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
Sun Devil Dave
March 14th, 2011
12:03 pm
If you read carefully, I did.
Sun Devil Dave
March 14th, 2011
12:03 pm
Or is that something they don’t teach down south, reading?
Dirty Dawg
March 14th, 2011
12:23 pm
Hey ‘not a Georgia fan’, you’re right about the lack of UGA fan attendance at the SEC tourney, but then when the league schedules Georgia, playing in Atlanta, for the 1 PM games on both Thursday and Friday (remember, all the other teams fans were already here anyway – you have to buy the entire package of tickets – our folks, like me, were hoping to ’score’ some ducats from others that were ‘headed home’ for the weekend…as it turned out that was us.)…anyway, that’s what happens.
Hopefully, we’ll show up in Charlotte – surely we’ll out do the Washington fans – and probably will get some support from the UNC fans that we’ll have to play next if we move on (they’ll rather play us than the Huskies…be careful what you wish for Tarheels).
My Dad can whoop your dad
March 14th, 2011
12:39 pm
456th
Bug Thug
March 14th, 2011
12:46 pm
The number of players on each team in the study who were found to have police records
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/the_bonus/02/27/cfb.crime/index.html#ixzz1GaoOV8pE
schmeckdawg
March 14th, 2011
1:35 pm
I miss Ron Jirsa!!!!!!!! Bwahahahahahahahaha!
Sonny Sixkiller
March 14th, 2011
1:44 pm
Bow down to Washington.
gdawginkalamazoo
March 14th, 2011
1:45 pm
Sun Devil, my bad I missed the “watching it down at Hooter’s” line.
Buckeye
March 14th, 2011
2:15 pm
kalamazoo,
Whatever, Trevor.
Let’s count the tattoos on ll the players in the NCAA. 2 points for tatttoos on the arms 1 point for no tattoos at all and three points for the always hip neck tattoos.
First one to a # 1 seed wins.
P.S Gene Smith says you are welcome.
DawginLex
March 14th, 2011
2:20 pm
http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/
******************************************************
For my blogging friend WDE
Auburn wraps up 2011 Fulmer Cup
Buckeye
March 14th, 2011
2:22 pm
Hey Trever in kalmazoo.
Some programs set goals to win the conference, the conference tournament and go to the Final Four. Some programs jump around like 7 year olds getting the nod as a 10 seed. As noted, I’m a Howard (before I was Trey) fan and knew Howard when he too was tat free. Must be a thing, you know. But I’ll give Howard ( before I was Trey) a pass. His tatt’s appear sprirtual in nature.
You looked good against Auburn ( last in the West) but ran out of gas against Bama ( first in the West). Guess Bama had recent game film they could study, huh?
It’s 70 degrees in Atlanta today. How things in Kalamazoo?
Buckeye
March 14th, 2011
2:24 pm
DawginLex,
That’s a keeper! Too funny!
kentucky Dawg
March 14th, 2011
2:45 pm
Great news for Fox and team. I’ll support the DAWGs no matter when or where. Work hard and win this one.
ValdostaDawg
March 14th, 2011
2:47 pm
Although I am excited about the Dawgs making it, we need to channel that energyy in finishing a game. There are numerous games this year that we have lost in the last 5mins of the 4th qtr or in OT. We need to stay focus for 40mins not 32-35mins. We must play 100% until the buzzer in the 4th sounds.
With that said, LET’S SIC EM!!!
ValdostaDawg
March 14th, 2011
2:48 pm
FINISH THE DRILL!!!
John
March 14th, 2011
3:36 pm
Bob Dawg, you must not watch much basketball. That is the Big 10 and they got 7 teams in. Ugly basketball. Wisconsin gets in every year. That had nothing to do with Bama not getting in. I know one thing, Bama was better than UGA. They beat them twice!
beebee from tech
March 14th, 2011
4:24 pm
How’d Tennessee get in? Solely on the wins on the road against Pitt and Nova.
Bama beats Tennessee on the ROAD.
Lawd!
Greg
March 14th, 2011
5:15 pm
From a NW Dawg fan. Should be a great game regardless of who wins. Don’t know much about you guys but we have a least 4 3pt shooters that are very accurate most of the time. IT is fun to watch.
Good luck
Greg
CatsFly
March 14th, 2011
6:02 pm
Dirty Dawg, you’re a typical Dawg fan. You get a free pass into the Tourney and now you’re warning UNC to be careful. That’s like a gay midget making a pass at the Shaq.
HuskieFanInATL
March 14th, 2011
10:35 pm
Even if UGA comes out fast, they’re not going to out run the Huskies. UW played lightening fast all season long and are in great shape. If UGA can keep it close, the Huskies, in almost every single game, give up a ~10pt run in the 2nd half. They’ve been doing it a few years now. I’ve watched a few UGA games and almost all UW games. UGA plays sloppy and if they don’t care of the ball, the UW D will be too much. BUT, it’s not called March Madness for nothing so who really knows.
Stinger
March 14th, 2011
10:49 pm
Act like you’ve been there before. Oh wait, you haven’t been there. On a side note, i’d like to know, ” Do you have a baseball team? Just wondering, I never hear anything about it.”
Stinger
March 14th, 2011
10:51 pm
One and done. You’ll never make it to Carolina.
McDawg
March 15th, 2011
1:15 am
You people (and esp Mark Bradley) are hilarious….a lot of chest thumping or at least back slapping and not much BBall talk….”We are in…!!…look out Tarheels…!!…” ….You are all in for a big shock when you see the speed and depth the Huskies will bring…
Andy in Blairsville
March 15th, 2011
9:53 am
Whether football or basketball, there’s some awfully low expectations in Athens.
