One of the worst seasons in Georgia basketball history came to a merciful end Wednesday night in Tampa as the Bulldogs fell to Vanderbilt 86-51 in the opening round of the SEC Tournament.
The question now is obvious.
When will athletic director Josh Brooks announce that Tom Crean is no longer the head coach of the Bulldogs after the team finished 6-26, the fewest victories since the Bulldogs’ 1973-74 squad went 6-20?
Crean, as he did after Georgia’s regular-season finale at Missouri, deferred any questions about his job.
“Anything with my situation, it has to go to the athletic department,” Crean said. “It’s not a thing that I spend a lot of time on. I just coach my team every day. That’s where my focus is.”
Apparently, Crean wasn’t kidding.
“I’ll watch this tape when I get back to the hotel, other than that I don’t have any plans,” Crean said. “We’ll leave in the morning. I know that’s part of the plan.”
The wait should not be long.
Crean’s tenure as Georgia’s head coach has essentially been cemented for weeks, with sources telling UGASports has feelers have already been put out regarding potential replacements.
“Everybody has seen the news of what possibly is coming down, and for him to come out and still coach his team, my hat’s off to Tom,” Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse said. “It’s a tough situation to be in but I thought his guys came and played for him. This is a fraternity, we’re coaches, and we knew this is a tough business. You have to have success or else there’s changes. But he’s a great coach, and he’ll land somewhere.”
Wednesday’s loss was the 12 the straight and 20th in 21 games for the Bulldogs.
“I just appreciate the opportunity that Coach Crean, and the coaching staff gave me,” senior transfer Braelen Bridges said. “I was at UIC (Illinois-Chicago), and they blessed me with the opportunity to play at this University. I just tried to take it one day at a time and work hard every day. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t come out winning.”
Bridges led the Bulldogs with 15 points, followed by Kario Oquendo with 11. Scott Pippen Jr. scored 14 to lead the Commodores who advance to play Alabama in Thursday’s second round.
“The biggest thing that hurt us was our lack of scoring early, which has hurt us throughout the year,” Crean said. “You’ve got to be a really, really strong team mentally and individually to overcome when you’re not making shots and we’ve had that issue throughout the year.”
This one was over before it began.
The Bulldogs capped their season with their poorest half of the year, a half that saw Vanderbilt jump out to a 35-14 lead.
How bad was it?
Georgia managed just four field goals in the 20 minutes played and went the final 12:12 without a single basket.
The Bulldogs shot a mere 18.2 percent (4 of 22).
“We started good on defense but toward the end of the first half, we started losing our guys a lot and things like that,” Oquendo said. “We weren’t making shots tonight … so.”
