It's conference tournament time for Dogs, Jackets

By Tim Tucker

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia and Georgia Tech limp into their conference basketball tournaments this week, both having lost three of their past four games.

Turns out, though, both teams draw first-round opponents that also scuffle into the postseason.

In the SEC tournament in Nashville, Georgia will open against Arkansas, which is on a five-game losing streak, at 9:45 p.m. Thursday. The Razorbacks lost their regular-season finale at home to Ole Miss, relinquishing a nine-point lead in the final five minutes.

And in the ACC tournament in Greensboro, Tech will open against North Carolina -- 5-11 in league play one year after winning the national championship -- at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Tar Heels were stomped at Duke in their regular-season finale, losing by 32 points.

Of course, Tech (19-11, 7-9 ACC) and Georgia (13-16, 5-11 SEC) carry their own problems into the postseason.

Georgia lost an ugly 50-48 game Saturday at LSU, which had won only one of 15 previous SEC games. The Bulldogs finished the regular season winless (0-11) in opponents' arenas and have won only one game all season away from Athens (a December victory over Illinois in Gwinnett Arena).

"We need to grow, and we need to learn to mature as players," Georgia coach Mark Fox  said on his postgame radio show from Baton Rouge Saturday night. "[The tournament] is a new start for every team, but we can't erase some of the mistakes we made today and think that [if] we don't address them they're going to go away. We have to get better."

Georgia is the Eastern Division's No. 6 (or last) seed in the tournament. The Bulldogs' opening opponent -- Arkansas (14-17, 7-9 SEC) --  is the No. 3 seed from the Western Division.  In the regular-season meeting between the teams on Feb. 3 in Athens,  Georgia led by 15 points at halftime but lost 72-68.

An advantage of being the No. 6 East seed is that it places Georgia in the opposite half of the bracket from tournament favorite Kentucky. The Georgia-Arkansas winner will play Vanderbilt, the East's No. 2 seed, in the quarterfinals at 9:45 p.m. Friday.

Tech, meanwhile,  must regroup for the ACC tournament after ending its regular season with a home loss -- 88-82 to Virginia Tech on Saturday -- that left the Jackets' NCAA tournament status uncertain.

"Right now, we are focused on getting ourselves back together mentally and physically," coach Paul Hewitt said after the game.

Tech is the ACC's No. 7 seed and North Carolina (16-15, 5-11) the No. 10 seed. The Yellow Jackets swept their regular-season series with the Tar Heels for the first time since 1995-96, winning 68-51 in Atlanta and 73-71 in Chapel Hill.

The Tech-North Carolina winner will face No. 2 seed Maryland in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Friday. Duke is the top seed.

-- Staff writer Doug Roberson contributed to this article.