UGA players ‘jumped around like 7-year-olds that just won a Little League championship’ after NCAA bid
(Updated 9:30 p.m.)
ATHENS — After days of debate about whether Georgia would reach the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, the verdict came quickly Sunday night: The Bulldogs are in.
Georgia will open against Pac-10 tournament champion Washington on Friday in an East Region game in Charlotte. Game time will be approximately 9:45 p.m.
Georgia’s selection was announced early in the hour-long, nationally televised bracket unveiling, and the Bulldogs’ No. 10 seed revealed that they were not as close of a call as many analysts had projected. The Georgia players got the news while watching the selection show in the team’s locker room.
“They jumped around like 7-year-olds that just won a Little League championship,” coach Mark Fox said.
“I don’t think I’ve been that happy in a long time,” forward Trey Thompkins said, “just seeing our whole team jump around and throw stuff in the locker room and hug each other as much as we did. That was a blessing, just to be able to see our name as in the tournament.”
Said guard Dustin Ware: “It was incredible. There is no other feeling like it, just knowing you’re in and all your hard work really paid off this year. . . . We went crazy. Some guys – I know I was one of them – were real emotional.”
Georgia is in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008, when the Bulldogs received an automatic bid after unexpectedly winning the SEC tournament, and for the first time as an at-large team since 2002.
The Bulldogs (21-11) drew an interesting opening opponent. Fox’s first assistant-coaching job was in 1991-93 at Washington, where he met his wife, Cindy, who worked at the time as the Huskies’ director of marketing and promotions.
Friday’s game will be the first-ever meeting in basketball between Georgia and Washington.
Washington, a No. 7 seed, has a 23-10 record and won the Pac-10 tournament with an overtime victory over Arizona. The Huskies’ best player is 5-foot-9 junior point guard Isaiah Thomas, whose dramatic last-second jumper won the title game. Thomas is averaging 16.8 points per game.
The Georgia-Washington winner will play again in Charlotte on Sunday against the winner of Friday’s North Carolina-Long Island game.
Debate had raged about Georgia’s NCAA prospects in the 48 hours following the team’s loss to Alabama in the SEC tournament quarterfinals, the Bulldogs’ second loss to the Crimson Tide in seven days. But as it turned out, Georgia made the NCAA field with room to spare and Alabama was left out.
On the selection show, committee chairman Gene Smith basically said head-to-head results are not the decisive determinant.
“A lot of people put head-to-head as a high priority in their criteria for different situations, [but] there were things with Alabama that didn’t stack up compared to the other teams,” said Smith, the Ohio State athletic director.
Fox was excited, but not surprised, by the Bulldogs’ selection. He had argued for a couple of weeks that the team’s season-long resume merited a bid.
“When you compared our body of work to some other teams that were supposedly on the bubble,” Fox said Sunday night, “I felt confident in our body of work. This is about a four-month marathon, not a four-day postseason tournament, and I think sometimes people forget that. I did have a good feeling, but you never know for sure.”
When the Bulldogs found out for sure, “the way we were jumping around, it seemed like we won the national championship,” guard Travis Leslie said. He and other players admitted to developing doubts about whether they’d get into the tournament as they listened to analysts debate the bubble over the weekend.
Among the factors in Georgia’s favor with the selection committee, though, were a solid RPI (although it slipped from 39 to 47 in the past few days), a 7-4 road record and only two losses against teams that rank below 35 in the RPI (both to No. 80 Alabama).
The selection ended a stressful wait for the Bulldogs and their fans and families.
“At four o’clock [Sunday] morning, my 8-year-old daughter woke me up, and she asked if we were in the Big Dance yet,” Fox said. “I said, ‘Honey, you need to go back to bed.’ She said, ‘Daddy, it’s Sunday. You said we’d know on Sunday if we’d be in the Big Dance.’”
Said Thompkins: “I was at home with my family [Saturday], and they were asking me, ‘Do you think we’ll be in?’ And I really had no answer for them. I lost a little sleep about it, but I can sleep real good tonight.”
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282 comments Add your comment
Scott
March 13th, 2011
6:38 pm
Ok, here’s what will happen.
Georgia will come out fast, in the first quarter, get a lead, be ahead by 8 at halftime.
Then the lack of depth will take over, and the boys will fade like they always due to poor conditioning and lack of depth.
A Dawg In Minnesota
March 13th, 2011
6:38 pm
OMG Alabama got left out……I am kinda shocked believe it or not!
Katherine
March 13th, 2011
6:40 pm
I feel bad for alabama….they deserved to get in as well
tenndawg
March 13th, 2011
6:40 pm
Paul the hater talking about “next year”… LOL No one can predict what will happen “next year” but this year, our team made the dance and we have much improved… congrads Coach Fox.
Paul
March 13th, 2011
6:42 pm
Enjoy the ride, 1 game and out, and back to 15-15 next year without the big 2 guns.
The truth hurts
March 13th, 2011
6:43 pm
What seed is your school Paul?
