Early January hardly seems like the time for coaches to be snapping at their dear friends in the media. Nobody has lost two straight league games, nobody has been robbed on the road by the refs, and most everybody has fattened their records with the obligatory home games against sundry directional colleges.

Yet for some reason, Monday was a Bitchfest in the Southeastern Conference.

	Since starting the season 1-3, Rashad Wright and Georgia have won eight straight games.

And Georgia seemed to be at the center of every snarling word.

South Carolina coach Dave Odom, in an uncharacteristic fit of apoplexy over the Bulldogs' lack of a national ranking prior to this week: "If the writers don't understand that Georgia's one of the Top 25 teams in this country -- one of the top 10 teams in this country -- them shame on you. For them not to be in the Top 25 is ridiculous."

Memo to Dave: Georgia was every bit as unranked in the coaches' poll as the writers'. Where's the strident words for your peers, pal?

John Brady, coach of the LSU team that was blast-furnaced by the Bulldogs Sunday: "I said all this before the game and you all just blew me off: (Georgia) is the best starting five in the SEC. They score the ball more easily than anyone else in the league. I said it before the game and no one cared, but now that's all everyone wants to talk about."

Memo to John: Lighten up, Francis.

And then there was this Accountability Moment from Georgia coach Jim Harrick himself, whose team visits Florida Saturday for a major early SEC showdown. When asked whether he preaches good citizenship to his players, who have made several headlines for academic lollygagging and other off-court drama, Harrick responded:

"Every ... single ... day. We talk about moral conditioning, anticipating -- and that's something that bothers me greatly. I have my players 2½ hours a day. We have a 20-hour rule (maximum practice time per week); I only use 15 hours a week. But anytime there's a problem, it's the coach's fault. ... People say, 'You brought them here.' Well, the admissions office let them in. I want to remind everyone, it's not the coach's fault. Quit blaming the coach."

Memo to Jim: Since you can't have it both ways, we'll try to quit crediting the coach as well. The two-year turnaround in Georgia basketball that's been conceived in a mere 15 hours per week must be the work of the players and their parents. And the admissions office.

You folks are awesome -- and ridiculously underpaid in comparison to the head coach.

Let's hear it for the good people in admissions who OK'd Ezra Williams and Jarvis Hayes, the explosive wing combination currently averaging a combined 35.4 points per game. This is the best jump-shooting duo in the SEC, rather easily: Hayes is shooting a ridiculous 50 percent from 3-point range; Williams is shooting 49 percent.

"They have two possible NBA players who just made shots over us 75 percent of the time," Brady said. "It's not like we weren't guarding them. They just made baskets over us."

Hooray for the academic gatekeppers who gave the go-ahead on Rashad Wright. The Dogs' no-frills/no-mess point guard averages three assists for every turnover.

And you simply must give it up to the transcript reviewers who cleared Steve Thomas to be a Bulldog -- even if he spent last semester academically ineligible. Since coming back Thomas has averaged 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game while solidifying the Georgia lineup and spurring the Dogs on to this current red-hot streak.

Since Thomas returned, the Dean's Team is 5-0 -- every win by double digits. The Dogs handled Pittsburgh when it was poised to become No. 1 in the nation, then came back with the devastation of No. 25 LSU to open SEC play.

"We're a much better team now," Harrick said. "More solid, more cohesive."

This roll gives credence to Odom's broadside, even if it was too narrowly aimed. It's like the Dawgs' 1-3 start with an incomplete roster -- against good competition -- caused the voters to forget about Georgia.

If the pollsters are paying any attention to strength of schedule, they'd note that Georgia is 9-3 against a schedule Jeff Sagarin rates the ninth-hardest in America to date. The only bunnies the Bullies have played are Belmont, South Alabama, Appalachian State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee -- below the league and national averages.

Then again, it seemed like a lot of people were dissing the Bulldogs even before that slow November. Despite returning every key player from last year's 22-10 team that shared the Eastern Division title -- and adding North Carolina State transfer Damien Wilkins -- many preseason polls ranked Georgia lower than some or all of their primary SEC rivals: Alabama, Florida, Mississippi State and Kentucky.

The belief seemed to be that Georgia's 2002 was a bit flukish and that the Bulldogs were exposed as such in their late-season fade, which saw them lose three of their last four game and five of their last nine. Last year, the five starters all averaged between 29 and 34 minutes per game, with precious little bench help.

But this team would appear to be every bit as explosive as last year's, with some added depth that could mean a fresher Georgia down the stretch.

With Wilkins and the improving interior play of Jonas Hayes (Jarvis' twin), Harrick is able to play seven men between 24 and 31 minutes per game. That's still not exactly lavish depth, but Harrick usually isn't a guy with a real long bench -- not even when he was winning the national title at UCLA in 1995.

But that's down the road. For now, Georgia is one of the hottest -- and most underrated -- teams in America. The UGA admissions department has given Blameless Jim Harrick a team he can be proud of.

Games of the Week

Georgia at Florida Saturday Battle for the East begins in earnest in the O Dome. Kentucky at Tennessee Wednesday Site of one of the Wildcats' worst losses last year, including a postgame confrontation between now-departed Rashaad Carruth and coach Tubby Smith. The mood is better at UK, but is the team good enough to beat a Volunteers team that is playing decently? DePaul at Cincinnati Wednesday Blue Demons have lost 22 of their last 23 against the Bearcats. Don't look for that to change here ... but don't look for DePaul to surrender as it has in the past, either. Marquette at Saint Louis Tuesday Struggling road team meets confident home team. But talent tilts heavily in favor of the Golden Eagles. Marquette certainly can't affort to start the league 0-2.

Massie Has Memphis On The Move
Another team that has excelled after getting a power player back after academic ineligibilty is Memphis, which has four straight solid wins against legitimate competition with Chris Massie in the lineup.

In wins over Illinois, Murray State, Arkansas and Villnova, Massie averaged 16 points and 10.5 rebounds, making 25 of 34 shots. John Calipari has surrounded the 6-9, 253-pound Massie's muscle with an impressive bunch of athletes, pushing Memphis up alongside Louisville as the most impressive teams in Conference USA to date. (It's almost enough to make you look ahead to Feb. 19, when the Tigers visit Freedom Hall. A dormant rivalry is ready to regain its fire.)

But after narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament last year because of a dearth of quality wins, Calipari is getting on the stump early to trumpet the Tigers' accomplishments.

"I'm not saying this in a braggadocious way, but who's got five better wins in the country right now than we do at Memphis?" he asked. "I want to know. Syracuse, Illinois, Ole Miss, Arkansas on the road and Villanova. ... Who's got better wins than that?"

Start with Georgia, which has beaten five teams in Sagarin's top 52. Certainly there are others. Look past the name and you'll see that Arkansas is No. 139 and Villanova No. 73 at present.

Nevertheless, Memphis has positioned itself so that a solid run through the weak C-USA National Division will make them impossible to keep out of the tourney.

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