Who will be this year’s UGA at SEC tourney?

Tampa — Insert tornado reference here.

That might as well be a prerequisite for Georgia players and coaches being interviewed in advance of the Southeastern Conference men’s basketball tournament. Disastrous season aside, a lot of people want to ask the defending champion Bulldogs (12-19, 3-13 SEC) the same question about this year’s tournament at the St. Pete Times Forum: are they praying for bad weather?

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Rich Addicks/raddicks@ajc.com

Sundiata Gaines and the Bulldogs cut down the nets after winning the SEC in surprise fashion last season. Who will be this year’s tourney surprise?

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“We could get a hurricane in Tampa, I guess,” interim coach Pete Herrmann quipped. “But I checked and there’s not one called for.”

Georgia, of course, famously won four games to capture the 2008 title in the tornado-interrupted tournament last March in Atlanta. It remains one of the most amazing athletic feats in recent years and, understandably, is fresh on the minds of the Bulldogs.

Said Herrmann: “A once-in-a-lifetime experience and certainly as satisfying as anything I’ve been involved with in basketball in 40 years,” Herrmann said.

“I know exactly what happened, how it happened, when it happened,” senior co-captain Terrance Woodbury said. “I remember everything. I wonder if it’s going to happen again.”

Georgia is not the only one thinking that way. In fact, the Bulldogs’ achievement last season has provided an inspirational model for all the supposed also-rans.

“We’re certainly aware of it because we’re the team Georgia beat in the finals,” said Arkansas coach John Pelphrey, whose team brings a 2-14 conference record into the tournament. “But you don’t want to get too caught up in winning four games when it all starts with the first one. We’ll focus on Florida and go from there.”

Here are some candidates to be this year’s Georgia:

Arkansas: The Razorbacks (14-15, 2-14) are wearing the tag as worst-in-the-league, which Georgia came in with last year. But they did start 12-1 this season and beat Texas and Oklahoma before the prolonged slide began.

Auburn: Yes, the Tigers (21-10, 10-6) are the 2 seed from the West and have a first-round bye. But they’re the regular-season version of what Georgia was in the tournament. Coach Jeff Lebo began the season on the hotseat, then lost to Mercer, Dayton and Northern Iowa in the first six games. But that had a lot do with Rasheem Barrett being sidelined with a groin injury and now the Tigers and have won eight-of-nine coming in.

Alabama/Vanderbilt winner: The Commodores (19-11, 8-8) won their last three games, including a road win over No. 12 LSU and a home victory over co-East champs South Carolina. Bama (17-13, 7-9) won four of its last five, including road wins at Tennessee and Ole Miss. Winner gets a vulnerable Vols squad in the second round.

Georgia: That’s right, don’t count out Georgia. The Bulldogs knocked off Florida, Vanderbilt and Kentucky in the last three weeks. And with a scorer like Woodbury, anything can happen.