LSU beats Georgia 78-76 in the quarterfinals! Will take on the Miss State/Florida winner in the semis! GEAUX TIGERS!
GOOD LORD, I can't believe it . . . Sing it from the rooftops!!!!!!!! This is a fantastic day for LSU Basketball. TAKE THAT HOG FANS!!!!
LSU sends top seed Georgia to fourth straight early exit Posted: Friday March 08, 2002 3:45 PM Updated: Friday March 08, 2002 4:07 PM LSU's Brad Bridgewater celebrates the Tigers' upset of top seed Georgia. AP ATLANTA (AP) -- Georgia had another meltdown in the Southeastern Conference tournament, losing to LSU 78-76 when Ezra Williams missed two free throws with 6.8 seconds left in Friday's quarterfinal. The Bulldogs (21-9), who came in as the No. 1 seed from the Eastern Division, have lost their first game in the tournament four years in a row. This time, they certainly hurt their seeding for the NCAA tournament. LSU (18-13) went ahead for good when Torris Bright put back a missed shot with 1:34 remaining. Georgia got the ball back with 35 seconds left and went for the win, but Williams missed a 3-pointer from the corner. After a wild scramble for the rebound, Bright came up with the ball while sitting on the court. He lofted the ball downcourt and Brad Bridgewater wound up with a dunk. 2002 NCAA Brackets Want to be ready for Selection Sunday? Now is your chance to print out blank brackets to fill out as the seedings are released. The Bulldogs weren't through. After Rashad Wright scored on a layin with 8 seconds left, Williams stole the inbounds pass and went up for the tying basket. The ball wouldn't drop, but he was fouled by Antonio Hudson. Williams, who led Georgia with 27 points, went to the foul line with a chance to send the game to overtime. A 77.5 percent free-throw shooter, he put his hands on his head in disbelief when the first attempt bounced off the back of the rim. Williams missed again on his second attempt, the ball rolling off the rim into the hands of Ronald Dupree. The LSU player was fouled and went to the other end for a one-and-one with 6.1 seconds to go. Dupree also missed, but time ran out while the teams battled for a loose ball. LSU also upset Georgia last year in the SEC tournament, 63-62. Even though Georgia is the home-state team, they haven't taken advantage of their proximity to the Georgia Dome. The Bulldogs dropped to 1-5 at the tournament's semiregular home. Georgia was perhaps the SEC's most surprising team during the regular season. Picked to finish in the bottom half of the 12-team league, the Bulldogs went 10-6 and shared the East title with a couple of more touted teams, No. 11 Florida and No. 12 Kentucky. Georgia earned a first-round bye, while LSU had to play its second game in two days. The Tigers defeated Vanderbilt 69-62 on Thursday. Hudson had another big game, leading LSU with 23 points. The freshman guard had 24 in the opening round. The way Georgia started, it seemed the game might be a blowout. The Bulldogs hit five straight shots at one juncture and built a 20-8 lead before the game was eight minutes old. Then, Georgia got extremely sloppy with the ball, allowing LSU to get back in the game. The Tigers took advantage of 10 turnovers to outscore the Bulldogs 30-15 the rest of the half. LSU led 38-35 at halftime and started the second half by hitting 10 of 11 shots. Overall, the Tigers shot 54 percent (26-of-48) from the field.
Can it be? Hell yes, it can! How impressive is Hudson? What a great replacement for Collis. The LSU tema had so much guts down the strech. I am so proud to be a Tiger. Great job by these guys!! I hope it is FLA in the semis! I would like nothing more than to beat those guys. LSU is peaking right now - i think a deep run in the NIT is inevitable. And, as much as I hate to say it, I'd rather drop a game here in the SEC tourny and play in the NIT (maybe a nail biter against the tide). LSU is definitely capable of a deep NIT run, maybe one or 2 and done in the NCAAs. A deep run through the post season would instill a lot of confidence going into next year (witness Alabama). Tiger roundball is roaring back!!
Whatever happens from this point forward, it's been a great run and the team should be upper-SEC calibar next year with the two big guys coming in. I'll be MORE than satisfied with a couple of wins in the NIT but I'll take a chance in the dance over the NIT any day of the week. It's now a win-win situation. The program is on the rise. I thought the football team had about a 1 in 1000 chance of winning 10 games after Ole Miss and believed the odds were similar for the basketball team to win 20 games until today. Now it's at least down to 1 in 10 or so. It's amazing they can win with such little depth. The first five are quality, but after that..... Next year we'll have a strong five AND a strong bench.
we better play florida i would want nothing more than to kick floridas ass in 2002, once in basketball 3 times in baseball and once in football
