Diamond Dawgs to Dance?

At this point, it comes down to how much the selection committee likes the schedule Georgia has played and how many of the already announced regional hosts win their conference bids today. Virginia, Florida, Rice and Cal State-Fullerton have already done so. With an RPI of 16 and an SOS of 1 (acording to Warren Nolan), the Dawgs seem to be in good shape. If they make it, their 31-30 record won't be the worse, as Alcorn State is several games under .500. Hell, Illinois won the Big 10 at 26-24. So much for uniform start dates.

Much like men's hoops, The Dawgs are bubbly going into selection day. The SEC locks are Vandy, Florida, South Carolina, and Arkansas. Alabama and Mississippi State are on the bubble with Georgia. LSU didn't make the conference tournament, so they are a very special case.

Team	W-L	Conf Record	RPI	SOS
Georgia	31-30	16-14	16	1
Miss St	34-23	14-16	23	22
Alabama	33-26	14-16	36	18
LSU*	36-20	13-17	23	32

* I included LSU because the selection committee could take them; there is no requirement they make the conference tourney to play in the NCAA tournament. I just don't think they will select them.

By my view, they select Georgia and Mississippi State. If they go one more, I think it is LSU, however, 'Bama did go 2-1 against the Tigers. That is why I think the stay out of the mess and leave both teams at home. Either that or take all eight. Obviously, I don't know.

With regional sites announced, the NCAA's penchant for not asking teams to travel too far and no likely conference vs. conference match-ups at the regional sites, we can make some educated guesses about where Georgia will play if they make the tournament. Atlanta and Clemson are the most likely spots, but the Dawgs could be sent to Chapel Hill or Tallahassee, too. A best case scenario would be at Clemson as a 2 seed with Charlotte and Sacred Heart as the third and fourth teams. A worse case would be in Chapel Hill as a three seed with East Carolina as the two seed.

The remaining at-large teams, top-eight national seeds, first-round regional pairings and site assignments will be announced at 12:30, Monday, May 30 on ESPN.

TD

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