2011 NCAA Tournament: Washington Huskies vs. Georgia Bulldogs Preview

Even with lots of action remaining today, it’s not too early to look ahead to tomorrow’s 2011 NCAA tournament action. One of the closest matchups looks to be the battle between the No. 7 seed Washington Huskies and the No. 10 seed Georgia Bulldogs.

Both teams will need big games out of their stars in the post, Georgia’s Trey Thompkins and Washington’s Matthew Bryan-Amaning. Thompkins is the more athletic of the two, and the Bulldogs would love to get out in transition where he and Travis Leslie can break out their highlight-reel dunks.

Washington has experience playing zone, which may prove to be their best option to corral Georgia’s high flyers on offense. A zone would also help protect the Huskies’ under-sized guards.

Washington backup guard Venoy Overton, one of the country’s most tenacious man-on-man defenders, returns from suspension for this game. He’ll give the Huskies a valuable option to contain Georgia’s perimeter attack.

On the other end, Georgia has plenty of experience defending an attacking point guard, having faced off twice with Kentucky’s Brandon Knight and held him in check both times.

The Huskies’ Isaiah Thomas has more experience than Knight , but is appreciably smaller and not as dangerous from long range. He’ll have a tough task in breaking down the Bulldogs.

Washington will need to get big games out of supporting wing players like Justin Holiday if they want their offense to click consistently.

With both sides having good answers to each other’s stars, this game is likely to come down to one or two possessions at the end. In that situation in the NCAA tournament, the team with the better guard play usually comes out ahead.

The Huskies will take it in a nail-biter.