Georgia basketball was disrespected in SEC Preseason Poll

Georgia football will always reign supreme in Athens, but that doesn't mean we can't get excited about the state of the basketball program either.

Georgia basketball is fresh off an NIT Final Four run and have seen a massive increase in recruiting in recent years as well. So if there was ever a time to get excited about Georgia basketball the time to do so would be now.

However, it appears that the rest of the country hasn't quite bought in to the potential rise that we could see from this year's UGA basketball squad. SEC media days is currently under way for the basketball program, and that disrespect was seen in the first preseason SEC basketball poll.

I was shocked when I first saw this post from CBS Sports Jon Rothstein. I by no means thought Georgia would be viewed as a contender in the SEC, but to picked 12th out of 16 teams makes no sense to me.

Sure the Bulldogs lost a lot of talent off the team that made the NIT's Final Four last season, but they do have a lot of new faces to the team that are very talented. First of all, Georgia is welcoming the No. 15 recruiting class in the country to Athens, led by five-star Asa Newell and four-star Somto Cyril. It is hard to know what to expect from any freshman no matter how highly ranked they are, but these two seem like they are going to be major contributors this season.

The Bulldogs also brought in five transfers this offseason, with guard Tyrin Lawrence being the accusition that excites me the most. The Vanderbilt transfer is coming off a season where he started all 28 games he played in while averaging 13.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. He also had seven games where he scored at least 20 points, with his season high of 23 coming against Kentucky. I beleive he will be a starter for UGA this sesaon and one of the top guards in the entire conference.

But like I said, I don't expect Georgia to compete for an SEC championship this season, but this team does not belong in the bottom half of the preseason standings. This team has NCAA Tournament qualifier written all over it, which would be the first time the Bulldogs have made the Big Dance since 2015.

It may take some time to put the pieces together this season, but I am a firm believer in Mike White and think he is ready to take the next step with the program this season.