One of the great stories of this year’s basketball season was the Army women’s team. The Army program was more or less in wretched condition, and new coach Maggie Dixon, at 28 years of age, took over the team just 11 days before the start of this season. What happened was an improbable storybook season – Army came from nowhere to win their first regular season and tournament Patriot League titles and earned the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament bid.

Dixon was hailed for her turnaround job. Her brother, Jamie Dixon, is the head coach at Pitt, and both Dixons led teams to the NCAA Tournament this year, earning quite a bit of national attention. The entire Army and West Point communities rallied around the success of the women’s team. When they won the conference championship, Army cadets – the guys – rushed the court to hoist the triumphant women on their shoulders.

On Wednesday, the 28-year-old Dixon collapsed during an afternoon tea after suffering an “arrhythmic episode to her heart.” She passed away Thursday night.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski followed the Army story during the season and has a very fitting tribute to Dixon’s passing.

In the span of three weeks, this incredible story right out of a Disney script has turned into a gutwrenching tragedy.

I’ve tried to remind people many times over this offseason of the QB battle before the 2001 season. Richt had just taken over, and he had to choose between redshirt freshman David Greene and junior Cory Phillips. A freshman DJ Shockley would redshirt. Phillips of course had game experience starting several games over the last half of the 2000 season. In hindsight, it seems like an easy decision. But as late in the process as a couple of weeks before the season opener, Richt kept the competition alive and still referred to the two as “co-starters”.

The situation in 2002 was a bit more muddled. Greene was the starter, but Phillips had slid to third team behind the impressive freshman Shockley. Though Greene kept his starting job, this time was the birth of the infamous rotation that would define the Georgia quarterback position for three seasons. Had an early-season foot injury not derailed Shockley in 2002, the line between starter Greene and backup Shockley might not have been so tidy.

All this is to put the current quarterback derby in perspective. Richt has not two or even three but four candidates to evaluate. He has been deliberate not to shake up the depth chart during spring and has used words like “marathon” to describe the extent of this process. Those expecting serious movement or shuffling of the depth chart much before mid-August will likely be very disappointed and unnecessarily frustrated. With several candidates, Richt has said that the process might even stretch into the season.

That’s where I have a bit of concern. I can’t see very much good coming from a midseason change unless that transition is planned and very well explained beforehand. If someone starts the season and loses the job because of poor play (or even, God forbid, a loss), he and Richt will be crucified for having the wrong guy out there to begin with. If on the other hand the starter is undefeated and playing reasonably well and still gets replaced, there will be plenty of outcry from the “if it ain’t broke…” crowd that was out in full force during the David Greene years. A tough situation either way if this isn’t settled in large part before the season.

Coach Bobo has at least indicated that the decision might at least be pared down to two guys at some point in the preseason. That’s a good step, but it means that the race for the #2 spot is just as interesting and has some pretty important implications of its own. Consider…

• Barnes. It’s not necessarily his last chance, but not making the top two means that at least one younger player has moved ahead of him. In order to start or see significant playing time, he’d have to improve enough to beat out younger players in the future. A thumb injury late in spring practice probably doesn’t matter much to the coaches, but not seeing him in action at G-Day will definitely leave him out of the fan discussion as they parse every snap of the spring scrimmage.
• Tereshinski. Not making the top two means he would have been dropped from the pre-spring starter to the third team. It’s not unprecedented – see Cory Phillips who went from significant starting action in 2000 to the third team in 2002. And no one, I would hope, thinks any less of Phillips’s contributions to the program. It has been assumed that Tereshinski would simply be left behind in the wake of the freshmen, but he’s had an outstanding spring and is not going down without a fight. But you’ve seen him on the field for three years – would you expect any less than a strong fight from him?
• Cox. Not making the top two is a little less dramatic for Cox. He’ll still have plenty of time to rise on the depth chart. But another season back on the scout team might be a little frustrating. He’s been described as steady, smart, accurate, and consistent. Comparisons to Zeier and Greene don’t hurt either.
• Stafford. The wunderkind. The book on Stafford is becoming pretty clear, and it makes perfect sense. Part of becoming a college or even pro quarterback is learning when to take a sack or throw the ball away because the play is busted. The 60-yard jump balls across his body that made for great high school highlights turn into interceptions in college. But, honestly, if this is the main shortcoming in Stafford’s game right now, he’s ahead of most college juniors out there. It’s hard to imagine Stafford not making the top two, but if he doesn’t, it’s an instant sign that he’ll be redshirted. On the other hand, if he is among the top two it would be a huge waste of a potential redshirt season if he does not see significant playing time or even a starting role.

