The nation’s coaches this week agreed with their counterparts in the AP media poll: The Lady Bulldogs are a Top Ten team. Georgia moved up three positions in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, jumping from #12 to #9. Here’s this week’s ESPN/USA Today top five and Georgia’s ranking:

1. Connecticut

2. Stanford

3. Notre Dame

4. Tennessee

5. Baylor

9. GEORGIA

Click here to see the entire ESPN/USA Today Top 25.

Take a look at the infamous Detroit media guide cover that Coach Landers has prominently displayed (to the tune of 20 copies, according to the Athens Banner-Herald) in the locker room, practice gym, and anywhere else his undefeated Lady Bulldogs would be unable to avoid seeing it. Here’s Andy, as quoted in the AB-H: “When their media guide is a picture of the scoreboard of the win over Georgia, it helps me relate to the younger kids that this is what you bought into. We are the biggest game on a lot of people’s schedule and we’re always a huge game on anybody’s schedule.”

Tonight, Detroit is a huge game on Georgia’s schedule. See you there.

Click here to read the “Detroit media guide” article from the Athens Banner-Herald.

Our good friend Jermaine King, editor of Fastbreaking News, has referred to these opening weeks of the 2009-10 schedule as the Georgia Lady Bulldogs “Redemption Tour.” Why “redemption”? Because the first two months of the season have seen the Lady Dawgs get a measure of payback for several tough losses in the last couple of years. Georgia has already handed out receipts to Oklahoma, Rutgers, Tech, and Virginia this season…now it’s time to avenge a loss that had the women’s basketball pundits on national TV wondering “What’s wrong with Georgia?” when the score scrolled across the bottom of the screen on ESPN and CNN: Detroit – 70, Georgia – 66. That particular result alone elevates tomorrow night’s game between the Titans of Detroit and our Lady Bulldogs to an event of significant interest.

Georgia and Detroit will tip-off at 7:00 PM tomorrow night at Stegeman Coliseum. It’s your last chance to see the Lady Bulldogs in action before Christmas…so put down the eggnog and head on out to the Coliseum. We’ll have a game recap and exclusive Georgia/Detroit photos posted right here within a couple of hours of the final buzzer.

Click here for the official Georgia/Detroit game notes.

Here’s a link to the official Detroit women’s basketball page.

Click here to see the entire Titan roster.

The SEC awards committee must have J.J. on speed-dial by now.

This just in from the UGA Sports Communications office:

ATHENS, GA. — Georgia’s Jasmine James (pictured) has been tabbed SEC Freshman of the Week for women’s basketball on Monday, the third time in six weeks that the Memphis native has been honored as such.

On Sunday, James recorded team highs of 17 points, 10 rebounds and three steals to lead No. 11 Georgia to a decisive 69-53 victory over No. 19 Virginia in the Lady Bulldogs’ only game last week. She notched career-high tallies in rebounds, steals and minutes played (37) and posted her first career double-double.

James scored 11 points in the first half and her three-pointer with 8:29 left in the opening period gave Georgia the lead for good and sparked a 13-1 surge that turned a two-point deficit into a 10-point lead.

James, a 5-9, guard, also was named SEC Freshman of the Week on Nov. 16 and Nov. 30. She was honored initially after scoring a team-high 15 points in Georgia’s upset of No. 13 Oklahoma in the season opener and was selected again after averaging 19.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists in a trio of victories over Alabama State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Southern Miss.

The Lady Bulldogs improved to 10-0 with the victory over Virginia, the third ranked opponent Georgia has defeated this season. The Lady Bulldogs complete their pre-Christmas slate on Tuesday night when they host Detroit at Stegeman Coliseum at 7:00 PM.

(Photo courtesy of Georgia Sports Communications)

It’s been a long road to get back there, but your Georgia Lady Bulldogs are today once again breathing the rarified air of the nation’s elite. A resounding victory over Virginia yesterday (combined with losses this past week by Tennessee and LSU) has vaulted the Lady Dawgs into the Top Ten. Georgia checks in at #9 in this week’s AP Poll of the national women’s college basketball media. Check back here tomorrow afternoon for the updated ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. Here’s the AP top five and Georgia’s ranking:

1. Connecticut

2. Stanford

3. Notre Dame

4. Tennessee

5. Baylor

9. GEORGIA

Click here to see the entire AP Top 25.

Georgia – 69, Virginia – 53. The Lady Bulldogs responded to what Coach Landers referred to as “…the biggest challenge (they’ve) faced…” with their finest all-around effort of the season as they rolled up on Virginia by 16 points today at the Coliseum. Georgia “D”ed-up on the Cavaliers like a team on a mission, allowing Virginia only 22 points in the first half. After the halftime intermission, the Lady Dawgs stretched their lead out to 25 points early in the second half and that was pretty much that. The perfect start continues as Georgia improves their record to a glistening 10-0  and they will almost certainly be a Top-10 team when this week’s AP Poll is released on Monday.

