ATHENS — Georgia continued its roll as a Top 25-ranked basketball team on Monday, coming in at No. 21 in the most recent Associated Press poll and No. 22 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
The Bulldogs (14-2, 2-1 SEC) fell three spots from last week’s AP ranking after falling on the road to No. 19 Florida by a 92-77 count last Tuesday before bouncing back with a 75-70 road win at South Carolina on Saturday.
Prior to this season, the most recent time UGA was ranked four or more consecutive weeks in the AP Top 25 was the 2002-03 season, when Jim Harrick was Georgia’s head coach.
The Bulldogs have been ranked in the AP Top 25 poll five-straight weeks this season and four weeks in a row in the Coaches Poll.
Current fourth-year coach Mike White is looking to build off last season’s run to the NCAA tournament, which was the program’s first in 10 years.
The formula for a successful basketball season hasn’t changed since White was a point guard, himself, playing in the SEC at Ole Miss (1995-99).
“Take care of business at home,” the old axiom states where conference games are concerned, “steal a few on the road.”
The No. 21-ranked Bulldogs are off to a good start in that regard after pulling out the road win at South Carolina (10-6, 1-2).
Vanderbilt (16-0, 3-0) currently leads the SEC and is the highest ranked AP Top 25 team in the conference at No. 10, while Arkansas (12-4, 2-1) comes in at No. 17 in this week’s AP Top 25 poll, Alabama (11-5, 1-2) is No.18 and Florida (11-5, 2-1 is at No. 19.
Georgia’s loss to the defending national champion Gators didn’t look quite as bad after Florida took down No. 24 Tennessee in Gainesville on Saturday, 91-67.
Volunteers coach Rick Barnes noted, “Florida has five losses, and I think four of them are to Top 25 teams.”
The perception of the Top 25 is one thing, but the all-important NET ranking — a computerized formula used by the NCAA tournament selection committee — is another.
Georgia was No. 25 in the NET rankings as of Sunday, fourth-best among the SEC teams behind Vanderbilt (seventh), Florida (15th) and Alabama (17th).
The NET ranking is worth keeping an eye on for the Bulldogs as they chase what would be a second-straight NCAA tournament appearance.
There’s a lot of season left, to be sure, including a home game on Wednesday against Ole Miss (9-7, 1-2) that represents the sort of game an NCAA tourney team is supposed win.
The Rebels are coming off their first SEC victory — and arguably their best win of the season — a 76-69 victory over Missouri (12-4, 2-1) on Saturday.
Georgia has another home game at 4 p.m. on Saturday against Arkansas, one of the SEC teams ranked above it, and a projected NCAA tournament team.
As important as Georgia’s first road win of the season was, the manner in which the Bulldogs prevailed was encouraging for White.
Jeremiah Wilkinson, a transfer from Cal, has proven an explosive scorer and in transition, averaging a team-high 16.9 points per game.
Blue Cain is a third-year UGA signee who remains at the heart of the program with his scoring (14.3 points per game), rebounding (5.3 per game) and team-high 29 steals.
But sophomore center Somto Cyril is perhaps the most pivotal player, as UGA lacks size relative to other NCAA tournament-contending teams.
Cyril bounced back at South Carolina from his first-half ejection at Florida with an 18-point, five-rebound performance that included three blocked shots and several other drives to the basket altered by his presence.
Cyril is sixth in the nation with 2.73 block shots per game and brings a rim-protecting presence that Georgia does not otherwise have.
It’s no secret that keeping the athletic, 6-foot-11, 245-pound Cyril out of foul trouble and healthy will be paramount to UGA’s season hopes.
Perimeter shooting is also at a premium for Georgia, like any other team, so getting Kanon Catchings on track (20 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field, including 4-of-9 from 3-point range) was also encouraging.
Catchings, a prized 6-foot-9 transfer from BYU, was brought in to provide scoring punch but has been slow to adjust to finding his rhythm in the Bulldogs’ up-tempo offense.
Georgia still leads the nation in scoring (96.4 points per game) and fast-break points (25.87 per game), but most of those gaudy numbers have come against a non-conference schedule that ranks 327th in the nation.
Better competition awaits the Bulldogs with SEC play underway, with bigger and better ball-handling teams on the slate that can and will do a better job of controlling tempo and settling games into more of a half-court variety.
White has wondered aloud how his team would handle the change of pace, and prevailing in more of a half-court game — on the road, at that — is a confidence builder.
“Every defense will dictate who you play through at times, and who is playing well, and who is making shots,” White noted. “At times we’ll be playing certain teams in this league where the tempo is off the charts.
“Then there will be a handful of games where it’s like it was (at South Carolina).”
The best teams are able to win with different styles of play and adjust shot selection and scoring to matchups and defensive sets.
Georgia, through the early goings of the season, has proved itself a legitimate contender if the team continues to grow together and players continue to improve and recognize roles.
AP Top 25
1. Arizona(16-0)
2. Iowa State(16-0)
3. UConn (16-1)
4. Michigan (14-1)
5. Purdue (14-1)
6. Duke (15-1)
7. Houston (15-1)
8. Nebraska (16-0)
9. Gonzaga (17-1)
10. Vanderbilt (16-0)
11. BYU (15-1)
12. Michigan State (14-2)
13. Illinois (13-3)
14. North Carolina (14-2)
15. Texas Tech (12-4)
16. Virginia (14-2)
17. Arkansas (12-4)
18. Alabama (11-5)
19. Florida (11-5)
20. Louisville (12-4)
21. Georgia (14-2)
22. Clemson (14-3)
23. Utah State (14-1)
24. Tennessee (11-5)
25. Seton Hall (14-2)
