The Georgia Bulldogs have failed to make the NCAA tournament since 2015 and have had no tournament success since 1996 but could this year be the change in the right direction? They have a top ten recruiting class this season as they have two five-stars and two three-star recruits.

They are bringing in power forward Asa Newell and center Somto Cyril who will share the front court together for the Bulldogs next season. Their top transfer is Tyrin Lawrence who played for Vanderbilt this past season. These three prospects have a chance to be drafted in the 2025 NBA Draft so let’s dive into their games and how they fit with each other.

With their potential top-10 pick, Newell played for Montverde Academy where he won a national championship this past season in the Chipotle Nationals. He was their starting power forward that brought a ton of versatility to the lineup. Newell is very skilled with two-way potential. He can make jumpers consistently, be an above the rim finisher and shows flashes off the dribble.

Defensively he does a very good job of being a valuable secondary rim protector while being capable of defending out in space. His mobility and tools paired with his talent makes him an enticing prospect. On the other hand Newell needs to add strength as he has a thin frame, struggles to finish through contact and is not a great post defender quite yet.

With their other five-star recruit in Cyril they are getting a physically imposing center that dominates the paint on both ends of the floor. He stands at 6-foot-10 and has a very long wingspan. Cyril spent a couple years in the Overtime Elite League where he was named the defensive player of the year this past season. With that being said he will obviously be a defensive presence in the interior as he does a great job at protecting the rim at a high level. This past season in OTE he averaged 3.3 blocks per game while also altering a ton of shots at the rim. 

Offensively he’s a bit raw and doesn’t have a ton of perimeter skill, but he does offer vertical floor spacing and is an elite lob threat with his explosive athleticism at 6-foot-10. He can be a play finisher and do the dirty work to generate second chance points. He can fill a lot of the holes that Newell has and vice versa so the big man duo should fit very well next to each other at Georgia.

Their incoming transfer in Lawrence will play a major role for Georgia this upcoming season. He’s a fifth year senior that played all four years for Vanderbilt. He was a starter in 80 out of the 105 games he played there. Although his 3-point percentage isn’t ideal, he’s a much better outside shooter than his past season percentage suggests. He’s a good shooter off the catch that showed the ability to make difficult shots off the dribble.

The 13-point scorer is capable of scoring the ball at all three levels while also consistently improving as a perimeter defender. He’s not a very good playmaker but that’s okay as he has a clear role on the team as a scorer and a capable defender. His leadership and being a college vet should pair well with the incoming five-star recruits.

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NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Georgian coach Temur Ketsbaia lost his job with the Cyprus national team, the national federation said Friday, days after a 4-0 home loss against Kosovo in the UEFA Nations League.

The former Newcastle, Wolverhampton and AEK Athens player was in his third year with the Cyprus team now ranked No. 127 by FIFA, a drop of 20 places while he was in charge.

The president of the Cypriot football association, George Koumas, lauded Ketsbaia for his “professionalism, seriousness and proven love” for the national team after accepting in a meeting Friday that his departure is the “drastic change” that’s likely needed.

“His stance honors him and comes as no suprise to those who know him,” Koumas said in a written statement. “Unfortunately, neither Mr. Ketsbaia nor the Federation managed to achieve the wished-for results through this collaboration.”

Cyprus lost all eight games and finished last in its European Championship qualifying group last year, which included eventual title winner Spain, Scotland, Norway and his home country Georgia. Through his 20-game coaching term, Ketsbaia logged six wins, two draws and 13 losses with 19 goals for and 49 against.

Ketsbaia coached Georgia for five years though 2014, and later worked for AEK and Cypriot clubs APOEL and Anorthosis where he led the team to the Champions League group stage for the 2008-09 season — a first for any Cypriot side.

The Cyprus federation did not announce an interim coach to take over for Nations League games next month hosting Romania and the return game in Kosovo.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Georgians could have fewer choices for president when they go to vote this November after two Fulton County Superior Court judges reversed Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s decision and ruled independent candidate Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz with the Party for Socialism and Liberation are not eligible to run for president in the state.

The Wednesday decision marks a win for the Democratic Party of Georgia, which filed suit to remove the candidates.

With early voting set to begin in just over a month, the judges ordered Raffensperger to post notices at polling places in cases where there is insufficient time to print new ballots.

Both candidates have vowed to appeal.

“Across the country, the Democratic Party is using the courts to wage an assault on democracy,” De la Cruz said in a statement. “They are backed by their billionaire friends, and super PACs like Clear Choice which have raised huge sums of money for the explicit goal of removing third party candidates. We will appeal this ruling. People in Georgia should have the right to vote for the candidate of their choice.”

Both West and De la Cruz have criticized the Democrat’s nominee Vice President Kamala Harris from her left and could conceivably attract votes from progressives who favor her over Republican former President Donald Trump, but dislike Harris’ economic policies or her backing of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, which inspired protests in college campuses across the nation, including in Georgia. In what is expected to be a close race, a small number of third-party votes lost to the independents could make a difference.

West’s campaign urged voters to support the third-party challenger despite the ruling.

“We are appealing this decision, which negates the basic democratic rights of the people of Georgia to vote for the candidate of their choice,” said Edwin DeJesus, a spokesperson for the West campaign. “We will not stand by as the democratic process is undermined. This ruling is a direct assault on the voters’ rights to choose their leaders, and we are fighting to ensure that every Georgian can vote for a candidate who truly represents their values and visions for the future.”

Neither the Democratic Party of Georgia nor the secretary of state’s office responded to requests for comment Thursday, but Raffensperger, a Republican, referenced the cases in a Twitter thread Tuesday.

“Partisan activists are attempting to tilt the scales of this election and I believe that is wrong. This election will be decided by Georgia’s voters and not political activists,” he wrote. “The law is clear, and these qualified candidates have a right to be on Georgia’s ballot, and I will fight for voters’ rights every day to choose the candidate for whom they want to elect.”

Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver and Green Party Candidate Jill Stein will appear on Georgia ballots – Oliver because Libertarians received a sufficient number of votes in the previous election, and Stein because she qualified under a new state law granting ballot access to candidates on the ballot in at least 20 other states. They will join the major party contenders, Trump and Harris, at the top of the ticket.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was previously leading the third-party pack, though still far behind the major party frontrunners, dropped out of the race in late August and endorsed Trump.

A Quinnipiac poll conducted Sept. 4 through Sept. 8 found Trump leading in Georgia with 49% of the vote to Harris’ 45%, with West and De la Cruz both receiving about 1% of the vote each and neither Oliver nor Stein breaking 1%. The poll’s margin of error is 3.2%.

The poll was conducted prior to this week’s televised debate between Harris and Trump, which could be the only in-person face-off between the two major party candidates.