Lots to think about. But as this plays out, just keep Richt’s track record in mind. He’ll take his time, but he’ll also have the right guy(s) out there at the end of the process. It will be interesting to see the reactions (and overreactions) to what we see tomorrow. For most, it will be our first glimpses of Cox and Stafford, and we’ll see how Tereshinski looks now that he has stepped out from role of backup and caretaker. It’s unfortunate that Barnes won’t be part of the discussion, and I hope fans don’t totally write him off because he is not part of the action tomorrow.

Are you ready?

In just two days, fans will get their one brief fix of live football between the bowl game and the 2006 season. Like the addicts we are, we’ll head to Sanford Stadium to watch a controlled scrimmage. And like addicts, we’ll take the closest thing we can get and obsess over it hoping it gets us through to our next fix.

That said, there are a few areas I’m interested in. Most are on defense. Linebackers seem like a hodge-podge and have since Tony Taylor injured himself two years ago. Depth and stability used to be the cornerstone of that position. Linebackers weren’t especially a strength nor a liability last year, but when you’re used to some outstanding production from the position under VanGorder, that’s a drop off. We’re also switching out three of four starting defensive backs, and the fourth is in a fight for his starting job. There’s no shortage of talented candidates back there, but I’ll be interested in how they shake out.

As for the offense, we know it will be more or less plain vanilla. Defensive pressure won’t be anywhere near up to season levels. There will be some nice runs. But of course most everyone will be looking at the four three healthy QB candidates and ready to proclaim the season starter based on Saturday’s performance. Woe to he who doesn’t impress; the “bust” label is waiting for you.

But the best part of G-Day is the Johnny Brown Award. This is given by fans who see a reserve have a great G-Day and want to know during the season why coaches don’t play him or have him much higher up on the depth chart. Ronnie Powell was a two-time recipient of the award. This year, I bet it will be one of the many young defensive backs. For their sake, I wouldn’t be upset if it’s a wide receiver (Kris Durham enters the game as the favorite) – we need some good press in that area.

As anticlimatic as the men’s NCAA final was on Monday, the women made up for it on Tuesday. Maryland trailed Duke by as many as 13 points and looked beaten in every way during a bad first half. But they put together a run midway through the second half to set up an incredible finish. Down by 4 with less than a minute remaining, Maryland hit two huge baskets, including a deep three-pointer by Kristi Toliver with less than ten seconds remaining to force overtime. Toliver is a freshman, and she stuck a three-pointer over 6’7″ Allison Bales with the game on the line. That’s what the NCAA Tournament is all about. Duke held the upper hand for most of the overtime, but a missed free throw by Bales opened the door for Maryland to take the lead, and they did with just over 30 seconds remaining. Duke didn’t score again and couldn’t get a good look on a potential tying three-pointer of their own as the clock ran out.

I know many of you don’t follow the women’s game, but this was as good as it gets in sports. Good storylines (Maryland’s youth vs. Duke’s veterans desperate for a title), good drama (Maryland’s comeback), good individual moments (Bales’ dominant performance, Toliver and Coleman leading the way as freshmen), and a Hollywood ending. This was a very memorable tournament all around.

The women move right into the WNBA draft today, and two Lady Dogs – Alexis Kendrick and Sherill Baker – hope to get the opportunity to play professionally. I’ll have their draft results later today.

This should come as no surprise. That smile was too big for Georgia. It was too big for Pittsburgh or even the United States. In his first visit to South Korea, the home country of his mother, Ward’s infectious personality has made him as much of a hit there as he’s been at every stop along his path to NFL superstardom.

Ward of course is not just a sports icon; he’s also a symbol of hope for the historically-repressed children of mixed race in Korea. “You came back a hero,” South Korean President Roh said. “Children growing up in South Korea can have big dreams by watching Hines Ward.” We think Ward’s a pretty decent example for kids back here in Georgia as well. Character like his crosses borders and cultures.

