Everyone’s favorite weatherman/commentator Bill “Hurricane” Curry will leave the broadcast booth to try the Howard Schnellenberger route and build a new program from the ground up in the twilight of his career. Curry will head the new Georgia State program in Atlanta which will begin playing 1-AA football in 2010.

The Panthers had good luck with their last high-profile athletic hire. Under legendary basketball coach Lefty Driesell, Georgia State advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and finished 29-5 in 2001.

I’m also glad to see Curry out of the broadcast booth, but what will really be interesting is the Tech reaction. Things are all chummy now – Tech alum and former coach coming back to town – but make no mistake: Tech is the competition. Competition for fans, media attention, even some recruits – everything. If Tech has issues selling season tickets now, things will only be tougher with another program in town. I don’t see Tech losing its hold as the city’s top football program, but can they continue to claim the best college coach in town?

It’s been a busy offseason when it comes to the leadership of the BCS conferences and schools.

• First, Notre Dame AD Kevin White opts for the arguably less-stressful and lower-profile vacancy at Duke.
• Then Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese announced his retirement last week.
• Now we learn that Pac-10 commish and defender of the Rose Bowl Tom Hansen is on his way out after 26 years.

The Big 12 named Dan Beebe its commissioner less than a year ago. Though Tranghese and Hansen will continue on for another academic year, we’ll still see a turnover of more than half of the BCS leadership between 2007 and 2009.

Will this sudden turnover have much effect on things like the BCS and college football postseason? I doubt it. It’s important to remember that conference commissioners serve at the pleasure of the presidents of the conference’s schools. Though there is plenty of room for each commissioner to make his mark on his conference, major policy decisions are likely to be guided by those presidents. In other words, if the Pac-10 presidents as a group oppose a playoff (and it seems as if they do), Hansen’s replacement is likely to share that view.

Still, it will be interesting to see what new blood brings to the table and if any of the newcomers become polarizing figures in their own right.

Mike Slive (2002), John Swofford (1997), and Jim Delany (1989) are now the elder statesmen of the BCS conferences. In case you’re wondering who might be next to retire, Delany and Swofford both turn 60 this year, and Slive is approaching 68.

After the wonderful dismissal of rival Georgia Tech in the regional round, it was reasonable to wonder if the Georgia baseball team could get back up for a series with an unfamiliar opponent. Georgia’s recent postseason opposition had been regional or conference foes like South Carolina, Clemson, FSU, and Georgia Tech – all very familiar, all usually very good, and there was no problem getting up for those teams.

But here was N.C. State. The two programs don’t play each other. They, more or less, don’t recruit against each other. N.C. State’s story was one of a solid but not traditionally-strong program having a great season and seeking its first trip to Omaha since 1968. Georgia fans probably even cheered the Wolfpack when the boys from Raleigh dispatched South Carolina in the regional. Though a trip to the College World Series is always its own motivation, I wondered in the back of my mind if a letdown was possible after the euphoria of taking two games from Tech.

It didn’t take long into the series to discover that 1) N.C. State was a very formidable opponent and 2) it would indeed be very enjoyable sending them home.

It started on Friday when Wolfpack coach coach Elliott Avent asked the home plate umpire to examine Trevor Holder’s cap for a foreign substance. (The cap, of course, checked out clear.) It continued on Saturday when Georgia star Gordon Beckham was hit not once but twice by Wolfpack pitching. It came to a head Sunday afternoon when Wolfpack reliever Drew Taylor hit Lyle Allen following a Joey Lewis home run in the bottom of the 6th. Intentional or not, the pitch just below Allen’s head fired up the Bulldogs to finish the job and enjoy the beating as if it were an SEC or regional rival. Though the umpires and coaches did a good job of keeping the emotion from boiling over, the Bulldogs made sure to get their revenge on the field.