Katherine
March 13th, 2011
6:44 pm
Paul
March 13th, 2011
6:42 pm
Enjoy the ride, 1 game and out, and back to 15-15 next year without the big 2 guns.
Who is your team..and why are you so negative?
TennesseeDawg
March 13th, 2011
6:44 pm
Maybe Paul, but we will still beat Tech.
Eddie
March 13th, 2011
6:44 pm
My wife is getting tickets so I might go, but as UGA fan, I’ll have to put the bag over my head, as I don’t want to embrrassed when Fox either blows the lead, or has an end game mistake again.
Love that time out call coach, nice.
Katherine
March 13th, 2011
6:45 pm
Eddie
March 13th, 2011
6:44 pm
My wife is getting tickets so I might go, but as UGA fan, I’ll have to put the bag over my head, as I don’t want to embrrassed when Fox either blows the lead, or has an end game mistake again.
Love that time out call coach, nice.
Frickin loser…you aren’t a fan….why don’t you just wear the bad anyway so no one has to see you.
Husky Hank
March 13th, 2011
6:45 pm
My Huskies will trounce your dogs.
Katherine
March 13th, 2011
6:46 pm
*bag
A Dawg In Minnesota
March 13th, 2011
6:48 pm
I think UGA will go into this tournament knowing the fact that it is one and done and actually play well……I honestly think they can take it to UNC if they get that far and make the Sweet 16…….I have faith in my Dawgs and so should everyone else in here and stop worrying about what they have done during the year……….it’s a whole new day now…….68 teams are all on equal playing fields and Georgia is no exception!!
Katherine
March 13th, 2011
6:48 pm
A Dawg In Minnesota
March 13th, 2011
6:48 pm
I think UGA will go into this tournament knowing the fact that it is one and done and actually play well……I honestly think they can take it to UNC if they get that far and make the Sweet 16…….I have faith in my Dawgs and so should everyone else in here and stop worrying about what they have done during the year……….it’s a whole new day now…….68 teams are all on equal playing fields and Georgia is no exception!!
Thank you! Finally someone positive!
Michael
March 13th, 2011
6:49 pm
@Eddie.
Georgia fan all of your life? wont be watching the game?
when Mark Fox has come in and taken a team that was terrible, and with the SAME PLAYERS, turned them into a tournament team with a 21-11 record in one of the toughest divisions in the entire NCAA????
and you won’t watch the game?
peesh. get that trashy “fan” attitude out of here. I’ve been a fan all of my life, who’s watched every UGA hoops game I can for the past eight years. (as well as all of the football, of course!!!!)…
…I’d be beside myself if I didnt watch. you non-supportive nincompoop
Dawg A
March 13th, 2011
6:50 pm
Tech fans…… get a life! you have no business commenting on the NCAA tournament! Go away and come back when your opinion matters! But I guess you know better than the NCAA experts! Crawl back in your hole and come out in a few years!
Alpha Dawg
March 13th, 2011
6:50 pm
Why again is everyone so shocked that Bama didn’t make it? Because UGA/UA was a “Play-In Game” for tourney purposes?
Their best OOC win was Lipscomb. They played in the atrocious SEC-West. They were not a good road team. Bad RPI and SOS. People forget that the committee doesn’t have performance in conference tourneys or head-to-head match-ups at the top of the priority list.
I do not feed bad for Bama.
St. Clarkston
March 13th, 2011
6:51 pm
No way a 21 win team from the SEC East doesn’t make the tourney.
EX DAWG
March 13th, 2011
6:51 pm
How embarrasing. See you back in Athens Sat after you get blasted my Wash.
rock steady freddy
March 13th, 2011
6:52 pm
DAWGS are gonna do outstanding! Thanks Coach Fox!
jon
March 13th, 2011
6:54 pm
omg, ive seen washington play, it will be over by halftime, washington second highest scoring team in usa, wash 96- bulldogs 65
Delta Stewardess
March 13th, 2011
6:54 pm
@Dawgnation hang with anybody? Maybe for the 1st half and 1/2 of the 2 half but after that it gets iffy.
Katherine
March 13th, 2011
6:56 pm
LOL I think it’s really funny how many haters are on this blog. You don’t know who is going to win any game yet….all you are doing is blowing smoke out of your arse. Anything can happen…we will just have to see. Congrats dawgs for making the tourney and congrats coach fox!
mike bobo garbage play calling
March 13th, 2011
6:56 pm
how bout them dawgs all the haters can keep crying its been a long time since the dawgs been dancing we will get to the second round
Americus dawg
March 13th, 2011
7:00 pm
Absolutely AWESOME!!! Great day to be a dawg fan! A TRUE dawg fan!! Unlike these “fans” on here saying thet’re going to the game with a bag on their head. Pathetic loser! STFU and let us enjoy an outstanding year by our ddawgs, who came from the bottom of the SEC in 2yrs to 21 wins, and an NCAA tourney berth! WAY to go CMF, and my beloved dawgs! And to all you haters on here, it sucks to be you right now!
