On Saturday afternoon, the Georgia Bulldogs beat the Wofford Terriers 74-73 in overtime to clinch their first ever Spartanburg City Championship. With victories over both Wofford and the power house USC-Upstate Spartans, Dennis Felton's squad celebrated the city title by cutting down the nets in Stegeman Coliseum.
"This is what it's all about," said Felton*. "We're Spartanburg City Champs and no one can ever take that away from us."
Felton described the opponent eloquently after the game**. "Wofford is the best 4-4 team in the country. Any time you can eek out a win against a Southern Conference powerhouse at home via a miracle buzzer beater three point heave, it's a great program building win."
Zac Swansey, also known as the Sparkle City Assassin, nailed a long jumper as time expired to clinch the win.
The Bulldogs shot a white hot 37% from the floor and 61% from the free throw line while being out rebounded by the dwarf-like Terrier squad. Those "so-called" short comings kept the capacity crowd thrilled til the very end. "To have shot, rebounded, dribbled, defended and passed better might have been helpful, but where's the drama in that," said Felton.**"
With this City Championship, the Dawgs advance to the second round of the South Carolina State Championships with two games against the Gamecocks of Columbia. Before that high intensity drama begins, the Bulldogs must continue their brutal schedule with games against Texas A&M Corpus Christi and UNC A&T.
There was no word at press time on whether or not this win hurt the Bulldogs chances of having the first pick in next year's recruiting draft.
PWD
UPDATE: About this post. I caught a great degree of flack in the comments about being negative after I chastised commenters for being negative. That's fair, and I'm vulnerable to that criticism. However, to defend / clarify my original position. I simply asked that a group of people stop whining and moaning about the football team EVERY DAY...followed by "so and so sucks" comments. This post is sarcasm, and this blog was built on sarcasm/snark. This post also doesn't take a cheap shot at any individual player nor does it call for any coach's head. I think there's a difference. If you don't agree, that's fine.
*No. He didn't say that.
**Or that.
44 comments:
Holy hell we suck.
Jesus, someone got bit by the sarcastic bug. At least we won!
and you wonder where commenters on this blog are getting their cynicism from...
Why don't you bull puppies just fold the basketball program and leave basketball to teams that actually play it?
Everyone please just relax. We're just setting the table for the SEC Tournament.
Since no one saw this--is there video of the game-winner online anywhere?
Belmont should've beat Tennessee. We beat Wofford. Damn you Belmont.
Wofford's RPI (98) is significantly stronger than Georgia's (144) right now. They certainly are not a great (or maybe even good) program, but it is a win. Furthermore, it's a win in a game where Georgia had to fight to do so, and given how they rolled over against Illinois, I'd say that overall it is a positive. Just my $0.02
As I live far, far away from Bulldog land, I keep up with ESPN360 online, where broadcasts of many regional and national games are available live and on replay. I'm watching the replay right now; it is obvious that Georgia has no idea what to do with a zone defense.
They are young and have talent, though.
Hell yeah! We should celebrate with a Bacon Chili Cheeseburger A Plenty at the Beacon and it's subsequent total body cleansing. Or how about enjoying the company of the seemingly endless supply of unmarried women with 2 kids by different daddies. To the victor goes the spoils, says I.
Zac Swansey = Jimmy Chitwood.
Dang you, Upstatedawg, you beat me to the Beacon comment.
Does that mean I have to reference The Clock or that meat-and-three that does the wacky veggie ads... what is that one called?
My son thought it was the best college basketball game he's ever seen.
Of course, he's five years old and it was the only college basketball game he's ever seen.
But, we won and I bought him a jersey. As promised, he was full of sugar and totally fired up.
Merry Christmas Bulldogs and Happy Birthday Zach Swansey!
BTW - IMO Spike is hilarious.
...and you get onto us for bashing football coaches....
Let's not forget that we played this game without Terrence Woodbury, still arguably our best player.
It's disappointing that the victory over Virginia Tech gets ZERO coverage on this, the only blog that covers Georgia basketball at all, but here you are kvetching about a win.
Sorry that Santa seems to have left coal in your stocking, Paul.
A few things...
Great comment Courage. Hoosiers is the best movie of all time. I'm serious. A thousand cocktails to you sir.