J.J. once again led the Lady Bulldogs in scoring with 17 points. Porsha scored 14 points and keyed the offensive surge early in the second half that put the game out of reach for the Cavaliers. Angel went double-double with 11 points and 10 boards. Meredith got into some early foul trouble but she made life miserable for Virginia’s superstar scorer Monica Wright. On the Cavs’ second possession of the game, Meredith blocked an attempted jumper by Wright into the fifth row of the baseline seats. Talk about setting a tone! And we would be remiss if we didn’t mention that everybody’s favorite walk-on three-point sniper, Candace Williams, drilled two more threejacks from way downtown. Everybody played, everybody did something worthy of note…just a fantastic total team effort today.

No rest for the Lady Bulldogs as they’ll be right back on the court this Tuesday night at Stegeman to take on Detroit (The School Formerly Known As Oakland). They’ll try to avenge a stunning loss to Oakland last year that left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. It’s the last home game before Christmas…so come on out and do a little holiday cheering for your undefeated Lady Bulldogs. We’ll have a preview of the Detroit game posted sometime during the day tomorrow (Monday).

Click here for the official Georgia/Virginia recap and a link to the stats and box score.

After a twelve-day hiatus for final exams, the Lady Bulldogs return to the court this Sunday afternoon when they host the nationally ranked (19th in AP, 17th in ESPN/USA Today) Cavaliers of Virginia. Even taking into account impressive wins over Oklahoma, Rutgers, and Georgia Tech, you’ll see in the game notes linked below that Coach Landers considers Virginia “…the biggest challenge we’ve faced…” Virginia is led by the spectacular Monica Wright. Wright is the total package…she averages twenty points a game, shoots the three-ball, and  she also leads the Cavs in rebounding. However, there’s a steep drop-off in just about all offensive categories when you start scoping out the rest of the Virginia starters. The Lady Bulldogs might be well served to try and hold Wright to a “quiet” double-digit scoring game while bringing the hammer down defensively on her teammates. The Cavs broke the Lady Dawgs’ hearts up in Charlottesville last season (winning 62-60)…look for Georgia to come out rested and ready to defend their home floor.

Georgia and Virginia square off at 2:30 PM this Sunday afternoon at Stegeman Coliseum. If you can’t be there in person, Jeff and Maria will have all the action live for you on the Georgia Bulldog Radio Network family of stations (check your local listings). It’s another “Thanks For Being A Dawg Day” and that means you can get in for just a buck if you buy your ticket at the gate on game day. Kid’s Gym will be in the house and no doubt earning yet another halftime standing ovation…and the first 1,000 fans to show up will get a free Lady Bulldog “Holiday Hat.” As always, we’ll have a game recap, web links, and exclusive Georgia/Virginia photos posted right here shortly after the game’s conclusion. See you at the Coliseum this Sunday!

Click here for the official Georgia/Virginia game notes.

Here’s a link to the Virginia women’s basketball page.

Click here to see the entire Cavalier roster.

For the last few seasons, over on ESPN’s website, women’s college basketball analyst Charlie Creme has penned a regular “Bracketology” feature in which he projects the entire 64-team NCAA Tournament field. He even seeds the teams into regions and projects potential opening round match-ups. I can’t say I remember him ever posting a set of brackets this early…before most teams have played a single conference game…but it’s worth checking out just for a quick overview of the nation’s top programs and to read Charlie’s comments about each team (just roll your cursor over any team to read the comment). As of this week, Charlie has Georgia pegged as a number-four seed in the Dayton Region. And, yeah, it’s December…but, still…not too shabby.

Click here to see the season’s first edition of Charlie Creme’s “Bracketology.”

The Lady Bulldogs continue to gradually creep up in the polls with the steadfast tenacity of the mountain climber from the game on “The Price Is Right.” The nation’s coaches bumped Georgia from 13th to 12th this week. You’ve got to figure that a win over Virginia at home this weekend vaults the Lady Dawgs into the top ten. Texas A&M took a loss and tumbled from the top five, leaving room for Baylor to sneak back in. Connecticut is, as seemingly ever, your unanimous number-one team in the nation. Here’s this week’s ESPN/USA Today top five and Georgia’s ranking:

1. Connecticut

2. Stanford

3. Tennessee

4. Notre Dame

5. Baylor

12. GEORGIA

Click here to see the entire ESPN/USA Today Top 25.

These pics are courtesy of Fastbreaking legend Kris Bakowski. Thanks, Kris!