After watching most of the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments, two disappointing themes run through both tournaments.

Where were the stars?

Look at the finalists for the Naismith Award. Rudy Gay (UConn), Adam Morrison (Gonzaga), J.J. Redick (Duke), and Allan Ray (Villanova). None made it to the Final Four. Zero. Redick and Morrison fell flat in the Sweet 16, and Ray and Gay couldn’t lead their teams past the regional finals. The tournament allowed other players like Davis, Skinn, Noah, and Farmar to step forward, but honestly none except maybe Noah had the impact on the game that one of the Naismith finalists could have.

It was a good story to see George Mason and three other semi-surprise teams in the Final Four, but when you combine the lack of the superstars with the absence of some traditional powers made for a Final Four that didn’t interest many people, and you saw that in some low ratings for the final. Oh, I know UCLA is a big name, but this program had been on the back burner for so long that the name doesn’t pack quite the same punch. There was no traditional East Coast or Midwest power in Indy, so there wasn’t much interest.

On the women’s side, you had Ivory Latta (UNC), Seimone Augustus (LSU), Courtney Paris (Oklahoma), Cappie Pondexter (Rutgers). Might as well count UT’s Parker there also. Pondexter and Paris bowed out in the regionals. Parker and her “dunk” also didn’t play in Boston. (Cue ESPN slitting their wrists over no UConn or UT in the Final Four.) Latta and Augustus made it to the Final Four where they didn’t play like Player of the Year candidates. Latta, fighting through injury, was out of control and ineffective. For all the showmanship and the love affair she claims to have with the camera, that camera showed her coming apart and her teammate Larkins looking much more like the leader. Augustus couldn’t get open because her teammates couldn’t hit open shots and gave Duke no reason to discontinue a double-team on Augustus. As with the men, the absence of the Naismith finalists give some exposure to deserving players like Duke’s Currie or Maryland’s Langhorne. Still, the absence of some stars and the others falling flat makes for a tough Final Four to follow.

Where was the offense?

Don’t tell me it’s good defense. There has been some dreadful offense right up to and including the Final Four. It started with South Carolina and Florida setting offensive basketball back 40 years in the SEC Tournament final. LSU’s upset of Duke featured long scoreless stretches for both teams and a poor shooting night for Redick. LSU made it into the Final Four scoring 50-60 points. UCLA made it to the Final Four with spotty offense and only a late collapse by Gonzaga kept them from paying for it sooner. Villanova’s Player of the Year candidate Allan Ray shot 5-for-19 in the regional final as that team’s explosive guard-led offense sputtered to 62 points.

It doesn’t get much better for the women. LSU stayed in the top five and made it to their third-straight Final Four with only two scoring threats and zero outside game. Tennessee became vulnerable on offense as their point guard situation deteriorated. UConn had a great tournament from Turner, a bit less from Strother, and very limited help elsewhere. Even Carolina’s loaded offense sputtered from outside and nearly cost them as early as the Sweet 16. Maryland is in the national title game with freshmen and sophomores because they can score. Duke might be the deepest team in the tournament, and they need it as their players – even Currie – show up on offense inconsistently.

Put it all together, and these tournaments have been a lot more about coming up short than they have been about excellence. The battle last year between superstar-packed Illinois and UNC seems a world away. The limited stories of excellence like Noah and Langhorne shine brightly as a result.

As an aside, there’s a lot of sniping, mainly from college football snobs, that this year’s tournament is a good example of the downside of the playoff format. Maybe so – this was a down year and for the first time since 1980 no #1 seed made the Final Four. There were serious flaws in the quality of play and players as I note above. But it’s a bit like judging the BCS on 2001 where Nebraska made the national title game without even winning its conference. Every game counts, indeed. College basketball will be back, and there is still nothing in sports like the entire month of March which unfortunately went out more like a lamb this year.

Damn.

