Georgia’s 2010-11 men’s basketball schedule isn’t yet out but its season opener will be against Mississippi Valley State at 7 p.m. on Nov. 12 in Stegeman Coliseum.

The Southwestern Athletic Conference school announced that date on its website. The Delta Devils went 8-21 last season.

Georgia will also get a visit this coming season from Xavier, according to a tweet from Musketeers coach Chris Mack earlier this month.

“Get your plane tickets to Athens, GA for February X fans,” he wrote.

Georgia coach Mark Fox said he didn’t know if the contract with Xavier was signed yet, but said that “it’s in the works.”

The pairings for the Old Spice Classic on Thanksgiving weekend in Orlando have not yet been announced, but it looks like a Notre Dame-Georgia matchup in the opening round, according to a tweet from the Irish’s beat writer for the South Bend Tribune (h/t Georgia Sports Blog).

DESTIN, Fla.—On the drive down here for the Southeastern Conference spring meetings, I passed Northwest Florida State College. That’s the junior college about 16 miles from here where Sherrard Brantley hit 3-pointers at a rapid pace lase season.

Brantley, a Dublin product who sank more than 100 3s last season, might just make the most immediate impact this season of the Bulldogs’ four 2010 recruits with his ability to score from the perimeter, but when it comes to sending a message to future in-state targets, Marcus Thornton’s decision to become a Bulldog could have a lasting impact.

“Marcus gives us great momentum,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “He had enough courage to say `Hey, this is where I want to go. It’s a great school and we’re going to build a program that we all want to be a part of and my basketball dreams can come true there as well as my academic dreams.’”

Georgia basketball coach Mark Fox, who was recognized for his tweets last season, is putting limits on his players' use of their Twitter accounts.

Fox wants his players “to focus on the team,” anytime they post tweets on the popular social network and microblogging service that limits up to 140 characters per post, according to team spokesman Tim Hix.

Hix said that Georgia players won't be tweeting much in the future because Fox has instructed them not to. He believes that recent tweets from Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie had been “about themselves and just a bunch of nonsense.”

Blogger Andy Pawlokski named Fox during this past season as “Twitterer of the Year” in the SEC on his “Digital Hoops Blast, saying that Fox “posts on his team in an authentic voice, has fun with it (even talking about snowball fights with the players), and is active. He even posts about always dunking on his birthday. Great leader, and very personal.”

Georgia basketball coach Mark Fox has noticed a significant change already this offseason.

“One year into the job, I walk into the locker room and I see some faces that believe we’re going to win,” Fox said.

Others are taking notice, too.

ESPN's Andy Katz put Georgia at No. 25 in his Preseason Top 25,which he updated after the NCAA’s deadline for withdrawing from the NBA draft passed. Georgia sophomores Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie considered entering the draft but chose to return to the Bulldogs.

Here’s what Katz writes about the Bulldogs entering year two of Fox:

Some SEC basketball programs had to sweat it out over the weekend. Not Georgia.

The NCAA’s deadline for underclassmen to withdraw from the NBA draft was Saturday.

Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie took away any suspense when they each declared weeks ago they were staying put for their junior seasons.

“One thing that I was really pleased with Trey and Travis is that I said `Listen, let’s not leave this story with the nonsense, let’s listen to the general managers, let’s be balanced in your approach and make a mature, educated decision,’” Georgia coach Mark Fox said recently. “I didn’t have to recruit them to come back. I mean they did that. They handled it, both of them, very well. Glad to have them back.”

In case you didn’t hear, Florida’s Alex Tyus and Mississippi State’s Ravern Johnson withdrew their names, but they were more the exception than the rule in the SEC.

If only Georgia football coach Mark Richt had delayed revealing his quarterback pecking order until August, he just might have had a more restful week.

“Maybe the dumbest thing I did is put the depth chart out,” Richt told the Greater Augusta Bulldog Club Thursday night at the Julian Smith Casino. “Everybody got bent out of shape about that.”

Will junior Logan Gray transfer or stick around Athens? That’s still to be determined after the Bulldogs' No. 2 quarterback behind Aaron Murray met with Richt on Monday

Richt wouldn’t answer a question posed to him about what contingency plans might be in place if the Bulldogs are down to two scholarship quarterbacks should Gray leave.

“If he leaves, then I’ll decide what to do then,” Richt said before the event started.

Later, he told the crowd of more than 300: “We’re getting calls from walk-on quarterbacks around the nation right now.”

Any Georgia basketball fans waiting for a big announcement tonight from recruiting target Dwayne Polee from California can relax.

The 6-foot-7 Polee told Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times that he won’t announce the school he will sign with tonight because he now plans to visit Oregon.

Here are the details from his blog:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/varsitytimesinsider/

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Georgia forward Travis Leslie has decided to return for his junior season and won't enter the NBA draft.

Leslie had told the Athens Banner-Herald that was his plan back in early March, but had held discussions with coach Mark Fox about the possibility of entering the draft since the end of the season.

Leslie announced his decision this afternoon in a release issued by the school.

"After talking about it with my family and coaches, I believe it's the best decision for me," Leslie said. "I enjoy being at Georgia and being part of the Georgia program. I think we have a chance to have a great season next year. Right now, I just want to continue working hard to improve as a player and help us become a great program at Georgia."

Fox said earlier today that he’s had “a lot of communication,” with Leslie about his options and he “is very grounded.”

Georgia’s 14-17 record after its 78-66 loss to Vanderbilt late Friday night doesn’t scream out “tournament team,” and coach Mark Fox pretty much closed the door on any possibility of playing in a third-tier postseason tournament after the game.

“I don’t think we’ll do that,” he said. "This is it."

Later, he added “We’re not going to get an invitation somewhere to play. We don’t have a winning record and I think we’re done.”

Georgia entered its SEC Tournament quarterfinal game with an RPI of 98, three victories over ranked opponents and a team on the radar for the three-year old College Basketball Invitational.

“Georgia’s one of the programs we’re looking at, but I can’t go any further then that,” Ray Cella of the Gazelle Group, which owns and operates the tournament, said Friday afternoon.

We’ll get our first look at Georgia’s defense under Todd Grantham when the Bulldogs open spring practice this afternoon, but it looks like it will be a brief look.

The practice is slated to be open to the media for only one period—five minutes.

Check back here late this afternoon for practice updates.

A few quick items this morning:
--In case you didn’t see this, Katharyn Richt, wife of Georgia coach Mark Richt, made the trip to Macon this week to hear Tim Tebow’s mother speak.

“I’m thankful for many things,” Richt said when she gave a blessing at the Sav-A-Life banquet at Macon City Auditorium. “I’m most thankful that Tim Tebow is graduating.”

--Former Georgia tight ends coach David Johnson has a new title at West Virginia: running game coordinator.