Despite being 16-4 on the season and a respectable 4-3 in SEC play, we have seen some cracks in the foundation of Mike White's Georgia Bulldogs of late. After getting a Quad 1 win after a missed buzzer-beater at Missouri midweek last week, Georgia put forth an absolutely disgusting second half of basketball on Saturday at Texas. It may have only been a Quad 1 loss, but losing 87-67 really hurts.
So did this impact the Dawgs' standings in the latest Bracketology update? You better believe it did... Georgia dropped from a projected No. 7 seed to a No. 8 seed in a brutally bad region. ESPN's Joe Lunardi has the unranked Bulldogs going up against the Utah State Aggies out of the Mountain West in the No. 8 vs. No. 9 game in a painfully difficult region. It has everything to do with who is at No. 1...
In the event Georgia would advance to the Round of 32, the Bulldogs will almost certainly be taking on the top projected seed in the tournament in the Arizona Wildcats sitting atop the Big 12. They should be able to stake past Long Island with relative ease in the San Diego quadrant of the West Region. This is what you deserve when you get cute, play with your food, and lose badly to Texas...
Who else from the SEC is projected to be making the NCAA Tournament after this weekend's games?
Georgia gets the worst series of matchups possible as a projected No. 8
In the latest Bracketology update, Lunardi has 10 teams from the SEC getting in, matching the best mark of any conference with the Big Ten. Georgia is behind Vanderbilt (No. 4), Florida (No. 4), Alabama (No. 5), Arkansas (No. 5), Tennessee (No. 6), Auburn (No. 7), and Kentucky (No. 7), tied with Texas A&M (No. 8), but ahead of Texas (No. 11). Texas is the last team in. Missouri is one of the next four out, too.
While Georgia has a strong NET rating of 32 with a 3-3 record vs. Quad 1 opponents and a dazzling 4-0 record in Quad 2 games, this team is not as buttoned up as it probably should be for its record. The Selection Committee may see that and punish the Dawgs accordingly should they slip up in the early stages of the SEC Tournament. This team is probably getting in, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Coming up, Georgia has a Quad 1 home game vs. Tennessee on Wednesday, followed by a Quad 2 home game vs. Texas A&M on Saturday. Georgia needs to at the very least to split the pair by this time next week, probably needing to take both to improve to 18-4 on the season. Georgia does get a little bit of reprieve between the Texas A&M home game on Jan. 31 and its road date at LSU on Feb. 7.
For now, Georgia needs to take control of its tournament destiny to avoid a rough first two matchups.