Georgia Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for Bulldogs

Non-conference schedule

Nov. 5 – Western Carolina
Nov. 12 – The Citadel
Nov. 15 – Delaware State
Nov. 20 – Georgia Tech
Nov. 25 – vs. Dayton (Maui Invitational)
Nov. 26 – vs. Virginia Tech/Michigan State (Maui Invitational)
Nov. 27 – vs. Kansas/Chaminade/BYU/UCLA (Maui Invitational)
Dec. 4 – NC Central
Dec. 14 – at Arizona State
Dec. 20 – SMU
Dec. 23 – Georgia Southern
Dec. 30 – Austin Peay
Jan. 4 – at Memphis (American/SEC Alliance)

This non-conference schedule is a mixed bag for Georgia, but that’s a good thing. There are several cupcake teams that should allow this young group to win while experiencing some inevitable growing pains, yet there are also a few significant tests that will tell us just how high UGA’s ceiling is.

Let’s start with the cupcakes though, as Georgia starts the season with three of them. They’ll get three more in December – NC Central, to help them get on track after the Maui Invitational, and Georgia Southern and Austin Peay right around Christmas and New Year’s. All six of those games should be wins.

The rest of the schedule provides more challenging contests with much more uncertain outcomes. Georgia Tech is the first of those, and the Bulldogs’ biggest in-state rival figures to be on roughly the same playing field as them. That measuring stick game leads into the prestigious Maui Invitational, where things could go a number of ways.

The opener against Dayton will be another solid test for the Bulldogs as the Flyers are expected to be one of the better mid-major programs in the country and should be in NCAA Tournament contention. A victory likely pits them against Michigan State, who everyone expects to be ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP poll. That would obviously be the toughest game of this non-conference slate, whereas a game against Virginia Tech – picked to finish 15th in the ACC – should be rather easy. Georgia’s final game in Maui could see them go against another national powerhouse (Kansas), a team that could be on the NCAA Tournament bubble with Georgia (BYU, UCLA), or another cupcake (Chaminade) depending on how the tournament shakes out.

After Maui, there are still three more quality games on UGA’s schedule, including their only two true road contests. Arizona State has been a bubble team each of the last two years and is expected to take a step forward, while Memphis will be a preseason top-15 team and welcomed the nation’s top 2019 recruiting class (that came will be a lot of fun to see Edwards in).