Fox notes SEC’s success in NCAAs

ATHENS — The SEC’s strong run in the NCAA Tournament serves as some validation for Georgia’s basketball season, but not an excuse. That seemed to be the message coach Mark Fox conveyed in a radio interview Monday.

Fox was a guest on Athens’ 680 The Fan, where host Chuck Dowdle pointed out that eight of Georgia’s 14 losses this season came against teams that made the Elite Eight.

“I’m not pleased with the fact we came up a couple possessions short in some games. That’ll be something we focus on all offseason,” Fox said, alluding to overtime losses to Florida and Kentucky, a one-point loss at South Carolina and other close losses to Kentucky and South Carolina. “But we obviously learned a lot about our team. And you see how close that we are.”

When the talk turned to last weekend’s games, Fox said ruefully: “Kentucky came up a bucket short and, unfortunately, we know that feeling.”

Georgia finished the season 19-14, the top-rated SEC team not to make the tournament with an RPI rank of 52. It subsequently bowed out in the first round of the NIT to Belmont, a game that starters Yante Maten and Juwan Parker missed because of injuries.

After many years of struggles, the SEC has made the best run of any conference in the NCAAs. South Carolina made its first Final Four, Kentucky and Florida made the Elite Eight, Arkansas lost a close game to North Carolina in the second round and Vanderbilt dropped a heartbreaker to Northwestern in the first round.

Fox said that should “prove the point that our league was strong this year,” after not getting the respect he felt it deserved beforehand. Then he brought up what that meant about his own team.

“This group is close. We’ve got to get over the hump,” Fox said. “And we’ll spend the offseason working to do that.”

A few other notes from Fox during his appearance:

Maten, dealing with a sprained knee, won’t require surgery, but will not return to basketball activities until mid-April. Fox didn’t indicate how that affects any decision the junior power forward might make on exploring the NBA draft.

Parker’s latest Achilles tendon injury, which required surgery last week, isn’t as serious as his previous Achilles problem, which involved his other leg. “He should fully recover and be as good as new here in a couple months,” Fox said.

Incoming recruit Rayshaun Hammonds, rated a top-50 recruit, was described by Fox as “a very versatile small forward” who was big (6 feet 8) for his position.

Nicolas Claxton, the team’s other fall signee, was described by Fox as “ultimately” a stretch-four, as in a power forward who can go outside and shoot 3s.

When it comes to replacing J.J. Frazier’s minutes at the point, Fox pointed at Turtle Jackson only having 26 turnovers and Tyree Crump only having four: “They’re both going to need to take a step forward. But I think they’re both probably excited about being able to gobble up some of those minutes.”