Hey y’all. Today’s newsletter is all about the Big College Basketball Tournament — and we’ve got a much smaller (but interactive) bracket that pits your favorite Atlanta athletes against each other, too.
Onward!
GOING OWL IN
Credit: Courtesy photo/Conference USA
Credit: Courtesy photo/Conference USA
Kennesaw State athletics director Milton Overton has been in the business for 30 years, at schools big and small.
He’s never seen what basketball coach Antoine Pettway just pulled off.
“For them to gel together and win together throughout that, was frankly pretty amazing,” Overton told me Tuesday, as he boarded a bus for the airport and the onset of the Owls’ latest NCAA Tournament adventure.
As our friend Ken Sugiura recently chronicled, the “that” Overton refers to is … a lot. Transfers and car wrecks and injuries and Simeon Cottle — the best player on the team and maybe in Conference USA — being accused of point-shaving. Midseason. Via federal indictment.
🦉 Nevertheless, here the Owls are: After a gritty 7-7 finish to the regular season and a sweep of the conference tourney (see below), they’ve got a No. 14 next to their name and a Thursday night date with Gonzaga.
Overton credits both the man upstairs (“it’s something only God can do”) and Pettway — a guy so appreciated as a leader and human that, before he left for Kennesaw in 2023, he remained on Alabama’s staff for 15 years. Under four different head coaches.
“He is a person that is consistently able to weather the storm,” Overton said.
But this is about more than one man, or one shining moment.
🦉 Overton & Co. are trying to shift the whole window. Change what’s possible.
These fruits — simultaneous conference titles in basketball and football, plus multiple track and field championships — are born of yearslong efforts to bolster Kennesaw’s brand and compete in an ever-evolving era of college sports.
An admittedly oversimplified version of the strategy:
- Get institutional buy-in, which begets capital investments like the baseball stadium that just opened and the new training complexes slated to break ground this fall.
- Use those to lure in better athletes, driving more on-field success. Which spurs more donations from alumni and such.
On and on the wheel turns, in one order or another.
As for NIL and revenue sharing, Overton compared the KSU philosophy to “Moneyball.” They’re gonna pay, but they’re gonna pay the right people. They’re gonna make it hard for them to leave, too — not by money-whipping them but through genuine connection. Culture.
And if they have to recalibrate?
“We lean into the reload,” Overton said. Because everything’s an opportunity.
🦉 Including an NCAA Tournament game against a perennial title contender.
“You don’t want to go to war with the Owls, baby,” Pettway said on Selection Sunday.
“We’re going to play a game to win,” Overton echoed on Tuesday.
And hey, why not? In 20 of the last 40 NCAA Tournaments, at least one No. 14 seed has won a game.
This team has defied odds longer that those.
Watch the Owls at 10 p.m. Thursday on TBS. And if you’re new to The Win Column, sign up here.
WHO’S YOUR REAL FAVORITE?
‘Round this time last year, we took a rather in-depth dive into your favorite (and least favorite) moments in Atlanta sports history. Misery vs. mirth and all that. Remember?
Well, we’re back with another bracket. But this one’s a tad simpler — and all about the warm fuzzies.
🤗 This time you get to choose the Atlanta athletes who bring you the most joy.
Our 16-player tournament of sorts leads with No. 1 seeds Ronald Acuña Jr., Bijan Robinson, Jalen Johnson and Allisha Gray. They’re joined by a good mix of other local standouts.
Simply check out each matchup, then pick which player makes you happiest — and over the next few weeks, we’ll winnow things down to the ultimate fan favorite.
A few caveats to consider as Round 1 voting begins:
- When deciding who to include, positive vibes were a big plus.
- Linebacker Kyle Efford is very good and worthy of being Georgia Tech’s representative (also, almost everyone else from last year’s team left).
- Atlanta United’s Miguel Almirón hadn’t been playing well until this past weekend. But hey, he’s a champion.
- After Acuña, tough Braves choices were made.
🤗 Check it out and fill it out — then tune in next week for results and second-round matchups.
