Georgia Bulldogs promise fun and laughter for ‘Stegmania’ hoops party
Georgia center Derek Ogbeide could be tough to beat in tonight's slam dunk contest at 'Stegmania,' UGA's new event to celebrate the start of basketball season.
(UGA)
ATHENS — Who is going to take in some Stegmania tonight?
There’s still time to do so. Doors open at Stegeman Coliseum at 6:30 p.m. and the actual event gets under way at 7:30 p.m.
Why would you want attend? Here’s why:
- This is Georgia’s new event to tip off the basketball season, and there’s a lot about which to be excited.
- The men’s team is under the direction of new coach Tom Crean, who plans to bring an up-tempo, high-scoring style of play to UGA and promises the game-day environment to match. Plus, anytime this guy grabs a microphone, you want to hear what comes out of his mouth, and he’ll have a mic with him all night tonight.
- Crean’s Bulldogs will be returning three starters from last year’s team — point guard Turtle Jackson, center Derek Ogbeide and forward Rayshaun Hammonds — along with promising sophomore Nic Claxton.
- Georgia will welcome four freshmen from a recruiting class that includes Top 125 prospects Amanze Ngumezi (112) and Ignas Sargiunas (121). And 6-foot-3 combo guard Tye Fagan was 63-0 as a junior and senior at Upson-Lee.
- Georgia’s women’s team is also making its public debut. Coach Joni Taylor’s fourth squad is coming off an SEC second-place finish with a 26-7 overall record and a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament and returns three starters and six of its top seven scorers off the 2017-18 squad.
- Leading the way for the Lady Dogs is All-SEC forward Caliya Robinson, All-SEC freshman Que Morrison and starting point guard Taja Cole.
- But better than all that is this: A D.J., free food, a slam-dunk contest, a 3-point shooting contest, some good old fashioned scrimmaging and, yes, a dance-off between selected members of the men’s and women’s teams.
- Judges for the slam-dunk contest — and presumably the dance-off — are SEC Network football analyst Jordan Rodgers, former Georgia dunker extraordinaire Travis Leslie, and Mary Beth Smart, wife of the Bulldogs’ football coach but one of the Lady Dogs’ greatest 3-point shooters of all time.
There’s no charge for attendance, so it’s definitely worth dropping by.
See y’all there?
