In case you haven't seen the news yet, Georgia basketball has officially made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015 as a 9-seed in the Midwest. While this accomplishment seemed out of reach just three weeks ago, Mike White and the Bulldogs finished the regular season with four straight wins, including a win over Florida, to secure their spot in the NCAA Tournament.
While making the tournament is already enough to call this season a massive success, the job isn't over for the Bulldogs. Sure it may be a little unrealistic to expect Georgia to make a run and win a National Championship, but this team is definitely playing well enough where a few wins is definitely possible.
So who does Georgia play in their first round game? And if they win, who could they play as they advance in the bracket?
Let's dive in and see who is in Georgia's region of the NCAA Tournament bracket.
NCAA Tournament Midwest Region
Seed | Team |
|---|---|
1 | Houston |
2 | Tennessee |
3 | Kentucky |
4 | Purdue |
5 | Clemson |
6 | Illinois |
7 | UCLA |
8 | Gonzaga |
9 | Georgia |
10 | Utah State |
11 | Texas/Xavier |
12 | McNeese |
13 | High Point |
14 | Troy |
15 | Wofford |
16 | SIU Edwardsville |
Georgia faces extremely difficult path
It's a good thing that just making the NCAA Tournament is deemed a success in Athens, because their path in the tourney is very challenging. Georgia's first game comes against 8-seed Gonzaga, who is potentially the best 8-seed in the history of this tournament. According to the famous NET rankings, Gonzaga is the No. 8 team in the country, so that does not bode well for the Bulldogs.
If Georgia can advance past Gonzaga (who are also the Bulldogs) then they will most likely face 1-seed Houston in the second round. While this would be intimidating, Georgia just beat Florida a couple weeks ago who is also a 1-seed. So if they beat a 1-seed before why can't they do it again?
If UGA finds themselves winning both of these games, then their Sweet 16 opponent is tough to project. 4-seed Purdue and 5-seed Clemson could be waiting there, but those are two popular seeds that get upset in the first round every year. So Georgia could get lucky and play a double digit seed at this point.
Regardless of how the season finishes, this year was a massive success for Georgia. And hopefully this is something White can build off of so Georgia fans don't have to wait another decade to see the Bulldogs in the tournament again.