My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/bulldogs-blog/
and update your bookmarks.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

NCAA selection announcement: Georgia is .... No. 10 seed in the East

10 p.m.: Times and other details

Get ready for a late night of basketball on Friday night.

The Georgia-Washington game will be the final one in the Charlotte bracket, and will follow the North Carolina-Long Island game, which will start at 7:15 p.m.

It's also scheduled to be on CBS, and be broadcast by Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg. That's the network's A-team, almost certainly chosen for Charlotte because of the presence of Duke and North Carolina.

That's going to be quite a pod this weekend: Duke and North Carolina, Bruce Pearl, the Hampton band, and other big state schools Michigan, Washington and Georgia.

7:35 p.m.: NCAA teleconference note

Gene Smith, the selection committee chairman, mentioned road record several times on a conference call just now. So Georgia’s 9-7 record away from home, including 7-4 when taking away neutral sites, helped its case.

Smith was asked about not picking Alabama, said "Alabama was seriously under consideration.” Then the reporter followed up by asking what leaving out an 11-win SEC team said for that league.

“We never look at conference strength. We don’t have a consideration of that," Smith said. "We look at the individual teams, what they did relative to their schedule. We … The SEC’s a great conference, but this is a national tournament. So we look at individual teams and not the conference.”

6:40: More news and notes

For those asking, the game time and television station for Georgia's game on Friday will be announced later.

Also, the bracket is officially announced, and the top teams left out appear to be Alabama, Colorado and Virginia Tech. All of those teams had lower RPI rankings than Georgia, as well as UAB, which may be the biggest surprise in the at-large category.

I tried to tell people that the Alabama-Georgia game last Friday wasn't necessarily a play-in game. So did people like Jerry Palm. Well, that's why I roll with Jerry Palm. And RPI matters. We've been reminded of that again this year.

6:24 p.m.: Some quick facts

According to the Georgia media guide, the Bulldogs have never played Washington in men's basketball. And Georgia and North Carolina last met during the 1998-99 season.

Washington, which made the Pac 10 championship game, is 23-10 this year, and went 11-7 in league play.

6:14 p.m.: Drama ends quickly: Georgia is IN

Georgia is in the NCAA tournament, and gets a No. 10 seed. It will face seventh-seeded Washington.

It will play in Charlotte on Friday, with the winner facing the winner of the North Carolina-Long Island game.

So there you go. Surprised.

6:07 p.m.: First commercial break

The No. 1 seeds were announced and Georgia is not one of them. I know, shocking.

The only thing we did learn pertaining to the Bulldogs is that the "first four" games on Tuesday and Wednesday will be on Tru TV. It also appears that they aren't going to announce the "first four" before the rest of the bracket, so there won't be that instant knowledge.

5:25 p.m.: Mark Fox states his case

Georgia head coach Mark Fox just stated his case for a bid on ESPN’s “bracketology” show.

“I think we have more top 50 wins than North Carolina and people are talking about them being a No. 1 seed today,” Fox said. “We’ve avoided a bad loss, and have a winning record in our league, and hopefully created a resume’ that the committee respects.”

Asked about Alabama, Fox answered that he felt Alabama was a tournament team too. He pointed out the four SEC teams that are locks for the tournament, and mentioned that Georgia finished ahead of one of them (Tennessee) in the standings.

“We’ve done all that we can do, and hopefully done enough,” Fox said. “And all we can control now is just our emotions. And I think these kids are pretty poised and we’ll see what happens.”

5 p.m.: Mr. Blog Man imparts his thoughts

I’m posting this an hour before the start of the selection show – at 6 p.m. on CBS, for the many Georgia fans not used to having a reason to watch. I’ll try to update it as warranted during the show.

I don’t know whether they’re going to announce the Dayton matchups (first four) at the start of the show, or announce those matchups inside the bracket. (As in, “No. 5-seeded Arizona will face the winner of the game between No. 12 seeds Georgia and Clemson.”)

In any case, it will be bad news for the Bulldogs any time they announce one of the following teams: Virginia Tech, Clemson, Alabama, St. Mary’s, VCU, Colorado, Harvard, Southern California.

That is unless, Georgia has been announced already.

My quick pre-selection thoughts: I’m giving Georgia a 60 percent chance of making the field; most likely in one of the play-in games in Dayton, but possibly an 11 or 12 seed that avoids that.

If Georgia does make it, that’s because it did generally what the committee asks in terms of scheduling. The Bulldogs may not have the “wow” factor, but they have a solid RPI and schedule rating, good overall and league records, and avoided the bad loss.

