BB-BLOG

by Kel Kyle, SECWB.com

On Sunday March 23, the Georgia Lady Bulldogs take on the Iowa Hawkeyes in Norfolk, VA in round one of the New Orleans Regional.

This marks the 25th appearance in the last 27 years and the 14th straight trip to the NCAA tournament for Georgia. The last time Georgia faced Iowa was almost thirteen years ago in the semifinals of the Carolinas Beach Classic (Myrtle Beach, SC). Georgia defeated Iowa 79-52 and went on to become the runners up in the 1996 NCAA tournament.

The Lady Bulldogs (22-9) are ranked No.24 in the most recent ESPN/USA Today’s poll. They haven’t played since March 7, when they lost to Kentucky 57-50 in the SEC tournament (as a Georiga fan, I prefer to call that a “torment” not tournament) quarterfinals. Since then they’ve been spending a lot of time in the gym working on defending the three-pointer from the perimeter (Iowa’s backcourt is ranked in the top 10 in the country) and in general how to play basketball (yes, that was a personal remark). According to head coach Andy Landers, Georgia will “change to some extent the way they normally defend the perimeter, not necessarily because Iowa shoots the three but because they have the ability to unload so quickly”.

Tasha Humphrey leads the Lady Bulldogs in points per game at 16.8 and averages 9.0 rebounds per game. In NCAA tournament play, Tasha has a .469 field goal shooting percentage and .783 from the line. She’s averaged 19.8 pg with 8.2 rpg. Earlier this week Humphrey became the third player in league history to be named to the first-team All-SEC by both league coaches and media on four occasions and is on pace to become the second Lady Bulldogs to lead Georgia in scoring and rebounding for four straight seasons.

Sophomore Ashley Houts (second-team All-SEC) also averages in double figures with 11.8 ppg and leads the team in both assists (4.6) and steals (2.7). In NCAA tournament play Houts leads the Bulldogs with 12 steals and a perfect 8-8 in free throws. She’s second in scoring averaging 11.7 ppg.

In the past five seasons the Bulldogs have made it to the regional semi finals. However, they’ve never been ranked lower than a six seed in doing so. As a number eight seed it’s going to be a lot tougher this time as the winner of this game goes on to play number one seed North Carolina. But head coach Andy Landers makes it a point not to focus on what remains beyond game one. “It’s not about a bracket, and it’s not a four-team tournament,” Landers said. “It’s a one-team tournament. You don’t have to beat everybody in the bracket to win the tournament. The national champion is only going to beat six teams. At this point, I think our players, with most of them having experience in the tournament, have enough confidence to get the job done.”

Georgia started off the season with a bang winning the first thirteen games and was one of the last teams with an undefeated record this season. Unfortunately things quickly changed as the Lady Dawgs took their first loss to Xavier (55-65), which was also their first road trip. Georiga’s play continued to be foiled as they stumbled in subsquent games losing 9 of their last 18 games including the SEC tournament. As a fan, I’ve watched in dismay as they’ve struggled to keep focus on games they certainly should have won. They seemed to be turning it around a bit near the end of the season as they went 6-3 in their last nine games, but the loss to Kentucky was a blow which certainly help lower their seeding for the NCAA tournament.

IOWA

Coming off a tie for their regular season and having advanced to the semifinals in Big Ten play, the Iowa Hawkeyes (21-10) were expecting a higher seeding and certainly not an 8 or 9. “Nobody wants to be a No. 9 seed because if you win, your next matchup is a No. 1 seed,” head coach Lis Bluder said.

This will be the Hawkeyes second appearance in the last three seasons and their 17th NCAA tournament overall. At seventh-best in the nation for 3-point shooting, from beyond the arc they connect almost 40 percent (38.8) of the time.

It’s no secret that the Hawkeyes game is all about the perimeter. With a trio of double-digit scorers, Iowa brings a lot to the table so you better be ready for dinner. Junior, Kirsty Smith leads the way averaging 13.2 ppg. Offering side dishes are Wendy Ausdemore (11.5 ppg) and Johanna Selverson (10.4 ppg). Ausdemore is the fifth-most accurate 3-point shooter in the country (45.1 percent).

This is a very balanced team. In addition to being a veteran team, they also play both ends of the floor well. This is something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Georgia head coach Andy Landers. “The thing that I think was probably most impressive, that I’ve seen on tape, is they got behind 15 points or so against Ohio State and if you walked in the room and started watching tape, you wouldn’t know that they were behind. They just keep playing their game and as it would turn out by the end of the game, they had it back to a four or five point game where they wanted to be.”

Who wins? On paper these teams matchup fairly even. The Lady Bulldogs certainly have have their hands full getting out of this with a “W”. With Iowa’s backcourt, tenacity at the perimeter and seasoned players, it’s a coin toss. And as with most #8 vs. #9 matchups, this really is anyone’s game. A MUST for Geogia to win - Tasha Humphrey will have to live up to her tournament record and her ability. In her last outing she had a DISMAL preformance or more aptly said “lack of performance” as she shot 3-12 for a grand total of six points in the loss to Kentucky in the SEC Tournament. She’ll have to play smart and stay out of foul trouble. I totally believe Georgia can pull out a win here, but if they don’t stay focused for even a small amount of time it could be curtains.

An impetus for Iowa to win? Their regular season co-champion, Ohio State has already fallen in first round play as Florida State shocked us all winning 60-49 yesterday. Makes one wonder if that sixth-seed to Ohio State should have gone to Iowa instead. I for one, think it should have, but as a Georgia fan, I still hope we win.

NCAA FACTOID

The 2007-08 season is the Silver Anniversary of the magical march of Georgia’s women’s and men’s basketball teams to their respective NCAA Final Four. Georgia became the first school to have both programs reach the Final Four in the same season in 1983, a distinction it held alone until 1999.