Looking back, hindsight shows that Florida won because they were one of the more complete teams in the tournament. UConn was another, but their arrogance took away their edge. Florida had great guard play, dominant posts, role players off the bench, and momentum. Nice formula for success these days. So many other teams had much more gaping holes. Duke had a dropoff in consistency after its two stars. Villanova found out what would happen when its guards weren’t hitting. UCLA showed that they don’t yet have the offensive punch to match its defense. LSU showed that it didn’t have the class of guard play to support the strong frontcourt.

Florida didn’t have many of those shortcomings, at least not at a significant magnitude, and so the only question would be whether or not this team could buck the trend of Donovan’s former teams and hold themselves together. The departure of talented headcases Walsh and Roberson were supposed to hurt the team, but they were young, talented, and didn’t know better as they made their way through the season as a team of role players playing at a high level. From Noah to Green, the one thing the Gators did have was speed. Pure speed. When your forward is the first man down the court, you’ve got a tremendous advantage. It was humbling watching Noah against Georgia’s frontcourt this year – he made the Dawgs look even slower than they were.

A lot was made of the Florida offense vs. UCLA defense showdown, but that made people ignore the other matchup – Florida’s defense against UCLA’s offense. As I posted on the DawgVent over the weekend, Florida plays decent defense themselves, and UCLA would have to prove that its defense wasn’t just a crutch for poor offense. Turns out that was pretty accurate. Florida played some shutdown defense, swatted away any shot near the basket, and there was no way that Farmar was going to carry UCLA singlehandedly.

Any SEC fan who had the pleasure knew what was going to happen at the beginning of the second half. The Gators, true to form, came out of the locker room firing from outside and quickly turned a situation where UCLA was just hanging on into a bloodletting. Donovan, only a year removed from some questions after a few high-profile teams and superstars made a habit of packing it in early in the postseason, now has a national title.

Can they repeat? The superstars of the tournament fizzled in the regionals, and new names like Big Baby, Farmar, Noah, and Skinn shone through. Noah’s NBA stock has to be at a peak now. Taurean Green is an incredible guard who has pro skills. But even if it’s just a cast of guys like Horford, Humphrey, Brewer, and Richard coming back, Florida is as stocked as any SEC team and still has a potent inside-outside game.

Damn.

I’ve always appreciated college professors who can get over the institutionalized academic snobbery and realize how cool it is to have college athletics just a short walk away. In these professors you usually find a good sense of humor, sharp wit, intelligent observations, and the ability to relate to students much better than colleagues who resent athletics. Because they’re intelligent and typically experts in their fields, you sometimes get interesting perspectives on things when these professors apply their academic passions to questions of pop culture and sports.

George Mason’s law and economics programs are pretty well-known and regarded especially in conservative and libertarian circles. A couple of their more well-known economics professors, Peter Boettke and Alex Tabarrok, have an article in Slate where they compare the assembly of the GMU economics department, the GMU basketball team, and baseball’s “Moneyball” principle – the science (or art) of finding undervalued players.

Professor Todd Zywicki, of GMU’s law school, has further thoughts on the subject and a key observation:

Larranaga suggests that even now the big-time programs probably wouldn’t really want any of these GMU kids because they are not the individual superstars with brilliant talent that those teams are looking for. So it is not that somehow those programs “missed” these kids, but rather that those programs have a different model of talent acquisition. It is only when melded together in Larranaga’s system, with the emphasis on the way in which their individual skills complement one another within the system, that their total value is maximized.

I can see that. Especially now that you can’t even plan the composition of your program three or four years down the road, many schools just look to fill up on the best talent and see what happens from year to year. If you try to take a longer-term approach, your power forward has left for the NBA, the point guard has transfered to get more playing time, and the nice mix of players you were trying to craft has fallen apart. You’re stuck with marginal talent and no synergy.

This is the risk Dennis Felton currently must take at Georgia. He is recruiting post players for 1-3 years down the road hoping that they will fit into a program of established guards and role players. If the posts don’t pan out or something happens to the progression of guards currently in the program, the plan is seriously jeopardized. But this is the strategy Felton must use, because the superstars just aren’t coming to Georgia (for now). He’s got to trust his vision and hope their skills working together make the team better.

