Per Chuck Dowdle on WSB-TV, the Dawgs have made it back to the Marriott Marquis hotel. The team is still unaware of plans for Saturday. Coach Felton’s top priority, now that everyone is safely back to the hotel, is to get the team a good night’s rest. In a hotel right in the middle of downtown with emergency equipment swarming, I hope they can find some peace and quiet.

Mark Schlabach on ESPN speculated that it might be morning before any game times are announced. The fitness of the Dome to host the event still must be determined, and SEC officials are in meetings with the athletic directors to knock out plans. As I said earlier, it might take sunrise to learn the extent of the situation in the Dome/GWCC area. Local television has shown some incredible footage of flooding at the GWCC due to burst pipes. The World Congress Center looks to have taken more of a direct hit than the Dome.

Due to ongoing severe weather in downtown Atlanta, tonight’s last SEC quarterfinal between Georgia and Kentucky has been postponed.  The decision when to resume play will be made on Saturday by the SEC.  The SEC currently plans to play out the tournament, and either Kentucky or Georgia might have to play two games on Saturday.

One thing – when daylight comes and the real scope of the damage in the downtown area is revealed, will that affect the plan to resume play?  Other nearby areas from the World Congress Center to CNN Center to downtown hotels were hit much harder.  It’s possible that emergency response in the immediate area might affect access to the Dome tomorrow.

Let’s play two.

A severe thunderstorm, possibly tornadic, caused structural damage to the Georgia Dome and disrupted the Alabama-Mississippi State SEC quarterfinal in progress. Television cameras showed the structure swaying, and later shots showed holes in the side of the Dome as well as some siding ripped off of the building. Broken windows and downed utility poles and trees were evident downtown.

Fortunately there seemed to be no serious injuries in the Dome. There was also no shortage of Alabama fans to interview about hearing a freight train.

The storm caused a 60+ minute delay before play resumed, and Mississippi State hung on for the overtime win.

When we hoped that the Dawgs would play on Saturday, this isn’t what we meant.

Photo: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

For the schadenfreude-inclined, the second-best news to come from the Georgia Dome last night was Florida’s early exit at the hands of Alabama. Florida trailed by as many as 28 before mounting a second-half comeback that came up short. Though Billy Donovan took responsibility for not having the team excited to play with an NCAA bid on the line, he placed a good deal of it on the young team.

“It’s in front of our guys, what it takes to win,” Donovan said. “For whatever reason, I haven’t brought it out in them. They’re not committed to it. But I’m not necessarily really that excited about these guys being sophomores, to be honest. I don’t think people change a whole lot, and I don’t think you’ve seen the basketball team change at all this year. So it’s hard for me to get overly thrilled or excited.”

Hey – sometimes it is on the players. That’s tough on the kids, but they do have some role in getting themselves up for a postseason run. I’m not going to blast Donovan for his comments, but it did give me a chuckle to see Mr. Orlando Magic talking about a “commitment issue.”

But I think we have a commitment issue, too, which bothers me as a coach because I just got done coaching a group the last two years that was so committed. And to be with this group, I don’t think just because they’re going to be another year older that all of a sudden, everything gets resolved. I don’t see that.

Our old friend Dink NeSmith has just been named to the Georgia Board of Regents as the 10th Congressional District’s representative.

A little corner of the Bulldog Nation woke up bleary-eyed this morning. The game couldn’t have finished any later if it were the Maui Classic or the Sugar Bowl.

Blame three hours of sleep, but I’m still a bit giddy over the win. Yes, I realize it probably shouldn’t have even gone to overtime. Georgia reminded us at times why they were the East’s #6 seed, and I feel fairly confident that Dennis Felton will have a sniper standing by to pick off any Georgia defender that gets near a perimeter shooter in the final seconds of tonight’s game. Yes, we’re celebrating an overtime win over an average bubble team in an SEC first round game. Kentucky fans must think that’s so adorable.

Butler-to-Bliss probably isn’t up there with Belue-to-Scott in terms of significance, but it’s all we have right now, so we’ll take it. It’s inevitable though that the win quickly turns to a discussion of Dennis Felton’s future. Already several writers have tried to read the tea leaves to determine what the outcome means for Felton.

As happy as I am with the win, look…it’s one win. The five years of Dennis Felton shouldn’t be reduced to the outcome of one night or even one tournament, win or lose. His future with the team, whatever it is, should be based on the whole of his five years in the position.

