Georgia's new boss knows how to catch up

ROB KEYS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

This is the seventh in a series previewing SEC basketball teams.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Despite being a new kid on the block in the SEC East, Georgia Coach Jim Harrick isn't intimidated by the neighborhood bullies.
Yes, Harrick inherits a team that lost four starters and returns just one proven SEC performer. Yes, Georgia is sure to take some lumps from the likes of Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee.
But even so, Harrick insists he's comfortable in his new home.
"I've had to play catch-up everywhere I've been," Harrick said.
At his first head coaching stop -- Pepperdine -- Harrick said he had to play catch-up with San Francisco. Then at UCLA, Harrick had to chase Arizona. And at his last stop -- Rhode Island -- Harrick was chasing Temple.
The good news for Georgia is that Harrick seems to have mastered the game of catch-up, taking 14 of 19 teams -- including his last 10 -- to the NCAA Tournament.
And as Arkansas fans sorely remember, Harrick's UCLA Bruins beat the Razorbacks 89-78 to win the national championship in 1995.
The bad news for Georgia, though, is that Harrick isn't chasing just one team in the SEC. For now, the Bulldogs are chasing nearly everyone.
"Wow," Harrick said when asked his first impression of joining a conference that's had eight Final Four teams and three national champions this decade. "It's a good league, and there's a lot of great people in it."
But that doesn't mean Harrick is overwhelmed. He has set reaching the NCAA Tournament as a goal for this year's team.
And apparently, the Bulldogs have bought into the idea.
"Even if he hadn't won a national championship, we knew he was a great coach by the things he had done at Rhode Island," junior guard Adrian Jones said when asked his initial thoughts following Harrick's hiring. "He took a team that no one expected to go to the NCAA Tournament and took them all the way to the Elite Eight and almost to the Final Four.
"So we were just very excited and hoping he could do the same thing for us."
To get Georgia involved in March Madness, though, Harrick will have to get major contributions from a stock of unproven talent.
"The one concern I have is none of our players have really played a lot of Division I college basketball," Harrick said. "How talented they are, that's a question I'll find out once we start playing.
"But the experience factor is really [key] right now -- how are you going to transfer everything you do in practice to the games? How are they going to act and react?"
While sophomore guard D.A. Layne is "the one guy that's back and that we can count on," Harrick said the rest of the Bulldogs' regular rotation will be up to the Bulldogs.
"I'm going to put them all out there and let them decide for me who is going to do the job," Harrick said.
The early favorites to join Layne in the starting lineup are Jones, freshman guard Moses White and two junior transfers -- center Anthony Evans and forward Shon Coleman.
White was regarded by many recruiting services as one of the top five high school point guards as a senior, while Coleman led Indian Hills (Iowa) Community College to back-to-back national championships, averaging 15.2 points and eight rebounds per game.
Evans was an honorable mention All-American at Neosho County (Kan.) Community College after averaging 23.7 points and 9.1 rebounds last season.
Freshman guard Ezra Williams, the MVP of an all-star game featuring SEC and Atlantic Coast Conference signees last spring, will also log plenty of minutes if he gains eligibility.
Those players, plus Harrick, have Jones and the returning Bulldogs excited about a fresh start after a disappointing two years under Ron Jirsa.
"I feel like a freshman again," said Jones, who hasn't played since 1997 because of injuries to both feet. "I've even got jitters. My hands are sweating right now.
"He [Harrick] is one of the most enthusiastic coaches I've ever played for. He's a great motivator, he knows what it takes to get you going, he knows a lot about the game and he shares something new about the game every day.
"He showed us his [national] championship ring and asked us if we wanted one. We said, 'Yes,' and he told us if we listened to him and did the things he told us, then we could probably earn one."
Maybe Harrick will lead the Bulldogs to college basketball's Promised Land sometime soon. But for now, they have to worry about getting past the bullies on their own block.

Tomorrow: Alabama

This article was published on Wednesday, November 10, 1999

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