After a shaky start that put Auburn up 10-3, the Dawgs tightened up on defense, started hitting from outside, and took over the game. They blew open a 19-19 tie to lead by ten at halftime, and Auburn got no closer in the second half. Levi Stukes had 22 points and scored 14 during a key first half push that left Auburn behind. Takais Brown scored 19 and added a career-high 13 rebounds. Sundiata Gaines was one assist short of a double-double of his own.

The outcome was the same as most times that Georgia’s "trinity" plays well. They won. When Gaines, Stukes, and Brown have good games, Georgia wins. Of course others contribute. Woodbury had some timely baskets, Humphrey is becoming more and more assertive on offense, and Singleton continues to improve inside. They play valuable roles. Still, Georgia is a different team when its three best players all do their thing.

The three combined to create an impossible situation for Auburn. The Tigers, undersized up front, doubled down on Brown. The attention given to Brown created open looks for Stukes outside, and it opened up penetration lanes for Gaines and others. Classic inside-outside basketball. Auburn’s pressure also helped Georgia’s offense. Though the Dawgs struggled with the pressure at first, they were often able to beat the trap and create 2-on-1 and other transition opportunities that led to easy baskets.

On the defensive end, Georgia quickly adjusted to a 5-of-5 start by Auburn and played much of the rest of the game in a successful 1-3-1 zone. They trapped effectively out of this zone, forced Auburn into bad shots, and created over 20 turnovers.

The win is Georgia’s first in the SEC Tournament since Dennis Felton’s first Bulldog team beat Auburn in 2004, and it’s just Georgia’s second SEC Tournament victory since 1998. The series with Auburn is as tight in basketball as it is in football: Georgia’s win last night gave them a 86-85 advantage in the all-time series with the Tigers.

Georgia’s reward for this nice win? A third game against top-seeded Florida tonight at 7:30. We all know what’s at stake, but I hope the guys just go out and enjoy this one. They’ve had a nice season, shown improvement, and last night’s win was another step forward. Florida has dominated each of the two meetings this season, but Georgia has played them close enough to look at some what-ifs. In the game at Gainesville, Georgia turned the ball over more than 20 times. It was a close game for much of the way, but Florida pulled away late. In Athens, Georgia’s three-point shooting was off. They didn’t turn the ball over much at all in that game, but they couldn’t hit shots. Florida built a nice lead during the first half and kept Georgia more or less at arm’s length.

For Georgia to have a chance in this third meeting, they’ll need another strong night from the Big Three. They’ll also need to disrupt some element of Florida’s inside-outside game. Whether they limit the outside shooting or take on the much tougher task of slowing Horford and Noah, it’ll be a big job. They must do all of the little things in this game – rebound, limit turnovers, value possessions, hit free throws. Is this the night where Georgia makes a huge move, or are they still just a hair short of being ready?

Newspapers (and other media) get stuff wrong all the time, but it gets your attention when something moves beyond rumor and onto the printed page.

James Varney of Nola.com (the online edition of the New Orleans Times-Picayune) is now reporting a new reason for LSU women’s basketball coach Pokey Chatman’s resignation:

LSU women’s basketball coach Pokey Chatman resigned Wednesday because the university found out about inappropriate conduct between Chatman and one or more players, according to university sources who are aware of the events or have been briefed on it by school officials.

That’s potentially devastating news, not only to Chatman but also to the players who remain. It’s clear that this is a rapidly-developing story and that we’re not close to the end of it yet.

Most SEC fans who know their way around a keyboard have heard of Rodney Orr’s Tider Insider site.

In the past day, Rodney has experienced an unthinkable tragedy: “First, his son-in-law, Jeff Watkins, was killed in a motorcycle accident in Tuscaloosa. Rodney asked that you keep Jeff and his family in your prayers. Second, Rodney’s wife Andrea was notified of the accident and while returning to Tuscaloosa from Birmingham was killed in an accident on 20/59.”

He lost his son-in-law and wife in the same day. I have never met him, and I’m numb reading that. Condolences pour in from the community here.

Once you get past the trolls and the petty squabbles, the one thing about these long-running message boards (aside from borderline-clinical devotion to a team) is the sense of community that develops. Though we’d all rather things like this never happen in the first place, hopefully Rodney can draw some strength from that tight TI community to which he has given so much. The response and outpouring of support today shows how much he and his site have meant to so many people in the Crimson Tide world.

LSU head women’s basketball coach Pokey Chatman abruptly resigned on Wednesday. She is leaving “in order to allow (her) to pursue other career opportunities” but will remain on at LSU through the NCAA Tournament.

The timing is very questionable. There are several high-profile (or high-paying) jobs coming open. Florida is one. Texas might be another. But even if she were taking one of those jobs, why announce the resignation now if she’s going to remain on through the tournament? Does she even have something else lined up, or is she doing this now to throw her hat into the ring for one of those positions ahead of other coaches?

She’s been at LSU as a player or coach for 18 years now, so resigning essentially during the season can’t help but draw suspicion.

