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?