Monday Film Session News and Notes

Practice session observations

Saturday’s exhibition against Charlotte was an opportunity for basketball coach Mike White to see his team against an opponent for the first time this season.

He liked what he saw.

“I was really pleased with our effort from a cultural standpoint as much as anything else, I loved our energy level, our connection, our bench was active and energetic,” White said of his Bulldogs, who won the game 86-59. “I thought we played unselfishly, thought we played connected offensively as well, did some good things, and against a really good program coming off a very good year. They’ve got a sound, solid program we played on the road. It was a great opportunity for us.”

Connectively was an area White closely watched.

“I thought they did really well. There weren't a bunch of glaring communication mistakes,” White said. “There’s some stuff to clean up, of course, and there's a few possessions there defensively where we were just okay, primarily in transition, sometimes it's after a negative, a live ball turnover, things like that.”

The Bulldogs' next opportunity comes on Oct. 29 when the Bulldogs host Big 12 member UCF in the final exhibition game before tipping off the regular season.

“I think it'll be really similar to our last opportunity at Charlotte,” White said. “It's different in that it's a little bit of a higher level. The American (Conference) is a really good league but with the Big 12, that’s a higher-level league. Johnny's (UCF coach Johnny Dawkins) does a great job with their program, and they're going to have a higher level of talent.”

…White on Asa Newell, who led the Bulldogs with 20 points against Charlotte: “He's super talented, he's driven, it's really important to him to maximize his potential, and he's unique,” White said. “He's special in that he's not just a talent. He's a talented kid who plays really hard, who plays the right way, who takes good shots, who's just as focused on rebounding and defending as he is on points, and touches, and all those things, right? He's a winning player, it'll translate to games. We see it every day in practice. He's not overly vocal as an 18-year-old freshman, but he leads by example every day.”

…Dakota Leffew sat out practice Monday after rolling his ankle against Charlotte.

…This year, White doesn’t plan on asking many of his players to play multiple positions. One who will is Dylan James, who will split time between the 4 and the 3: “He's being asked to execute more stuff, primarily offensively, than some of these other guys,” White said. “

…White on his talent level: “We're as talented as we've been here in the three years, the two-plus years I've been here, for sure,” White said. “But how well these guys gel and connect and play for one another and buy-in and accept roles, those are huge factors. And to this point, I feel very good about it."

…White confirmed that freshman Jordyn Key will redshirt. But that was the plan all along: “Throughout the recruiting process, we talked about him coming to Georgia to redshirt,” White said. “His initial plan was to go do a fifth year and do a prep year, and he had a few division ones recruiting him and evaluating him, and he had some offers. But he wanted to play at the highest level, and we said, 'Hey, why don't you, here's an idea, trade a prep year for prepping here?’ So, he’s redshirting at Georgia and being a part of this rebuild. We believe in his future, his character, he's a really good fit for us.”

…White on the play of returnees James, Silas Demary Jr., and Blue Cain: “Added consistency: Silas played with confidence. Blue's an improved overall player, Dylan is too,” White said. “Silas is shooting it better, they're all improved. It's nice to have that.”

…Savo Drezgic’s development was also discussed. White said there’s been some adjusting for him to do: “Savo is so used to having the ball in his hands, and ‘Give me a ball screen, I'm going to go get somebody a shot, or myself a shot. If it doesn't work, I'm going to go get it again, and come off another ball screen,’” White said. “He's probably the best passer that I've ever coached, and I've coached some really good passers. But he’s got to make a big jump with the level of intensity, and the level of defensive effort and intensity, that is part of that freshman learning curve. But from a basketball IQ, skill level, and passing standpoint, he's got a lot there. He's just got to learn how to affect the game in other ways, especially defensively right now.”

…White was not worried about his team being predicted to finish 12th in the SEC: “I've never really cared about that, I just don't,” White said. “We don't have a goal that we've talked about a lot. We don’t say our goal is to finish here or finish there, our goal is to be the best we can be. Our goal is to be a good team, we're a good team, we are a good team. Our goal is to continue to grow and develop and play high-level basketball, and win some close games in the SEC.”