I’ll be honest – recruiting hasn’t gone well for Andy Landers over the past few years. The rising junior class that had three freshmen all-SEC performers was solid, but last year’s class didn’t have much of an impact. It doesn’t help that the top recruit from that class, Brittany Carter, struggled on the court and in the classroom and will transfer. The current incoming class isn’t particularly heralded, though transfer Porsha Phillips is expected to be a key contributor. With some high-profile prospects headed out of state, you get articles like this pointing out the difficulty of the situation when you’re not UConn or Tennessee.

But a coach as successful and driven as Landers doesn’t take setbacks without responding, and a very positive sign came today with the commitment of Wesleyan rising senior Anne Marie Armstrong. Armstrong, considered the top prospect in Georgia for the 2009 class, won the state’s Miss Basketball honor as a junior while leading her team to the Class AA state title.

Armstrong, at 6’3″ is a versatile wing with good size. If you had to compare those attributes to a recent Lady Dog, think Megan Darrah. Hopefully this commitment is just the start towards what could be a very strong 2009 class.

When Georgia meets Stanford this evening in the College World Series (7:00, ESPN2), it will be a rematch of sorts of one of the biggest battles along the way during Georgia’s 1990 national title run. Georgia will technically be favored against the unseeded Cardinal tonight, but it was Georgia’s underdog performance against top-seeded Stanford that put them into the national title game.

While Stan Payne’s 2-1 victory over Oklahoma State clinched the 1990 national title for Georgia, the Bulldogs’ shot at the championship was set up by three battles over six days with top-seeded Stanford. Georgia crushed Stanford in the first meeting sending the Cardinal to the loser’s bracket. The favorites worked back through the bracket and topped Georgia to force a winner-take-all rematch.

Stanford turned to ace and future MLB star Mike Mussina who had been roughed up by Georgia in the first meeting. The Bulldogs countered again with senior Mike Rebhan. Though fatigued, Rebhan pitched a complete game as the Bulldogs eliminated the Cardinal 5-1.

There’s a great account of this 1990 meeting over on UGASports.com. The transformation of Mussina from a dominant pitcher to someone throwing batting practice turned the first meeting. Stanford struck back with a freshman beating Bulldog All-American Dave Fleming. Rebhan turned the tables in the final showdown, and teammate Bruce Chick reflected on how important that performance was. "He had two children and he knew he wasn’t moving on," says Chick. "Mike pitched the game of his life and it wound up being the last game he ever pitched."

Tonight another relatively unknown Bulldog pitcher will step on the Rosenblatt Stadium field with a chance to make his own splash against Stanford. Nick Montgomery wasn’t one of Georgia’s three weekend starters during the regular season, but since his outing against Georgia Tech at Turner Field Montgomery has been one of the most consistent and outstanding Bulldog starters. He already has wins over Georgia Tech and N.C. State in this NCAA Tournament, and the Bulldogs are counting on him to move them one win away from their first trip to the championship round since 1990.

Before Fran Tarkenton, Buck Belue, Eric Zeier, David Greene, Matthew Stafford, and all Georgia quarterbacks in between, there was Johnny Rauch. Rauch set the standard for quarterbacking for college football in the late 1940s, and he went on to a successful career as a pro quarterback and as a coach. He passed away on Tuesday at the age of 80. From the obituary at georgiadogs.com:

Former University of Georgia All-America quarterback John Rauch, who started every game for the Bulldogs from 1945-48, passed away in his sleep on Tuesday at his Oldsmar, Fla., home. He was 80.

Rauch came to Georgia in 1945 after excelling in three sports in high school in Pennsylvania. He didn’t arrive with much fanfare, however, and was discovered by then-Coach Wallace Butts while playing in a flag football game.

After accepting an invitation from Butts to come out for football, Rauch started every game (45 in all) of his college career from 1945-48 and became the first player in NCAA history to start four consecutive bowl games. He passed for 4,044 yards, then the NCAA record for career passing yardage.

Rauch led the Bulldogs to a 36-8-1 record, including the Williamson poll’s national championship in 1946 and two SEC titles. He was an All-American and the SEC Player of the Year his senior season.

Rauch was the No. 1 player taken in the 1949 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions and he went on to a four-year playing career. Rauch then entered the coaching ranks, serving several schools, including Georgia from 1955-58, as an assistant coach.