But if the Bulldogs don’t make it, they really have no one to blame but themselves. They had plenty of opportunities to seal up a bid: both Alabama games, home against Vanderbilt, that first overtime against Florida, and against Notre Dame in the Old Spice Classic.

Essentially, Georgia’s bid comes down to whether it’s solid resume’ is enough to overcome its lack of signature wins. We’ll find out shortly.

30 comments:

Theseus said...

ughh i have a bad feeling.

Anonymous said...

WTF is TRUtv? I also noticed that some of the next round games will be casted on it too.

PTC DAWG said...

TruTV is on my Comcast system in HD. Used to be Court TV or something like that.

Theseus said...

Yeah!

Anonymous said...

Definitely shocked. Especially as a 10 seed. Suck it Lunardi.

Aladawg said...

Shocked is an understatement! Go Dawgs!
Figure out how to pace and win games in the lead and we could pull some upsets. Come Coach Fox. Vindicate yourself. Coach 'em up now!
Aladawg

Anonymous said...

Where are the Tech trolls now?

Tee hee!

Anonymous said...

Where's BulldogBen? Tee hee!

Andy said...

Sorry if this is a dumb question yet, but is our game on TruTV?

Josh said...

Eat it naysayers

Anonymous said...

FIRE MARK F...oh wait, we're in? KEEP MARK FOX!

Anonymous said...

Road trip anyone know time of the game Friday

Anonymous said...

Mark Fox takin' the Dawgs to the tourney in year 2! Me gusta.

Chris said...

Rewarded for the season as a whole. No blowouts, no bad losses. Many tough close loses.
And where's that Tech troll?
And isn't troll the best name for a Techie?

ugadawg9288 said...

I can't believe that Virginia Tech got snubbed for the second straight year. They should have been in over USC.

Irwin R. Flecther said...

My new theory- Selection committee treats OT games like Hockey treats ties. Has to help that they played Florida, Notre Dame and Bama to ties in 40 minutes before losing in xtra time. (I assume would outweigh the tie-win to Auburn which would cut the other way) once you start thinking of them as 20-8-4 instead of 21-11, they clearly aren't a bubble team with that RPI and justify the 10 seed.

Just a thought...any chance there is a reference for how the committee treats OT, Seth?

Anonymous said...

Dawgs will be one and done though. Fox just doesnt have depth to coachem up. Dawgs got a gift.

Anonymous said...

Even if the Dawgs Win their first game they will get blown away by the North Carolina Tar babies..

Andy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Andy said...

And easy on the racism, fool.

Anonymous said...

Stick it in you ear Andy. Yeah Dawgs just might be one and doneand wont have to face the Heels.

Anonymous said...

Awww. Tech Troll Temper Tantrum!

Anonymous said...

And where's BulldogBen and his beloved Anthony Grant? What a clown! LOL

Anonymous said...

Go ahead and celebrate the gift but the dawgs will revert back to being choke artist just like their football counterparts. These clowns in Athens needs to go.

Anonymous said...

Awww! I think someone needs a nap!

Keep posting, Tech Troll! You're adorable!

Chris said...

Yea! The tech Troll is back!!! Armed with the innate ability to repel women with his fat belly, skinny arms, social awkwardness and Transformer's T-shirt!

Chris said...

Irwin, I like your theory and probably is taken into account when evaluating bubble teams.

BulldogBen said...

First of all, I am ecstatic about this. I couldn't believe it when the seed came across the screen. Great accomplishment and I can't wait for Friday.

As for the anon goons calling my name, please explain what I have said that was so wrong?

Anthony Grant DID do an incredible job at Alabama this year. Unfortunately for them, your whole season counts, not just how you play at the end of the year. He made his team better as the year went on and with inferior talent than most teams in the league. I think they have a legitimate beef with not getting in but the RPI plays too much into the committee's decisions. That said, Colorado and Va Tech BOTH probably deserve to get in over UAB. So I don't understand their thinking there.

But keep throwing out anonymous comments and cheap shots. Weak juice.


BRING ON THE HUSKIES!!

I will be in Charlotte for the whole thing.

Michael said...

Weak Juice > Fake Juice ?

Joeski said...

I think the expression is supposed to be 'weak-sauce'.

I'm personally enjoying this: talk about absolute proof that the troll (or trolls) have no clue about sports or coaching.

Definitively: SHUT UP. Even if UGA goes one-and-done (and according to the seedings, that's the way it should play out), you fools are wrong yet again.