Apparently, the game against Duke at Madison Square Garden is not going to happen. Instead, Pete Herrmann is working on getting Georgia into the 2007 Rainbow Classic which is played at the University of Hawaii.
Among this year's tentative field is Washington State, St. John's, Northwestern, Ohio University, St. Mary's (Texas), Louisiana-Lafayette and host Hawaii. The Rainbows won last year's tournament by upsetting Creighton in the final.This is a nice tournament to play in. Georgia has played in this tournament twice before. Tubby Smith led the team to the tournament title in 1997. The Jim Harrick led Bulldogs lost in the tournament finals to Hawaii in 2001.
A word to the wise for Coach Felton and company if Georgia does end up in this tournament. While in Hawaii, don't let players make long distance phone calls.
Image from OnlineAthens.com: Jarvis Hayes in the 2001 Rainbow Classic.
Anybody who hasn't seen Washington State play... I urge you to check YouTube for some of their highlights from last year. They swept Arizona, swept Washington, and had UCLA on the ropes in the Pac-10 up until the end of the season.
ReplyDeleteI know they return essentially all their starters. They only lost Ivory Clark and he was benched for essentially the whole second half and overtime of the Cougars' second-round lost to Vanderbilt in the tournament. With Aron Afflalo gone from UCLA and Nick Young gone from USC (with OJ Mayo ready to step in, mind you), Cougars could take the Pac-10 this year... especially if Spencer Hawes ends up going pro.
A UGA/WSU game would be incredible to watch. Two totally different styles of basketball - two teams that both beat Gonzaga last year, to boot.
Duane - Unfortunately, it looks like we will be Washington State's replacement according to the Georgia Sports Blog. So, it looks that matchup won't happen.
ReplyDeleteThat's very surprising on Washington State's part. Wazzu's point guard, Derek Low, is from Hawaii and actually committed to WSU without ever visiting the campus. Dick Bennett (still head coach at WSU before son Tony took over last year) came so highly recommended that he simply committed without visiting.
ReplyDeleteYou would think WSU would welcome the opportunity to return to Hawaii where Low was a high school phenom. Would have been a great matchup to see...