I got a chuckle out of this quote: “To eliminate any further distraction from our preparation for and participation in the NCAA tournament, I will have no further comment and answer no questions on this subject. I hope you will honor that position.”

Um, Pokey…you could have avoided ALL distraction from your team’s preparation if you just waited two or three weeks to make this announcement. Because of the timing, the women’s college basketball world is on fire today with speculation about her future and trying to figure out the “real” reason behind her departure. Not a distraction at all.

Something has always rubbed me the wrong way about her. She followed a true legend at LSU, Sue Gunter, and honored her. I don’t particularly have any character qualms. She took her team as far as Augustus and Fowles would let her, but I don’t think she did a particularly good job building the team around them. They were good enough to briefly rise to the top one or two teams in the SEC for a couple of years and played in three consecutive Final Fours, but they slid back this year. If she did want to move on from Baton Rouge, I don’t think her stock will ever be much higher.

Update: Now ESPN reports that Pokey won’t coach in the NCAA Tournament. It didn’t take her long to see that “(her) presence would be a great distraction during the NCAA Tournament.” Assistant Bob Starkey will be the interim coach during the NCAA Tournament.

Again, she has a bit of a head-scratcher in her latest statement: “My resignation yesterday has prompted speculation and rumors that far exceeded my expectations.” She was LSU to the core – as a player, assistant coach, and head coach. She was quite successful; her job wasn’t in jeopardy. She didn’t expect rampant speculation and rumors upon an announcement made before the end of the season that she would be stepping down?

A power outage caused a 20-minute delay during last night’s 3-2 loss to Kennesaw State at Foley Field.

Bulldog bats also have been missing some juice lately. Since beating Purdue 9-0 to open that series, Georgia has scored more than four runs only twice. They’ve been held to two or fewer runs four times in the same stretch. In three weekend series so far, Georgia is averaging under four runs per game.

Georgia is now 4-8 and only have four games, including a weekend set against Gardner-Webb, to find some answers before the SEC season starts.

Renew online, win stuff.

I know a lot of people were starting to get antsy about when ticket order forms would be sent…the answer is: Monday.

The William C. Hartman Jr. Fund donors will be mailed their 2007 University of Georgia football season ticket renewal order forms on Monday, March 12th. The order form will include information on how many season tickets each donor will be able to purchase based on their cumulative donor score and annual donation. Donors will have until March 31 to return their order.

Beginning March 13th, donors can renew their tickets online atgeorgiadogs.com. All fans that renew their order online will be entered into random drawings to win autographed photos and footballs by Head Coach Mark Richt and two sideline passes for the Georgia vs. Ole Miss game.

The William C. Hartman Jr. Fund is a designated fund within the The Georgia Bulldog Club. Contributions to the William C. Hartman Jr. Fund provide scholarship support for University of Georgia student-athletes as well as financial support for each of UGA’s 21 varsity sport programs.

(Photo: AP)

Congratulations to junior point guard Sundiata Gaines. I like the selection of Derrick Byars as player of the year; no one meant more to a successful team.

The Jamaica, N.Y., native led Georgia in rebounding (5.7/game), assists (4.7/game), minutes (30.3/game) and steals (2.1/game). Gaines has led the SEC in the latter category throughout the entire season.

There are four Georgia natives on the all-SEC teams, second only to Tennessee’s five. Hopefully more of the Georgians earning all-SEC honors in the future will do it in Athens.

Georgia opens play in the SEC Tournament tonight as the East’s #5 seed against Auburn, the #4 seed from the West. The game will tip off at 7:30 and will be televised by your local Lincoln Financial affiliate.

No wonder Maryland suddenly has a good women’s basketball team: most other teams only play with five players. Good D here by Coach Brenda Frese.

The athletic association has issued a release confirming that junior offensive guard Seth Watts is no longer with the Georgia football program. We were uncertain last night whether his absence from spring practice for “personal reasons” was a temporary or, as suspected, a permanent situation.

University of Georgia junior offensive lineman Seth Watts has decided to forego his remaining two years of football eligibility, according to an announcement Tuesday by Bulldog head coach Mark Richt.

Richt said Watts, who served as a backup offensive guard during the 2006 season, plans to remain in school and concentrate on his academic work.

“We appreciate the contributions that Seth has made to our football team,” said Richt. “And at the same time we are certainly supportive of what he feels is in his best interest.”

This is pretty surprising news. Most of the SEC members (except Georgia and Arkansas) had individually arranged deals on their own with Sirius. It now looks as if Georgia and Arkansas will be among the first SEC schools to join XM, and the others will come online as their Sirius deals expire. SEC conference events such as championship games and tournaments will also be on XM.

XM will provide complete coverage of SEC championships, starting with the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament live from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Thursday through Sunday on XM channel 201.

XM will have the most SEC games on the radio with coast-to-coast live broadcasts of the University of Arkansas, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, Mississippi State University, University of Mississippi and University of Tennessee football, basketball, and other sports starting in fall 2007.

As a Sirius subscriber who chose that service in part due to the trend set by the other SEC schools, I have to say that this sucks. Hopefully the Sirius-XM merger goes through and the choice of service becomes irrelevant.

