Start of Season Matchups

[alexrgct]

At a school like Georgia, football is probably all that matters. Having a perennial NCAA tourney team in WCBB is gravy.

Football is certainly the driving force of the athletic department, but being able to recruit locally in WBB is pretty shocking:

• Athens is one of those college towns that sells itself. It just doesn't get much better.
• Athens is also within easy driving distance of Atlanta, which is where most of the elite Goergia talent is.
• UGa is a solid school academically, and it's got an incredible alumni network in the Atlanta area. A kid looking for a place to get a degree and then a job in Atlanta someday could do much, much worse than UGa.

Indeed, there may not be too much pressure on Landers given the lack of focus by most on the WBB program...but then again, if they were recruiting at an elite level and contending, there might be more focus on the WBB program.

 

[sarals24]

Yep. I mean if you don't have an AD that is that interested in having uber-successful women's programs, then having a team that finishes in the top half of their conference and makes the tourney every year is probably enough for him to keep his job and get the resources he needs. I think they would do well to hire a young, energetic coach to really recruit hard and get players like Kaela Davis to stay home and go to UGA, but that's just me.

 

[Wbbfan1]

DoggyDaddy:

I did not look up Andy's won/loss record before posting. I originally wrote 20-25 wins a year, and then revised it downward in case I was wrong. Based on your research, I should have stayed with my original thoughts or at least looked up Andy's won/loss record by year. However, I stand by what I said another coach would be able to accomplish what Andy's doing based on the talent he has in his local area and their scheduling.

He last went to the Final Four in 1998/99. Andy had at one time had one of the elite Women's Basketball Program, not any more. He's maintaining the program so that he'll get his 20+ wins, make the tournament, but the program is not progressing so that it will once again get back to being an elite program capable of competing for a Final Four on an annual basis. They last won the SEC Regular Season Title in 2001 and that's with the Lady Vols underachieving in the last 2 or 3 years. Kentucky has definitely passed them in the last couple of years and it can be argued that Vandy has as well.

I can only imagine that coaches such as Sherrie Coale, Bill Fennelly and others would love to have the amount of talent that Georgia produces on an annual basis in their area. Georgia, along with California and Texas produces more talent then any other States. Yet somehow, the elite players out of Georgia choose to sign with other schools. I can understand losing recruiting battles to UConn, Tenn and the elite academic players to Stanford and Duke, but they shouldn't lose many to other schools. Lately that's been happening. I blame that on the Head Coach as Georgia has the resources, facilities and support of the Athletic Administration to accomplish more then what they are.

We will have to agree to disagree, other coaches can accomplish what Andy is accomplishing and I would bet there are some that could get Georigia back to elite status. Andy won't........

What an insulting statement. I'm cetainly not an Andy Landers fan, but to state that "another" coach would be able to do what Andy has done and that makes his achievements average is ridiculous.

You said "Andy will get his 18 to 23 wins a season ". Quite the understatement.

In the last 10 years he had ONE season of 18 wins and one season of 27 wins, two of 25, and one of 24. His lowest win total other than the 18 was 21. Sounds like an outlier to me.

For his career, he has had three 30 win seasons, one 29 win season and three 28 win seasons.

In 33 years at Georgia, he has only had 6 seasons under 20 wins. He has a 74.8 winning %. And he is AVERAGING 24 wins a season. Since 1981 he has only missed the NCAA's 2 times and not since 1993-04. Now, he hasn't always done much with the trips to the NCAA but he does have 3 FF's and 5 EE's.

Wow...average?

 

[UConnChapette]

Football is certainly the driving force of the athletic department, but being able to recruit locally in WBB is pretty shocking:

• Athens is one of those college towns that sells itself. It just doesn't get much better.
• Athens is also within easy driving distance of Atlanta, which is where most of the elite Goergia talent is.
• UGa is a solid school academically, and it's got an incredible alumni network in the Atlanta area. A kid looking for a place to get a degree and then a job in Atlanta someday could do much, much worse than UGa.

Indeed, there may not be too much pressure on Landers given the lack of focus by most on the WBB program...but then again, if they were recruiting at an elite level and contending, there might be more focus on the WBB program.

THWG!!!!

 

[doggydaddy]

DoggyDaddy:

I did not look up Andy's won/loss record before posting. I originally wrote 20-25 wins a year, and then revised it downward in case I was wrong. Based on your research, I should have stayed with my original thoughts or at least looked up Andy's won/loss record by year. However, I stand by what I said another coach would be able to accomplish what Andy's doing based on the talent he has in his local area and their scheduling.

He last went to the Final Four in 1998/99. Andy had at one time had one of the elite Women's Basketball Program, not any more. He's maintaining the program so that he'll get his 20+ wins, make the tournament, but the program is not progressing so that it will once again get back to being an elite program capable of competing for a Final Four on an annual basis. They last won the SEC Regular Season Title in 2001 and that's with the Lady Vols underachieving in the last 2 or 3 years. Kentucky has definitely passed them in the last couple of years and it can be argued that Vandy has as well.

I can only imagine that coaches such as Sherrie Coale, Bill Fennelly and others would love to have the amount of talent that Georgia produces on an annual basis in their area. Georgia, along with California and Texas produces more talent then any other States. Yet somehow, the elite players out of Georgia choose to sign with other schools. I can understand losing recruiting battles to UConn, Tenn and the elite academic players to Stanford and Duke, but they shouldn't lose many to other schools. Lately that's been happening. I blame that on the Head Coach as Georgia has the resources, facilities and support of the Athletic Administration to accomplish more then what they are.

We will have to agree to disagree, other coaches can accomplish what Andy is accomplishing and I would bet there are some that could get Georigia back to elite status. Andy won't........

Almost 800 wins at Georgia and anyone could have done that? Not buying it. You are blaming him for kids that decide to go to other schools? Like UConn? You have NO evidence that any other coach would have kept kids home and played for them. None.

Now, going forward? Maybe it's time to retire? I don't know. But he hasn't been average.

And if you want to give a range, it's still not 20-25.

 

[sarals24]

It's kind of like Jody Conradt. Yes, she won a NC. And she is the career leader in wins. But towards the end of her career she was losing great in-state players to out-of-state programs (and in-state programs) her style hadn't evolved or changed with the times. Obviously Landers is an above-average coach. But this new generation of coaches, including Louisville, Kentucky, Baylor, etc are playing more exciting basketball and attracting the better players. Georgia isn't a program like UConn, Tennessee or Stanford that will always get players. I would argue that Georgia Tech has outrecruited them in the past few years. He is clearly a good coach and has had a good tradition there, but I don't see players being super-attracted to their style of play.

 

[triaddukefan]

Some good matchups over the next week. Baylor and Kentucky on tuesday, Baylor vs Stanford on Friday. Penn State vs TAMU on wednesday.

Triadduke - LOVE the new avatar!

 

[magical2]

Not sure if it fits into the start of the season matchups... but Cal comes to Durham on Dec 2. If the Bears can be competitive or even come out of Cameron with a victory, then perhaps they will be a strong contender for Stanford in the Pac 12.

Cal has alot of talent on paper! How they perform does make your comments very legitimate and relivent. So it fits. Good post!
Ira