Georgia basketball: From here on out, Mark Fox’s job is on the line every game

Georgia basketball lost to Arkansas in double-overtime Tuesday night. The Bulldogs have now lost five games in SEC play.

Before the new year, we had so many reasons to be optimistic about the rest of the 2018 Georgia basketball season. This is the most talented team in the Mark Fox era and they had just completed the best non-conference schedule in almost a decade. With Yante Maten leading the way and freshmen Nicholas Claxton and Rayshaun Hammonds playing well, all seemed well.

Then SEC play began, and Georgia lost to Kentucky in a close ball game. No big deal, Kentucky is the blue blood program of the SEC. They followed that loss with a win versus Ole Miss and a dominant win over Alabama.

But since then, the season has seemingly fell apart. They crumbled in the second half against Missouri, couldn’t keep up with South Carolina, allowed a big comeback to Auburn and couldn’t finish off Arkansas in regulation. And they barely beat a mediocre LSU team.

The Bulldogs are just 2-5 in SEC play. And we still have five, possibly six games against ranked opponents left on the schedule. A month ago we were on our way to the NCAA Tournament. Now we’ll be lucky to host a game in the NIT. What’s going on?

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The easiest target is head coach Mark Fox. he’s never been a great recruiter. All of his best players have been three-star recruits. And yet he was winning 20 games and the team was close to making the NCAA Tournament every year for a while. His teams over achieved. He just needed to bring in some more talent and Georgia would be rolling.

And now that talent is here and it’s growing up. Maten, has proven he is better than a three-star. Now he’s the senior leader. Tyree Crump and Jordan Harris are one and a half years into their college careers. The freshmen Hammonds and Claxton are already receiving significant playing time over guys like junior Mike Edwards.

Going by the narrative that Mark Fox over achieves with average talent, you’d think he’d have success with the talent of this team. But after a month of SEC play, that hasn’t been the case. And if Fox’s seat wasn’t at least warm going into the season, it has to be heating up now.

Quite frankly, the excuse well has dried up. It’s NCAA Tournament or bust this year. If Fox wants to coach Georgia basketball next year, and if the players want him to coach, they’re going to have start winning a lot.

There are 11 games left. Two against no. 20 Florida and no. 22 Tennessee, and one game against no. 19 Auburn and soon-to-be ranked South Carolina. Plus quality opponents like Kansas State, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and Texas A&M.

The way I see it, Georgia has to win at least seven of those games. They can’t afford losses to the unranked teams, and they have to beat Florida and Tennessee once. That’s the only way they can salvage their record and climb back up the RPI. If they can’t win seven of those games, they’ll need to play well in the SEC Tournament and may need to win it if their record is poor enough.

There are no alternatives besides that. Mark Fox’s job is on the line right now, and it’ll be on the line every game until Georgia can secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Like I said last week, us Georgia basketball fans are growing impatient. The NIT isn’t good enough for us anymore. It’s time to take that step to the next level.

is Fox the man to take Georgia to the next level. This time last year, I wanted to say yes. Most of us were saying yes going into last season as we came off our third-straight 20-win season. But now, with a 12-7 record overall and an abysmal 2-5 record in the SEC, I don’t think Fox is that guy anymore.

Maybe he was at one point and he’s just lost the fire after too many demoralizing loses, Or maybe 19 and 20 win seasons was always his ceiling. Now’s not the time to make the decisions for his future of course. There’s still a lot of basketball left to play.

But it is time to think about Fox’s future, and it’s time to turn up the heat with every passing loss. UGA director of athletics Greg McGarity can’t be too conservative going forward. He has to start looking around for potential replacements if Georgia can’t win these next two or three games.

As for the players, they need to show some pride and passion. Fox is coaching for his job, they need to win him games. They need to get better in practice, especially when it comes to scoring. They need to out hustle every opponent that stands before them. Basically, they need to play like Fox’s job depends on it, because it does.

And Fox needs to show some more passion as well. He knows his job is on the line. How badly does he want to stay in Athens? Fox has to start demanding more from players, take risks, do something to keep his team energized.

Next: Former Bulldogs playing in the Senior Bowl

Goals can’t get more basic, Georgia just needs to win games. The season is on the line. A spot in the tournament is on the line. And the head coach’s job is on the line. Knowing this, let’s now watch how the team responds. Our first glimpse is this Saturday as Georgia basketball travels to Kansas State for the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.