Rauch returned to the NFL as an assistant for the Oakland Raiders under Al Davis in 1963 and was promoted to head coach in 1966. He guided the Raiders for three seasons, compiling 33 victories and leading them to Super Bowl II. Rauch, whose assistant coaches included John Madden and Bill Walsh, was named AFC Coach of the Year in 1967 after the Super Bowl appearance. Rauch also was the head coach of the Buffalo Bills in 1969, O.J. Simpson’s rookie year.

Rauch completed his coaching career in 1985 after stints with Philadelphia, Atlanta and Tampa Bay of the NFL, Toronto of the CFL and Tampa Bay of the USFL.

Rauch was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004. He also was chosen for the Georgia-Florida Hall of Fame in 2000 and Georgia¹s Circle of Honor in 2001.

His grandson also posted a nice note on the DawgVent. Our thoughts go out tonight to the family of one of Georgia’s best.

Everyone’s favorite weatherman/commentator Bill “Hurricane” Curry will leave the broadcast booth to try the Howard Schnellenberger route and build a new program from the ground up in the twilight of his career. Curry will head the new Georgia State program in Atlanta which will begin playing 1-AA football in 2010.

The Panthers had good luck with their last high-profile athletic hire. Under legendary basketball coach Lefty Driesell, Georgia State advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and finished 29-5 in 2001.

I’m also glad to see Curry out of the broadcast booth, but what will really be interesting is the Tech reaction. Things are all chummy now – Tech alum and former coach coming back to town – but make no mistake: Tech is the competition. Competition for fans, media attention, even some recruits – everything. If Tech has issues selling season tickets now, things will only be tougher with another program in town. I don’t see Tech losing its hold as the city’s top football program, but can they continue to claim the best college coach in town?

The Coliseum Practice Facility has been open for about a year now. For fans who haven’t toured or taken a look yet inside the facility, UGASports.com has a photo feature up taking you inside the men’s basketball area. I’ve written about how the facility measures up nationally, but don’t take my word for it…

One parent of a high profile prospect said, “My son and I were at the Dean Dome(UNC) last week, and this place beats that hands down!”

Mitchell Boggs was a key relief pitcher on the 2004 Georgia squad that reached the College World Series. Now with another group of Bulldogs on their way to Omaha, Boggs is set to record another personal milestone. He will make his first major league start on Tuesday night for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Cincinnati Reds. Boggs made his MLB debut on Friday out of the bullpen and gave up one run in two innings of work.

Mitchell Boggs and Josh McLaughlin celebrate after beating Georgia Tech in the 2004 super regional. Photo: Red & Black

Some nations require years of residency and an exam for citizenship. In Russia, all it requires is a professional basketball contract.

Olympic dreams are commonplace for elite athletes. In many sports the Olympic gold medal is the summit, and you’d be hard-pressed to find an athlete who hasn’t been inspired along the way by watching one of his countrymen excel at the Olympics. But spots on the Olympic team aren’t as commonplace, so the dream of playing for one’s country never becomes a reality for most. Because of lineage or birthplace, dual citizenship is an option for some. For others, Mother Russia is willing to help.

Three WNBA players – including two former Georgia Lady Dogs – have made the 24-member preliminary squad for the Russian national women’s basketball team. How can native-born American citizens play for the Russians? ESPN explains in the case of WNBA star Becky Hammon,

Under Russian league rules, (Hammon) was able to obtain a passport and become a naturalized citizen because she had never appeared for another country in a FIBA-sanctioned event. In other words, she was still eligible to compete for Russia internationally.

Hammon’s papers were approved quickly by the highest levels of the Russian government, just as they were for former Bucknell guard J.R. Holden, who hit the game-winning shot last summer to help Russia win the 2007 Eurobasket Championships. Holden, too, will compete for Russia in Beijing.

Kelly Miller and Deanna Nolan are the former Georgia players on the squad. Both played for Russian club teams in the WNBA offseason and acquired Russian citizenship as a result. Neither was selected for the American national team (a questionable decision in Nolan’s case), so playing for Russia might be their only shot at playing in the Olympics. 20 years ago, this news would have been scandalous – if not impossible. How about now? Does it bug you that American athletes would take Russian citizenship in order to participate in the Olympics, or do you respect the decision to chase their Olympic dreams any way they can?

It’s been a busy offseason when it comes to the leadership of the BCS conferences and schools.

• First, Notre Dame AD Kevin White opts for the arguably less-stressful and lower-profile vacancy at Duke.
• Then Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese announced his retirement last week.
• Now we learn that Pac-10 commish and defender of the Rose Bowl Tom Hansen is on his way out after 26 years.

