Georgia’s men’s basketball team hasn’t generated a lot buzz nationally for its accomplishments this season. But then most of the world probably is not aware of the historically high water in which the Bulldogs swim, institutionally speaking.
As Georgia (17-12, 11-6 SEC) enters the final game of the regular season — 5 p.m. Saturday at LSU — only two teams in the Bulldogs’ 81-year association with the SEC have won more conference games in a season than this one. This year’s squad could actually tie the 1985 team by scoring a 12th league victory. The 1990 team won the school’s only SEC regular-season title with a 13-5 record.
That the Bulldogs did that a year after losing SEC player of the year Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the NBA draft as a sophomore had some of Mark Fox’s peers recommending him for conference coach of the year.
“I’m really proud of this team, of these kids,” Fox said Friday. “But we’ve never focused on that. We’ve just kept taking things one day at a time, and I’m pleased we’re in the situation we’re in.”
No, Georgia has more present-day goals on its mind. Assured of at least a third-place tie in the league, a victory coupled with a Saturday loss by Kentucky on the road against No. 1 Florida would tie the Bulldogs with the Wildcats for second. More important, it will lock down the No. 3 seed for next week’s SEC tournament at the Georgia Dome.
The top four seeds get what are called “double byes” into the quarterfinal round. The No. 3 seed is a coveted place because it’s in the bracket opposite Florida, which hasn’t lost a conference game. A Georgia loss to LSU (18-11, 9-8) would require a loss by either Tennessee or Arkansas for the Bulldogs to claim the No. 4 seed.
Tennessee (19-11, 10-7) hosts Missouri and Arkansas (21-9, 10-7) plays at Alabama in 4 p.m. games Saturday. Both teams hold tiebreakers over Georgia based on head-to-head results and their records against teams ahead of them in the conference standings.
“It’s not a surprise at all that we’re here,” forward Marcus Thornton said. “At the beginning of the year, the thing we told ourselves is ‘what can we do to get better today?’ This game, this is what we’ve got to take care of. Nothing else matters. We’re not thinking of anything else.”
Therein lies the tough part of the equation. LSU is a good team that is very, very good at home. The Tigers are 7-1 in SEC games at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, 13-2 overall.
They also have the best low-post player in the SEC in Johnny O’Bryant. The Bulldogs got somewhat of a break when they beat LSU 91-78 on Feb. 6 in Athens. O’Bryant played only 14 minutes and fouled out after scoring nine points and getting two rebounds.
“You’ve got to figure out somehow to contain him,” Fox said. “The problem is, he has players all around him. They have good guards who shoot the ball in, they’ve got athletic forwards, and that’s why they’ve got such a good team.”
As it turns out, so does Georgia.