BobDawg
March 13th, 2011
7:02 pm
Alabama did not get screwed! They had to win the Tourney and didn’t based on their RPI…..
RIP …..Rolll Tide!!!!
GTalum
March 13th, 2011
7:04 pm
Congrats, guys. Honestly, I was doubting. I thought the Bama win would be necessary. But, good deal. The rest of the season doesn’t matter; all you have to do now is win.
BobDawg
March 13th, 2011
7:04 pm
…. Dawgs will have a chip on their shoulder, Katherine and really play well… They will be hearing crap all week and take it out on the Huskies…. GO DAWGS….
BobDawg
March 13th, 2011
7:04 pm
How much are Tickets in Charlotte????
BobDawg
March 13th, 2011
7:05 pm
Who is your next Coach, GT Alum????
woodie
March 13th, 2011
7:06 pm
I think the Dawgs will easily win it all.
A Dawg In Minnesota
March 13th, 2011
7:08 pm
I wonder if Tech will try to go after Tubby Smith up here in Gopher town…..wouldn’t that be funny?
Art
March 13th, 2011
7:09 pm
What a joke that Georgia makes the field and Alabama doesnt. Georgia’s record on teams in the field of 68 is 2-9 while Alabama is 6-4 and 2 and 0 against Georgia
UGABuck
March 13th, 2011
7:11 pm
Have fun in the NIT tournament Georgia Tech….whoops!
J Clay
March 13th, 2011
7:11 pm
The 2 teams in that should not be: USC, VCU, UAB….Should be in: Alabama, Va Tech, Colorado….All you haters don’t me mad about UGA – #10 seed really means they were not on the bubble in the eyes of the selection committee…Look at the ten #11-#12 seeds
J Clay
March 13th, 2011
7:12 pm
Non coference schedule matters: Alabama non-conference RPI: #234….Whine away
PhillyDawg
March 13th, 2011
7:13 pm
Congrats Dawgs!! Great reward for Fox and Co. Time to step it up and play like you did earlier in the season.
J Clay
March 13th, 2011
7:13 pm
Hope to see many of you in Charlotte Friday! I’ll be making the short trip down from Winston Salem….can’t wait!
GT is a 4th rate high school team
March 13th, 2011
7:13 pm
Lunardi should have to be a GT fan. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA
will
March 13th, 2011
7:14 pm
Huskies by 20+. I’d like it to be a closer, more entertaining game, but the bulldogs are going to get run out of the gym.
PhillyDawg
March 13th, 2011
7:14 pm
Love how these people who are fans of other schools are so insecure that they actually pretend to be a fan of Georgia in order to legitimize their trashing of us and masking the fact that their team sucks. HAHAHA!
GT is a 4th rate high school team
March 13th, 2011
7:14 pm
LUNARDI is totally clueless just like any GT fan.
BobDawg
March 13th, 2011
7:15 pm
…. Let’s face it Bama, you play helter skelter Ball and score maybe 50 pts a game…Great defense no doubt and you wear teams down… but ugly to watch. You weren’t getting in playing that style of ball.
Brain
March 13th, 2011
7:15 pm
You guys are going down like a K Mart chair.
The real Dawgs win this one. UW
kerryb
March 13th, 2011
7:16 pm
I know everyone is talking about basketball and good luck to the Dawgs, but I have to ask this. Are there any Auburn fans on here right now? I guess it will be a long time before you come back on a UGA blog talking about UGA football players being criminals.
woodie4Katherine
March 13th, 2011
7:16 pm
Dawgs are “home” team versus Wash in CLT. Will be a win for Fox. The Blue team will still be licking wounds from Duke whipping. Georgia plays unrestrained and confident = win #2. Will be a big surprise this tournament
PhillyDawg
March 13th, 2011
7:16 pm
Will, how many U Dub games have you watched this year? Well actually probably quite a bit since Auburn, or Tech, or whatever failure of a team you root for is out! HAHAHAHA We’re dancing and your not!
GT is a 4th rate high school team
March 13th, 2011
7:17 pm
As I said in my post yesterday BUMA fans should just go back home to Toomer’s Corner and enjoy their piece of work.
Monger
March 13th, 2011
7:17 pm
Jon- LOL!! You really think Washington is that good?? LOL, they are 6th best in the lousy, Pac-10 in a down year right now. I can think of 3 teams better than them in their own conference- Arizona, UCLA, and even USC is outplaying them right now. Not to mention how bad the Pac-10 is this year, it is historically overrated every year, but this year even the biggest fans of this West Coast Conference admit this is not its finest hour, really outside of Arizona, no Pac-10 team has a legit shot of advancing past the sweet 16…And the Pac-10 is notorious for extremely lousy defense and offensive number inflation. I will take Georgia who can play lock down Defense, and shut SEC opponents down to 60 and sometimes 50 points a game…
GOHUSKIES
March 13th, 2011
7:18 pm
Get ready to be destroyed by the huskies 81-52 WASHINGTON final score, go dawgs