Ashley Houts: All-Time Great

Before the Tennessee game, as the Lady Dawgs were in their pregame shootaround, Jeff Dantzler referred to Ashley Houts as \"One of Georgia's all-time greats.\" He meant on the women's basketball team, but I'm telling you right now: Ashley Houts is one of the University of Georgia's all-time greats, period. She's right up there with Herschel Walker, with Teresa Edwards, with Spec Towns, with Jennifer Dahlgren and Chris Colwill, with Gordon Beckham and Dominique Wilkins.

\"But dapolla, it's just women's basketball!\"

Shut up. Seriously. Shut your mouth. I'm right. Here's why:

1) She's a hard worker. In her sophomore and junior years, she set UGA records for minutes played while leading the SEC in that category. She averages 36 minutes per game, as of the end of the 2008-09 season.

2) Who says short girls can't score? At 5'6\", Ashley Houts takes it to the hole, scoring 1092 points in her first three years as a Lady Dawg. This year's stats haven't made it into this assessment of her.

3) Accuracy from the stripe. Ashley Houts is a 78% free-throw shooter, scoring 324 of her 1092 points after fouls.

4) She's a physical girl who's willing to take a foul to help her team win. She has 414 free throw attempts to her name as of 2009. If you assume that all of them were for 2pt FG attempts, that means she took 207 fouls in her first three years. Too small? Prove it!

5) Too small? I'll see your \"She's only 5'6\"\" and I'll raise you 2.9 rebounds per game through her first three years. Are they stellar numbers? No. Does it mean she goes after the ball and wins? Yes.

6) Defense. As of 2009, she has 250 steals to her name. She passed my former favorite Lady Dawg, Sherrill Baker (now #2 on my all-time list) for most steals by a freshman with 93, and recorded more takeaways than any other Georgia sophomore but one. Sherrill, by the way, is the all-time UGA steals leader. I smell a change coming...

7) Intangibles. The georgiadogs.com bio of Ashley Houts refers to her as premier player \"who drives virtually everything the Lady Bulldogs do on both ends of the floor.\" Couldn't put it better myself.

8) Did I mention her two gold medals, for the 2009 World University Games and the 2007 FIBA Under-21 World Championships?

Ashley Houts: future member of the Circle of Honor. If the people who run Butts-Mehre are smart, they'll buy a 5'6\" tall block of granite right now and reserve a spot outside Stegeman Coliseum for the statue to eventually occupy.

ALL RIGHT, ASHLEY! TIME TO GET READY FOR OLE MISS! YOU ARE A DAMN GOOD DAWG, AND ONE OF THE FINEST UGA HAS EVER SEEN!

C'mon dapolla.......let it out.......we all know she's your 1st cousin. Just kidding, she's incredible!!!