SEC Basketball: Georgia, Mississippi State, Alabama rise in latest power rankings
By Joey Loose
11. Georgia (12-3, 2-0)
Tom Crean spent four seasons with the Bulldogs and didn’t produce a single season above .500. Mike White fled Florida for this Georgia program two years ago and is looking for actual production, something that isn’t numerous in recent history in Athens. Last year’s 16-16 mark was a great start, though the Bulldogs have their eyes on even more this season.
They suffered early, falling to Oregon on opening night and losing holiday tournament contests to Miami and Providence back in mid-November. Since then, the Bulldogs have been flawless and have now won 10 games in a row. This hasn’t exactly been a murderer’s row of a schedule, though they have beaten Wake Forest, Florida State, and a few decent mid-major programs. They’ve also won their first two conference games with a road win at Missouri and a double-digit win against Arkansas a few days ago.
Four different Bulldogs average at least 9 points a game, with this potent backcourt led by Noah Thomasson and Jabri Abdur-Rahim doing damage in recent weeks. Again, Georgia hasn’t been significantly challenged during this stretch but there aren’t many teams in the country sitting on this kind of winning streak regardless. There are significant challenges in the weeks ahead and we’re going to learn a lot more about White’s program very soon.