Photo: AP

When’s Ole Miss gonna beat somebody?

What an incredible, gutsy effort by the Dawgs tonight.  With nothing to lose, they took a 97-95 overtime thriller against an Ole Miss team that had to win in order to keep their NCAA hopes alive.  The Rebels, with their season and postseason on the line, fought back the entire game, erasing a first half deficit and an even larger second half deficit.  They wouldn’t quit down 5 with just over 30 seconds remaining.  It wasn’t until the improbable Butler-to-Bliss combination accounted for the final basket with 0.4 seconds left that the issue was decided.

It was the same Ole Miss team that broke Georgia in the second half in Athens less than a week ago and had their way with the Bulldogs in the paint.  It was a different story tonight – Georgia’s interior defense, led by Dave “Dikembe” Bliss, stood firm and this time kept the Rebel frontcourt from taking over.  Dwayne Curtis was big with 26 points, but Georgia did a much better job on frontcourt mates Jermey Parnell and Kenny Williams.  7-of-11 three-point shooting from David Huertas kept Ole Miss in the game and helped them recover from a 13-point second half deficit with an 18-2 run.

Bliss had an impressive five blocks to help on the defensive end, and he added nine points on offense.  Five of those points came in overtime, and all were significant.  Bliss’s first overtime points came with a little more than a minute left.  Georgia fell behind by four in overtime and looked, well, spent and beaten.  The nature of the end of regulation had to sap the life from them.  But they got a basket and a defensive stop, and then Terrence Woodbury found Bliss alone down low.  Bliss hit the shot, got fouled, and converted the free throw to give Georgia the lead.

His final shot was even bigger.  With just over 5 seconds left, Corey Butler took an inbounds pass and drove down the left side, drawing the only defender.  But Butler found a wide open Bliss on the right low post, fed him a perfect pass, and Bliss calmly sunk a short shot off the glass for the win.  Bliss had not one but two of SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays tonight, and he can collapse into bed knowing that one of his final games as a Bulldog might have been his best.

When you look at Sundiata Gaines’ line, you might say that he had a sub-par game.  He shot 5-of-14 from the floor and just 1-of-5 behind the arc.  He had three turnovers and “only” five rebounds.  And then your eyes are drawn to the free throws.  Gaines, not even shooting 60% from the line on the year, drained 11 of 13 chances from the free throw line, and many of those shots came down the stretch with Georgia trying to preserve a lead.  Though the rest of his stats might not have been up to his standards, he was big when it mattered.

For all that Bliss and Gaines did to lead the team to the win, it would be wrong to place credit solely with the seniors.  The entire team fought their asses off.  Woodbury poured in a career-high 25, beating the season high he set just days ago against Ole Miss.  Several of Wood’s points came at key moments in the second half when Ole Miss made their run.  Billy Humphrey was absolutely clutch down the stretch with 8-of-8 free throw shooting.  Albert Jackson added 10 points and 2 blocks.  Corey Butler had the presence of mind to run and execute the final play that had been drawn up for Gaines, and he delivered the ball to Bliss with perfect timing.

The exhausted Bulldogs have to face Kentucky on Friday, and the Cats are rested and surely primed to make some noise in the tournament.  But Georgia has played Kentucky nearly even both in Athens and in Lexington, and the Wildcats are without Patrick Patterson who scored a combined 36 points in the two earlier meetings.  Just find a way to check Joe Crawford, and Georgia could have a chance.  The Dawgs have already crushed one team’s tournament hopes, and they could put a serious dent in the hopes of a second team tomorrow.

Like Paul Westerdawg, I’m a bit puzzled by the logic in the Banner-Herald’s endorsement of Dennis Felton this morning. I’m not saying that I disagree with the recommendation (more on that later), but, well, let’s start here…

Read this John Kaltefleiter column following a loss earlier this season to Kentucky in Athens. Felton’s "Stalin-like" approach? A season slipping towards "an embarrassing morass?"

There’s more.

Right now, Price is defeated. He projects the look of a freshman dreading the next two or three seasons with Felton. Of course, that’s if he doesn’t take the out route so many of Felton’s players have taken.

And finally…

Felton said he didn’t pay attention to Price’s zero playing time in the second half Saturday, which is like standing in the pouring rain and claiming to feel dry. But that’s been Felton’s way the last three seasons. He’s publicly ignored problems and hoped his stubbornness won out when it came to proving a point.

