GEORGIA BULLDOGS ARE HIGH ON BASKETBALL

So, they entered the SEC tourney on a wing and a prayer. Their best hope was to live through the first round fighting the one and done title basketball pundits branded on their chests. Their embattled coach must have been looking through the NCAA classifieds for his next job, while his senior players scanned their brochures for pro-hoops teams overseas.

Then a crazy thing happened on their way to a first round knockout: they made an OT shot with less than a second left to play, against the same Ole Miss team that waxed the floor with them only five days earlier.

The underdog did it! They survived the first round...only to be beat in the second round by the Wildcats of Kentucky.

But another funny thing happened on their way to a second round knockout. A fierce twister ripped through downtown Atlanta, killing one and injuring many more, leaving rubble in the streets and putting basketball on the backburner for a day.

The solution?

Something that really only happens in YMCA 11-year-old basketball tournaments: play a Saturday doubleheader.

The team forced to do so? That’s right, the little Georgia Bulldogs.

The SEC suits figured the lowly Bulldogs would be done away with in easy fashion, allowing Kentucky to rest their players and play an energized evening game.

It may have taken longer than regulation, but that’s only because the inspired Bulldogs pushed it there with a relentless energy and the type of basketball that can only be played by a college team.

They beat Kentucky. They stomped through the night game against Mississippi State on pure adrenaline and moxie, setting up an inevitable loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Luckily for them, Georgia never listened to the critics, but listened to their coach. They never listened to the opposing teams chuckles, but listened to their Bulldog hearts. They ignored the papers and only paid attention to the look in their teammates eyes.

The only way for Georgia’s season to be extended past the tornado rattled streets of Atlanta was to win the SEC tournament, and get the coveted automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. They knew that as long as they were allowed to play the game, they had chance. 

They knew that somehow, this coach who spoke without a voice would lead their team without a star.

So, what did they do?

They shocked everyone but themselves. They proved that tournament play doesn’t go to the best team—rather the most resilient. They toppled the more talented Razorbacks, winning their first conference title in 25 years.

Georgia rejoices. They mirrored the storm that ripped through their state capital by doing the same to SEC opponents.

If we look at the bracket, we see powerhouses all holding the number 1 seeds. You start in the East with a UNC team driven by a man-child who encompasses everything that is right about amateur athletics. You hop over to the Midwest and are immediately struck by a JayHawks team that already looks like an NBA squad, but plays with the tenacity only available in the hearts of kids. You shuffle to the South where the one loss Memphis Tigers are itching to prove their sole defeat was a fluke.

Then you go out West. You look at a bracket dominated by historical powerhouses. You see UCLA, UConn, and Duke.

But deep in that bracket, you see the mighty Bulldogs of Georgia.

The same Bulldogs that battled through a tournament they weren’t supposed to win.

The same team that twice extended past regulation, knowing they could outlast their more talented opponents with grit and passion.

The same boys who woke up on a Saturday morning, played two and went to bed with two victories.

This team is destined to upset their first round opponent Xavier. Why?

Because they’re not supposed to. Why?

Because no one thinks they can. Why?

Because they want to see the secretaries across the nation win their office pools.

NCAA basketball is funny. At the end of the day, beyond the millions of dollars bet and the thousands of work hours wasted watching the games on the break room TV, it is just kids playing a game.

It’s just young men playing a sport they have played their whole lives. Just guys believing in something, because it just feels so good to believe.

The SEC tournament proved it, and from where I stand, the NCAA tournament will do the same: It’s not the size of the Bulldog in the fight...rather the size of the fight in the Bulldog.