14. Georgia Bulldogs
2024-25 Record: 20-13 (8-10 SEC)
Georgia was much better last season than I had anticipated. The Bulldogs finished the season with 20 wins and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Much of the team's success could be attributed directly to star freshman Asa Newell (15.4 ppg) and Silas Demary Jr (13.5 ppg) keeping the lackluster offense afloat, while providing Georgia with some stellar defense. However, the Bulldogs found themselves in a tough spot once the season ended, with both Newell and Demary moving on to the NBA and UConn, respectively.
Mike White did his best to replace the production left by Newell and Demary, adding five players from the transfer portal. He added a couple of solid scorers in Jeremiah Wilkinson (15.1 ppg) from California and Marcus Millender (14.9 ppg) from UTSA. Wilkinson adds a scoring upside that Georgia desperately needs - especially from deep. Georgia took the fewest threes per game (19.9) in SEC play, which Wilkinson, on his own, should improve. As a starter over the final 14 games of the season, he took just under eight per game. Teaming Wilkinson up with Millender, who is a career 43.8% three-point shooter, and Blue Cain (9.6 ppg), the Bulldogs should be a formidable offense.
While I do think the offense should be better this season, I can’t say the same for the defense. Without Newell and Demary to anchor the defense, I have a hard time picturing this Georgia team getting many stops. This year's team will likely need to play a slightly different style of defense without the size and length it had a year ago. Justin Bailey flashed some defensive capabilities at his previous stops, averaging nearly 1.5 steals per game, but that was against Big South and Southern Conference competition. Mike White should be able to scheme up a defense that can be competitive, but it's hard to imagine this Georgia team holding up as well on that end of the court with its current roster makeup.
As of right now, I’m not exactly sure how good this Georgia team can be. There’s always been a decent floor for Mike White's teams, though he generally has a little more in terms of talent. The Bulldogs might surprise me this year, but as we enter the season, I’m not overly optimistic.