THE TEN AT 10:

1. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope became the first Georgia player to be named SEC player of the year by the league’s coaches on Tuesday.

Caldwell-Pope, a sophomore guard out of Greenville, Ga., is the SEC’s second-leading scorer with an average of 18 points per game. He leads the Bulldogs in 10 statistical categories, including rebounds (6.9 pg), steals (2.1) and free-throw shooting (.809), and is among the SEC leaders in nine of the 13 categories the league keeps for individuals. He’s one of just 10 players in the nation to have scored in double figures in every game.

“He’s just been terrific for us,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “He’s been consistent and consistently productive. . . . There are a lot of great players in this league and he’s one of them.”

Caldwell-Pope, who was also named to the All-SEC first team, has earned a reputation as a clutch performer at the ends of games.  According to UGA, in the last five minutes of SEC games this season, he averaged 5.4 points (projects to 43.2 points over a 40-minute game) while shooting 65 percent from the field, 63 percent from 3-point range and 83 percent from the free-throw line.  He scored 31 percent of his total of 332 points in SEC play during the last five minutes.

Caldwell-Pope becomes just the second Bulldog to win any SEC Player-of-the-Year trophy since wire services began naming recipients in 1965.  Dominique Wilkins won the award given by the Associated Press and United Press International in 1981, also as a sophomore.

Caldwell-Pope told reporters interviewing him about the time the news was released Tuesday he was "really shocked" to be named SEC player of the year. "It's a joyous feeling," he said.

2. Georgia’s Charles Mann was also honored by the coaches as the 6-foot-4 point guard from Alpharetta was named to the All-SEC freshman team. Mann, who has played in all 31 games and started eight, leads the Bulldogs in assists with 87, ranks second behind Caldwell-Pope in free-throw attempts with 156 and is third in scoring at 6.5 points per game.  Twice he has scored his season high of 18 points, most recently on March 2 in the Bulldogs' second win over Tennessee.

The Bulldogs (15-16, 9-9 SEC) begin play in the SEC Tournament on Thursday. As the No. 8 seed they will face ninth-seeded LSU (19-11) at 1 p.m., with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals to face top-seeded Florida.

Florida's Billy Donovan was named coach of the year.

3. Georgia’s spring football practice was interrupted for a week of spring break, which began Saturday. But the early lead for breakout player of the spring goes to James DeLoach. The sophomore outside linebacker really started generating buzz toward the end of last season and that has only continued as the combination of physical maturity and athleticism is beginning to manifest itself with his play on the field. DeLoach is now running with the first team at strongside outside linebacker and is looking hard to beat out.

“DeLoach is looking real good,” said inside linebacker Ramik Wilson, who is also starting. “He’s coming off the edge real fast. We’ve been watching film and he and Jordan (Jenkins) are looking real good. James is setting the edge and making the ball bounce to us so we can make more tackles. He’s doing a good job.”

DeLoach signed with Georgia out of Jenkins County seemingly as a throw-in with his good buddy, noseguard Jonathan Taylor. But he has totally remade his body just a year into his career and has maintained his quickness despite carrying 265 pounds on his 6-foot-3 frame.

“I feel like I just work hard every day and take coaching and I try to learn from the best of them,” DeLoach said. “Jarvis (Jones) taught me a lot of things and showed me some things to work on to better my technique. So I just work hard and try to push myself every day to become a starter.”

I’ll have more on DeLoach when the team returns next week.

4. Speaking of Jarvis Jones, there has been a lot of talk and speculation regarding the Georgia’s two-time All-American and upcoming NFL draft. Jones’ name has actually slipped on some lists of draft projections because of medical concerns regarding the neck issue that ended his career at USC. But Jones’ camp got some good news in that regard this week.

Craig Bingham, a respected orthopedist in NFL circles, examined Jones and concluded that he never had a significant spinal-cord contusion, according to a report at NFL.com. Brigham's diagnosis corroborated those of UGA doctors, who long ago concluded Jones does not have spinal stenosis, as USC doctors claim.  Bingham’s proclaimed, "Jarvis is cleared to play without restriction."

5. Due in part to Jones’ presence, March 21^st is going to be a big day in Athens as the Bulldogs hold their annual Pro Day on Woodruff Practice Fields. Jones did not work out at the NFL combine last month but he’ll headline more than a dozen Georgia football players who will be put through the paces by pro scouts that day. At least a half-dozen eligible Bulldogs are expected to be off the draft board by the third round of next months draft, so there will be a lot of interest from NFL scouts and personnel executives in the data that will be produced from these workouts. No wonder ESPN3.com has decided to broadcast the proceedings.

6. Georgia’s women’s basketball team had hoped to catapult themselves into the postseason during last week’s SEC tournament in Duluth. But it’s hard to tell how their performance will affect their seeding for the NCAA tournament. The Lady Dogs (25-6) reached the semifinals with a decisive win over LSU, but they had their worst half of basketball all season in the second half against Kentucky. They were out-scored 41-14 in the final 20 minutes of a 60-38 loss. We’ll find out where they end up when the NCAA women’s bracket is announced Monday at 7 p.m on ESPN.

7. Georgia had a runner crowned an NCAA champion in track for the first time since 1999 this past weekend. Shaunae Millier, a true freshman, clocked the fifth-fastest collegiate 400-meter dash time in history to win the national title crown at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., this past Saturday. Miller, a native of Nassau, Bahamas, sped to a school record time of 50.88 seconds. The last time a Lady Dog won in a running event was 1999 when fellow Bahamian Debbie Ferguson finished first in the 60 during the 1999 NCAA Championships. Patty Sylvester won the high jump in 2007. 

8 . With Georgia’s 4-1 win over Mississippi State in men’s tennis on Sunday, coach Manny Diaz moves up to second place behind only the great Dan Magill as the winningest tennis coach in SEC history. Diaz now has 569 wins for his career, passing former Kentucky coach Dennis Emery for second place. Diaz now trails only Dan Magill, who won 706 matches at UGA in 34 seasons between 1955-88.

"I don't give it much thought,” Diaz said after the match. “It's nice for me to have my name next to Coach Magill's. . . . I do appreciate the fact that I'll be there with him in the record book."

9. The Gym Dogs jumped up two spots to No. 6 in the latest gymnastics’ rankings after this past Saturday’s decisive win over Utah in Athens. Georgia posted a season-high score of 197.650 in that meet and now have a  Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 196.985.

Oklahoma took over the No. 1 spot this week with a 197.570, followed by Florida (197.440), Michigan (197.175), Alabama (197.125) and LSU (197.055). The Gym Dogs return to the mats for the final meet of the regular season on Sunday against N.C. State.

10. This & that: Georgia’s baseball team appears to be shaking the cobwebs of its bats and getting the season going in the right direction after winning two of three games against Liberty this past weekend. The Bulldogs (7-8) scored 23 runs in the series before dropping an 11-8 decision on Sunday. They play host to Appalachian State (8-4) for a two-game set Tuesday and Wednesday, then open SEC play against Texas A&M (10-7) on Friday. . . . Senior third baseman Curt Powell is batting .415 and carries an 11-game hitting streak into Tuesday’s game. . . . The No. 9 Georgia women's tennis team (9-1, 3-0 SEC) will host Notre Dame on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. before continuing conference play against Florida and South Carolina this weekend. The Lady Dogs have won four straight and are coming off a shutout against Mississippi State on Sunday.