Georgia v. Duke Next December?

The Athens Banner Herald reports that Georgia's Hoop Dawgs are in contract negotiations to play the blue blooded Duke Blue Devils next year in Madison Square Garden. Nothing is final yet, but it seems promising. Georgia has never played Duke in basketball.

I once lived in New York and went to see the cheating, Jim Harrick-led Dawgs take on Texas at MSG when both teams were in the top 20. I had never been to any variety of Texas game and kept asking my wife why their band kept playing "I Been Working on the Railroad." Ooops. That was actually the Longhorn fight song. At least Texas brought their band. Georgia was adopted by one of those amalgams of local high school bands enlisted to provide entertainment for the event. They could only play one song, which they played badly all night. If I was making fun of Texas, I can only imagine what they thought of "our" band that night.

Dennis Felton has done a good job of scheduling opponents that are good teams, but not teams that the Dawgs can't compete with. Duke is having a down year this year, but I imagine they'll be back to their normal dominating ways next year. The Dawgs should be improved next year too, assuming no one leaves the program and Mike Mercer can still play.

The Duke basketball universe has collectively responded, "Georgia has a basketball team?"

King Bee and I will have to place a friendly wager if the game comes to pass.