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by LeAnne Harrington, SECWB.com

It may be a “down” year for the Southeastern Conference in the minds of some, with this perennial powerhouse conference slipping to 4th in the RPIs behind the Big 12, the Big East and the ACC, but for five of the top teams in the SEC, their efforts this season have led them to exactly where they wanted to be: in the 2008 NCAA Tournament field of 64. The five SEC teams who received tickets to the Big Dance are Tennessee, LSU, Vanderbilt, Georgia and Auburn, and each of these teams intends to make the most of their golden opportunity in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

As expected, defending National Champs Tennessee (30-2) received a #1 seed in the Oklahoma City regional, and their first round opponent will be #16 seed Oral Roberts (19-13), who received an automatic bid as the Summit Conference champion. They will meet on Sunday, Mar. 23 at 8 p.m. CST in West Lafayette, IN, with the winner of that game facing either #8 seed Utah or #9 seed Purdue in the second round on Tuesday, Mar. 25. Unlike the past two years when their draw was noticeably more difficult, UT was left with little to complain about in this year’s seedings. The Oklahoma City region contains the #2 seed with the worst overall record (Texas A&M at 26-7), a #3 seed who has beaten both Maryland and Rutgers but has lost against several SEC teams this season (Duke, 23-9), and a #4 seed which has stumbled big-time down the stretch, losing three straight and going down in the second round of their conference tourney to a foe with only two conference wins (Oklahoma, 21-8). If the Lady Vols can’t make it to Tampa out of this region, then the sky is not blue and Dick Vitale’s hoarse rantings are not annoying.

LSU (27-5), considered by many as a strong possibility for a #1 seed, had to settle for a #2 in the New Orleans regional, but have the consolation of playing their first two games at home in Baton Rouge before moving down the road an hour or so to the Big Easy for the next two rounds, if seedings hold. Not a bad consolation for receiving a #2, and I’m sure North Carolina’s Sylvia Hatchell is scratching her head, wondering if a #1 seed in this regional is all it’s cracked up to be. LSU will face Jackson State (18-13) on Saturday, Mar. 22 at 9:30 p.m. CST, with the winner going on to face either #7 seed Marist or #10 seed DePaul. Jackson State received only their 4th ever NCAA bid (and first since 1995) by winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference tourney. Although LSU dropped a couple of tough non-conference games against Maryland and Rutgers early in the season, and another to UCONN late, the Tigers are vying for their fifth straight trip to the Final Four. Don’t count them out; 8 seniors on this squad have come up empty-handed so far, and they are hungry to win it all in their final shot at a national title.

Vanderbilt (23-8), received a #4 seed in the Spokane regional, where they will face Montana (25-6), who earned an automatic bid as Big Sky champs. They will meet on Saturday, Mar. 22 at 10 p.m. CST in “The Pit”, aka Bob King Court, at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. The winner of this game will have a tough second-round matchup, potentially facing either #5 seed West Virginia or #12 seed New Mexico on their home court, which is notoriously one of the toughest places to play in the nation (it’s not nicknamed “The Pit” for nothin’…). Although Vandy will theoretically already have one game under their belt on that court, the transformation “The Pit” will undergo if UNM makes it to the second round will be astounding. Vanderbilt is pleased to have received a #4 seed; after losing three senior starters from last year’s #2 seed team, the Commodores struggled early to find their identity, sitting at 9-4 on the last day of 2007. It looked to be a long year, but a funny thing happened on the way to SEC play: Vandy stepped up their defensive efforts and came crashing to the boards, and the result was a school-record run through the conference portion of their schedule. Although they looked lackluster at times in the SEC tourney, both in their quarterfinal win over Auburn and their semifinal loss to eventual tourney champ UT, look for Vandy to step it up in the postseason. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a Vandy grad to know what “one and done” means.

Georgia (22-9) received their 14th straight bid to the NCAA Tournament, and will be playing as a #8 seed in the New Orleans regional. Their first round opponent will be Iowa (21-10), who received an at-large bid out of the Big Ten. They will face each other on Sunday, Mar. 23 at 1:30 p.m. CST in Norfolk, VA. This will be an intriguing first round matchup, and could go either way. These are two teams who seem to be going in opposite directions: Georgia struggled late in the season, and looked uninspired in their quarterfinal loss to Kentucky at the SEC tourney, whereas Iowa is 12-3 in their last 15 games after coach Lisa Bluder ditched the triangle to run a more motion-oriented offense. The winner of this game moves on to face either #1 seed North Carolina or #16 seed Bucknell, but I’m afraid it will be Iowa who faces UNC instead of the dawg-tired Lady Dawgs.

The fifth and final SEC team to garner a Big Dance ticket is Nell Fortner’s Auburn Tigers (20-11), who snagged a #11 seed in the Greensboro regional. Frankly, knowing the NCAA selection committee focuses on the last 12 games of the season, I’m surprised the Tigers received a bid, having lost 5 of their last 12, but I hope they step up and dance like there’s no tomorrow. Having lost 2 players to injuries and several others to academic ineligibility, Auburn is not very deep, dressing only 9 players at the SEC tourney. Their first round foe will be #6 seed George Washington (25-6) who received an Atlantic 10 at-large bid after having posted key wins this season over #2 seed Texas A&M, #4 seed Virginia and #9 seed Xavier. Auburn will meet George Washington on Saturday, Mar. 22 at 1 p.m. CST with the winner facing either #3 seed Cal or #14 seed San Diego. Although Auburn’s depth and seeding looks to make this a first-round “bow out,” Auburn can take consolation in the fact that they only lost to GW by 2 earlier this season, so they could very well pull this one out.

SECWB.com wishes good luck to all five SEC teams in the 2008 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

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