The 2012 NCAA Division One Women’s Basketball Championship is officially underway. Even as I sit here typing this, every higher-seeded team currently in action is pretty much taking care of business. Tomorrow afternoon at Tallahassee’s Donald L. Tucker Center, our Lady Bulldogs (22-8, seeded 4th) will have their own business to take care of as they open NCAA Tournament competition against the Red Foxes of Marist (25-7, seeded 13th). Shortly after the Lady Dawgs and Red Foxes finish chasing each other around, fifth-seeded St. Bonaventure will take on twelfth-seeded Florida Gulf Coast and the winners of tomorrow afternoon’s games will meet at 7:00 PM (Eastern) Tuesday night to determine who moves on to the NCAA “Sweet Sixteen.” Marist will be tough. Even though the specter of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference basketball might not strike much fear into the hearts of rarified-air-breathing SEC fans, rest assured that you don’t win 25 games during a season unless you can ball a little bit. If the Lady Bulldogs take care of the ball, execute on offense, and take full advantage of their advantage in athleticism, we should be right back here on Monday talking about a second-round game Tuesday night. This is when the fun starts…March Madness, baby.

NCAA TOURNAMENT (FIRST ROUND), MARCH 18, 2012

Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee, Florida

#4 GEORGIA VS. #13 MARIST (12:05 PM, Eastern)

TV/Radio/Online: ESPN2/Georgia Bulldog Radio Network/ESPN3.com

Click here for the official Georgia/Marist game notes.

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

Click here to see the entire Red Fox roster.