University of Georgia Athletics
'Old Hats' Want Strong Finish
September 29, 2015 | Men's Basketball
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By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Kenny Gaines and Charles Mann are the Georgia men's basketball team's only seniors. When the Bulldogs begin preseason practice Monday, this will be the two guards' team to lead.
"Charles and Kenny will play the same positions, and they played major minutes last year, and they'll have more leadership responsibility because Marcus (Thornton) and (Nemanja Djurisic) are not here," coach Mark Fox said last week during a media session on the court at Stegeman Coliseum. "So, their role within the team is going to be a little bit different, and the chemistry is a little bit different.
"They're the older guys now and as the `old hats' they've got to show these young guys the way."
Like most every student-athlete approaching the start of his or her final collegiate season, the 6-foot-3 Gaines and 6-5 Mann wonder where the time went.
"Man, it's crazy," Gaines said, stretching the final word out for a second or two.
"When guys say the next four years will fly by, I didn't really believe it," Mann said. "Just thinking about it and thinking about my career, it flew by. I'm kind of excited, but kind of sad about it, too."
Gaines is Georgia's top returning scorer (11.7 points per game) from the 2014-15 squad that went 21-12 and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Mann is right behind him at 11.2 ppg., and Mann is the Dogs' top returning rebounder at 4.9 per game. He also led Georgia in assists with 3.6 a game.
Mann was the Bulldogs' Swiss Army knife last season, doing a bit of everything. He played in every game last season (Djurisic was the only other Dog to do so) and started at all three guard positions in the lineup because of Georgia's seemingly endless run of injuries.
It wasn't easy moving from position to position, Mann said, but it was necessary. And he'll do it again if needed.
"Whatever I've got to do to help the team win, I'm fine with it," he said. "Of course that's not something I wanted to do, but I'm fine with it as long as we won and I helped the team. As of now, wherever Coach needs me this year, I'm there."
Fox and the Bulldogs are counting on better health and a more stable lineup than last season, when injuries to six players cost them a combined 32 games. Gaines was among the hobbled, doing his best to play through a late-season left foot sprain. He played in 31 games, despite his health problems, which started with an illness that sidelined him for most of the preseason, a December shoulder sprain and the foot sprain that especially affected him during the SEC and NCAA tournaments.
Gaines' succinct advice: "Avoid injury."
It was a long season and a long recovery for Gaines; time tends to not fly by when you're constantly rehabbing an injury. Given the "full go" from UGA's medical staff about four weeks ago, Gaines said he's is healthy and eager for a big finish to his Bulldog career.
"You've just got to take each moment for what it's worth," he said of his final season, "and make one last run."
The Bulldogs will play an exhibition game against Armstrong Atlantic on Nov. 6 and open their season Nov. 13 at Stegeman Coliseum, against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
John Frierson is a staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can follow him on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.