On to real basketball talk, our offensive sets look like something my 7th grade team ran. We are a pretty bad shooting team; we have get the ball down low more. Thompkins and Barnes have to get more touches. Our defense is decent IMO, but we just can't score.
I think I've pretty much had it with Felton. Plain and simple, he just isn't the man who will able to take our program back to where it should be. I don't expect Georgia basketball to be a Final 4 every year type of program, but we should consistently make the tournament. Felton can't do it.
And his taste in jersies is awful. Give me some plain block lettering for God's sake.
That would be Wade's JasonC. I'm a fan of the Clock but everytime I eat there I have to clear my schedule for the next 4 or 5 hours.
PWD,
You bitch about everybody else being negative and then you put up this post, with it's blatant sarcasm. Swansey hit two incredible three pt shots. Good enough to make Sportscenter. But you feel the competition is not that great. A win is a win. Don't lower yourself to the level of the AJC. I believe their headline was "Georgia needs overtime to beat Wofford." That fails to emphasize the incredible win. Did you see those two three point shots?
...
Hopefully when we get that extra money from ESPN in the summer we will go out and get us a good bball coach.
To be Spartanburg Champs, we'd have to also beat USC Upstate. And I wouldn't be too confident about that these days. :-\
Uh we did beat USC Upstate. First game of the season.
Not that PWD needs anyone to defend him, but good God people..
Our hoops program is subpar. It makes sense to show frustration or be sarcastic about it.
Our football program is elite. It doesn't make sense to tear it down after a mildly disappointing year.
Get a grip.
this did make sportscenter top 10 last night (dec 21th around 1:00 AM EST)... and it was #1
i didnt hear what ESPN had to say about they play cuz i had my TV muted listening to music..
Hero is open ... suit up, man up!
Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt
We still need to beat Furman and Bob Jones to take the title.
Glad to see the offense bail out Willie again
Hey, when do we play Converse?
As has been stated before our basketball program is PATHETIC. Think about if our football team was this bad for this long.
I agree with everyone else...be consistent PWD. You can't bitch about everyone being negative about our program and then put this article out a week later.
Yes you can Paul, our basketball program is a joke and we all know it. I thought the article was funny and proved a great point. I have no problem making fun of our joke of a basketball team bc no one really cares. Supposed UGA fans repeatedly bashing our powerhouse football team is another story. I appreciate the blog and your coverage! Happy holidays and keep it up!
Yeah, I didn't appreciate this post much either. Wofford is not a bad team, and having this win may very well be a step in the maturation process of a young Bulldog team. I usually like the fair coverage all the major Georgia sports gets on this blog, but this seems post pretty out of line with that trend.
How can anyone defend this basketball team???? Seriously. How???? I am willing to bet that 90% of the posters above didn't even attend the game. If they are so content with a lucky overtime win over Wofford, then why not go and support the team. Why not? Because the team stinks. I GUARANTEE that Duke or UNC or Florida or etc. would've sold out that game (or come darn close). Y'all talk about PWD being a hypocrite, yet y'all don't actually care what happens with this team...
Look at these scores:
LOSS to Loyola to Chicago: 74-53
WIN over Eastern Michigan: 61-60
WIN over Presbyterian: 55-47
WIN over Santa Clara: 54-48
LOSS to WKU and terrible loss to Illinois
ONE POINT victory over mediocre VT
and this glorious squeaker over Wofford
THIS is what you are defending. Close wins over very mediocre teams.
Have fun defending this team, and y'all better have your arses in the seats supporting your team the rest of the season or Y'ALL are the hypocrites...
Anon 7:55,
Bob Jones and Furman are in Greenville, NOT Spartanburg.
Note: I responded to the "consistency" complaints in the article above.
Also -- To answer something sort of alluded to earlier. Yes. I was there.
PWD
"I GUARANTEE that Duke or UNC or Florida or etc. would've sold out that game (or come darn close)."
You'd be wrong.
I've been to a few Duke games during the silly season (mid-December, pre-conference play) when the Crazies were on break. Quite easy to get tickets.
Thanks for the clarification on your comments, Paul. I guess I'm among those who get a tad defensive when it comes to talking about the Dawgs.
