The Georgia Lady Bulldog basketball program,
long among the most respected in the nation, continues to thrive under
head coach Andy Landers.
The Lady
Bulldogs have received invitations to all but two NCAA Tournaments, the
third-best tally of any school in the nation. And Georgia has made the
most of those bids, finishing as NCAA runner-up in 1985 and 1996 and
advancing to five Final Fours, 10 Elite Eights and 16 Sweet 16s. Georgia
ranks No. 4 in the all-time Associated Press women’s basketball poll
which is compiled by combining the year-end standings of each season’s
final AP rankings. Georgia has also
won a combined 11 Southeastern Conference Championships and SEC
Tournament titles, the second most by any league school in the nation's
premier women's basketball conference. Accomplishments
such as the aforementioned probably weren't even dreamed of when
Landers, then just 26 years old, was hired as the school's first
full-time women's coach in 1979. Within just two seasons, he had
established the Lady Bulldogs as a force to be reckoned with. Whereas
Georgia struggled to defeat other state schools prior to Landers'
arrival; the Lady Bulldogs soon thereafter were competing with the
nation's best. Landers' initial
campaign in Athens showed immediate improvement, producing only the
second winning season in school history. The following year, Georgia
captured the championship trophy at the National Women's Invitational
Tournament. The Lady Dogs secured a
berth in the first-ever NCAA-sanctioned tournament for women's
basketball in 1982 and a year later advanced to the NCAA Final Four. Within
just four short seasons, Landers had taken a program with a cumulative
winning percentage of less than .350 and turned Georgia into the
hottest women's basketball schools in the nation. The
true measure of the Lady Bulldogs' national stature has been the
continuation of such success. Landers' teams have averaged 24.3 wins
per season in Athens, giving him the third-best annual tally among all
Division I coaches with as much tenure. Sandwiched
between 30-win seasons in both 1984 and 1986, Georgia reached the 1985
NCAA Championship game. The Lady Dogs also earned NCAA bids in 1987,
1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991 -- giving Georgia the distinction of playing
in the first 10 NCAA Tournaments. Though
missing the "Big Dance" for the first time ever in 1992, the Lady Dogs
still advanced to the championship game of the SEC Tournament that
season. A second consecutive trip to the SEC Tourney final resulted in
a return the NCAAs in 1993. After
starting five freshmen and finishing just 17-11 in 1994, the same
nucleus of talent has led Georgia to three of its most successful
seasons ever. The Lady Bulldogs
returned to the NCAA Tournament with a ban in 1995, reaching the Final
Four with a junior and four sophomores in the starting five. Since
then, Georgia has earned a bid in dozen straight NCAA Tournaments. The
primary reason for such outstanding performances throughout the last
two decades is still a key ingredient in the Lady Bulldogs' success --
securing the nation's best players to wear the Red & Black. Landers
readily admits that the secret to Georgia's prominence has more to do
with the hard work of his players than anything else. Over the years,
Lady Bulldog fans have had the opportunity to call not only the best
players in the nation, but the best in the world, their very own. Janet
Harris, a four-time All-American from 1982-85, was the first in what is
still a rapidly increasing list of Georgia standouts. Teresa
Edwards won her first gold medal as the youngest member of the 1984
U.S. Olympic Team after her sophomore season with the Lady Bulldogs. In
1996, she became the first U.S. basketball player – male or female --
to compete in five Olympic Games. Joining
her in Atlanta was former Lady Bulldog teammate Katrina McClain,
competing in her third Olympiad. Edwards and McClain were then the
backbone of U.S. National Teams for more than a decade – headlining
teams which won gold medals at the 1988 and 1996 Olympics, the 1986 and
1990 World Championships, and the 1987 Pan Am Games, as well as a
bronze medal at the 1992 Olympics. Edwards completed her international career as co-captain of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team and by securing her fourth Gold Medal. During
the mid-1990s, La’Keshia Frett, Tracy Henderson, Kedra Holland-Corn and
Saudia Roundtree led Georgia to back-to-back Final Fours and
consecutive SEC Championships before embarking on successful
professional careers. Of late,
greats like Coco and Kelly Miller, twin sisters who both scored more
than 2,000 points for the Lady Bulldogs; Deanna “Tweety” Nolan, the MVP
of the 2006 WNBA Finals; and Sherill Baker, the 2006 National Defensive
Player of the Year have added their name alongside those previous
greats. | 
