The Georgia Bulldogs found a way to win ugly on the road at Missouri earlier in the week. Fresh off a 74-72 nail-biter of a game in CoMo, the No. 21 team in the nation improved to 16-3 overall and 4-2 in SEC play. Missouri was probably the better team throughout, but the Tigers are the ones dropping to 13-6 on the season and 3-3 in league play. As expected, this win did impact Georgia in Bracketology.
In Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology update for ESPN on Friday morning, he has Georgia improving from a No. 8 seed to a No. 7 seed. At this time, Georgia is projected to face the Miami Hurricanes in the No. 7 vs. No. 10 game in the South Region. The No. 1 seed in that region is UConn. Instead of playing them in the Round of 32, Georgia would take on another football school in No. 2 Nebraska...
From the early looks of it, the South Region is the place to be for Georgia. Yes, you do have traditional powers like UConn, North Carolina, and St. John's in this region, but you have room to grow. If you can get past Miami in Oklahoma City, maybe you can play any of them, or even No. 4 Florida later on? This team does not feel locked in by having to play the top seed in the region immediately upon winning.
Of course, we are looking at the Miami matchup, wondering what could have been in the Fiesta Bowl...
Georgia projected to face Miami in No. 7 vs. No. 10 in NCAA Tournament
Fresh off back-to-back Quad 1 wins over Arkansas (20) and Missouri (68), Georgia obviously deserved to go up from a No. 9 to No. 7 seed over the course of a week. Lunardi has Arkansas as one of nine SEC tournament teams. He also has Missouri as one of the next four out with Creighton, Baylor, and TCU. So what does all of this mean for Georgia heading into the Texas game on Saturday?
In the SEC grand scheme of things, Georgia is seeded behind Florida (No. 4), Vanderbilt (No. 4), Alabama (No. 5), and Arkansas (No. 5), on par with Kentucky (No. 7) and Tennessee (No. 7), but ahead of Auburn (No. 9) and Texas A&M (No. 9). Texas is among the first four out with Stanford, Santa Clara, and Indiana. LSU, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, and South Carolina are not in Bracketology...
With Lunardi having 10 Big Ten teams in the field, as well as nine from both the ACC and SEC, he expects for this year's tournament to be top-loaded once again. The only other leagues with multiple bids in the field are the Big 12 (seven), the Big East (four), the Mountain West (two), and the West Coast (two). As long as Georgia holds its own in league play, the Bulldogs should easily make the field.
Assuming this does hold true, maybe we do get that Georgia vs. Miami matchup we all were wanting?