A veteran of just about everything involved in basketball as a player and coach, Susie Gardner has been part of just about everything.

          Still, she became fairly unglued Monday night when the big screen over center court at Hawkins Arena gave her a little information.

          Gardner’s current team will play her old team in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.

          Mercer will head just up the road to Athens to face Georgia – Gardner’s alma mater - on Saturday.

          Gardner and the Bears exploded from their chairs when the info flashed onto the screen.

          “I reacted so differently than I anticipated, because I’ve done this, this is my 14th time,” Gardner told reporters after the announcement. “I’m supposed to be cool about this, right?

          The Bears were more than ready for the announcement, having won the Southern Conference tournament more than a week earlier, their 27th straight win.

          Who handed the Bears their first loss of the season? Georgia, 72-54 on Nov. 19. Mercer lost five days later to Western Kentucky 67-62 in Atlanta.

          Georgia is a 4 seed and Mercer a 13 seed. 

          Mercer’s RPI jumped up to 48 over the course of tournament week, as of March 11. Georgia is 26th. Western Kentucky, which won the Conference USA Tournament for the automatic bid, is at No. 50. The Hilltoppers play Oregon State Friday in Knoxville.

          Former A-Sun rivals Belmont and Florida Gulf Coast made the tournament. Belmont, in the Ohio Valley Conference, plays Duke in Athens. The winner of that game gets the Georgia-Mercer winner. FGCU faces Missouri at Stanford.