the true enemy is and always will be, you need help. Stay focused, my friends. Stay thirsty as well. And Go Dawgs!!