ASK A BEAT WRITER, DANCING BULLDOGS EDITION
Georgia men’s basketball is back dancing for the second consecutive season, a feat it hadn’t accomplished in nearly a quarter-century.
But how do the Bulldogs avoid last year’s embarrassment against Gonzaga — and get their first NCAA win since 2002?
Ignoring the fact that even that win was later vacated, I consulted a pair of AJC/DawgNation experts ahead of Thursday’s game with No. 9 seed St. Louis (9:45 p.m. on TNT).
🗣️ Reporter Connor Riley: “Georgia simply can’t afford to get off to a poor start. The Bulldogs fell behind 27-3 in last year’s NCAA Tournament loss to Gonzaga, giving them no chance at a win. This year’s team has been prone to starting slowly. With how fast Georgia likes to play, starting strong and controlling tempo would go a long way.”
🗣️ Reporter Olivia Sayer: “Both teams possess high-scoring offenses — with Georgia ranking fifth in points per game and St. Louis slotting in at No. 11 — so the team who executes on defense will have the strongest shot at advancing. The Bulldogs will have to limit the Billikens from beyond the arc, as they make 40.1% of their 3-point attempts — the second-most in the nation — while hitting nearly 11 per game.”
Makes sense to me, even if St. Louis’ whole “Billiken” thing does not. (It’s an elf-looking fella described as a “mythical figure” representing “things as they ought to be.” Utter nonsense.)
🔗 Bonus linkage: This Bulldog has high-stakes hoops in his blood
LEST WE FORGET THE LADIES …
The Georgia women drew a No. 7 seed and play at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Iowa City, Iowa (watch on ESPN2).
- The main Bulldog to know here is Dani Carnegie, former Grayson High star and transfer from rival Georgia Tech — where she was the ACC Sixth Player of the Year as a freshman.
- This season in Athens: First-Team All-SEC and 18.1 points per game, eighth-best in the conference. She’s Georgia’s second-leading rebounder, too.
The Bulldogs will play whoever wins Thursday’s First Four matchup between No. 10 seeds Arizona State and Virginia.
TWO RANDOM NUMBERS
23: The record for most career NCAA Tournament games played, still held by former Hawk (and Dukie) Christian Laettner.
0: Career NCAA Tournament games played by former Hawk (and Bulldog) Dominique Wilkins.
PEEP THESE POTENTIAL HAWKS
Credit: Tony Gutierrez/AP
Credit: Tony Gutierrez/AP
The Hawks are positively rolling, winning 10 straight entering Wednesday’s visit to Dallas, and making a push for a non-play-in playoff spot to boot.
But we still get to play the draft lottery game because, thanks to a previous trade, Atlanta will likely get New Orleans’ first-round pick. And that pick figures to be a pretty darn good one — at last check, there’s about a 34% chance it lands inside the top four.
- Remember: The Hawks had just a 3% chance of landing the No. 1 pick in 2024.
Here are a few NCAA Tournament participants who could be there for the taking this time around.
👀 Darryn Peterson, Kansas: The 6-foot-6 point guard missed lots of playing time this season with a litany of injuries and illnesses but remains the likely No. 1 pick. “A future face of a franchise — perhaps of the entire NBA,” as CBS’ Gary Parrish recently put it.
👀 AJ Dybantsa, BYU: The 6-foot-9 freshman is a First-Team All-American and the nation’s scoring leader. From an ESPN mock draft: “He’s not as gifted a ball handler or shooter (as Peterson) but might have more untapped upside from a physical and skill perspective, as well as on the defensive end.”
👀 Cameron Boozer, Duke: The 6-foot-9 son of longtime NBAer Carlos, Boozer is scoring 22 points and pulling down 10 rebounds per game for the No. 1 overall seed. Sam Vecenie of The Athletic recently dubbed him “the safest bet in the class to become a remarkably productive player.”
Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr. and Houston’s Kingston Flemings, both point guards, are a lot of fun, too.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
This guy was Georgia basketball’s head coach the last time it won an NCAA Tournament game … and absolutely nothing bad happened afterward.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of the Win Column. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at tyler.estep@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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