Georgia basketball has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2015. Any Georgia fan will tell you that UGA is a football school, but this long of a break from March Madness is unacceptable even for the biggest Georgia football fans out there.
The fact that UGA hasn’t made the Big Dance in this long is one of the reasons why the fanbase was so excited when Georgia’s basketball team entered SEC play with just one loss. Georgia even started fast in SEC play and were ranked inside the AP Poll top 25 at one point. But then the losses started rolling in and it appeared there was no end in sight. And all of those losses meant that Georgia’s impressive NCAA Tournament resume was now shattered with little hope of resurrection.
Then Tuesday night happened.
Georgia’s win over Florida saved the Bulldogs’ season
Tuesday night marked the biggest win in Mike White’s tenure as he and the Bulldogs took down No. 3 Florida 88-83. Georgia had a 26 point lead at one point, but the Gators fought all the way back and even had a two point lead with one minute remaining in the game. But Blue Cain came to the rescue and helped give Georgia the lead back, a lead they wouldn’t give up again.
Coming into this matchup, Georgia had just four SEC wins and were on the outside looking in when it came to the NCAA Tournament. However, this win will put Georgia squarely on the bubble.
Georgia has not locked in an NCAA Tournament bud yet, and they probably won’t feel 100 percent safe no matter how many more wins they earn this season, but the Bulldogs are in position to get back to the tournament for the first time in a decade. All Georgia has to do now is keep winning, and thankfully their schedule gets much easier the rest of the way.
Gerogia finishes their regular season with games against Texas, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. All three teams are below .500 in SEC play, so UGA will have a great chance at winning all three. A 3-0 record in these games would make it very likely they make the NCAA Tournament, going 2-1 would put them in a good spot as well. But anything worse than that and Georgia would need to make a run in the SEC tournament to get in.
So hopefully Georgia is able to rattle off some wins to close out their regular season, that way there is no pressure on them heading into the SEC tournament.