We come across this question often at Georgia, particularly during football recruiting. Georgia football is in a position to recruit both the nationally elite prospects (the superstars) and also the prospects who might not have as much talent but were leaders on winning programs or have some sort of exceptional work ethic or character. How often do we hear, “give me a three-star kid who wants to work hard and play for Georgia over some five-star prima donna?” (Of course, we usually hear that only when the superstar is considering another school and it’s time for the sour grapes.) Still, there have been plenty of examples lately at UGA (David Pollack and Thomas Davis come to mind) where above-average but not necessarily superstar prospects find a niche to maximize their value. We know how inexact the science of ranking prospects can be.

PS…This fact mentioned by Zywicki is just stunning: “Will Thomas (of GMU) and Rudy Gay (of UConn) both went to high school in Baltimore and…Thomas’s teams are now 8-0 playing against Gay’s teams in their careers.” Wow.

Chad Simmons of UGASports.com reports that Mark Richt has picked up his second commitment for 2007 – DE Conrad Obi of Grayson, Ga. Always a plus to get a quality in-state player, but check out this list of offers: “Obi already had offers from Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, and some others, but he was waiting on this Bulldog offer.”

The recruiting decision is more difficult for some than others, and that frustrates fans who think that the team should only recruit those who really want to be a Dawg and that those prospects shouldn’t dare hesitate on that decision. Of coure that’s not realistic, but Obi is a commitment that should make those fans giddy. He’s an outstanding prospect, waited on a Georgia offer after hearing from some of the top programs in the South, remained in-state, and got his decision overwith early in the process to be able to concentrate on his senior season.

OK, one more thing about the “game I wasn’t going to discuss”. ESPN’s Mike Patrick and Doris Burke went on and on about a possible 5th foul against Tasha Humphrey that was credited to Megan Darrah. They, particularly Patrick, mentioned the foul and the supposed gift of a call at least a dozen times down the stretch. According to Patrick, Humphrey absolutely HAD picked up her fifth foul. To support this claim, they ran (one time) a replay of a play on which no foul was called. That’s right – they were looking at and ranting about the wrong replay. What’s worse is that no one on the production team reviewed this pivotal call and showed the proper replay (on which Darrah was very much involved) or at the very least slipped word to the talking heads that the call was a lot less controversial than their blunder made it out to be.

The job of the broadcast is to tell the story of the game, and they whiffed on this one. They didn’t just fail to tell the story, they told a wrong and misleading story.

I just can’t go very far into the Lady Dogs’ loss last night. Just heartbreaking. Andy Landers put it best.

“We didn’t lose. You lose when you go out and don’t apply the ability and talent that you have to the challenge that is ahead of you. There’s no shame in getting beat. The shame is in not fighting the fight.”

Amen. I don’t want to talk much about the game, but I must say something about Alexis Kendrick. Sunday night’s start meant that Kendrick had started more games than any other Lady Bulldog. From the moment she stepped on campus, she earned a starting position. In what turned out to be her final game, she played like the senior leader she was.

It wasn’t just that Kendrick scored 14 points or was a perfect 4-4 from beyond the arc. It’s when those points came that mattered. She had two three-pointers early on as Georgia built a lead. But early in the second half, UConn stretched its lead out to seven points, the largest margin they would have. Kendrick hit her third three-pointer to start a 7-0 run which would tie the game and start the back-and-forth heavyweight fight that ended the game. Then on Georgia’s final offensive series an offensive rebound was kicked out to Kendrick on the left baseline, and she buried what seemed like the biggest shot of her career.

It’s been a tough senior season for Kendrick. She hit an early-season gamewinner against Santa Clara, but that was her only basket of that game on a frustrating night. That’s more or less been the tale. Kendrick’s high-profile mistakes at the end of the LSU game in Athens were more the stuff of a shaky freshman than a veteran senior. She has struggled to find her place on offense this season while Sherill Baker flourished. But in the NCAA Tournament, Kendrick ended her Georgia career looking very much like the McDonald’s All-American that arrived four years ago. She nearly had a triple-double in Georgia’s first round win over Marist, and she came up with big play after big play on offense and defense last night.