• "We wanted to make them sorry for Lyle getting hit," catcher Bryce Massanari said. "It woke up the sleeping dogs. After that, we just wanted to pour it on and embarrass them."
• "Embarrass them," (Gordon) Beckham said about Georgia’s mindset. "I think we got like eight runs after that, didn’t we?"
• "We were asleep," (coach David) Perno said. "We were in the dugout going ’12 outs. 12 outs, we’re going to Omaha. Nine outs.’ All of a sudden, they woke the bats back up."

If a pitch aimed at a Georgia batter’s head led to a five-run explosion in the bottom of the 7th, Wolfpack pitchers must have been peppering the family members and girlfriends of the Bulldog team prior to the game. Georgia erased any concerns about a tense nailbiter by putting up nine runs in the bottom of the 1st inning. The fact that the only scoreboard drama of the day came when State closed to within six runs indicates how complete of a win it was. On offense, eight Georgia singles combined with two walks and a hit batsman did the damage in the 1st. On defense, Nick Montgomery had yet another strong outing, and he was helped with strong plays in the field by Ryan Peisel, Lyle Allen, Matt Cerione, and Gordon Beckham.

While history might remember Allen’s HBP as the spark for Georgia’s final push at the plate, the first few runs actually came at a very important moment in the game. LSU’s dramatic comeback against Cal-Irvine on Sunday demonstrated that no lead is ever safe in college baseball, so the Wolfpack’s three runs in the top of the 6th were enough to get one’s attention after four straight scoreless innings from the Bulldogs. Gordon Beckham’s first home run of the day, a solo shot to left, got the Bulldogs back on the scoreboard and helped to stem what might have been the beginning of an NCSU comeback. Lewis’s two-run blast completed the scoring for the inning, and Georgia had answered the visitors’ challenge and ensured a relatively anti-climatic finish.

There were no need for Keppinger-esque heroics, and Josh Fields was, if anything, sloppy in closing out the 17-8 win. Instead, the lopsided win provided an opportunity to reflect on the many accomplishments and storylines across the roster. From Beckham’s star power to the emergence of Nick Montgomery to timely hits from the bottom half of the lineup, Sunday’s win gave us the chance to enjoy it all.

Click here for an outstanding gallery from UGASports.com of the celebration.

When NC State deposited two Trevor Holder pitches over the fence in the top of the 3rd inning in Friday’s opening game of the Athens Super Regional, I had a flashback to the opening game of the 2006 Athens Super Regional. South Carolina hit five consecutive home runs in the second inning and jumped out to a 9-0 lead on the host Bulldogs. In the 2008 opener, three straight Wolfpack batters – including the #9 batter – hit deep shots, and two found their way out of the park. It wasn’t looking good for Holder who recently struggled with shoulder problems and had a so-so regional.

But the right-handed junior wasn’t about to allow a repeat of 2006. On the day he found out that he was drafted in the 10th round of the MLB Draft by the Florida Marlins, Holder buckled down, got out of the 3rd, and went another 5 2/3 innings without allowing another earned run. The Bulldogs quickly answered those two runs and went on to a convincing 11-4 win over the Wolfpack. Holder ran out of gas just one out away from his first complete game after giving up 7 hits, 2 runs, and recording 5 strikeouts. Justin Earls came in to record the final out.

Prior to Friday’s game, the Wolfpack hadn’t allowed more than ten runs in a game since a March 14th loss to Miami. Starter Clayton Shunick was dominant at times, but Georgia took advantage of two weak innings to do their damage. The Bulldogs scored four times with two outs in the bottom of the 3rd, and they chased Shunick with five more runs in the 6th. Matt Olson and Gordon Beckham got the Dawgs going with key two-out hits in the 3rd, but the bottom of the order once again was a big part of the story. Lyle Allen, Miles Starr, and Joey Lewis combined for 5 RBI including a two-run homer by Lewis.

That 2006 Super Regional had a lesson: even if you get your tail kicked, you start out 0-0 in the next game. Georgia bounced back that year to win two straight over the Gamecocks and advance to Omaha. Friday’s opening win by Georgia puts them in great shape just one win away from the CWS, but they’re not there yet. The good news for the Bulldogs is that they have everything going for them right now – they’ll have a fresh bullpen, a partisan crowd, and the bats show no signs of cooling off.

