Live from UGA-Washington: It’s late night at the Big Dance!

Mark Fox coaches free throws at Thursday's practice. (Photo courtesy of the Charlotte Observer)

Charlotte – To borrow from the Kenny Loggins song that served as NBC’s theme for the 1980 NCAA tournament — yep, NBC once had the Big Dance — this is it. Georgia and Washington are about to meet, and ’round midnight we’ll know if the Bulldogs will be halfway toward the Sweet 16. And now you ask: Who in his/her right mind would pick Georgia to make the Sweet 16?

Er, me.

I haven’t had a very good tournament, forecast-wise — and we’re only in (Full) Day 2! — but I have made a bit of a comeback from yesterday’s misdoings. I had Arizona over Memphis, George Mason over Villanova, Florida State over Texas A&M. (I also had Tennessee over Michigan and came within 31 points of being right.)

As we speak, I’m seated courtside at Time Warner Cable Arena, and you will be shocked to know there are about 12,000 folks wearing powder blue in the joint. (North Carolina play Long Island in the early game.) But before we begin our live-blog thing, I must pass along a snippet of news both good and bad.

Owing to the late start of UGA-UDub, no print edition of Saturday’s AJC will include an MB column reflecting the outcome of the game. This is my 31st NCAA tournament, and it’s the first time I’ve never had a print deadline to meet. But what that does mean is that I won’t have to switch from the live-chatting to write an actual column. I can offer the usual wit and insight — “Yeah, right,” you’re saying — until the final buzzer, if and when it arrives.

With that, we’ll tip off the digital festivities, and I hope you’ll join me in saying: Thank goodness for AJC.com. And, once again, away we go.

By Mark Bradley

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