The Blue Workhorse

Tennessee basketball is back and better than ever, and coach Bruce Pearl will forever be loved by Tennessee Volunteer fans.

Or will he?

Attendance is up, significant upgrades have been made to the arena, and most importantly, the basketball Vols are winning. There is no doubt these positive strides began with the arrival of coach Bruce Pearl on the campus of the University of Tennessee, but when it is all said and done will Bruce have done more damage than resurrection at the end of his time on Rocky Top?

There were several great games in the first round of this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament, whether it has been an upset (San Diego over Connecticut, Siena over Vanderbilt), a near upset (Duke surviving Belmont), or double-digit comebacks (Villanova over Clemson, Drake against Western Kentucky only to fall in OT), and each of the great games has had key players.

But who had the best game of the first round and has earned the right to be deemed the “1st Round Workhorse” or most outstanding performance of the first round of the NCAA tournament?

Here are our candidates (in alphabetical order):

University of Georgia seniors Sundiata Gaines and Dave Bliss watched as there once 11-point lead slowly slipped away to the #3 seeded Xavier Musketeers in the first round of the NCAA national tournament. The Bulldogs fell 73-61 but the score was not indicative of just how well UGA played throughout the game. They led by 7 with less than 10 minutes remaining and trailed by only 3 with just over a minute remaining before Xavier ended the game on a 9-0 free throw run.

The game was the culmination of the season and a span of over a week that saw UGA go from basketball obscurity to miracle run. It was also the culmination of Dennis Felton’s first five years at the helm of the Georgia Bulldogs men’s basketball program and four years of struggles that included trials, tribulations, transfers, and tragedies for Bliss and Gaines.