And now, they hope.
The Lady Dogs have done all they can to impress the NCAA selection committee. And after Friday’s debacle against South Carolina in the SEC tournament, let’s just say there was some impressing left to be done.
Georgia did not distinguish itself well against the conference’s best team in the quarterfinals at the Gwinnett Arena. The Bulldogs were looking at a double-digit deficit 10 minutes in and were nearly doubled up with 10 minutes left, 55-28. The rest of the game was a matter of semantics toward a deceivingly respectable final score of 67-48.
“We got whipped, plain and simple,” Georgia coach Andy Landers said. “They did the exact things we talked about we couldn’t let them do. They were terrific, and I’m a little disappointed with what we did.”
The victory was another nice notch in the belt of No. 5-ranked South Carolina (27-3). Playing with the conference’s player of the year (guard Tiffany Mitchell) under the league’s coach of the year (Dawn Staley), the top-seeded team did what it was supposed to against this ninth-seeded Georgia squad (20-11).
The Gamecocks won while having to play their 6-foot-4 post stars Elem Ibiam and Alaina Coates only 17 and 20 minutes, respectively, yet they combined for 25 points, 11 rebounds and 7 blocks. Mitchell scored 11 stress-free points and no South Carolina player played more than 27 minutes.
“It was a huge luxury,” Staley said of being able to sit her starters so much. “Hopefully it will pay dividends.”
The Gamecocks advance to the tournament semifinals for a third year in a row to face Kentucky/Florida on Saturday looking very much like the team that should win it.
“We want to make history,” South Carolina center Alaina Coates said. “That’s what the goal is.”
Meanwhile, Georgia will have to hope what it did before Friday will be enough to keep alive a streak of NCAA tournament appearances been going since 1994, before many of these players were born. The Bulldogs’ 30 NCAA tournament bids is second only to Tennessee all-time. They reached the Elite Eight just a year ago.
“We’re very hopeful,” said junior forward Krista Donald, a key member of last year’s Elite Eight squad. “We deserve to be in the tournament. … Yes, we’re back on our heels, but there’s still a chance.
Said guard Ericka Ford: “ We’ve just got to hope for the best and see what happens.”
It’s not an easy call. Here is the resume’ that the Lady Dogs are presenting to the selection committee: 5-5 in last 10 games, one conference road win, two overall road wins, three neutral-floor victories. Georgia was 46th in the last NCAA RPI rankings and 38th according to realtimerpi.com coming into Friday’s game. However, the SEC carries the No. 1 RPI among conferences and as many as nine teams could be in line for bids.
Probably the best win Georgia has had was the one it scored in the first round Friday against Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs’s 10-point victory came over an opponent considered an NCAA bubble team and gave Landers a 20-win team for the 29th time in 35 seasons.
“Do I think we should be in? Yes,” Landers said. “Are we one of the best 64 teams in the country? Absolutely. Are we in unfamiliar territory? Yes.”
But now all Georgia can do is hope, which aggravates Landers to end.
“Hopefulness is what occurs when you don’t take care of your business,” he said. “Then you’ve got to hope somebody else takes care of you, that things fall your way. … You’ve got to take the hope out of the hands of those who will decide. We didn’t do that, so now we are hopeful. And hopeful isn’t where you want to be.”
About the Author