As usual, the rest of the team suffers the consequences.

Does that sound like a writer ready to endorse a "wait and see" approach? Yet Kaltefleiter is the one saying this morning that Felton should get another season. Read his reasoning again in the context of what he had to say back in February.

The thing is, Kaltefleiter identified what he deemed to be some pretty fundamental long-term issues with Felton’s coaching. Players – the ones who stick around – apparently look like they dread playing for the guy. By Kaltefleiter’s own admission, Felton’s approach for the "last three seasons" has been to "publicly (ignore) problems and (hope) his stubbornness won out when it came to proving a point" to the detriment of the rest of the team. That’s a pretty serious charge. If one buys that, how in the world can one think that one more year of the wrong approach will lead to different results?

Kaltefleiter places his faith, like so many of us do, in the arrival of another nice recruiting class next year and the offseason development of the current freshman class. Yet the issues with Felton he raised after the Kentucky game have nothing to do with the quality of talent on the team. The whole premise of the post-Kentucky column was that Felton’s stubbornness kept a more talented freshman on the bench and might have hurt Georgia’s chances Georgia in a very important game.

I appreciate the media avoiding the temptation to jump on the bandwagon to ride Felton out of town, I really do. Truth be told, the professional punditry has been pretty kind to the program. Even the critical pieces that dove into issues like attrition have generally been mild. Still, if Kaltefleiter and others see such grave flaws in Felton that go back at least three seasons, what difference is one more year going to make?

Meyer’s $3.25 million annual salary is just the tip of the iceberg according to the contract he signed last summer.

In addition to the $3.25 million annual salary he agreed to last June, Meyer would receive $3.75 million in retention bonuses until the deal expires after the 2012 season, according to a copy of the contract the Times-Union acquired through a public- records request made last summer and received Tuesday. There’s also a buyout clause that would pay Meyer $2 million for each year left on the deal if he were to be fired.

While it would be pretty expensive for Florida to part ways with Meyer, the commitment isn’t exactly reciprocal.

Also in the new contract is a clause that provides Meyer with a window of Dec. 1 to either Jan. 2 or until seven days after a Gators bowl game to take another job. If Meyer breaks his contract, he would owe UF $500,000. That’s up from $150,000 in his previous deal.

$500k to break a contract is an afterthought these days.

Congratulations to these Bulldogs basketball players who shone through a disappointing season to earn SEC postseason awards:

• Sundiata Gaines: Second team All-SEC, SEC All-Defensive Team
• Dave Bliss: SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year with a 3.45 grade-point average in Political Science and Real Estate
• Jeremy Price: SEC All-Freshman Team

Also congratulations to Vanderbilt’s Shan Foster for being named SEC Player of the Year. Kevin Stallings said it would be a "travesty" if someone else won the award, and I agreed. Lofton’s a great player, but Foster really carried his team.

With all the buzz around this year’s team and no conflict with the Masters, it should be a well-attended G-Day. Fans are encouraged to buy tickets in advance and avoid a ticket window crunch on the day of the game. Here’s the UGA release:

General Admission Tickets for the 2008 G-Day football game are on sale online via georgiadogs.com . This year’s spring football game is scheduled for Saturday, April 5th at Sanford Stadium. All online orders will be mailed out the week of March 24.

G-Day tickets are $5 (adults) and $3 (youth) when purchasing in advance of game day. UGA Students who are admitted for free when showing their valid UGA ID card at the gates on the day of the game.

In expectation of a large G-Day crowd, the Athletic Association encourages Georgia fans to purchase their spring game tickets in advance via www.georgiadogs.com. Purchasing your tickets in advance will provide quicker access into Sanford Stadium on the day of the game without waiting in line to purchase tickets at the gates.

Last week Josh over at the NCAA’s Double-A Zone linked to an LA Times article illustrating the lack of success for bubble teams (seeds 9-12) in recent NCAA Tournaments. The premise is right – bubble teams create a lot of excitement during the homestretch of the regular season as teams jockey for the last few at-large bids, but they really matter very little when it comes down to the Sweet Sixteen and beyond.

But at that point, it’s not really about championships or even advancing very far. Winning games in the tournament is great, sure, but marginal teams outside the higher seeds care mostly about access – entry into the club.