I was reading this post at CFR that was, at face value, just another innocent-enough post about the playoff discussion ("jeez – he’s about to make another playoff post," I hear you say). One sentence in particular took me off on a tangent.

The Plus One is effectively the gateway to — shudder — a real playoff in college football.

I’m probably (almost certainly) not the first to raise this question, but is the "plus one" the point of no return or did we already pass the playoff event horizon with the introduction of the BCS?

We hold the regular season sacred, but why is the national champion not named immediately after the regular season? That’s not a ridiculous question; until 1968 the final polls were released before the bowls. The interim between 1968 and 1998 moved the focus of the national title to the bowls, but there was still very little formal structure in terms of determining a consensus champion. The Bowl Coalition and Bowl Alliance attempted to put some framework around the postseason, but the introduction of the BCS in 1998 was the biggest shift to create a single championship game between the nation’s two best teams.

What is the BCS, then, if not the mechanism behind a two-team playoff? Is the current discussion a question of playoffs vs. BCS, or does it all just boil down to resistance against the "bracket creep" of expanding our current two-team playoff to four teams or more?

I don’t ask these questions as gotchas for those who consider themselves playoff opponents. Truth is, there aren’t only two sides on which to come down on this topic. Unless you’re for a return to the ’80s-era bowl free-for-all or a wide-open 64-team tournament, there’s a ton of middle ground with plenty of tradeoffs to talk about. But asking "how big do we want our playoff to be" versus "do we want a playoff at all" are two very different questions, and the time to have that discussion might have been ten years ago.

Georgia will welcome Raleigh Regional winner North Carolina State to Athens this weekend for a best two-of-three series for the right to advance to Omaha and the College World Series.  Here’s the schedule; some warm afternoon games are ahead.

Athens Super Regional Schedule

Friday – Noon on ESPN
Saturday – Noon on ESPN2
Sunday – 4 p.m. (if necessary) on ESPN

Ticket Information

All-Session tickets to attend the NCAA Baseball Athens Super Regional, featuring Georgia and North Carolina State, will go on sale online via www.georgiadogs.com, at the Athletic Association Ticket Office window or by calling 1-877-542-1231 (toll free) beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 3.

All-Session Reserved tickets are $40 with the all-session general admission price set at $30. Both All-Session ticket packages include a ticket to all Athens Super Regional games including Game 3 if necessary and provide fans with a discount off the individual game ticket prices.

All tickets ordered for the Super Regional will be distributed via Will-Call. Patrons may claim their tickets prior to the regional from the Athletic Association Ticket Office beginning on Thursday, June 5 at 9:00 a.m. Regional tickets will also be available for pickup at the Foley Field ticket windows each day of the Super Regional.

For more information, visit www.georgiadogs.com and click on the link for tickets or call the Ticket Office at 1-877-542-1231. Visa, Mastercard and Cash are all accepted forms of payment.

“Can anybody f#@*ing play out here?”
– Danny Hall, during Monday’s 7th inning mound visit

Thoroughly unimpressed with the accomplishment of the Georgia basketball team, the Georgia baseball team demonstrated this weekend just how easy it is to win 4 games in 3 days.  Georgia completed the comeback by winning four straight games through the loser’s bracket, and they finished off Georgia Tech 18-6 in Monday night’s regional championship game.  Georgia’s hot bats were aided by six Tech errors, and Bulldog pitching allowed just one run after surrendering five to the Yellow Jackets in the bottom of the first inning.

With a loss already against them and drifting dead in the water against Louisville, the Diamond Dawgs shed a May malaise with one swing of Gordon Beckham’s bat.  In the 30 innings since that pivotal 7th inning against Louisville, Georgia has scored 47 runs.  They won the final three games of the regional by a combined 40-9 margin. 

