The Blue Workhorse

The weak were weeded out. What once was a field of 65 is now down to 4.

Everyone thought all four #1 seeds wouldn’t make it to the Final Four, but they proved the naysayers wrong. UCLA, North Carolina, Memphis, and Kansas each punched their tickets to the Final Four. Each will head to San Antonio with thoughts of national championship, and it is only thanks to some great individual performances throughout the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

But who had the most outstanding individual performance in the Elite Eight? Who has earned the right to be named the ‘Elite Eight Workhorse?’ In honor of the elite eight, here are the eight candidates:

While there have been some great team performances this year in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, it has been the individual performances of players such as Stephen Curry, Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, and Tyler Hansbrough that everyone is talking about.

So who had the single most outstanding performance? Who deserves the honor of being the ‘Sweet 16 Workhorse?’ The candidates:

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.