ATHENS — Georgia basketball coach Mike White need only look at the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket for validation.

The Bulldogs played Auburn close to even in a 70-68 at home loss that had Bruce Pearl sweating, and then threw a 1-3-1 zone at the Tigers on the road that kept Auburn perplexed before they pulled away late for an 82-70 win.

The Bulldogs’ 88-83 home win over Florida, arguably the most impressive of the year, was evidence of how much the team had grown, as the Gators had beaten UGA in Gainesville by 30 a month before.

As things sit, Florida and Auburn will play at 6:09 p.m. on Saturday in San Antonio, guaranteeing the SEC will have a team playing for the national championship for the first time since 2014.

Houston and Duke meet in the other Final Four matchup at 8:49 p.m. on Saturday at the Alamodome.

White, meanwhile, is working the phones and player videos during this second portal window, which began on March 24 and runs through April 22.

Georgia team captain Silas Demary Jr. announced last week he was entering the portal and testing the pro basketball waters even though it seems unlikely he would be an NBA pick at this stage of his career.

UGA freshman star Asa Newel, however, will likely depart as a projected first-round NBA draft pick.

“We’re going to get the best player that we can get this spring to add to what and who is going to return,” White said looking ahead to his next roster in what has become a transfer-heavy sport, both Florida and Auburn featuring four starters in their projected Final Four starting lineups.

“We’ve just got to figure it out.”

Georgia basketball fans figured out White had something special going this past season, as hundreds lined up outside the arena waiting to get in and be a part of a school-record 15 home wins at Stegeman Coliseum.

For now, White said he’d be tuned in to watch the NCAA tournament action - UGA played 20 games against teams that took part in it -- but more for educational and scouting purposes than fun.

“Sometimes you’re watching (the tournament), and you just get a little bit angry, like, damn, I wish we would have made this shot or forced this guy to bounce it outside or not gotten off to the start we did we could have still been playing,” White told DawgNation as the tourney rolled into the Sweet 16 with a record-seven SEC teams.

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“But then I’ve got to tell myself, like you tell your team, with perspective; if you asked me last June if you could accomplish what you accomplished, would you feel good about the step that the program has made? Absolutely.”

Indeed, the 2024-25 campaign represented a banner season for White and the Bulldogs, as the program found its way back into the NCAA tourney field for the first time in 10 years, broke into the AP Top 25 for the first time in 14 years and in beating then-No. 3, beat it’s highest-ranked opponent since topping a No. 3-ranked Georgia Tech team in 2004.

Georgia’s success makes it that much easier for White to approach transfers prospects looking to be a part of a winning program while developing NBA skills.

“We broke a bunch of records, we ended a lot of streaks, we started some streaks,” White said. “But most importantly, we talked about this culture that was instilled this year and it was acted upon by these young guys.”

White, essentially, changed the narrative, his team playing itself off the proverbial bubble and into the Big Dance by winning its final four games of the regular season.

“How resilient they were to finish as strong as we did,” White said, “is about as rewarding a late season run as I’ve been a part of as a head coach.”

But now it’s on to the future, and White isn’t backing away from the expectation that Georgia basketball is ready to become an NCAA tournament fixture.

“We had a special year, (and) now we want to have a more special year next year and the following, continuing to build,” White said. “We want this to be a launching pad.”

White has little more than three weeks remaining to get what amounts to rocket fuel via the portal, hoping to lure former Georgia high school stars who began their careers elsewhere for one final run, or identify other talent looking to be a part of a winning culture.

“We don’t want to go to the NCAA tournament just to come back quickly,” White said. “We want to get back into it and be better.”

(A version of this story first appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Georgia Basketball 2024-25 highlights

First-time ever

• School-record 15 wins at Stegeman Coliseum

• School-record 15 games against top-25 opponents . . . 45.5 percent of schedule

• School-record eight games against top-10 opponents

• School-record 20 games against NCAA Tournament teams . . . 60.6 percent of schedule

First time since . . .

• Earned first NCAA Tournament bid since 2015

• Reached 20 wins during the regular season for first time since 2015

• Earned first AP ranking since 2011

• Win over No. 3 Florida, highest since beating No. 3 Ga. Tech in 2004

• Earned first coaches poll ranking since 2003

• Earned highest NCAA Tournament seed since 2003

• 13-game home winning streak longest since 1991

• Started season with 12-1 record best since 1931

The metrics

• Ranked No. 33 in the NET (highest ever)

• Ranked No. 34 in kenpom, third-highest ever (No. 25 in 2002 and No. 16 in 2003)

• NET from 223 in 2021-22 to 152 to 95 to 33 – up 190 spots

• Kenpom from 219 in 2021-22 to 154f to 84 to 34 – up 185 spot

Stegeman Coliseum

• 15 home wins most in Stegeman’s history

• 41-13 at Stegeman under Mike White (.759)