Matt Olson had already cemented his place among the great Tech beaters, but the Athens Regional MVP one-upped himself with a freakish 18-26 (.692) batting performance over the weekend.  That total included seven hits over two elimination games against Georgia Tech.  It says something about Olson’s weekend that Bryce Massanari, in the middle of a 13-game hitting streak, was overshadowed.

As much as I can go on about the hitting, the story of the weekend had to be Georgia’s pitching depth coming through.  Regular starters Stephen Dodson and Trevor Holder struggled on Friday and Saturday.  Even reliable closer John Fields wasn’t himself on Saturday.  But beginning with Dean Weaver’s solid middle relief against Louisville, the pitching settled down.  Nathan Moreau and Justin Earls followed it up with strong showings against Lipscomb.  Nick Montgomery’s complete game shutout of Georgia Tech in Sunday’s nightcap was the outstanding performance of the regional. 

Montgomery’s outing on Sunday let Georgia get to Monday’s championship with plenty of arms on the bench, and they would need most of them.  Starter Justin Grimm failed to record an out during a disastrous first inning that saw Tech turn a 3-0 deficit into a 5-3 lead.  Alex McRee quickly settled things down, and he would hold Tech at bay allowing just a single unearned run in the 4th.  Weaver was brought in for the 5th, but he took a wicked shot off his pitching arm and had to leave the game after facing just one batter.  His condition and availability for the rest of the season is unknown. 

With Weaver out the Dawgs turned to Will Harvil, and Harvil became the latest Bulldog to make the most of his opportunity. Harvil allowed no runs and just three hits over four innings while the Bulldog offense built its lead.  Josh Fields finished the job in the 9th, but the issue was no longer in doubt then.  After the first inning it looked as if we were in for a high-scoring shootout, but Georgia’s middle relief of McRee and Harvil made sure that the scoring was one-sided.

Naturally a win like this over Georgia’s rival carries added significance.  The season series, led by Tech after the regular season, now finishes 3-2 in Georgia’s favor.  It’s the third time this decade that Georgia has ended Tech’s postseason.  Even bigger, the Dawgs are now 15-0 in elimination games at Foley Field. 

With another emotional regional and a draining march of five games in four days, Georgia will have to come back to earth quickly.  N.C. State will be coming to Athens for the Super Regional this weekend, and they are as good as any team Georgia faced during the regional.  The Wolfpack were 18-11 in the nation’s toughest conference, and they are 41-20 overall.  N.C. State swept through their Raleigh Regional with a 3-0 record and eliminated South Carolina to advance to the Super Regional.

I guess you take your motivation where you can get it, but this fashion-based incentive used by the Lipscomb baseball team would make Billy Johnson proud:

White shoes theory: One of the questions from the media at the post-game press conference dealt with the Bisons white baseball shoes. It marked the first time the team had ever worn white shoes in a game, but it won’t be the last.

“Our players wanted to wear white shoes all year long,” Forehand said. “I told them I didn’t like white shoes and we weren’t going to do it.

“It started last year. I made a promise that if they made it to a regional they could wear white shoes. I guess we are going to keep wearing them.”

It worked – the Bisons upset top-seeded Georgia 10-7 in the opening game of yesterday’s Athens regional.

Official footwear supplier of Lipscomb baseball

A day after the coaches voted 9-3 to recommend an early signing day for college football, the SEC athletic directors decided not to endorse the plan and will not send it on to the NCAA. The key sticking point seems to be the official visit: the plan would make those taking official visits ineligible to sign early, but the athletic directors did not want to diminish the importance of the official visit.

The Athens regional kicks off today with Georgia playing Lipscomb at 3:00. It should be a wild weekend: three of the four teams made the trip to Omaha in their last postseason appearance. Here’s a link dump of news and info:

Media

Television: CSS

Radio: 960 AM in Athens. 91.1 PM in Atlanta will have at least the Tech broadcast.

Online: Free audio and live stats here.