John
March 15th, 2011
10:50 am
If you look at UGA and Bama’s SEC schedule they both beat the same SEC East teams. UGA only beat UT and UK 1 time and USC. Bama beat UK, UT, and USC as well. Bama then beat UGA twice. Bama also won 13 games vs UGA’s 10. In the oocc schedule UGA beat Colorado and UAB but lost the rest against quality teams. It really does not make since.
flo-ri-duh
March 15th, 2011
11:17 am
Bama got screwed. Good!
Captain 97
March 15th, 2011
6:48 pm
A little game analysis from a Husky.
Havent’t watched you guys much but from what I can gather youre team is pretty much all Thompkins and Leslie on the offensive end. Thompkins seems like a pure post up guy. I think the Huskies will be able to handle him fairly well. We have a 7 footer in N’Diaye who really clogs up the middle and averages 1.2 Blocks in just 17 minutes per game. Matthew Bryan-Ammaning is also a very athletic defender with a 7-6″ Wingspan. The Huskies have faced some tremendous post players in UCLA’s Smith and Arizona’s Williams and they were able to neutralize them fairly well. The Weakness with our big guys is their tendancy to get in foul trouble. If Georgia can get them on the Bench with early fouls Thompkins will realy be able to get some things done because we lack depth in the Front Court.
Your other key player Leslie seems to be mostly a slasher who gets things done off the dribble and not much of an outside shooter. This is where Washingtons Athleticism and Depth will really come into play. Washington has 4 Wings in Holliday, Ross, Suggs and Wilcox who are all 6-5 to 6-6, long and very athletic. Not Many teams have had Sucess off the dribble against this rotation of guys.
When have been beat it is almost always by outside shooters Like Thompson from Washington State. Other than Ware (who seems to have games where he totally disapears) You don’t really have anyone one who can shoot from outside and you don’t really take many threes anyway. This will allow the Huskies to drop into more Zone and clog up the middle even more against. I don’t think Georgia will win this game unless ware is hitting a bunch of shots from outside.
Your Weakness offensively seems to be ball handling, turnovers and composure. This is where I would be the most concerned if I was Georgia. The Huskies play tenacious defense and often jump into the full Court Press. Venoy Overton is about as pesky of a defender as you will ever see and he will get right up in your grill way beyond the 3 pt line and pick your pocket. The Huskies like to run and they score a lot of points in the transition game. If the Huskies throw that pressure at Georgia early and get them off of their offensive game plan it could be a long night for Georgia.
On the other end of the Floor The Huskies are a fairly well ballanced Team. Isaiah Thomas is the focal point of the offense. He is an amazing penetrator for his size and has turned into a very good assist man as well. You will need to keep him out of the paint which is easier said than done. The best way that teams have done it is by throwing a lot of Zone at us. We had a stretch where we couldn’t seem to score against the Zone but we seemed to solve that in The Pac-10 Tourney. Obviously alot of the ability to beat the Zone will depend on our outside shooters. Wilcox, Suggs and Holliday are our best outside shooters and have made as many 3’s between them as Georgias entire team. Thomas and Ross have another 100 3 pointers between them. Often time the Huskies rely too much on the three pointer and the games we have lost you will see a direct coralation to 3pt%.
Matthew Bryan-Ammaning has some impressive numbers in the post but he is probabbly the most frustrating player on the team. He has very good footwork is quick and atletic and is able to create his own quality shots consistanly but the guy is the worst shooter from within 3 feet that I have ever seen. He misses so many Layins and gimmes. I would say that if you have a player who can at least keep a hand in his face you should be able to neutralize his scoring. Our Other big Guy N’Diaye has hands of stone and is not much of a threat offensively.
Overall I think that the Huskies with their 9 deep rotation and their Raw athleticism will be too much for Georgia to Handle. My Prediction
Washington 80
Georgia 67
G DaWgs!
Rabid Dawg
March 16th, 2011
3:42 am
Keys for Ga….
Dawgs need to attack the offensive glass FOR 40 MINUTES!….get there bigs in foul trouble as they zone against us for most of the game.
Defensively….limit there offensive rebounds. Gerald Robinson needs to use extreme defensive pressure against there perimeter shooters. If he fouls out before the 10 minute mark then Ga wont be exposed to his sloppy 2nd half ball handling.
But I will say this….in the 1st half Robinson can be a real gamer. I would not want to go into battle without him.
Trey and Leslie must exert there pre NBA caliber influence. No more closeup missed shots for Price as he will be open underneath for most of the game.
That ought to do it…..
Dawgs 73-70! Bring on the big blue!
Simple Question
March 16th, 2011
2:06 pm
Why are most UGA fans douche-bags?
excessive celebration
March 16th, 2011
5:24 pm
The best way to ensure post season play is to……uhhhh……win ball games. The best way to celebrate joining post season is after defeating your opponent on the court. Tired of needing someone to loose, or a stroke of luck in order to play in the big ones….just tired of it. Just win and post season will take care of itself….no charity cases
jim r
March 16th, 2011
10:52 pm
Heres what they’re saying in Seattle. “The biggest (well, smallest) thing standing in the way of that possibility (UGA beating UW) is 5-foot-9 Huskies point guard Isaiah Thomas, who may strip the ball from Gerald Robinson often enough that neither of the Bulldogs’ stars ever gets it.” Enjoy.
Sun Devil Dave
March 19th, 2011
9:23 am
Well well, the little kids so happy and free several days ago, now realize the power of the PAC-10 – Dance away me little pups, dance away. Oh wait, you’re out of the dance, you gotta go home as we all knew you would.