One day of spring practice, one offensive lineman MIA.

Junior guard Seth Watts, last in the news for serving a one-game suspension for the Peach Bowl, was not at practice for “personal reasons” today, and his status with the team is unknown at this time. Watts was one of only three linemen with experience available for the season opener, and it looks as if he might not be around for that now.

You’d like to think this is the end of the attrition and bad news from the spring, but history tells us it’s just beginning.

Here’s a shocker to many: Quincy Carter used marijuana while at Georgia. In an interview with ESPN’s “Outside The Lines”, he admitted the weekly use and said he had “somewhat” of a problem at the time. We’ve all heard the rumors going around about the mysterious “thumb injury” and the causes of the downward spiral of the 2000 season. While we don’t know the extent to which Carter’s drug use played in all of that, we at least now know beyond rumor that something was going on.

I’m not surprised by this news, but I would be surprised to learn that he was the only one.

The men’s and women’s basketball teams weren’t the only Bulldog squads to taste defeat this weekend.

The Diamond Dawgs added to the misery on Sunday with a series sweep at the hands of Southern Cal. Georgia led or tied the score in each game, but the Trojans made the plays each night to get three wins in their first visit to Athens.

Not even the Gym Dogs could survive the bad karma. UCLA handed Georgia their first loss of the season. Losses aren’t that significant in gymnastics as average scores determine ranking, and Georgia’s 197.0 is still a respectable score.

Only the #1-ranked men’s tennis team came through this dark weekend unscathed. They beat LSU 6-1.

Spring football practice starts this week – let’s hope that’s a sign of brighter days and that everyone out there stays healthy.

There are a lot of words that can be used to describe Vanderbilt’s 81-56 rout of Georgia in the semifinals of the SEC Women’s Tournament. “Disappointing” might be the one I’d settle on.

Just a day after giving fantastic defensive effort, they didn’t match the intensity against a better team. Things weren’t much better on offense; the outside shots weren’t falling when needed, and even the inside game struggled. Georgia hadn’t looked this bad since an earlier game against FSU. Vanderbilt was not about to fold like the Seminoles did, and their offensive firepower made Georgia pay for their defensive lapses.

The real disappointment came from the missed opportunity. With Tennessee’s loss in the first semifinal, Georgia had beaten every possible remaining opponent in the tournament. Georgia had dominated Vandy last season, knocked them from the 2006 tournament, and beat them solidly in Athens earlier this year. Georgia’s two seniors had to remember a missed opportunity against Vanderbilt in the 2004 SEC Tournament final. That Georgia could play another tournament game against Vanderbilt with no heart and with a scared, on-their-heels reaction to Vandy’s initial first half push was more than many fans could take.

They had a real chance to compete for the tournament title and wrap up a sure #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Now that seed will likely go to Vanderbilt, and Georgia will have to hang on and hope for a #3 seed. Hopefully the momentum and winning streak with which Georgia entered the SEC Tournament is not completely gone. They had come a long way and improved over the final month, and if any good comes from this loss, it will remind them what happens when they do not match their opponent’s will to win.

We’ll find all of that out on the women’s selection show on Monday March 12th.

Georgia basketball has come a long way since the 2-14 days when you just hoped they would be competitive. They’ve progressed to the point where we are let down when they come up just short against one of the SEC’s hottest teams. It’s disappointing to be on the other side of the bubble heading into the SEC Tournament, but that’s where we are this year. A 71-65 loss to Tennessee in the regular season finale provided a contrast between a team that was ready to head into the Big Dance and one that wasn’t quite there yet.

• They finished strong. Tennessee has won seven of eight to end the season. Left for dead at 3-5 after a loss to Florida, they took their fate in their own hands and left no doubt about their postseason fate.
• They took care of business at home. They were a perfect 8-0 in home SEC games. In fact, they didn’t lose a home game all season. Though they struggled to add a quality road win to their ledger, the ability to defend the home turf and pick up a few late road wins more than solidified their position.
• They have a genuine go-to guy. Tennessee actually has THE go-to guy in college basketball. Though Chris Lofton struggled for much of the game, he was able to change Saturday’s game at Georgia with just two perfectly-timed three-pointers late in the second half. The shots let Tennessee reclaim the lead for good, and Georgia wasn’t able to respond. You won’t find many teams in the tournament without someone they want with the ball at the end of a game.
• They play to their strengths. Tennessee put the ball in the hands of their guards. Ramar Smith, JaJuan Smith, and Lofton had the bulk of Tennessee’s field goal attempts and points. Meanwhile, Georgia struggled to get the ball inside against a smaller Tennessee team. Takais Brown only had five field goal attempts. Georgia shot 59% for the game inside the arc (17-of-29) but still insisted on putting up 21 three-point attempts and missing all but five of them

Georgia’s heading in the right direction, and hopefully they can pick up a few more of the qualities that they’ll need to get over that final hump and become a regular NCAA Tournament participant. In the meantime, the season isn’t over yet, and Georgia will have a chance to build on something in the SEC Tournament and then likely the NIT.