The Madness is here: full women's and men's coverage, brackets, schedules, and conference tournament links

The Madness is here: full women's and men's coverage, brackets, schedules, and conference tournament links

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          Kennesaw State’s men and Georgia’s women are carrying the March Madness banner for the state in the NCAA Tournament.

          And Georgia Southern’s women are in the postseason for the first time in almost 30 years as part of the Women’s Basketball Invitational.

          And that’s about it. No other state team earned a spot in any of the other postseason tournaments, for a simple reason.

          Nobody else had a winning record.

          Mercer’s women finished 12-16 and the men 14-19.

          Georgia’s men finished 16-16, but apparently got no offers. Power 5 programs usually don’t participate in any tournament other than the NIT if not making the NCAA field, and the 32-team NIT has only 11 teams with fewer than 20 wins.

          Florida is the only .500 team in the NIT, with two others at 17-16.

          Georgia Tech’s women went 13-17 and the men 15-18, dismissing Josh Pastner right after the season.

          Georgia Southern fired men’s coach Brian Burg after going 14-16.

          Georgia State’s women went 12-21, and the men struggled to a 10-21 season.

          Kennesaw State’s women ended up 13-16.