The Big 12 named Dan Beebe its commissioner less than a year ago. Though Tranghese and Hansen will continue on for another academic year, we’ll still see a turnover of more than half of the BCS leadership between 2007 and 2009.

Will this sudden turnover have much effect on things like the BCS and college football postseason? I doubt it. It’s important to remember that conference commissioners serve at the pleasure of the presidents of the conference’s schools. Though there is plenty of room for each commissioner to make his mark on his conference, major policy decisions are likely to be guided by those presidents. In other words, if the Pac-10 presidents as a group oppose a playoff (and it seems as if they do), Hansen’s replacement is likely to share that view.

Still, it will be interesting to see what new blood brings to the table and if any of the newcomers become polarizing figures in their own right.

Mike Slive (2002), John Swofford (1997), and Jim Delany (1989) are now the elder statesmen of the BCS conferences. In case you’re wondering who might be next to retire, Delany and Swofford both turn 60 this year, and Slive is approaching 68.

After the wonderful dismissal of rival Georgia Tech in the regional round, it was reasonable to wonder if the Georgia baseball team could get back up for a series with an unfamiliar opponent. Georgia’s recent postseason opposition had been regional or conference foes like South Carolina, Clemson, FSU, and Georgia Tech – all very familiar, all usually very good, and there was no problem getting up for those teams.

But here was N.C. State. The two programs don’t play each other. They, more or less, don’t recruit against each other. N.C. State’s story was one of a solid but not traditionally-strong program having a great season and seeking its first trip to Omaha since 1968. Georgia fans probably even cheered the Wolfpack when the boys from Raleigh dispatched South Carolina in the regional. Though a trip to the College World Series is always its own motivation, I wondered in the back of my mind if a letdown was possible after the euphoria of taking two games from Tech.

It didn’t take long into the series to discover that 1) N.C. State was a very formidable opponent and 2) it would indeed be very enjoyable sending them home.

It started on Friday when Wolfpack coach coach Elliott Avent asked the home plate umpire to examine Trevor Holder’s cap for a foreign substance. (The cap, of course, checked out clear.) It continued on Saturday when Georgia star Gordon Beckham was hit not once but twice by Wolfpack pitching. It came to a head Sunday afternoon when Wolfpack reliever Drew Taylor hit Lyle Allen following a Joey Lewis home run in the bottom of the 6th. Intentional or not, the pitch just below Allen’s head fired up the Bulldogs to finish the job and enjoy the beating as if it were an SEC or regional rival. Though the umpires and coaches did a good job of keeping the emotion from boiling over, the Bulldogs made sure to get their revenge on the field.

• "We wanted to make them sorry for Lyle getting hit," catcher Bryce Massanari said. "It woke up the sleeping dogs. After that, we just wanted to pour it on and embarrass them."
• "Embarrass them," (Gordon) Beckham said about Georgia’s mindset. "I think we got like eight runs after that, didn’t we?"
• "We were asleep," (coach David) Perno said. "We were in the dugout going ’12 outs. 12 outs, we’re going to Omaha. Nine outs.’ All of a sudden, they woke the bats back up."

If a pitch aimed at a Georgia batter’s head led to a five-run explosion in the bottom of the 7th, Wolfpack pitchers must have been peppering the family members and girlfriends of the Bulldog team prior to the game. Georgia erased any concerns about a tense nailbiter by putting up nine runs in the bottom of the 1st inning. The fact that the only scoreboard drama of the day came when State closed to within six runs indicates how complete of a win it was. On offense, eight Georgia singles combined with two walks and a hit batsman did the damage in the 1st. On defense, Nick Montgomery had yet another strong outing, and he was helped with strong plays in the field by Ryan Peisel, Lyle Allen, Matt Cerione, and Gordon Beckham.

While history might remember Allen’s HBP as the spark for Georgia’s final push at the plate, the first few runs actually came at a very important moment in the game. LSU’s dramatic comeback against Cal-Irvine on Sunday demonstrated that no lead is ever safe in college baseball, so the Wolfpack’s three runs in the top of the 6th were enough to get one’s attention after four straight scoreless innings from the Bulldogs. Gordon Beckham’s first home run of the day, a solo shot to left, got the Bulldogs back on the scoreboard and helped to stem what might have been the beginning of an NCSU comeback. Lewis’s two-run blast completed the scoring for the inning, and Georgia had answered the visitors’ challenge and ensured a relatively anti-climatic finish.

