Empire Rising

As I sit here, watching the Georgia Bulldogs Men's basketball team win the best, most historic championship in it's program's history, in a manner that is the total antithesis of what this team was about (no depth, runs out of gas towards the end of the second half, and loses a close game in the closing minutes). Two overtime victories. Two games in which we finished the drill and played a full two halves of basektball against teams that were supposed to blow us out. This team showed heart, this team showed emotion, this team showed that it welcomes a challenge and rises up to meet it, and, most importantly, this team showed that it could step back, assess its weaknesses, and adjust its style of play to correct those weaknesses and do an even better job of making sure it can do the best with what it's got.

In short, the team that is about to play Xavier on Thursday in Washington, DC, is not the same team as its record indicates. This is the team that Georgia would have been if it had 2 more quality players to fill out the bench and give our work horses some room to breath so that we could stay in the game. This is the team that Georgia might have been if Dennis Felton had decided to win at all costs and did not lay down the law at the beginning of the season and suspend those two players. But he did not. He put his principles first, and they payed off in the long run. He showed to the world and to the potential recruits and their families watching that Georgia can win with class.

Coach Dennis Felton showed the world today that, at the University of Georgia, values and victories are not mutually exclusive.

And thus began a new empire in Athens.

When the brackets come out in 2070 and my grandchildren come over and we sit down as a family to watch the NCAA tournmanet with the storied Georgia Bulldogs getting all the accolades and hype that UNC, Kentucky, Duke, and UCLA get today, and the camera pans across Stegman displaying all the national championship and conference championship banners from years past and Dicky V's grandson, who now works for ESPN, is on tv talking about our rich tradition and the many accomplishments of teams past, and how many UGA greats have gone on to become stars in the NBA, I will be able to say I was there when it all began. Before people tailgated the basketball games as well as the football games and pitched tents the night before to get tickets. Back when a casual hoops fan heard the term \"national championship\" associated with Georgia, and assumed they were talking about football, where as now it will have to be prefaced with the specific sport because we'll dominate both to the extent that it won't be uncommon for us to have several titles in both each decade.

I will look back and remember that I was there when it all began. When Dennis Felton and his Dream Dawgs made their stand.

Great dreams can become reality.

CHEMdawg, In all honesty, your post SOUNDS like CRAZY-talk to me...but you know what else SOUNDED like CRAZY-talk 4 days ago, IF I would have came on this web-site & posted that UGA would win the SEC Tournament!

I commend you for bringing up the values & the standards of excellence that Coach Felton holds his players to, which makes this SEC Title accomplishment even more special. I really can't say enough about how much I admire Coach Felton for his discipline & his leadership. What a class act. We are so fortunate as Dawg fans to have a man of such high character leading our BB program.
It just goes to show once again that YOU GOTTA BELIEVE IF YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE!
HOW BOUT THEM SEC CHAMPS!?

Hey guys, we should all sleep good tonight......SEC Tournament basketball champs and SEC and NC aspirations coming up in a few months........ain't it great to be a GEORGIA DAWG!!!

What the Iron Dawgs did this weekend is the stuff that legends are made of and that programs are built on...