Last week was not what UGA fans were hoping for in the slightest... With a chance to effectively punch their ticket into the NCAA Tournament, Mike White's Georgia Bulldogs played with their food, all before getting their clocks cleaned in the second half, first by Florida and then later to Oklahoma. The 94-78 road disaster in Norman went about as well as that poor popcorn dispenser did for UGA...
As a result, Georgia dropped to 17-8 overall and 5-7 in SEC play. While the OU defeat still goes down as a Quad 1 loss, just like the second Floridian beatdown earlier in the week, Georgia is running out of time to improve its resume before the SEC Tournament. In short, the 2025-26 Bulldogs are playing with fire when it comes to their overall chances of making the NCAA Tournament in the final weeks.
In the latest Bracketology update, ESPN's Joe Lunardi once again has Georgia as a No. 10 seed, but no longer as the top No. 10 seed... He has Georgia behind Texas A&M and UCF, but ahead of USC in the last four byes grouping. The Bulldogs are right ahead of the last four teams to make the NCAA Tournament in UCLA, Santa Clara, TCU, and San Diego State. UGA would play Villanova in round one.
Let's unpack what needs to happen for Georgia to comfortably make the NCAA Tournament now.
Georgia losing ground on its chances of making the NCAA Tournament
Where it stands now, Georgia has six more games left in SEC play. The Bulldogs have three more Quad 1 games left, two more Quad 2 opponents, and one more Quad 3 team left to face in South Carolina. Should Georgia beat Texas at home and Mississippi State on the road to end the season in its Quad 2 games, as well as not stumble at home vs. South Carolina, that should just be enough...
However, if they were to lose any of those three winnable games, just like they did at Oklahoma, Georgia will then probably need to either beat Kentucky in Lexington, Vanderbilt in Nashville, or Alabama at home to avoid playing for their NCAA Tournament lives in the SEC Tournament. All signs are pointing to Georgia being in and around the bubble in the next couple of weeks. This is great...
Overall, it is coming down to a very concerning principle for Georgia. White is getting out-coached in pretty much every second half of late. If he goes up against a head coach who is as good as him, if not better, he always comes up short. This deep 11-man rotation has been solved like a Rubik's cube but the better teams in the SEC. This team is too talented to play this sloppily and uninspired at times.
The good news is the team's best player in Jeremiah Wilkinson will be returning from his injury today.