Alexis is resilient, independent, smart, athletic, kind, and humble. She has survived four years 3,000 miles away from home without much of a support structure away from the team, and in the process she wrote herself into the Georgia record books. She was a rock that Coach Landers depended on to hold the team together on the court, and she did it every night and never missed a start. She has transformed from a shy role player to a confident woman who will be successful in any area of life. Last night’s loss was heartbreaking and a tough loss to get over, but Kendrick and fellow senior Sherill Baker can walk away knowing that they gave absolutely extraordinary efforts in their final game and played up to the standard of excellence they created in four incredible years at Georgia.

There have been 25 NCAA women’s tournaments. Georgia has appeared in 23 of them. In those 23 trips, Georgia has now advanced to the regionals (Sweet 16) 16 times. It’s an amazing feat of consistency matched or bettered by less than a handful of programs.

Georgia advances to the 2006 Sweet 16 with some hard-fought wins over a pair of double-digit seeds. Neither Marist nor Hartford matched up with the talent of Georgia, but both had reasons to be confident. Marist gave Georgia a lot of trouble in a game in December 2004, so they weren’t intimidated. Hartford had just defeated a Temple team that had beaten Georgia earlier this season.

But Georgia’s talent won out in the end both times. In Tuesday’s game with Hartford, you could see the energy drain out of the underdogs as Georgia turned up the defense and went on a 15-0 run behind the play of Hardrick and Baker. It must have been demoralizing to see Georgia still blazing fast and creating turnovers while the fatigue of two tournament games caught up with Hartford.

Sherill Baker is doing her best to shed the “defensive specialist” label. She can’t shoot a sick 12-of-16 (most of which were jumpshots) and continue to have the improvement in her offense overlooked. Tasha Humphrey summed up what makes her different and special on one play in the second half – she drove from the perimeter (how many posts can even do that much?), did a spin move to create space in the lane, and instead of shooting an open mid-range shot, she in one motion came off the spin move to find Sherill Baker cutting to the basket for an easy catch-and-shoot layup. Call it vision, court-awareness, basketball smarts…it’s just there.

Tasha has piles of double-doubles now. If she ever records a triple-double, that third stat is likely to be assists. When some true centers and post players arrive in or return to the program, Humphrey could be a devastating distributor of the ball. Whether it’s from the high post to other interior players or an inside-out pass to the perimeter, she can sense where the open shot is and get the ball there.

Now in the Sweet 16 the Lady Dogs get into a situation where their talent advantage is no longer as great. UConn doesn’t have the otherworldly superstars of some of their powerhouse teams of the past decade, but they still have plenty of weapons. It’s ridiculous that people are talking about a “down” season for UConn when they have won 30 games and earned a #2 seed.

So while we congratulate them for getting this far and for some stellar performances in the first two games of the tournament, there have been some weak spots in those wins:

• Slow starts on defense. Whether it was the adrenaline of the tournament or Georgia’s own lapses, both Marist and Hartford matched Georgia on offense for at least the first half. Shots were half-heartedly contested, and Hartford was even shooting well over 50% until Georgia turned up the defense in the second half. Though Tasha Humphrey had a tremendous game against Hartford in most areas, Landers had to call a first-half timeout to light into her about soft defense. I understand the limitations: Georgia’s depth situation prevents aggressive defense for 40 minutes. Exhaustion sets in, and foul trouble isn’t easy to overcome. Still, UConn likes to come out with guns blazing, and playing from behind is not a situation Georgia wants to face in this game. They need to set a defensive tone early and especially prevent Strother from catching fire.
• Unforced turnovers. For the amazing control of her hands Sherill Baker shows on the defensive end, she too often loses control in the transition offense. One such turnover killed Georgia’s big run against Hartford and keyed a small rally by the Hawks that was fortunately short-lived. With points at a premium in this stage of the tournament, easy transition chances can’t be wasted. This was a problem in the SEC Tournament as well. Against Hartford, Georgia generally took much better care of the ball in the second half and gave Hartford very few chances to get out and run. Let’s hope that continues in the first half of the UConn game.
• Contributions from everyone. The win over Hartford was a three-player show. Baker and Humphrey stood out, but Hardrick was also key in the win. Darrah had two points on 1-of-7 shooting. Kendrick didn’t score. Chambers was still in a bit of post-suspension hangover and had seven points, far below the level at which she was playing towards the end of the season.
• Alexis Kendrick needs to play like a senior leader. Alexis played much better against Marist, coming close to a triple-double. As she struggled against Hartford though, her minutes increasingly went to Hardrick. Points have been at a premium for Kendrick lately, scoring 27 in the entire month of February. She didn’t score at all in Georgia’s final two regular season games. Of course Alexis brings so much to the team other than scoring. She doesn’t look for a lot of shots. Her defense is typically solid, she can rebound, and she runs the offense under control – just what you hope for in a point guard. But without much of a scoring threat from all but three positions opponents will have the opportunity to help on Georgia’s shooters, and Georgia’s execution is made more difficult. Kendrick is going to get some open looks, and whether or not she can provide the kind of contribution she had in the Marist game might have a big role in deciding how her Georgia career ends and her next career begins- the WNBA draft isn’t far away, and this is the biggest stage there is.