That’s why people like Jim Boeheim are so vocal about expanding the tournament. It’s not that a Syracuse team at .500 in its conference is a legitimate national title contender. It’s that a bid to the tournament is the basic status symbol in college basketball. You hang banners, put it on your coaching resume, flaunt it in front of prospects, and make as big of a deal over it as you can. There is enormous media exposure at stake in everything from the games themselves to countless previews breaking down the brackets. Go far enough and it can transform a school, but just being a part of the process is enough for many schools.

In the eyes of fans, a bid to the NCAA Tournament is the baseline for a successful program. It’s relevance and legitimacy. The seed might not be what you’d like in a given season, but you’re still at least a part of the picture. Miss the tournament once, and it’s a problem. Miss it a few times, and it’s time to look for a new coach.

Football fans are familiar with this issue: playing in a BCS bowl is a big deal. A playoff would be an even bigger deal for those teams invited because those 8 or 16 teams would have access to the hype surrounding a national title chase. It’s not hard to see why bracket creep is so attractive to those on the outside of the club.

Despite the disappointing outcome of the basketball season, there have been a few bright spots.  There’s Sundiata Gaines of course.  Billy Humphrey has developed into a solid and more consistent guard.  Dave Bliss continues to make the most of his senior year.

Recently the story has been the emergence of Albert Jackson.  Jackson was, to put it bluntly, pretty clumsy on the offensive end up to this point.  He rebounded well, but he either fumbled passes or put up shots with no aim or purpose.  That’s changed lately.

It started with a 9 point, 8 rebound performance at Vanderbilt.  Not Tim Duncan, but it was one of his better games of the year.  He followed it up with 12 points and 7 rebounds against Florida.  He was less of a factor at LSU as Bliss and Price got most of the frontcourt minutes, but he returned with a vengeance in Wednesday night’s game at Auburn.

Jackson had a career high 16 points and added 8 rebounds (6 on the offensive glass!) to lead Georgia in both categories in a 59-54 win at Auburn.  Over the last four games, Jackson has shot 67% from the floor (18-27).

It was Georgia’s first SEC road win of the season, and it wasn’t pretty.  Georgia turned the ball over, Auburn couldn’t shoot, and Georgia struggled to seal the game from the line, but finally they made just enough plays at the end of a game to come away with the win.

The Dawgs trailed by as many as 11 in the first half, led by as many as 7 in the second half, and Auburn got back ahead by 5 midway through the second half.  Neither team could grab control down the stretch, and it wasn’t until Billy Humphrey’s free throws with 0.1 second remaining that Georgia could feel certain of the win.  The Dawgs are now 4-11 in the SEC and will close the regular season by hosting Ole Miss on Saturday in the final home game for Sundiata Gaines and  Dave Bliss.

The SEC Women’s Tournament returns to Nashville this weekend. The tournament last took place in the Music City in 2004, and the results were generally kind to the Lady Dogs. It was also the last time that Georgia didn’t earn a first-round bye and entered the tournament as the #5 seed with a game on Thursday.

In 2004, the Lady Dogs overcame the disadvantage of the extra game and moved into the championship game after a semifinal upset over Tennessee (Georgia’s last win against the Lady Vols). The championship game was a painful loss for Georgia as they built a 20 point lead and watched it evaporate in the second half against hometown Vanderbilt. We’d find out later that a stomach virus had struck the team, but it didn’t make the loss sit any better. Georgia built on that SEC Tournament run to go deep into the NCAA Tournament, losing to LSU in the final seconds of the regional finals with the Final Four on the line.

The 2008 bracket seems as favorable as it could be for Georgia to have more success in Nashville. They should get by Alabama easily. Kentucky is as weak a 4-seed as the conference has seen in a while (LSU was #4 last year), and the awful 47-44 home loss to Kentucky still has to dig at the Georgia team. If they can get past Kentucky to the semifinals, they’ll likely face LSU. LSU is a great team of course, but Georgia played them well in Baton Rouge and shouldn’t back down if the teams meet again.

