Crean tempering his own expectations

Georgia at UAB (Exhibition)

WHEN: Thursday, 8 p.m.

WHERE: Bartow Arena, Birmingham, Ala.

TV/Radio: None/Georgiabulldogs.com

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - It’s the official unofficial beginning of the Tom Crean era, as Georgia takes on UAB in an exhibition game Thursday night at Bartow Arena.

So, what does he want to see?

“Obviously, we want to win, but right now, we’re not even close to being prepared to play a game, when it comes to different things like situational management and Xs and Os,” Crean said Wednesday at SEC Media Days. “We’ve got to go out there and make sure we don’t get too many keys for what’s going to be important for us. People say don’t ever give more than four things, and I think we’ve got to really stay true to that in how we’re judging this game.”

Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.

Proceeds for the game will go to the Red Cross, which is providing relief for those affected by the wildfires in California, along with recent Hurricanes Florence and Michael.

“It’s far too early to play a game; I’m glad we’re doing it, but it’s far too early to play,” Crean said. “It’s for a good cause, and we’re here to do this, but the bottom line is, can we play under fatigue, without trying to take the game in our own hands as individuals? Can we continue to trust the ball movement, trust the system, and not have guys coming off in their own direction? That’s not the way we’re going to be able to play.”

According to Crean, he’s nowhere close to being ready to name a starting lineup for Thursday’s game, much less for the start of the regular season.

Senior guard Turtle Jackson—who started all 33 games for Georgia last year—said it’s easy to see why his coach feels that way.

“As one of the seniors on the team, I feel like we need more improvement,” Jackson said. “No matter how the results go, we’ve got a lot of work to do to learn the system and be ready once the real games come.”

With so much learning still going on, Crean is having to temper his own expectations.

“I’ve got to make sure our expectations aren’t too high for me—not outside expectations, but mine. We’ve got a lot to learn. They’re really good people, and I credit the former staff for bringing in high-quality people to the program,” Crean said. “But being able to play at the pace, being able to utilize the tempo, being able to play on both ends, it’s going to take a little bit of time. The best thing we can do is make sure we’re building their fundamentals on a daily basis—not only their basketball fundamentals, but how we want to play, and moving it toward that.”

Not much is being expected of Crean’s first Bulldog team.

The SEC media picked Georgia to finish 13th out of 14 teams, its lowest preseason position since the SEC started ranking the entire conference in order back in 2011. Only Ole Miss—which also welcomes a new head coach in Kermit Davis—was picked lower.

“We want to become a day-by-day program. When you’re day-to-day, you’re all over the map. You might have a good day, you might have a bad day,” Crean said. “Consistency of purpose, consistency of effort has been good. Consistency of purpose has not been as good, but that’s the key. That’s when you make your jump.”