GEORGIA’S DANCE CARD
The Georgia Bulldogs’ all-time showing in the NCAA Tournament:
Year: Games (Result)
2011: Washington (L, 68-65)
2008: Xavier; (L, 73-61)
2002: Murray State (W, 85-68), So. Illinois (L, 77-75)
2001: Missouri (L, 70-68)
1997: Chattanooga (L, 73-70)
1996: Clemson (W, 81-74), Purdue (W, 76-69), Syracuse (L, 83-81, OT)
1991: Pittsburgh (L, 76-68, OT)
1990: Texas (L, 100-88)
1987: Kansas State (L, 82-79, OT)
1985: Wichita State (W, 67-59), Illinois (L, 74-58)
1983: VCU (W, 56-54), St. John’s (W, 70-67), North Carolina (W, 82-77), N.C. State (L, 67-60)
Georgia and Michigan State look like similar basketball programs. The Bulldogs come into the NCAA Tournament with a 21-11 record after finishing third in the SEC, while the Spartans are 23-11 and finished third in the Big Ten. But when the focus is adjusted to include the teams’ postseason histories, well, Michigan State is from another planet.
The Spartans aren’t college basketball royalty along the lines of Kentucky, Duke and Kansas, but they have an uncanny knack for playing extremely well — and extremely deep — in March.
Michigan State is making its 18th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and 29th overall — compared with 12 in UGA’s total history. In that span it has made eight trips to the Final Four, six of those coming under current coach Tom Izzo. The Spartans won national championships in 1979 and 2000.
For them, playing deep into the tournament is not a goal; it’s an expectation.
“Michigan State’s known for playing well in March and known for doing good this tournament,” said senior guard Travis Trice, the Spartans’ leading scorer. “We feel a sense of pride that we’ve got to carry that on especially for the past players that have really made a name for Michigan State.”
For Georgia, just getting into the field is an yearly struggle. And when it has gotten there, it generally has been “one and done.”
“Well, we’re not concerned with winning several,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “We’re concerned with winning the next one.”
Those polar-opposite expectations will collide at 12:40 p.m. Friday when Georgia and Michigan State meet in the first round of the NCAA East Regional here at Time Warner Cable Arena.
Georgia never played in the NCAA Tournament until 1983, when it got a berth under coach Hugh Durham. And wouldn’t you know it? The Bulldogs shocked the world.
Georgia went through Michael Jordan’s North Carolina team and St. John’s and reached the Final Four before losing to N.C. State 67-60. Durham led the Bulldogs’ return in 1985, when they went two rounds before getting bounced in Atlanta.
Georgia wouldn’t go deep again until 1996, when the Bulldogs made the Sweet 16 under coach Tubby Smith. And then they left ever so grudgingly, falling to Syracuse 83-81 in an overtime thriller.
But most of the time — seven of the 11 — it has been one-and-done.
The Bulldogs are bent on changing that.
“We’re a mature team, and we understand we can’t just be happy to be here,” sophomore guard J.J. Frazier said. “We have to be on the mission of winning games, starting with the first one. We’re excited to be here and we realize that we made it, but we’re not satisfied with just being here.”
Said senior Marcus Thornton: “We believe that we have a team that is capable of (making a run), so obviously that’s a goal of ours and something we want to accomplish.”
It’s a tough matchup. Not only did the Bulldogs draw a team that is comfortable with playing on this stage, they got one that matches up well from an X-and-O standpoint. They’re a guard-oriented group that makes its living pressuring the perimeter, forcing poor shots and beating you on the boards. As usual, the Spartans led their Big Ten brethren in rebounding margin at plus-5.5.
“When we get close to March, I think every living alum thinks March is the time when we excel,” Izzo said. “I think in a way it presents a little pressure, but I think it’s one of the rare times it’s really, really good pressure.”
Therein lies the key — how a team deals with pressure. And that’s the battle the Bulldogs are always fighting. They get to the tournament so rarely it is always a big deal when it finally does, and the players invariably feel that.
Coaches do everything in their power to prepare their charges for the moment. But ultimately they can never predict how they might react.
“You can get a feel for where they are emotionally, but not until the ball goes up will you truly know,” said Fox, who led Nevada to three consecutive NCAA tourneys and Georgia to the one in 2011. “They’re going to be excited; we know that. Let’s prepare for the fact that they’ll probably be excited and prepare for it as best we can.”
Georgia has a veteran-laden team that has played in its share of big games this year and in the past. They’re led by senior post players Thornton and Nemanja Djurisic and junior guards Kenny Gaines and Charles Mann. They’ve been on trips to New York’s Madison Square Garden to play Gonzaga and twice faced Kentucky and won eight road games, six of them against SEC teams.
They’d feel a lot better about things if everybody was healthy. But that hasn’t been the case since the turn of the year. Small forward Juwan Parker (Achilles) likely won’t play, and Gaines (foot) will be well under 100 percent.
“Coach Fox preached to us that we were an NCAA team that could make a run,” Mann said. “When we’re playing our best, I think the sky’s the limit. I think we can win a couple of games, if not win it all.”
