It took some time, but Mike White's Georgia Bulldogs are finally playing up to their potential under him as SEC play has begun to wind down. Georgia enters play on Wednesday at No. 25 Vanderbilt with a 19-8 overall record and a 7-7 mark vs. conference foes. The Bulldogs' NET rating is now a strong 33 with an impressive 5-6 record over Quad 1 opponents, as well as a strong 5-1 mark over the Quad 2.
Coming off its best week of the season with a road upset of Kentucky and a home beatdown of Texas, Georgia finally improved its seeding in the wonderful world of Bracketology. ESPN's Joe Lunardi had UGA as a No. 9 seed in Tuesday morning's update. Of course, a road loss to Vanderbilt in a Quad 1 game could knock them down a peg. If UGA finishes 2-2 in its final four games, it shall make the field.
So how likely is Georgia to pull off a road victory over a ranked Vanderbilt squad, According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Vanderbilt will be laying 8.5 points to visiting Georgia on Wednesday evening. The associated moneylines for this game are Vanderbilt -490 and Georgia +365. The projected point total is 163.5 combined points. We are looking at a final score of roughly Vanderbilt 86, Georgia 77.5.
Simply, an upset Quad 1 victory over Vanderbilt will get Georgia on the positive side of the bracket.
Georgia should become a No. 8 seed or better with an upset of Vanderbilt
When looking at these team's respective Bracketology trends, Georgia has been at or above a No. 10 seed since SEC play began. While the Bulldogs were stuck at a No. 10 seed projection for five straight updates, they finally improved to a No. 9 seed with key wins over Kentucky and Texas. Truth be told, Kentucky has hit a bit of the skids, but did beat South Carolina last night. Texas is a last four bye team.
Vanderbilt is a No. 5 seed in the latest Bracketology update. Interestingly enough, they are playing crosstown rival Belmont in this projection of a No. 5 vs. No. 12 game. As far as how things have gone for Vanderbilt of late, the Commodores have been as high as a No. 2 seed as the SEC's automatic qualifier. They have dropped down to No. 5 in recent weeks and seem to be declining just a little bit...
Not to say that a win over Vanderbilt will have Georgia getting up into that range of seeding, but finishing the season on a 5-1 run with only a projected home loss to Alabama would do wonders for them. Georgia has been as high as a No. 7 seed at times this season. If they win out to get to the SEC Tournament at a dazzling 23-8 (11-7), that should be more than enough to merit them being ranked.
For now, Vanderbilt is a bit more vulnerable than expected, especially with how well Georgia is playing.