The bubble pundits I guess were wrong and the Georgia men’s head basketball coach Mark Fox had it right all along: The Bulldogs had nothing to worry about. The Georgia Bulldogs, after a week of Are they In/Are they Out, made the Big Dance as a No. 10 seed, and according to the selection committee, weren’t one of the “last six in.” NBA on TNT studio co-host Charles Barkley made an appearance on the Selection Show, as CBS is partnering up with Turner Sports and left some of Bulldog Nation speechless. Sir Charles, when asked about the draw’s surprises, brought up the Bulldogs. Barkley seemed to agree with the Powers that Be saying, “Georgia got in easily. I thought Georgia should have been in, but everybody had them last four out or last four in, but nobody had them as a 10.” Was it surprising? Pleasantly surprising for Georgia fans and surely one that Coach Fox will take.
Barkley wasn’t done with his comments on CBS’s Selection Show. The Round Mound of Rebound seemed a bit upset with former CBS analyst Billy Packer who wasn’t too keen on the thought of TNT and TRU TV using NBA announcers on the NCAA coverage. Barkley referred to Packer as being a farm animal donkey synonym or perhaps as the mascot of the Democratic Party for having the gall to have an opinion on NBA announcers being used for NCAA games. On 680 The Fan’s The Rude Awakening, Perry Laurentino and Christopher Rude went back and forth on the topic, debating whether or not it was a big deal and will the viewer/listener even care. Laurentino brought up an interesting parallel of when FOX won the rights to the BCS for a championship cycle and viewers were tortured to having to listen to Terry Bradshaw and Jimmy Johnson, normally the go-to-guys for NFL expertise, try and fake an in-depth knowledge of the college game. The games are not that different, as Laurentino pointed out, so the play-by-play guy should be fine, but the analyst should most likely be from the college game as there are some small but important differences between the two levels. I wonder why CBS, TNT, and TRU don’t simply borrow some ESPN talent for some of the sites like they have in the past. Jay Bilas is an ESPN college basketball regular but he has been doing color for some of the CBS games over the past few seasons. You are telling me that Brad Nessler couldn’t get involved? We couldn’t bring Brent Musburger back to the NCAA tournament that he used to call? You don’t want to let Dickie V achieve his lifelong dream and help out in the call of a tournament game, BA-BEE?
Oh, hey, I think Joe Lunardi just changed his bracket six times since you started reading this column. Was there anything more annoying that Lunardi appearing on every single ESPN The Radio SportsCenter update, changing his bracket seemingly by the second? I get it that the bracket needs to be fluid, but quit changing it with EVERY result during the two weeks of conference tournaments. If you make a call, stick by it…for at least a day. I haven’t put much stock into Lunardi the last few years, despite his track record, because come on, how hard is it to “predict” the at-large teams? Just look at the RPI and the rankings. Also, Lunardi is the color analyst for St. Joseph’s men’s basketball, which is in the A-10, so I wonder if teams like Xavier, Temple, Richmond or St. Joe’s gets any extra push from the Bracketologist? I will give the man credit for his past, but his credibility took a hit with me after his constant “oop, this team is NOW IN, while that team is NOW OUT. Oh, the wind blew west, CHANGE THAT LAST STATEMENT!”
Mark Bradley of the AJC finally got his wish and Georgia Tech decided to can men’s head basketball coach Paul Hewitt. What was interesting was the photo rolodex of candidates that the newspaper’s website offered as a replacement. Instead of a list that included Tubby Smith, whom Jeff Schultz blogged last week would NOT be coming and nor should he, or Bobby Knight, who sort of, unofficially, threw his hat in the ring in Athens a few years back, the list was full of interesting candidates. St. Mary’s Randy Bennett made the list, as did Harvard’s Tommy Amaker and Tech alum and current New Mexico assistant Craig Neal. The slideshow also included two Big XII coaches that I am not certain would leave their current posts to come to Atlanta, but Baylor’s Scott Drew and Texas A&M’s Mark Turgeon were included. It was nice that the list DIDN’T include preposterous choices like Mark Price or Bobby Cremins or Mike Woodson. Too many times in the past oddball choices were thrown in I guess to get page clicks or to get traffic to the blogs.
According to his Twitter account, Chadd Scott and 680 The Fan have parted ways. Scott provided updates for several shows on The Fan and previously had done updates and some fill-in work for 790 The Zone. With his 10+ years of experience in the field, Scott shouldn’t be out of work long and we hope he lands on his feet. He currently writes for Chuckoliver.net.
Finally in case you missed it, and if you did, shame on you, the GHSA boys and girls state basketball championships were last weekend and Georgia Public Broadcasting were there the entire way. Seriously, GPB-TV was on the air for 31 hours, bringing anyone that wanted to tune in via television or the web all ten title games. Kudos to everyone that made it possible because Georgia is one of the few states that can say it airs live all of its classification’s championship games as well as the AAASP wheelchair title game. If you went to bed Friday and missed Norcross’ upset of defending Class 5-A champ Milton, you can catch the replay on GPB.org/sports or follow the link on gaprepnews.com. GPB was on the scene from Macon and Gwinnett and high school sports enthusiasts should help support Georgia Public Broadcasting so the coverage can continue.
Can You Believe He Said That
“They snuck up and got a No. 10 seed. It surprised a lot of people”
That was former Duke point guard Bobby Hurley talking about the Georgia Bulldogs’ seeding recently on 680 The Fan’s The Rude Awakening. Seriously guys, with an RPI as high as Georgia’s, with 20+ wins and a win in the conference tournament, they were in the tournament. Period. Let’s get past it. You saw just how IN it Georgia was when Fox’s Hounds weren’t included in the Final Six in. Move past it.
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