NCAA Basketball: Way-too-early hot seat power rankings for 2021-22

3. Tom Crean

There may not be a power conference coach who is facing as extensive of a roster issue as Tom Crean, who – after a lackluster 14-12 overall record and a 10th-place finish in the SEC – will now try to lead the Georgia Bulldogs past a mass exodus of eight players who are transferring out, including the team’s top five leading scorers.

As of now, Georgia is slated to return just five players from last year’s team, which was the first to not finish 13th in Tom Crean’s three seasons with the Bulldogs.  Paired with a win over Missouri and a split with LSU last season may make that sound optimistic – but for a team that dealt with inconsistency and surrendered two losses to South Carolina – a team that won just six games last year – by over 20 points each, there is not much to be hopeful about moving forward.

There is hope for a new identity, and incoming transfers in Jailyn Ingram – who averaged 12.4 points at Florida Atlantic – and UIC’s Braelen Bridges, who was just below 10 points per game, could potentially bring that.  But Crean’s inability to produce with talent in his three years at Georgia – which included a season with Anthony Edwards, the top pick in the 2020 NBA Draft – does not bode well for the future.

There is time to turn it around, surely – it took Crean three seasons to reach the NCAA Tournament at Marquette, and four to initiate the impressive turnaround at Indiana – but this is a Bulldog program that has not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2015, and, excluding the vacated 2002 campaign, has not surpassed the opening round since 1996.

The pressure to finally change the stigma at Georgia is one that looms heavily, and thus far, it does not appear as if Crean is the man for the job.  With the coaching carousel essentially over this offseason, it seems as if the veteran will get one more stab at pulling off the turnaround – but if the Bulldogs are unable to recover from their roster woes and finish in the basement of the SEC for yet another season, it may be time for Georgia to make a decision.