"I GUARANTEE that Duke or UNC or Florida or etc. would've sold out that game (or come darn close)."
I may be mistaken, but those schools haven't lost over 2/3 of their conference games over the last 6 seasons.
Anon 1:18, my point exactly. UGA is not close to any of the three schools that I mentioned in my previous post. Not even close. Thus, the same fans that are upset that PWD wrote a sarcastic post about one of the worst bball programs in the nation (I welcome all comments to the contrary), are the same ones not attending the games. In short, who cares? Since the team ISN't Duke or UNC or Florida, it doesn't deserved to be defended (at least not with how they are playing or have played in the last few seasons).
Yes, Duke games may not be sold out, but they are not 75% empty either. In fact, my one visit to Duke was against Princeton around this time a couple of years ago. Pretty close to full (yes, Princeton is a bit better than Wofford, but not by much). Why was the game nearly sold out? Because Duke has a solid, historically relevant bball program.
I'm insulted as a Dawg fan to have other fans defend what has happened to this team. As a Dawg fan I cannot stand for acceptance of such a bad program. What's the future? Save a miracle run through the SEC tourney last year, UGA bball has been TERRIBLE under Felton. Why? Defending the team after lackluster wins against SoCon bottom feeders (yes...Wofford defenders look at the standings) and 21 point losses to teams like Loyola does not warrant any defense. None.
To compare this program to UGA's football team is absolutely crazy. UGA's football team has finished number TWO last season and THIRD a few seasons ago. What's the best finish by a men's bball team??? Final Four with Nique??? Apples and Oranges people.
*Don't worry, PWD, I will not continue to post about this over and over and over. This my last post on this subject (for now
Even when Hugh Durham was coach, we consistently hit the high-middle oart of the SEC standings and put a player in the NBA about every three years--Vern Fleming, Nique, Willie Anderson, Shandon Anderson, Kessler, among others. One of the clues to how poorly Felton has done is to see how many of his players are in the NBA--or even come close.
There's not anyone. The talent looks like it could be better this year, but who among these guys is even as good as our best players would have been on teams of 15, 20, and 25 years ago?
Look at it this way, I can not remember the Southeastern Conference ever being as weak top to bottom as it appears to be this year.
There is opportunity.
I go to basketball games every year and the attendance is pathetic but you also have to consider that everyone's on Christmas break. Athens is a ghost town right now. I'm really not sure if I agree with putting the blame totally on Coach Felton, though. He inherited a program coming off of a huge scandal and had no scholarship players for a number of years. The program declined sharply and it hasn't been the same since. Miracle or not, we are the defending SEC Champions. It's really sad that we're still feeling the effects of Jim Harrick so many years later.
I've got to admit that I was one of those that believed the Georgia program was better served letting Coach Felton go last year. No one seems to remember in the gloriousness that was that weekend in Atlanta, that had we not won the SEC tourney, there was no post-season basketball. Our record was too poor to even qualify for the NIT. I give Felton a pass for his first three years because he had some serious limitations. The last few years though, it seems everything that goes wrong is self-inflicted. Whether it is recruiting the wrong guys or Felton not coaching them up, I can't put a finger on it. Every big name player has either been kicked off the team by Felton or made too many mistakes off the court. While I was in school, I worked as an usher at basketball games so I got to see a lot of the early Felton years. The mistakes his teams made then, they still make now. We are terrible in the fast break, we don't have an interior presence, and every game you're guaranteed a 6-10 minute scoring drought that either lets the game get out of hand or pulls the other team back in. I realize the SEC is down as a basketball conference this year, and that Georgia has never been known and will likely never be known as a basketball power. I don't think it's too much to ask to at least be contending for an NCAA tournament bid every year. That's something that we've not done consistently at all under Felton. I frankly don't believe he is the right man to lead Georgia basketball to the next level. Maybe no one can, but I believe he's had a fair shake and hasn't succeeded. Anything short of at least an NIT bid this year and I think Coach Felton's tenure has run its course.
Jman -
Nique left after '82. The '83 team, which was predicted to suck, went to the FF, FWIW.
The time for sarcasm is over. Let the time for anger begin. Best of luck to Dennis Felton wherever his career takes him next.
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