News

• GeorgiaDogs.com Regional Central
• AJC regional notebook: Dawgs rested, healthy, and haven’t scouted anyone
• ABH: Four teams, one dream. A brief profile of the participants.
• ABH: Regional notebook. Roger Willams’ return, Fields and Beckham honored, Tech dealing with tragedy
• ABH: A great look back at the 2001, 2004, and 2006 postseasons with quotes from some of the players.

Tickets

Single game tickets to attend the NCAA Baseball Athens Regional will go on sale starting at 1:00 p.m. Friday, May 30 at Foley Field. Single game ticket sales locations will be set up in the Foley Field Plaza, along the third base side on Rutherford Street and at the entrance to right field bleachers on Pinecrest Street.

Reserved Seat tickets are $12 and general admission tickets are $10.

Single game tickets will also go on sale at the Foley Field ticket locations beginning two hours before the first game each day.

I’ve written before about an early signing period for college football. It’s not that it’s an awful idea or would ruin college football, but something about the motivation has always seemed a little questionable to me. I’m not surprised that the SEC coaches have voted to push the idea forward, but the coverage of this news I’ve read so far doesn’t do much to diminish my primary concern with the early signing period: we tend to hear a lot more about why this is great for the coaches and college programs than we do about benefits for the student-athlete.

That said, I don’t have much of a problem with the idea as endorsed by the SEC coaches. But at the same time, it really doesn’t address many of the reasons why people claim we need an early signing period. The key detail in the SEC proposal is that prospects would only be eligible to sign early if they don’t take official visits.

Think about what that condition implies. Aside from the "been a fan all my life" prospects who jump on their dream offer, why would a prospect want to forgo the official visit even if they only visit their chosen school?

To the kind of prospect whose commitment is that solid, it doesn’t matter when signing day is. The kid isn’t going anywhere and really isn’t receptive to other recruiting overtures because his intent is obvious. So the program has no need to "babysit" such a prospect during the final months of the recruiting process, and there isn’t much pressure or attention put on someone who makes his plans crystal clear in March or whenever he gets his dream offer.

The prospects for whom recruiting pressure, endless phone calls, and media attention are unpleasant realities are the undecided. These are exactly the prospects who should be taking their visits, thinking things over, and shouldn’t be rushed into "getting it over with." Once they do start taking visits, the SEC plan wouldn’t allow the high-profile undecided prospect to sign early anyway.

Who is speaking up for the student-athlete in this discussion? We’re getting no end of woe-is-us stories from the coaches, but forgive me if I don’t melt because some guy whose salary is pushing seven figures has to make a few extra phone calls. This is the one time in the process where the student-athlete holds a bit of the upper hand and when changing his mind won’t come with a substantial penalty. You can’t say that for the job-hopping coaches.

Tony Barnhart writes, "The rationale for the rule is that more and more players are committing early and would like to sign and avoid the final six weeks of recruiting." They would? How do we know? Barnhart had plenty of quotes supporting the coaches’ positions, but who is carrying the torch for the prospects claiming that they "would like to sign and avoid the final six weeks of recruiting?"

ESPN’s Chris Low makes a bit of a reach when he discusses the coaches’ motivations for the vote. (Emphasis added.)

One of the reasons most of the SEC coaches favor an early signing period is because so many prospects commit early and then hold everybody hostage as they look around in January and February.

That’s overstating it just a little, isn’t it? I admit to being familiar only with Georgia’s recruiting, but the Dwayne Allens and A.J. Harmons of the world seem much more like the exception than the rule for a given class. And the "hold everybody hostage" line is just over the top. While there are always those who love to play the game and string everyone along (again – they’d still be signing in February anyway under the SEC proposal), I just don’t recall a lot of the early commitments shopping around into January.

Bobby Petrino makes a quality point: "We got here in December and were able to change some minds of some young men in our state. Had there been an early signing period those kids might have been already signed." That’s an issue for the prospect as well. The college regular season is still ongoing in late November. Few, if any, personnel moves would have been made by this point. Prospects would still run the risk of signing with a school about to change the head coach or any number of assistants.

