Pound for Pound: Dancin’ Dawgs

Published 10:30 am Wednesday, March 12, 2025

There’s an internet meme that originates from the 1990s blockbuster, “Titanic.”

It’s actress Gloria Stuart portraying the late-in-life Rose Calvert. Stuart’s character says, ‘It’s been 84 years…’ as she’s getting ready to tell her story of surviving the fateful events of April 1912 when the luxury cruiseliner hit an iceberg then sank to the bottom of the ocean. Those chronically online use the meme to exaggerate lengths of time, like when it’s been just a week since they last drank an iced salted caramel no whip skim milk double pump espresso.

I’m no better than the memers. A decade feels like 84 years for the University of Georgia men’s basketball program, which is on the cusp of receiving its first invite to the NCAA Tournament since 2015. Not a shoo-in, but a likely-in by most pundits, the Bulldogs closed out the 2024-25 regular season with an 11-point home win over Vanderbilt Saturday.

Georgia is toting a 20-11 record, which is an impressive mark, but this year it’s only good for ninth in the stacked Southeastern Conference that could see as many as 14 teams gain entry to the Big Dance.

UGA should be one of them. And that shouldn’t just be the case this year. This ought to be a perennial position for Georgia men’s basketball.

Don’t get me wrong. The University of Georgia is and always will be a football-first school. But this is a talent-rich state for hoops. The fanbase supports this program and wants it to compete for big things. At least being in the discussion for a tournament berth should be the norm. Despite facing some undue harsh criticism earlier this season, Mike White seemingly has things moving in the right direction.

The Bulldogs’ case for making the field is solid, but not great – thus the “likely in” designation. All 11 of the team’s losses, save one, have been to ranked opponents this season. Arkansas, a bubble team, gave Georgia its sole unranked loss in late January. Good wins include St. John’s, a No. 6 Kentucky team at the time, and at home versus No. 3 Florida, which is the undisputed highlight of White’s tenure thus far.

The way I see it though, is that this last eight-game stretch of the regular season – plus the SEC tournament – will decide whether or not the Dawgs will be dancing. They went 4-4 with four ranked losses followed by four wins, kickstarted by the aforementioned victory over Florida.

If Georgia doesn’t make the NCAA tourney, it’ll be because of those four losses to quality opponents. If UGA does make it, it will be because the team won the games they absolutely needed to. I think that coupled with an extremely tough schedule gets the Bulldogs in, but a conference tournament win or two wouldn’t hurt. Georgia’s road begins tonight (March 12) versus SEC newcomer Oklahoma.

Hopefully this is the start of a more successful era for Georgia men’s basketball and we don’t have to wait “84” more years before we’re talking NCAA tourney again.