There were no need for Keppinger-esque heroics, and Josh Fields was, if anything, sloppy in closing out the 17-8 win. Instead, the lopsided win provided an opportunity to reflect on the many accomplishments and storylines across the roster. From Beckham’s star power to the emergence of Nick Montgomery to timely hits from the bottom half of the lineup, Sunday’s win gave us the chance to enjoy it all.

Click here for an outstanding gallery from UGASports.com of the celebration.

While it’s serious news that Jeremy Lomax was arrested on speeding and concealed weapons charges, it is encouraging to see him step up and accept his fault in the incident.

Most fans assume a suspension, but alcohol-related incidents are the only ones for which a suspension is mandated. Depending on Mark Richt’s discretion and the eventual outcome of the charges, Lomax’s discipline could range anywhere from a multiple-game suspension to “internal” discipline such as additional running.

This tidbit is also encouraging: when potential starters are driving 1991 Chevy Caprices around town, you can be pretty certain that the NCAA won’t be moving their Tuscaloosa branch office to Athens any time soon.

The company whose name is on the stadium which hosts the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party is being bought out.

Georgia will welcome Raleigh Regional winner North Carolina State to Athens this weekend for a best two-of-three series for the right to advance to Omaha and the College World Series.  Here’s the schedule; some warm afternoon games are ahead.

Athens Super Regional Schedule

Friday – Noon on ESPN
Saturday – Noon on ESPN2
Sunday – 4 p.m. (if necessary) on ESPN

Ticket Information

All-Session tickets to attend the NCAA Baseball Athens Super Regional, featuring Georgia and North Carolina State, will go on sale online via www.georgiadogs.com, at the Athletic Association Ticket Office window or by calling 1-877-542-1231 (toll free) beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 3.

All-Session Reserved tickets are $40 with the all-session general admission price set at $30. Both All-Session ticket packages include a ticket to all Athens Super Regional games including Game 3 if necessary and provide fans with a discount off the individual game ticket prices.

All tickets ordered for the Super Regional will be distributed via Will-Call. Patrons may claim their tickets prior to the regional from the Athletic Association Ticket Office beginning on Thursday, June 5 at 9:00 a.m. Regional tickets will also be available for pickup at the Foley Field ticket windows each day of the Super Regional.

For more information, visit www.georgiadogs.com and click on the link for tickets or call the Ticket Office at 1-877-542-1231. Visa, Mastercard and Cash are all accepted forms of payment.

I guess you take your motivation where you can get it, but this fashion-based incentive used by the Lipscomb baseball team would make Billy Johnson proud:

White shoes theory: One of the questions from the media at the post-game press conference dealt with the Bisons white baseball shoes. It marked the first time the team had ever worn white shoes in a game, but it won’t be the last.

“Our players wanted to wear white shoes all year long,” Forehand said. “I told them I didn’t like white shoes and we weren’t going to do it.

“It started last year. I made a promise that if they made it to a regional they could wear white shoes. I guess we are going to keep wearing them.”

It worked – the Bisons upset top-seeded Georgia 10-7 in the opening game of yesterday’s Athens regional.

Official footwear supplier of Lipscomb baseball

A day after the coaches voted 9-3 to recommend an early signing day for college football, the SEC athletic directors decided not to endorse the plan and will not send it on to the NCAA. The key sticking point seems to be the official visit: the plan would make those taking official visits ineligible to sign early, but the athletic directors did not want to diminish the importance of the official visit.

The Athens regional kicks off today with Georgia playing Lipscomb at 3:00. It should be a wild weekend: three of the four teams made the trip to Omaha in their last postseason appearance. Here’s a link dump of news and info:

Media

Television: CSS

Radio: 960 AM in Athens. 91.1 PM in Atlanta will have at least the Tech broadcast.

Online: Free audio and live stats here.

News

• GeorgiaDogs.com Regional Central
• AJC regional notebook: Dawgs rested, healthy, and haven’t scouted anyone
• ABH: Four teams, one dream. A brief profile of the participants.
• ABH: Regional notebook. Roger Willams’ return, Fields and Beckham honored, Tech dealing with tragedy
• ABH: A great look back at the 2001, 2004, and 2006 postseasons with quotes from some of the players.

Tickets

Single game tickets to attend the NCAA Baseball Athens Regional will go on sale starting at 1:00 p.m. Friday, May 30 at Foley Field. Single game ticket sales locations will be set up in the Foley Field Plaza, along the third base side on Rutherford Street and at the entrance to right field bleachers on Pinecrest Street.

Reserved Seat tickets are $12 and general admission tickets are $10.

Single game tickets will also go on sale at the Foley Field ticket locations beginning two hours before the first game each day.