Georgia blows roof off

In SEC, Bulldogs take wind out of Arkansas

Georgia players are thrilled when their hard work produces a 14 seed in the West and a date with Xavier. (Phil Coale/Associated Press)

A tornado. A doubleheader. An improbable trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Georgia completed its remarkable run through the Southeastern Conference tournament yesterday, building a big lead in the first half and holding on to beat Arkansas, 66-57, in Atlanta in the championship game, earning the Bulldogs their first trip to the NCAAs since 2002.

The Bulldogs (17-16) became just the third team in the tournament history to win four games in four days - actually, two came on the same day, an impromptu bit of scheduling forced by a tornado that slammed into the Georgia Dome.

Georgia, which received a 14th seed in the West Regional and will face No. 3 Xavier, got to cut down the nets on the home court of Georgia Tech, its bitter in-state rival and the replacement venue for the tournament after the dome was struck Friday night.

Arkansas (22-11), which beat Vanderbilt and regular-season champion Tennessee on its way to the final, earned a No. 9 seed in East and will face Indiana in the first round.

Terrance Woodbury scored 16 points and Georgia headed to the NCAAs for the first time since the scandalous era of former coach Jim Harrick, which landed the program on probation and prompted it to decline a certain postseason trip with a 20-win team in 2003.

Dennis Felton took over as coach, with a mandate to clean things up. But when the Bulldogs finished last in the SEC East this season, there was plenty of speculation he would be out of the job as soon as the team made its expected exit from the league tournament.

"It's really gratifying," said Felton, who had only nine scholarship players remaining after injuries, defections, and disciplinary problems. "Regardless of how much adversity we went through and how much we had to go through as a team, the guys we had left had enough character to keep fighting for another day."

The devastating tornado, which rumbled over the Georgia Dome and wreaked havoc downtown, forced a postponement of Georgia's quarterfinal game against Kentucky. Not only that, the tournament had to be moved to Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the campus of nearby Georgia Tech.

ACC - Wayne Ellington finished with 24 points while Tyler Hansbrough had 18 to help top-ranked North Carolina beat Clemson, 86-81, in the championship game, a victory that locked up the No. 1 seed in the East in the NCAA Tournament.

Ty Lawson had 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists for the Tar Heels (32-2), who won the conference title for the 17th time. Hansbrough was named the tournament's most valuable player, finishing with 11 rebounds one day after hitting a last-second shot to beat Virginia Tech in the semifinals.

Ellington, a 6-foot-4-inch sophomore, finished 10 for 13 from the field to go with 4 rebounds and 4 assists.

Big 12 - Mario Chalmers had a career-high 30 points and eight of Kansas's tournament-record 15 3-pointers, helping the fifth-ranked Jayhawks beat No. 6 Texas, 84-74, in Kansas City, Mo., for their third straight conference title.

Brandon Rush hit six 3-pointers for Kansas (31-3), which was 15 for 25 from behind the arc, breaking the tournament record of 14 set by Colorado in 1995 and matched by Missouri in 2001.

Kansas has won three straight conference titles for the second time in school history and was rewarded with the No. 1 seed in the Midwest bracket of the NCAA tourney. Texas (28-6) received a second seed in the South Regional.

Big Ten - Brian Butch scored 12 points, and No. 8 Wisconsin beat Illinois, 61-48, in Indianapolis to sweep the regular-season and tournament titles for the first time.

Marcus Landry, the tournament's most outstanding player, added 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists for the top-seeded Badgers (29-4), who earned a No. 3 seed in the Midwest.

Southland - Anthony Vereen scored 25 points to lead Texas-Arlington (21-11) to an 82-79 victory over Northwestern State in Katy, Texas, to win the conference title game and earn the school's first NCAA berth.

Texas-Arlington will face Memphis in the first round in the South.