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Next three weeks are critical
Posted: Thursday January 13, 2000 11:11 AM
Andy Landers, a three-time National Coach of the Year, is in his 21st season at Georgia. Landers has averaged 24.3 wins a year, third-best among all active Division I coaches with as much tenure. The Lady Bulldogs are one of only four teams to reach the NCAA Final Four five times. Georgia is 15-2 and ranked No. 7 in the nation. Check out Landers' diary every other week on CNNSI.com.
January 13, 2000
Since last making an entry into the CNNSI.com diary, the New Year has come and gone. It took its toll on our basketball team, though. Upon their return from the Christmas holidays, our team seemed unenthused about resuming the day-to-day process of practicing at the championship level. Consequently, we won a raggedly-played game (on our part) against East Tennessee State, and lost to a very good Illinois squad at Illinois. In fact, the Illinois game wasn't close. I commend Illinois on the effort and enthusiasm they displayed throughout our game. They certainly played an A-game, and deserved their win. After the Illinois game we had six days to prepare for our second conference game, which would be played on the road at Alabama. Prepare we did. Those six days were attention-getters and a reminder that hard work isn't an exception, but rather the rule, and the foundation for the success Georgia has enjoyed during the early part of this season and every season over the past two decades. Our players responded. We had great effort, although I must admit the post-season holiday blues lingered. We beat a good Alabama team on the road. Any road win in the SEC is a great win. Classes have resumed and we now return to a "normal" routine. As I mentioned in an earlier entry to this diary, it is my opinion that routine is very important to all of us, but possibly even more so to the 18, 19 and 20-year-olds who play college sports. I anticipate that our performance will be enhanced by our class schedules and returning to a normal schedule. We have not had a normal schedule since the season opened, but I will not revisit all that at this time. I'm sure you can retrieve archived entries of these diaries to review what a hectic schedule we endured in November and December. We look forward to the challenges of the next few days. It seems that we have four big rivals in Florida, Tennessee, Georgia Tech and Auburn all before us. These four games are critical to the success of our season. We must make our basketball team aware of the challenges a four-game stretch like this presents. It will be an excellent opportunity for us to improve and get closer to that level to which we aspire. As we hit the midpoint of the season, we are entering what I believe to be the most difficult of times. We are so far from the beginning of the season that the excitement that accompanies early-season games has subsided. Most teams have some idea at this point as to how their seasons will unfold; as for those less fortunate, there is little hope the remainder of the year and one can easily see how players might lose interest. For those who are batting .500 it is easy to wonder what the future holds, and for those who are experiencing success thoughts sometimes drift forward toward tournament time. Watch closely, we are entering a three-week period where upsets will become commonplace. There have already been a few, and I'm sure more will come.
-- Coach Landers
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