Well, this is certainly something... While the latest Bracketology update has the Georgia Bulldogs still as a No. 9 seed, what ESPN's Joe Lunardi had to say about them speaks volumes. He made it a point to single out the Bulldogs, along with four other SEC teams in the blurb of his most recent update. Lunardi has Georgia as the first of the last four teams to get a bye. Now look at who the next four are...
Right behind Georgia, Lunardi has Missouri, Texas A&M, and Texas as the other last four teams to get a bye. The first team he has among his last four in would be Auburn. So yes, Georgia finds itself atop a competitive SEC cluster with Missouri, Texas A&M, Texas, and Auburn. It beat Missouri and Auburn, split with Texas, but lost to Texas A&M. Georgia may not be as ahead of the cut line as we envisioned.
This snippet from Lunardi's blurb on the emerging SEC bubble situation at hand is rather omenous.
"You'll notice the SEC represents each of the current Last Four Byes, plus the first team among the Last Four In, in what could be a nightmare brewing for the selection committee ... The five teams in question -- Georgia, Missouri, Texas A&M, Texas and Auburn -- are not likely to remain in such perfect order, but the extremely close nature of their resumes suggest that one or more could play their way out of the field given head-to-head possibilities down the stretch or in the SEC Tournament."
Now that we have let that sink in for a second, what will Georgia have to do to make the tournament?
Joe Lunardi challenges Georgia to go make the field of 68 comfortably
Heading into the final three games of the regular season, Georgia is 19-9 overall, 7-8 in SEC play, and has a NET rating of 33. Georgia is 4-7 in Quad 1 games and 6-1 vs. Quad 2 opponents. While the Quad 3 loss to Ole Miss looks worse by the day, Georgia stands a great chance to make the NCAA Tournament regardless. It has everything to do with who they will have to play the rest of the way...
Georgia has three conference games left. They will host South Carolina on Saturday in what will be a Quad 3 game for the Dawgs. A win here would certainly take some pressure off the team, while a loss could have Georgia between a rock and a hard place when it comes to making the tournament. It would probably need to beat Alabama at home in a Quad 1 to overcome that type of conference loss.
After those two games, Georgia will finish the regular season at Mississippi State in a Quad 2 matchup. Going off strictly NET ratings, Georgia should beat South Carolina at home and Mississippi State on the road, but will lose to Alabama in between to finish the regular season at 21-10 (9-9). In all honesty, that mark could be good enough to make the field of 68, regardless of the SEC Tournament.
Overall, Lunardi may not see a ton separating Georgia between the other four SEC tournament hopefuls in question. That being said, there is value in Georgia being listed first among the quintet of note. As long as the Bulldogs play up their standard, they should be fine. Any improvement for UGA on the defensive glass, from beyond the arc, and in critical mental situations would be huge for them.
In the end, Georgia just needs to keep this thing on the tracks to earn back-to-back NCAA berths.