Georgia Lady Bulldogs Basketball Coach Andy Landers chasing career marks in 2014

By Richard Gnann | Sep 3, 2014

Andy Landers enters his 36th season at the University of Georgia within reach of two significant milestones that will grant him legendary status as the Georgia Lady Bulldogs Head Coach.

Landers is seven wins away from 850 victories at the University of Georgia and 25 wins away from 950 career wins as a collegiate head coach. Landers may have an opportunity to reach 850 wins at his alma mater, Tennessee Tech, in the seventh game of the season.

Last year, Landers led the Lady Dogs to a 29th 20-win season, earning a 31st NCAA Tournament bid, second-most of any program in the nation. Georgia has appeared in the past 20 NCAA Tournaments. All told, Coach Landers’ Lady Bulldogs have advanced to 20 “Sweet 16s,” 11 “Elite Eights,” five Final Fours and finished as NCAA runners-up in both 1985 and 1996.

Landers will chase both career win milestones – and the legendary status they represent – through a schedule that features games against 19 teams that advanced to the postseason last spring.

“This will be an extremely challenging schedule,” head coach Andy Landers told Georgiadogs.com. “There are at least six teams on the non-conference schedule that will compete for their conference championship. And the SEC…while it has always been competitive, this year will be even more so. Our league, top to bottom, is the best.”

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The Lady Dogs will have plenty of TV time with 10 of 16 Southeastern Conference dates airing, seven on the SEC Network and three on Fox Sports Net.

The Lady Bulldogs open the season with a Friday-Sunday homestand the weekend of the Georgia-Auburn football game. Georgia will host Morgan State on Friday, November14 at 7 p.m. and then take on TCU two days later at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

The Lady Dogs hit the road the following week for matchups with two power conference schools. Georgia will face Ohio State on Wednesday, November 19 before traveling to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech on Sunday, November 23.

Thanksgiving week, the Lady Bulldogs host back-to-back contests with Georgia Southern on Tuesday and Colgate on Wednesday, and travel to Tennessee Tech, Landers’ alma mater, on Saturday, November 29.

Georgia’s remaining five non-conference games include a trip to Mercer, home games against Michigan State, Furman and Belmont , and a trip to Seton Hall.

The opening day of SEC play will shift from its traditional Thursday date to Friday, January 2. Georgia will travel to Mississippi State for the SEC opener. The Lady Bulldogs’ home-and-home SEC foes this winter will be Florida, Auburn and Tennessee.

Georgia’s 11 games against 2014 NCAA Tournament participants will come against Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, Tennessee (twice), Kentucky, South Carolina, Florida (twice) and LSU. The eight contests versus WNIT teams from last season are TCU, Furman, Belmont, Seton Hall, Mississippi State, Missouri and Auburn (twice).

The Lady Bulldogs will return four starters – guards Shacobia Barbee and Erika Ford and forwards Krista Donald and Merritt Hempe – and six additional letterwinners from last season. In addition, six newcomers will join the Georgia roster this fall – four freshmen and two transfers.

The Georgia staff got a jump on preparations for the upcoming season during the Lady Bulldogs’ 10-day, three-game exhibition tour of Italy earlier this month. Georgia won all three of its contests in Italy by an average of 34.0 points per game.

“Our trip to Italy has allowed our coaches and players to assess where we stand,” Landers said. “We know more going into the fall than we would have otherwise. We have the pieces. Now, we must create a competitive team.”

Coach has been their and done that – he’s looking for the t-shirt this year. It will have legend across the back if he is successful.

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