We’ve heard enough on the subject from the coaches. The next reasonable step seems to be getting a good sample of prospects candidly on the record. Would an early signing period really be something that they want? Would they be willing to give up the plum official visits if it meant that they could end the recruiting process two months early? Would they feel pressure to sign early if it meant that their scholarship offer depended on it?

First, let’s straight away rid ourselves of the notion that Georgia and Mark Richt are immune from this discussion. It’s true that no Georgia player has been unloading firearms around Athens lately, but for the most part all programs are dipping into the same pool when it comes to recruiting top talent.

I struggle with a cynical response to all of this. Is it that coaches have a difficult time identifying character issues, or do they have a problem overlooking those issues? After all, if you pass on someone due to character issues, not only do you risk being "known as the person that denied Johnny a scholarship", but you also risk the prospect winding up down the road at a regional or conference rival. Then you get to answer that other question: why can’t you recruit top talent?

Like most, I find it hard to believe that coaches are/were using text messages or even evaluation visits to brush up on a prospect’s character. They’re not hanging out with the kid’s friends or observing how they approach schoolwork. The extent of communication or observation that would be necessary to get a real sense on someone’s character goes well beyond any reasonable limit. There are teachers who see these kids every day who don’t have a handle on the real character of many of their students.

Fulmer does make a valid point when he says that, "it’s hard sometimes to find out information about them because people aren’t completely honest with you about them." Recruits (and their parents) are increasingly savvy about packaging and parceling out information.

So what to do? Willingham mentions using a "service" to get information, but I’m not sure how far that goes. With the amounts at stake, I could almost see programs placing private detectives on retainer to do the digging. NFL teams do it. The only difference is the age of the players – there’s something borderline creepy about tracking an 18-year-old. You don’t want to be the first program caught snooping around its prospects, but are we not far away from the point where that becomes a necessity?

Despite losing four out of five games coming into the NCAA Tournament, Georgia’s regular season SEC championship was enough to earn Georgia the final national seed when bids were announced Monday afternoon.  Georgia will host a regional in Athens this weekend and, if they advance, will host a Super Regional on the subsequent weekend.

The Athens Regional

The good news – home field has been kind to Georgia in the postseason recently. Georgia hasn’t lost a postseason series in Athens in the 2000s though there have been several close calls.  The bad news – it’s a strong field.  Georgia won the SEC title.  Georgia Tech was a strong contender to host a regional.  Louisville won the Big East and made the trip to Omaha in 2007.

1. Georgia
2. Georgia Tech
3. Louisville
4. Lipscomb

The Lipscomb Bisons, champions of the Atlantic Sun conference, will be making their NCAA Tournament debut against the Bulldogs.  The Bisons have played three games against SEC competition (Vanderbilt(2) and Alabama), losing all three games.

Georgia Tech hoped to host a regional, but they finished just over .500 in a tough ACC which produced three of the top four national seeds.  Instead the Yellow Jackets will have to go through Athens if they hope to advance.  Tech took the season series from Georgia, but Georgia had the final word with a close win at Turner Field earlier in May. 

Georgia and Georgia Tech have done battle several times this decade during the postseason.  In 2001, the Bulldogs eliminated Tech in the Athens regional en route to the College World Series.  Tech returned the favor in 2002 by ending Georgia’s season in Atlanta.  The two teams met again in 2004 with a trip to the College World Series on the line.  Georgia swept two games from their rivals to take the Super Regional series and return to Omaha.  Jonathan Wyatt became a Bulldog legend with a decisive 2-run homer to clinch the series.

There’s even a connection with Louisville.  Former Bulldog pitching coach Roger Williams now holds the same position for the Cardinals, and some scuttlebutt holds that his departure from Athens was on less-than-pleasant terms.

The SEC

Though no SEC team has been dominant this year, the depth of the conference was evident when the NCAA bracket was announced.  The SEC has two national seeds (#7 LSU and #8 Georgia), and nine SEC teams received bids – including Arkansas who didn’t even qualify for the SEC Tournament.  Ole Miss, Kentucky, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, and Vanderbilt are the other invitees.