UConn can be beat, but they are still plenty good and as strong as any team Georgia has faced this year. A Georgia win will require much more steady play than they have shown so far in the tournament, and they’ll need stronger contributions on offense from some key starters. This game is a great opportunity for the Lady Dogs. With all of the good that has happened in this season of adversity, they still lack the big landmark win that would turn a nice season into a very memorable one. Getting that win over UConn in their own home state and advancing to within sight of the Final Four would be one of the biggest accomplishments in the history of this tradition-rich program.

A lot of people remember the late Bill Hartman, who passed this week, as Georgia’s kicking coach during their run of great kickers from the 1970s through the early 1990s. I don’t, since that was about the time I became a fan. But of course Hartman was much more to the program than just an assistant coach, and that job was just one step along the way in a life that took him from All-American football player at UGA to a soldier in WWII to a long career alongside Vince Dooley to a strong force heading up the GSEF and fundraising efforts in the 1990s for the school he loved so much.

I didn’t know much about Hartman. But I do know three things…

1) When Herschel Walker begins a parade of Bulldog greats to visit you in the hospital, you’re someone special.

2) Former Bulldog kicker and Hartman protegee Allan Leavitt once graciously gave me a Jack Davis print commemorating Hartman’s infamous on-field incident with Uga. Leavitt treated it as if he were giving a sacrament.

3) During my last season in the Redcoats, we broke with the tradition of spelling G-E-O-R-G-I-A after halftime and instead spelled H-A-R-T-M-A-N to honor the coach who had been basically forced into retirement by NCAA rules. It was the first and only time I had seen an honor of that magnitude while at Georgia.

I think I get why now.

So Tony Cole has resurfaced. Good for him. If anyone deserves a second seventeenth chance, it’s the oppressed and misunderstood Cole.

But the real money quote comes from Robert Morris faculty athletics representative Larry Dionne. Remember, this is a faculty representative…supposedly from the academics side of things.

Asked if he was aware of Cole’s past, Dionne said, “I am aware of it a bit, but I don’t need to know all the details. My job is to make sure he is academically eligible, and he is.”

Very nice – right from the Dave Bliss (no, not that Dave BLiss) school of “look the other way”. (Unfortunately I’m sure there are several Bulldog fans who wish that our admissions folks didn’t “need to know all the details” about the athletes they admit.) And if “(making) sure he is academically eligible” ever becomes a problem up there at Robert Morris, perhaps some new blood on the faculty might be in order.

When Robert Morris gets hauled into court in the wake of Cole’s latest stop in his heroic cross-country pursuit of academic opportunity, Mr. Dionne will wish he paid a little closer attention to those pesky details about Cole’s past.

Justin Young of Rivals.com Basketball Recruiting reports that East Hall’s Walter Hill has committed to play basketball at Georgia for the 2007-2008 season. Hall is a developing 6’5″ small forward who had offers from Georgia and Alabama and had begun to get attention from all over the South. Though Georgia’s recruiting has focused on the frontcourt, they also need that classical swingman who can handle and shoot the ball outside but is also a leaper who can get to the basket. When you think about recent Georgia players in that mold, you think of Jumaine Jones, Jarvis Hayes, Shandon Anderson…will Hill be the next explosive Georgia small forward? Here’s another article on his commitment from the Gainesville paper.