It’s Almost Time….

Let’s represent fellas….

Wednesday, I will be making the 9 hour (At least that’s what the Mapquest tells me) trek to Washington DC. I cannot tell you how excited I am that I get to see this game in person Thursday afternoon. Of course, every Muskie fan should be more than excited for March Madness to get underway. Our game time definitely kinda sucks, but somebody had to play during that time slot, so we might as well embrace it cuz you know the players don’t care.

The thought of losing to Georgia just puts the fear of God in me. It would be an incredibly bitter pill to swallow. You look at the other 14 seeds (Cornell, Boise State, Cal State Fullerton) and I can’t imagine they have as much raw talent as Georgia. Even though they only now have a winning record after winning four games in four days it is still “BCS” talent. You can always get good talent because of the allure the “BCS” schools garner even if it’s to a school that really doesn’t care about basketball.

And that’s the main reason I just couldn’t stomach a loss to Georgia. Aside from Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and maybe Arkansas, the SEC schools just don’t care about basketball. To a lot of em, it’s just a distraction until spring football starts up. I was listening to a local radio show here in Louisville and the host said a reporter who covers Auburn sports was told to not cover the SEC tournament and instead stay in Auburn to cover a freaking spring football SCRIMMAGE! That’s really all I needed to hear to form my opinion of the southern sports landscape. Football, football, and more football. No wonder UK has over 40 SEC titles. No one else gives a damn! Obviously, this doesn’t encompass all SEC fans, but generally speaking, basketball is an afterthought in most SEC circles.

Heck, here is how one Georgia Bulldog’s blogger looks at the basketball team:

“I want the Georgia basketball coach to do three things, in this order of priority: 1. Don’t do anything that will get us put on probation or that will otherwise impede the progress of our football team.
2. Don’t lose money.
3. Win.

I don’t care about the third objective to the extent that the first and second objectives have been met.”

I mean, I just can’t fathom losing to a team with this kind of fan base and general apathy towards its basketball team. Obviously, this guy loves Georgia….because he does blog about them after all. Really though, I just cant get over the above statement. Maybe I’m overreacting, but basketball is all we have here at Xavier (From an athletic standpoint). And even though Georgia has a much bigger (and that’s an understatement) fan base than Xavier, judging from what I have gathered based on my own research of the Georgia blogosphere, we as basketball fans are FAR more loyal and supportive.

This is only Georgia’s tenth appearance in the tournament and first since 2002 when they lost in the second round to Southern Illinois. Their best tournament was in 1983 when they made it all the way to the final four. The Dawgs best player is Sundiata Gaines. I would assume our main man Stanley Burrell will draw that assignment. Sundiata was the name of an African warrior, so that’s intimidating I guess.

“African Warrior” Sundiata Gaines

Regardless, he is the main threat. Although, from what I saw of them during the SEC tournament, it was the little things that carried them to the title. Diving for loose balls and just out-working their opponents proved to be the key for the Bulldogs. Not to mention some very timely baskets.

With all that being said, there’s a reason this team went 4-12 during SEC play. That’s the same mark as Auburn. Remember when we destroyed them on their home court by 23? Georgia won at Auburn as well, by five points. Their best wins came against Arkansas (twice), Wake Forest, and Georgia Tech. They also lost to East Tennessee State and Tulane. Call me officially worried, but once again, there’s a reason Xavier went 27-6 earning a three seed via an at-large bid and Georgia went 17-16 with a “miracle” run of four wins in four days to grab the SEC’s automatic bid. (Do I really need to rehash what happened during the SEC Tournament and its subsequent venue change?) Here’s to hoping season form proves to be more important than catching fire in a pan to save your season and your coach’s job.

A few other things…

-Here’s Bruce Pearl’s take on how Georgia can beat Xavier in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

-I almost never read Gene Wojciechowski’s stuff on ESPN.com but when I noticed he was writing about the tournament I decided to take a gander. It was mostly a waste of my time except for one exert concerning the play-in game. “It’s not an opening round game; it’s a play-in game. Not only that, but it’s a play-in game in Dayton, Ohio. I mean, haven’t the kids suffered enough? Nothing against Dayton, but if the NCAA is going to treat the 65th and 64th teams in the tournament like nasal drip, then the least it can do is schedule the game somewhere below the Rust Belt. I hear Orlando, Fla., is nice.” I just couldn’t let that one slide. Reminds me of a certain Mr. Clemens.

-Congratulations to Dew Lavender are in order. He is on one of the six regional covers of Sports Illustrated for their preview of March Madness.

-This article was written on March 6^th about Georgia basketball and whether or not Head Coach Dennis Felton’s job should be on the line. Funny how things can change in such a short amount of time.

-ESPN U’s College Basketball Insider Show talked about Xavier again today (3/18 show). Andy Katz was a guest and Sean Miller told him (and I’m paraphrasing), “Drew had a good practice on Monday, the best he’s felt in weeks and fully expects Drew to be good to go come Thursday.” (Andy Katz is the second guest of the podcast at about 17 minutes into the show.) They also give some love to our schedule.

-Alright, it’s time to take care of business. Even though we’ve had a great season, a new one begins Thursday at Noon. All goes according to plan, I won’t have a voice come Saturday night, but the smile on my face will say it all….…

Let’s Go X!