Despite the eight-point road loss at Vanderbilt, Mike White's Georgia Bulldogs are in fairly good shape to make the NCAA Tournament once again. They are now 19-9 on the season and a respectable 7-8 in SEC play. One more win will give the Dawgs 20 wins in three straight seasons. Believe it or not, we are in the midst of another peak of Georgia basketball. This team is building something it can sustain.
Georgia will enter the second to last weekend of the regular season with a NET rating of 33. This bodes quite well for its tournament chances. It is why ESPN's Joe Lunardi had the Bulldogs finally moving up a seed to No. 9 in his latest Bracketology update earlier in the week. Yes, they could pull back after the Vanderbilt loss, but at least they covered the 8.5-point spread. This team is confident.
That being said, its best week of the season is firmly in the rearview mirror. Georgia cannot continue to bank on a road win at Kentucky and splitting the Texas series at home. As long as Georgia does not drop an unthinkable Quad 3 game at home to South Carolina in its rematch, it will make the field of 68. Of course, it is all about going further in the NCAA Tournament than the year prior: The Round of 32?
For Georgia to play more than one game in March Madness again, it must improve in these areas.
3. Focus on the defensive glass to prevent second-chance opportunities
While Georgia is one of the better overall rebounding teams in the country at No. 43, they are much better on the offensive glass than when it comes to defensive rebounding. Georgia averages 13.4 offensive rebounds per game, which is 20th best in college basketball. The problem is they are very much middle of the pack on the defensive glass. They are only getting 25.3 rebounds on defense...
What this does is provide the other team many second-chance opportunities while it is on offense. Georgia gives up 13.9 offensive rebounds per game, which is insane. The Bulldogs are actually worse at what they do best. Oh, well. Whatever. Nevermind... Anyway, they really need to focus in on making sure to not squander away more opportunities at possession than they already have. It is a problem...
This may be a consequence of playing with such tremendous pace, but this has proven quite costly.
2. Avoid getting into major foul trouble late in games of crucial contests
With Georgia playing with such relentless pace and a deep rotation, some of these team stats will obviously be impacted by that. However, there have been times where White's team will lose its composure and get called for too many fouls. Some may be ticky-tack, while others are just plain stupid. Georgia averages 17.2 fouls called on it per game, which has the Dawgs 159th in the country.
While Georgia can take advantage of spreading the fouls around to some degree with its well-documented 11-man rotation, the Bulldogs do not want its defensive anchor down low in Somto Cyril in foul trouble, or key guys in the backcourt like Blue Cain, Kanon Catchings, Marcus Millender, or Jeremiah Wilkinson. It cannot afford a hot hand on offense or a defensive maven to be out for them.
Georgia is one of the more talented teams in the SEC, but it is still growing into its own emotionally.
1. Take better shots from distance to make the offensive onslaught count
While defensive rebounding and staying out of foul trouble would be nice, maybe Georgia could take some slightly better shots from 3-point land? Then again, this may be a consequence of playing at such a grueling pace. However, this team attempts the third-most field goals per game in the country at 65.9. 28.4 of them come from beyond the arc. That is 32nd most, but they only make 33.1 percent.
It is a volume play to some degree, but it does feel like, at least on paper, and within the context of the game itself, that there are a ton of wasted possessions on both ends of the floor by this SEC team. Georgia's inherently reckless nature allows them to stay in most games, but can also result in them completely unraveling on a dime. Maybe the Bulldogs should attack the rim a little bit more often?
If Georgia makes a concerted effort to improve in one of these three areas, that would be wonderful.