Battle-tested Georgia is 'fired up' but not satisfied with long-awaited NCAA Tournament bid

There are a couple of long days ahead of the Georgia basketball coaching staff. Mike White and company don’t know much about this year’s version of Gonzaga. While the Bulldogs have played over a quarter of the NCAA tournament field already this season, 18 of the 68 teams, they have not taken on the Pacific Northwest Bulldogs this season.

UGA will soon get to work on the Zags, studying film, figuring out what they do well, and attempting to come up with ways to stop/exploit it. But White didn’t want to jump right to that when he spoke with reporters on Sunday. Acknowledging what his team has accomplished thus far was top of mind.

“(It’s a) great accomplishment for our program and this team,” White said per a statement from UGA. “Georgia is dancing. We’ve got more basketball ahead of us, so it’s a great day. A great day for the SEC of course, a historic day for our league. We’re fired up and ready to get to work.”

It’s the first time since 2015 that Georgia has made the NCAA tournament. UGA’s 20 regular-season wins this season make this team just the sixth team in school history to accomplish such a feat.

What makes that more impressive is the slate the Bulldogs had to endure to get there. As previously mentioned, 18 of Georgia’s 32 games came against teams that made the tournament. They played eight regular-season games against top-10 competition, the most of any team in the country. Georgia also led the country in number of top-10 opponents on the road.

Many would consider Gonzaga a “blue blood” in the world of college hoops. Those who don’t believe that would certainly hear the argument that the Bulldogs deserve to be in the discussion. Facing them as the No. 8 seed isn’t the best of breaks for Georgia, but White knows that his team is tested.

“It’s the best league in the history of college basketball,” White said when asked if the schedule his Georgia team faced this season has primed it for the tournament. “Everyone from the SEC that’s going to participate in the NCAA tournament is prepared. We just are. We played the best defenses, we played some of the best offenses, the most amount of physicality, the depth. The SEC is just… Incredible year. We’re proud to be a part of it.”

But the funny part about being prepared is that it can look like anything but this time of year. Every team has had to fight, scratch, and claw to get to this point. Gonzaga was in the field of 68 had it won the West Coast tournament or not, but it went ahead and made it happen anyway. The Bulldogs have won nine of their last 10 games and 11 of their last 13 to reach this point.

Led by 6-foot-9 forward Graham Ike, the team leader in points per game (17.1) and rebounding (7.5 points per game), the Zags boast the nation’s No. 2 offense at 86.6 points per game. They also rank No. 104 nationally in scoring defense at 69.6 points per game.

Georgia ranks No. 125 in scoring offense and 96th in scoring offense, against that league that White, Jay Bilas, and others have called the best in the history of the sport. Many will look ahead with the assumption that Gonzaga will move right through Georgia and Houston will take down SIU-Evansville and anticipate the round of 32 matchup between No. 1 and No. 8 seeds.

The Peach State Bulldogs, however, will have other plans. They won’t be laying down anytime soon, not after what it took to get here.

“We know we’re playing a really good team but these guy, throughout the season, have gotten better and better throughout the year in terms of how they handle some of those adversities,” White said. “Incredibly resilient team here and we’re going to be a tough out. I think the committee recognized that.”