In this new era of college athletics, roster management is more important than ever.

Georgia basketball has not been considered a basketball power, much less a big spender when it comes to landing premium talent.

There is now have data to support that claim.

According to a recent CBS Sports report on the value of each college basketball roster, Georgia was ranked in Tier 5 out of 7 with schools such as Wisconsin, Iowa State, Syracuse, Nebraska, Clemson, Minnesota, TCU, and NC State.

Per Matt Norlander and Isaac Trotter, Georgia spends between $10 to $12 million on its roster this season.

That ranks last among SEC schools.

“This zip code is where you find the least-funded SEC team (Georgia) … with a budget that is still easily north of $10 million,“ CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander wrote. ”That hints at the investment in hoops for a football-obsessed league. Being good at basketball matters in the SEC.”

This offseason, Georgia received a $10 million donation to support men’s basketball from Adam Wexler, a 2007 UGA graduate and founder of Atlanta-based sports fantasy company PrizePicks and CEO of The Hidden Jams.

It is the largest single donation in program history and will serve as a general fund to support personnel and operating expenses, with a portion also going toward the Athletic Director Excellence Fund.

Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said in May that he hopes the donation will have a “lasting impact” on the program as it works toward becoming an annual SEC contender.

This all comes after Georgia finished the 2025-26 season with a 22-11 record. The Bulldogs have reached the NCAA tournament in each of the last two seasons, something not done since the early 2000’s.

Georgia was picked to finish 11th in the SEC preseason poll. The Bulldogs return starters Kareem Stagg, Kanon Catchings, Blue Cain and Marcus “Smurf” Millender from last season.

All of had better offers to leave, White said this summer, but chose to stay.

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the fact that Blue (Cain), Kanon, Kareem (Stagg), and Smurf (Millender) all had a bunch of options,” White said. “Stuff gets back to you. You hear stuff through the grapevine in this world that we’re living in. Those guys turned down some very attractive offers to stay here in Georgia.”

Georgia wraps up the preseason at Clemson this Friday before beginning the 2026-27 campaign against NC Central on Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m. ET.