Cream of the crop

• #1 LSU (14-0). Candace Parker will likely win more postseason honors and be drafted higher, but none of the teams contending for the national title rely on one player like LSU relies on Sylvia Fowles. She scores when she wants to, and inside shots are often sent right back at high velocity. Three of LSU’s four losses came when Fowles was injured prior to SEC play, and the only other loss was a close one to UConn. LSU has a bit of an outside game with Quianna Chaney for balance, but Fowles is still the key to the machine. LSU doesn’t have an especially explosive offense, so expect their scores to be low unless turnovers factor in.
• #2 Tennessee (13-1). It can’t sit well that they’re not the top seed at the SEC Tournament, not with a #1 NCAA Tournament seed still in play.  Tennessee has had a solid season as always, but they’ve had moments that make you scratch your head.  Long scoring droughts have been the biggest problem for the Lady Vols this year, and the perimeter game can be hit or miss.  While the Tennessee supporting cast is stronger than LSU’s, more is expected of it.

Pain in the ass

• #3 Vanderbilt (11-3). I can think of no better way to describe them. You hear LSU, Tennessee, blah, blah, blah, and there’s Vandy cutting down the nets. They can score points in a hurry, and their defense challenges your perimeter game. They beat likely second-round opponent Auburn by around 30 points just a week ago, so go ahead and pencil Vandy into the semifinals. To advance to Sunday, they’ll have to beat a Tennessee team that’s beaten them twice by double digits.

Something to prove

• #4 Kentucky (8-6). Everyone expected Kentucky to stumble at some point. They didn’t play particularly well out of conference and are 14-14 overall. They had the Schedule of Death this year playing both LSU and Tennessee twice. Despite that, they beat Georgia and Auburn and went until the final game of the season before they lost to a team seeded 5 or below. South Carolina’s win at Lexington to close the regular season was perplexing after the Wildcats had just come within four points of LSU a week earlier.
• #5 Georgia (8-6).  Georgia’s 13-0 start masked more close finishes than I care to recount.  The team was exposed soon enough and started SEC play 4-5 with a pair of nonconference losses thrown in as well.  This has been one of the weakest Georgia backcourts that I can remember, but they got it together a bit during the end of the season and won four in a row before dropping the regular season finale to Tennessee.  Defense has been strong for much of the year.  Close losses to teams like Tennessee, LSU, and Oklahoma have shown Georgia’s ability to play with most programs, but they have yet to get over the hump and beat a ranked team this year.  Advancing to Saturday would be nice, but they might have to knock off LSU to avoid an unfavorable NCAA seed.
• #6 Auburn (7-7).  Auburn started 12-1 with a win over Ohio State in there.  That start earned them a ranking, but they soon went into a 1-5 tailspin interrupted only by a 30-point win over Georgia.  Losses to Florida and Ole Miss have them very much on the NCAA bubble, and they might have to beat Vanderbilt to guarantee a spot.  They’ll have 20 wins if they can beat Arkansas, and that always looks good on the resume.

Might make it to Friday

• #7 Florida (6-8).  All in all, this wasn’t a bad year for a Florida team that was the 11-seed a year ago and welcomed a new coach this year.  They were a better team, and their seed reflects that.  Their best win of the year was probably an upset of Auburn.  They’re just a few wins short of being NCAA Tournament material, but that might be getting ahead of things for the first year of the turnaround.  They should still receive a WNIT berth, but they can’t overlook South Carolina in the first round.
• #8 Ole Miss (6-8).  Ole Miss has had an unremarkable season with a win over Auburn the lone standout win.  They had won 3 of 4 before blowing a lead to Florida in the last game.  You’d call them the favorite in this 8-9 matchup, but they split the season series with their rival.
• #9 Miss. St. (4-10).  The Bulldogs have had a bit of a disappointing season. As usual, they have a strong record at home (Starkville is just one of those places), but this year they haven’t done much away from the Hump.

Upset Special?

• #10 South Carolina (4-10). Last year I got lucky and picked Florida’s first-round upset win at the #11 seed. I’ll go with South Carolina this year over Florida. The Gamecocks beat Florida recently, and South Carolina has a bit of momentum after knocking off Kentucky in Lexington last weekend. Florida had to put together a big comeback to beat Ole Miss over the weekend, and they have a new coach in her first SEC Tournament.

No hotel reservations

• #11 Arkansas (2-12). Yes, this team started 15-0 and was ranked at one point. Then they lost a key player to injury, and the season has more or less imploded on itself. Their season should come to a quick end against Auburn.
• #12 Alabama (1-13). An “upset” of South Carolina is their only SEC win in two seasons.

Someone really needs to make that hat before this season’s game.