18. Georgia (13-1)
Georgia has been far from perfect this season and has struggled at times shooting from long range, but we haven’t seen those negative effects. Their only loss to date was an overtime thriller against Clemson before Thanksgiving and despite shedding important talent in the offseason the Bulldogs are a real threat in the SEC. Let’s be clear here, they haven’t played the toughest schedule in the world but these conference games will certainly show us if they belong pretty quickly.
We were almost left scratching our heads back on Monday, as Georgia trailed at the half before coming away with an 89-74 win over Long Island. Marcus Millender led the way with 14 points and 6 assists off the bench as the Bulldogs did enough in their last nonconference matchup. The Bulldogs then survived a chaotic ending in a 104-100 overtime win against Auburn in their SEC debut. Jeremiah Wilkinson had a career day with 31 points and 6 rebounds.
Say what you want about the resume or the previous matchups but Georgia is taking care of business this season and Mike White’s crew won’t feel bad about that. The potential is high for this physical group of Bulldogs and this could be an SEC contender if they truly have put those shooting woes in the rearview. Looking ahead, it’s a pair of road games and the first real conference test at Florida just a couple days from now.