What a statement victory for Mike White's Georgia Bulldogs! After having lost five of their previous six games during SEC play, Georgia entered Tuesday night's road affair at Kentucky in potentially a bad spot. The second Florida loss was rough. The road defeat at Oklahoma was quite embarrassing. But from the ashes of the burnt Norman popcorn machine rose a mighty phoenix for the Red and Black!
Yes, Georgia was able to pull off the massive road upset of Kentucky on Tuesday night, 86-78. Blue Cain led the way for UGA with 20 points on a very nice 6-of-9 shooting. The return of Jeremiah Wilkinson was a huge boost for the Bulldogs as well. He came off the bench with 19 points in a gutsy performance for him. Marcus Millender got the start in his place with 14 points and eight assists.
Because Georgia was a 7.5-point road underdog, as well as it being a Quad 1 win, barring something unforeseen, the Bulldogs should be making the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons for the first time in eons! At 18-8 on the season and 6-7 in SEC play, it would take something borderline unpredictable for UGA to miss out on the tournament. They should go up in Bracketology as well...
Let's unpack a bit more how significant this win is for the Bulldogs and what it means going forward.
Georgia approaches NCAA Tournament lock territory after Kentucky win
Over the last four Bracketology updates, ESPN's Joe Lunardi has had Georgia as a No. 10 seed. For quite a while, he had the Bulldogs as the top No. 10, but they dropped down to the third-best No. 10 in Tuesday morning's update. Keep in mind that the No. 11 seeds are where the cut line resides for projected at-large teams. With this win over Kentucky, Georgia should be a No. 9 seed come Friday...
The reason we can forecast this is a Georgia team with a NET rating of 39 just pulled off a monumental Quad 1 road win over Kentucky, a team with a NET rating of 28. While Arkansas remains UGA's best win on the season, the road defeat of the Wildcats was easily the most impressive. As long as the Missouri and LSU wins carry clout, as well as Auburn's improves, UGA is certainly a lock.
In the end, 20 regular-season wins was always going to be the line of demarcation for Georgia to make the tournament. They have five more games. Two are against Quad 1 opponents at Vanderbilt and home vs. Alabama. It has two more Quad 2 games. Those will be at home vs. Texas and at Mississippi State to finish the SEC slate. Its Quad 3 game is at home vs. South Carolina next weekend.
Right now, it is going to be next to impossible to keep Georiga out of the field of 68 with this UK win.