Georgia basketball: Players turn down NIT invitation after UGA fires Mark Fox
Saturday morning, Greg McGarity fired Georgia basketball coach Mark Fox. The players responded by voting against playing in the 2018 National Invitation Tournament.
For the first time since 2013, Georgia basketball will not play in a post season tournament. The players voted Sunday and they agreed to not accept an invitation to play in the National Invitation Tournament. That choice came just a day after the school announced that they are not retaining Mark Fox for the 2018-19 season.
It’s disappointing that the Bulldogs aren’t going to try to salvage their season by possibly winning the NIT. But not as disappointing as the 16-14 regular season that Georgia settled for this season. Knowing Fox is gone, the players probably don’t have the motivation to prologue their season.
Veterans and all-SEC selections Yante Maten and Juwan Parker are also leaving school. Missing the NCAA Tournament in their final seasons is probably the biggest disappointment of 2018. Especially for Maten who earned SEC Player of the Year honors, a rarity for the player on a team with a losing record in conference play.
It’s clear that the returning players just want to move on from the 2017-18 season. They’re waiting to see who the school will hire to replace Fox, and which assistant coaches will stay with the team.
For fans, regardless of how you feel about the NIT, you had to be ready for this season to end. Not just the season, but the Mark Fox era in general. Fox was a good coach who elevated the program from the depth it was in after the 2000’s. But he just couldn’t get the program over the next hump.
Under Fox, Georgia basketball became an annual post season team again. But a point comes where the NIT isn’t good enough. Fans, donors, alumni and the administration want the Bulldogs to play in the NCAA Tournament more often than not.
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Everyone came into this Georgia basketball season knowing it was Fox’s last chance. He had the most talented team of his tenure at Georgia and the team. Maten was the senior leader and arguably the best player in the SEC. But the team finished just a game over .500. It’s time to move on from the Mark Fox era, there’s no need to prologue it.