It was beautiful while it lasted, but it is no more... The Georgia Bulldogs taking up residency inside the AP Top 25 is over with and done. Despite being a strong 16-4 on the season and 4-3 in SEC play, their brutally bad road loss to Texas knocked them out of this week's AP Top 25. Georgia went from the No. 21 team in the land, to one of the teams receiving votes. Georgia received only 49 votes this week...
Even though it was a Quad 1 road loss to Texas, a team that was expected to beat Georgia in Austin, the 87-67 drubbing at the hands of the Longhorns was bad every way you look at it. Not only did the Dawgs lose by 20 points to a team fighting for its tournament livelihood, but Georgia was actually up 37-30 at halftime. Texas crushing Georgia 57-30 in the second half has fans questioning everything.
With Georgia moving up to a No. 7 seed in the latest Bracketology update, it is a foregone conclusion that ESPN's Joe Lunardi will dock the Dawgs a seed or two on Tuesday's upcoming update. Clearly, it's Quad 1 road win over Missouri was not enough to offset getting blown out on the road at Texas. Georgia needs to protect Stegeman Coliseum this week with its two upcoming conference games.
Georgia hosts Tennessee on Wednesday in a Quad 1 game, with Texas A&M on Saturday in a Quad 2.
Georgia falls out of AP Top 25 after a miserable road showing at Texas
Look. These type of games are bound to happen. Basketball is very much a momentum sport. Georgia went into a dry spell offensively to start the second half. Texas could not miss a shot coming out of halftime, especially from distance. The compounding effect of that ended up being a 27-point swing in the favor of Texas in the second half. So what does this mean for Mike White's Georgia team?
At 16-4 on the season, Georgia is almost certainly going to make the NCAA Tournament, as long as the team holds serve and does not collapse down the stretch in SEC play. Georgia may have cleaned up in the non-conference by playing with such tremendous pace. However, they did not play hardly anyone worth a damn before league play commenced. Its best non-conference team was Clemson...
In the end, Georgia cannot continue to play at this ridiculously frenetic pace and expect to remain in full control of its games. Yes, this coaching methodology being implemented by White can force bad teams to beat themselves. However, there does seem to be a ceiling with it when going up against teams with serious aspirations for March. White cannot afford to get outcoached this badly again...
Sean Miller is the fourth basketball head coach of note to beat White at his game so far this season.