Of national interest

• How’d you like to be Arizona?  You earn the top seed in a regional, but you’re the only top seed sent on the road.  To Michigan.  In the interests of “geographical diversity.” 
• We’ll have a new national champion.  Two-time defending champs Oregon State were left out of the tournament.  They are the first defending champion to miss the tournament since….Georgia in 1991.
• As I mentioned above, the ACC has three of the top four national seeds.  Miami has been strong all year and won their first ACC title.  UNC has been the national runner-up in each of the past two seasons.  FSU is in the mix as always.

The schedule

Friday, May 30
Game 1: Georgia vs. Lipscomb, 3 p.m. ET
Game 2: Georgia Tech vs. Louisville, ~7 p.m. ET

Saturday, May 31
Game 3: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 3 p.m. ET
Game 4: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 7 p.m. ET

Sunday, June 1
Game 5: Loser of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 3, 2 p.m. ET
Game 6: Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5, 6 p.m. ET

Monday, June 2 (If Necessary)
Game 7: Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6, 7 p.m. ET

Ticket information

All-Session ticket will be available online starting Monday, May 26 at 2 p.m. and at the Athletic Association Ticket Office window or by calling 1-877-542-1231 (toll free) beginning Tuesday, May 27 at 8:30 a.m.

All-Session Reserved tickets are $60 with the all-session general admission price set at $50. Both All-Session ticket packages include a ticket to all Athens Regional games including Game 7 if necessary and provides fans with a discount off the individual game ticket prices.

All tickets ordered for the regional will be distributed via Will- Call. Patrons may claim their tickets prior to the regional from the Athletic Association Ticket Office on Thursday, May 29, between 9am and 4pm and again on Friday, May 30, from 8:30am until noon. Regional tickets will also be available for pickup at the Foley Field ticket windows beginning at 1pm on Friday, May 30.

For more information, visit www.georgiadogs.com and click on the link for tickets or call the Ticket Office at 1-877-542-1231. Visa, Mastercard and Cash are all accepted forms of payment.

It’ll be here before you know it, and it’ll go by too quickly as it always does. So long as everyone stays well and out of trouble, we should have something worth anticipating this year. Countdown clock coming soon.

The night didn’t start well for the defending champions, but Georgia’s depth and experience shone through as the Tennis Dawgs came back to beat Texas 4-2 in the national championship Tuesday evening in Tulsa. The title was Georgia’s first at a host site other than Athens, and it’s the first back-to-back titles in the program’s storied history.

For the second straight round, Georgia dropped the doubles point. They also dropped the first singles match at #6. Facing a 2-0 hole, Georgia quickly bounced back with wins at #2 and #4 to level things at 2-2. From that point Georgia’s seniors took over to sustain the momentum and clinch the title. Luis Flores wrapped up his match at #3 without much drama to give Georgia the 3-2 edge.

The championship came down to #1 singles where former Longhorn Travis Helgeson had dropped the first set and was down a break at 1-2 in the decisive third set. Helgeson battled back, won four of the next five games, and broke his opponent twice to go up 5-3. As soon as Flores’ match ended, attention shift to Helgeson up 5-4 and serving for the win. He closed out Dimitar Kutrovsky 6-4, and the celebration was on.

The Dawgs were ranked high all year, and they had a ton of talent, so it’s not like this title came from out of nowhere. Still, Georgia was hardly the odds-on favorite after losing players like John Isner and Matic Omerzel. The favorite doesn’t always win: a heavily-favored Georgia fell to Pepperdine in 2006, and the Dawgs dispatched this year’s top-ranked team, Virginia. Georgia got key performances from its most experienced players, and the team’s depth helped them weather some midseason injuries and win important singles points further down the lineup. In the end, the black did it again.

Georgia’s championship will be re-aired on ESPN2 at 3:30 p.m on Thursday May 22.

Travis Helgeson in his decisive match. Photo: AP