This week has featured the return of one of my favorite traditions around “DawgNation Daily” — the Golden Shoe Bracket Challenge.
There are plenty of contests around March Madness that feature intense competition with the chance to win fabulous prizes. Our bracket challenge isn’t one of those. Instead, ours is informal and intended solely for fun, and every year it seems to deliver.
I’m writing this because if you read this early on Thursday morning, you still have time to get a bracket in to me if you’d like to participate. Just send me an email at brandon.adams@dawgnation.com with your contact info and I’ll send you back a link to make your picks.
You may have to act fast to get them in before the deadline — which is around noon on Thursday — but I’m happy to add as many folks as we can before the tournament begins.
And speaking of the Big Dance, best wishes to Georgia in its first-round game in Buffalo, New York, on Thursday night against St. Louis. This is a great opportunity for the Dawgs to thrive on college basketball’s biggest stage, and we hope they’re able to do just that.
Check out the rest of our coverage below.
Trivia time
When is the last time Georgia basketball advanced past the first round of the NCAA Tournament?
Answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.
Why center Somto Cyril is critical to UGA’s plans vs. Saint Louis
Boots-on-the-ground reporting uncovered the following truths about Georgia sophomore center Somto Cyril on Wednesday.
He is ambidextrous. He shoots and writes with his right hand. He uses his left hand to eat and for most of his blocked shots.
“I don’t think people know about (that),” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s something unique about me.”
He loves driving-related video games, to the point that he has a racing cockpit setup at his home. Forza Horizon is a favorite.
Lastly, perhaps more than any Bulldog, Cyril will be essential to Georgia’s endeavor to defeat Saint Louis in its NCAA Tournament first-round game at Buffalo’s KeyBank Center on Thursday night.
Here’s why: The most-feared Billikens player is center Robbie Avila, the Atlantic 10 player of the year. Avila leads Division I centers in assists and 3-pointers per game (4.1 and 1.9, respectively).
“I think what really separates him as a 6′10″, 240 (pound player) is his ability to pass the basketball,” UGA coach Mike White said. “It makes everybody around him better. They’ve got other good passers, too, but I don’t think we’ve faced a ‘5’ that passes it like this season.”
Georgia players share which future Bulldogs will break out
For those participating in drills at Georgia’s pro day, Wednesday was the last time they would compete while representing the Bulldogs.
But if you took a quick scan around the Payne Indoor Facility, you’d see plenty of familiar faces that came back. Defensive end Travon Walker was there. So, too, were offensive linemen Tate Ratledge and Amarius Mims. Even Brock Bowers made time to chop it up with some old teammates.
There was an obvious connection from the past to the present Georgia players. And that group that is getting set to move on to the next level is very excited about what the future of this program holds.
It’s hard not to ask those leaving about who might be replacing them. It was a popular question for those NFL draft hopefuls on Wednesday.
And based on the answers given, there’s a lot to be excited about with next season’s team. A number of players shared their thoughts on who has next at their respective positions.
Use the link below to read some of the answers shared by the departing Bulldogs, who will one day hope to return and watch their younger teammates chase their NFL dreams.
“He reminds me of Garrett Wilson. You know how he gets out of breaks, runs his routes, how he attacks the ball. When he first came, it was like he wasn’t a freshman. He obviously has some things to work on. He knows what he needs to work on. Knowing that, knowing his personal stuff, he’s going to be a great player for sure.”
Kirby Smart discusses the Atlanta Falcons
At the Payne Indoor Facility on Wednesday, the Atlanta Falcons personnel on hand dwarfed that of any other team.
All 32 NFL teams were present, with a number of key decision-makers on hand. John Lynch of the San Francisco 49ers and Brian Gutekunst of the Green Bay Packers were two of the NFL general managers present.
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy and Dallas Cowboys assistant Chidera Uzo-Diribe, hired off Kirby Smart’s 2025 coaching staff, were also on hand to watch the various NFL draft prospects go through drills.
But it was impossible to ignore the presence of the home state team in Athens.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski was present, as he chatted with Smart. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich was stalking the sidelines as players worked out. Atlanta offensive line coach Bill Callahan ran Micah Morris and Monroe Freeling through drills. General manager Ian Cunningham spoke with tight ends coach Todd Hartley, while it was impossible to ignore the Falcons’ president of football Matt Ryan.
“Seeing Matt Ryan out here today was just like, you know, shocking,” tight end Oscar Delp said. “Like, don’t matter how old I get, I can always have that little kid in me where, you know, you see him, and you’re like, ‘Man, that’s crazy.’ So I was kind of fanned out a little bit seeing him. I wanted to go up and talk to him, didn’t really get the chance to.”
