Bubble Watch: How About Georgia?

Looking at the latest ESPN Bubble Watch article, where they break down the teams by conferences as far as who is a lock, who should be in and who still has work to do, I cannot help but wonder if anybody over there is actually watching the games. Take the SEC for example. Under the “Locks” they have the Florida Gators and Kentucky Wildcats. OK, that is a no-brainer.

But then they have nobody listed as “should be in”  and under “teams with work to do” they list the Tennessee Volunteers and the Missouri Tigers. Wait, what? No Georgia Bulldogs? Didn’t your network televise the game on Tuesday night when UGA dismantled Mizzou by 15 points? That was the second time they beat the Tigers already this season by the way. You have Missouri rated ahead of them because they beat UCLA? That’s it?

OK, Georgia had some bad losses in the non-conference part of their schedule. They lost to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Davidson Wildcats, Temple Owls and George Washington Colonials. Nobody is saying those losses should not count against them, but these Bulldogs are 10-5 in the SEC with two wins over the Tigers, and also wins over the Ole Miss Rebels, Arkansas Razorbacks and LSU Tigers who all have been mentioned in NCAA Bubble talks more often than Georgia.

How a team plays in the conference should count for more than what happened three months ago. Why? Because the NCAA Tournament is at the end of the season. Who watched that game on Tuesday and thought that Missouri is a better team than Georgia? Not even Frank Haith would say that now. In December, maybe they were.

OK, but Missouri has a better overall record than Georgia. that’s fine. Take that into consideration. I’m not suggesting that had  the South Carolina Gamecocks beaten the Gators twice then they are a better team and deserve to go to the NCAA Tournament (a situation that did indeed happen in 2006 when the Gators won it all). But right now, UGA is 16-11 and 10-5. Mizzou is 19-9 and 7-8. Why is the selection people rewarding 19-9 and not punishing 7-8 or vice versa? In non-conference play, these two teams played different opponents. In SEC play, they are playing the same opponents. Georgia has two head to head wins over the Tigers and are three games ahead of them in the standings.

If UGA wins out, they should get a third SEC berth in the NCAA Tournament over any other opponent. Then if UT or Mizzou can win out, then they should get the nod over the other if the committee let’s in a fourth team. The two play each other the last game of the regular season, so only one can win out. Georgia has games against Arkansas and LSU remaining, so if they win out it won’t be against cupcakes.

Now, if the LSU Tigers can beat the Gators in Gainesville on Saturday, then they would perhaps deserve to be the third SEC team in the mix. A win over a number one team on the road is certainly something no other SEC team has pulled off this season, so that would be a huge feather in LSU’s cap. The Tigers are 17-10 and 8-7 with wins over Missouri, Kentucky and Arkansas, and another one point OT loss to Kentucky. A win over the Gators might be enough to leapfrog them over all the others except Kentucky.

This will all shake out a little more over the weekend and then over the next week before the SEC Tournament starts. There is a lot of basketball to be played. But if the tournament were to start tomorrow, I would think the Bulldogs deserve to be there over Mizzou or Tennessee.