GEORGIA BULLDOGS ARE HIGH ON BASKETBALL

They plodded through the regular season with only four wins against conference opponents. Their final record was just one victory over .500, and their greatest margin of victory came against Jacksonville State (yes, Jacksonville State does have a basketball team). 

 

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. 

 

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