University of Georgia Athletics
Roundtree To Be Lady Bulldogs' 2015 SEC Legend
January 07, 2015 | Women's Basketball
ATHENS, Ga. --- Saudia Roundtree, who claimed 1996 National Player of the Year honors while leading the Georgia Lady Bulldogs to an NCAA runner-up finish that season, has been chosen as a 2015 SEC Legend. Roundtree will represent the Lady Bulldogs at the 2015 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament in Little Rock, Ark. The league office announced the Legends for the seven traditional SEC East schools on Wednesday.
Roundtree was an electrifying guard who led Georgia to Final Four appearances in both of her seasons with the Lady Bulldogs. She was a consensus prep All-American at Westside High School in Anderson, S.C., and the 1994 National Junior College Player of the Year at Kilgore (Texas) Junior College before arriving in Athens in the fall of 1994.
As a junior, Roundtree broke Georgia's single-season record as a junior with 226 assists and led the SEC by averaging 6.8 assists per game. That season, she was named first-team All-SEC by league coaches and helped the Lady Bulldogs to a 28-5 finish and won the NCAA Midwest Regional.
As a senior, Roundtree enjoyed one of the most fruitful single-season hauls of accolades in SEC history. She became the first SEC player to win Naismith National Player of the Year honors since "Pistol" Pete Maravich in 1970 en route to securing consensus National Player of the Year honors. She was tabbed SEC Player of the Year and was later named the SEC Female Athlete of the Year for all sports for the 1995-96 academic year.
Roundtree averaged 16.7 ppg and paced the SEC for a second straight year in assists (5.9 apg) while leading Georgia to an SEC Championship and a runner-up showing in the NCAA Tournament. Many of her best outings came against Georgia's stiffest competition. In a five-game stretch in January, Roundtree led the Lady Bulldogs to wins over No. 4 Tennessee, at No. 24 Auburn, at No. 3 Connecticut, at No. 10 Penn State and at No. 20 Florida by averaging 26.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 6.4 apg and 3.0 spg in those contests.
The conference is announcing the legends from its Eastern Division schools today while the Western Division schools will be announced tomorrow. Each legend will then be celebrated individually on each Sunday and Thursday between January 11 and February 26.
The class will be honored at the 2015 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament, March 4-8 in Little Rock, Ark. Each legend will be honored during halftime of their teams first game of the tournament, all 14 individuals will also be honored as a group, as well as participate in an autograph session during the tournament. Complimentary posters of the Legends will be available at the session.
Additional Legends announced on Wednesday included: Florida's LaTonya McGhee, Basketball, 1989-93; Kentucky's Victoria Dunlap, Basketball, 2008-11; Missouri's Dr. Joann Rutherford, Basketball (Coach), 1975-1998; South Carolina's Adrienne Gautreaux-McDonald, Golf, 2001-04; Tennessee's Mary Ostrowski, Basketball, 1980-84 (Posthumous); and Vanderbilt's Julie Ditty, Tennis, 1998-2001.
