Play of Georgia's young guards will be key at Vanderbilt

That’s one of the chief concerns for Georgia coach Mark Fox as he introduces Charles Mann and two other freshmen to the funky confines of the Commodores’ home court on Wednesday night. Vanderbilt is, of course, one of the few schools in the country that plays in an arena with a raised court and the only one that does so with the teams’ benches on the baselines.

It’s important that the Bulldogs play well in Nashville as they’re actually still in position to play for one of the four first-round byes in the SEC Tournament. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt (11-15, 5-9) is more vulnerable than usual.

“I’m probably more worried about it this year with such a young perimeter group," Fox said of the Commodores’ court configuration. "There’s a lot of the game they’ll have to manage on their own on the floor. I think it’s natural to talk about how unique (Memorial Gym) is and I think it’s kind of cool that the benches are on the baseline. But I do wish the coaches were allowed to at least move partway up the sideline.”

At Vanderbilt, coaches are not allowed to trek up and down the sideline in a traditional coaches’ box. They, too, must remain on the baseline. Most other arenas where the court is built up several feet above floor seating, such as Minnesota, allow the head coach to be on the sideline so he can communicate with his team at both ends of the floor.

“That doesn’t make any sense to me,” Fox said. “I mean, I think it’s a neat part of Vanderbilt, a neat part of their tradition. Leave the benches on the end. I’m fine with that. But at least let the coaches go up and down the sideline. You’ve got signs on the sideline now; there’s cheerleaders sitting on the sideline. I’m not that fat. I’m not blocking the view of everybody.”

But that won't change before Wednesday’s 9 p.m. tip (FSN), which presents some issues with a young player like Mann playing the majority of the minutes at point guard. The 6-foot-4 Mann is not starting for the Bulldogs – that responsibility is still falling to senior Vincent Williams – but he has slowly and surely been getting more of the minutes at the position as the season has progressed.

In Georgia’s 62-54 overtime win over South Carolina this past Saturday, Mann played 28 minutes to Williams’ 15 and was the Bulldogs’ second-leading scorer with 14 points. He also had back-to-back double-figure games against Auburn and South Carolina earlier this season and has averaged 22 or more minutes in nine of the last 11 games.

On the year, Mann averages 20.8 minutes to Williams’ 20.1. He's Georgia's third-leading scorer at 6.1 points per game and second-leading foul shooter at 73.1 percent.

“I feel like I’ve progressed greatly, like I’ve done a complete turnaround,” said Mann, who starred at Alpharetta’s Milton High School. “I feel more comfortable with the ball. I feel more in command, more vocal. I just feel much better about the transition from high school to college.”

The Bulldogs have two other freshmen learning the ropes on the perimeter, including 6-7 wing Brandon Morris and 6-3 shooting guard Kenny Gaines. They’re all bracing for their first Memorial Gym experience.

“I’ve heard about it,” Mann said. “I know the benches are at the end of the court and that’s going to make it difficult for us to communicate with the coaches while we’re playing. We’re just going to have to play and trust our system and trust each other and just play the game.”

At times, Mann looks like a dynamic play-maker, driving to the basket almost will and distributing the ball when he doesn’t take it to the rim himself. But his decision-making skills have been an issue at times. He leads the team with 80 turnovers – an average of nearly three per game – and has proven a streaky jump shooter.

Nevertheless, Fox feels like Mann will eventually be a great point guard for the Bulldogs. And Fox knows a thing or two about exemplary point play, having tutored eventual NBA players Ramon Sessions and Armon Johnson at Nevada.

“I will say when I first saw Charles play the first person he reminded me of was Ramon Sessions, and Ramon obviously has had a good NBA career,” Fox said. “Charles is big. He’s got a natural instinct to pass. He’s smart. He can score the ball from that position. So he is cut of the mold as those others guys and that’s one of the reasons we liked to him.”

 “Yup,” she said, “under 40, given the same fall, you would probably have ripped out the tendon below your knee.” She meant the patellar tendon and explained I had the misfortune of ripping out the quadriceps tendon above my knee. It was partly the way I had landed and partly the result of having beat the quadriceps tendon to death after decades of running.

Over 30,000 miles on various trails had strengthened many of my parts, but scar tissue from micro-tears and too many hits of anti-inflammatories over the decades had weakened the tendon, making it good and ready to rip when I fell.

 Just about everyone is training for something in Boulder, where your job, family and politics are important and can carry a conversation for 15 minutes or so. But what we really want to talk about are split times on the last run, ride or swim; the quality of the snow at Brainard Lake; the new drive train for road bikes; or that Gary Neptune just sold his outdoor store.

Rather than age, the issue here is: “Are you out there pushing your body to get better at this activity? Are you enjoying yourself out there with friends? Are you laughing more than you are complaining?”

As for anyone who gets a little over-serious about their activity, there is always someone who is better at it than you, someone who will be happy to reel in you and your ego.

I was four miles out on a routine five-mile run, cresting the hill that leads down to Wonderland Lake, distracted by my usual cosmic thoughts. My right foot hit some ice while my left foot was still under me. In my time I’ve done any number of tumbles, and most struck me as funny and often slapstick. Going down on this one was different. I didn’t hear a pop, but that may have been because I was screaming so loud.

I lay there in the mud and ice for a couple minutes thinking less pleasant cosmic thoughts. When the pain had subsided some, I tried to stand and put weight on the leg. It crumpled under me and I rolled another five feet downhill in a fusillade of bad words.