The NCAA Tournament threshold appears to have been unofficially crossed by Mike White's Georgia Bulldogs. They improved to 19-8 on the season and 7-7 in SEC play after has been their best week of the year so far. Georgia picked up a dazzling Quad 1 road win over Kentucky last week, 86-78. The Bulldogs backed that up with their first home win in a bit over Texas in their big Quad 2 game, 91-80.
So the combination of the road upset victory over Kentucky and splitting the season series with Texas at home has Georgia effectively into the NCAA Tournament field. They are one win away from getting to 20 in three-straight seasons, as well as making it into back-to-back fields of 68. While it did take a minute, ESPN's Joe Lunardi finally improved Georgia's stock in his latest Bracketology update.
Lunardi has Georgia totally off bubble watch now, as a projected No. 9 seed in his field of 68. Granted, the No. 8 vs. No. 9 matchup against Iowa could be challenging for the Dawgs. If there were to win that first-round game over the Hawkeyes in Greenville, they would take on the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils in the Round of 32. After having been a No. 10 seed for five straight updates, this is quite nice.
Let's unpack what Georgia needs to do to make the tournament, and potentially improve its seeding.
Georgia Bulldogs improve to No. 9 seed after latest Bracketology update
Right now, it would take something unforeseen for Georgia not to make the field of 68 again. The Bulldogs are a strong 5-6 vs. Quad 1 opponents and 5-1 in Quad 2 games. While the tough home loss to Ole Miss has them 0-1 in Quad 3 games, it should be noted that its road win over South Carolina has improved to Quad 2 level, as well as its blowout road win over Florida State is now a Quad 1 game.
If teams like Auburn, Texas, or Texas A&M play great basketball down the stretch, those could improve to Quad 1 games for UGA. At this time, Georgia has four more league games left to play. They have a tough Quad 1 road game at Vanderbilt on Wednesday night. After that, they will need to beat South Carolina in a Quad 3 home game to avoid a nightmare scenario over the weekend. Just split the pair...
After that, Georgia has a Quad 1 home game vs. Alabama next week. Georgia will then finish the regular season at Missisippi State in a Quad 2 matchup. Simply put, as long as Georgia does not lose all four of its final games, it should make the NCAA Tournament quite comfortably. Again, a home win over South Carolina will get them to 20, and likely ensure themselves of being a No. 10 seed or better.
To tie a bow on this, beating either Vanderbilt in Nashville or Alabama at Stegeman could improve Georgia's tournament seeding to maybe as high as a No. 7 seed in an absolute best-case scenario. A No. 8 seed is far more likely. Beating South Carolina at home or Mississippi State on the road will help UGA tread water. Any SEC Tournament wins Georgia picks up should be viewed as an added bonus.
Right now, Georgia just really needs that home victory over South Carolina to reach the tournament.