Georgia enters NIT with excitement, opportunity to continue improvement of program

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia Basketball isn’t Big Dance bound. The Bulldogs haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2015, but for the first time since 2017, they will be in the postseason after being accepting an invite to the NIT. While some may see the secondary tournament as an insult, it’s being looked at as an opportunity in Athens by Mike White and his team.

“I love it. I’m excited about it. I’m excited to dive into the Xavier scout and learn as much about them as possible in a really quick turn,” White said on Sunday night following the announcement of Georgia’s selection. “It gives young people an opportunity, you know, for more opportunity, right? For development and for experience, whether it’s our fifth-year guys or our freshmen or anyone in between, they’ve earned the right to play postseason and no one can ever take that away from them. It’s not the NCAA Tournament of course, but the NIT’s a prestigious event that we’re proud to be a part of.”

Over the course of his career in coaching, White and his teams have made multiple appearances in the NIT. He did so three times at Louisiana Tech – once coming into Athens and upsetting the host Bulldogs – and made a trip to the “Little Dance” in his first season at Florida. Winning at least one game each time he’s taken a team to the NIT and multiple in three of the four trips, White certainly understands what positive impact it can have on a psyche of a program.

“I think that was probably more of a prevalent sentiment 10 years ago and even five years ago before the portal era became as significant as it currently is, because who knows what’s going to happen to a lot of our rosters in the NIT and, heck, anywhere else at that,” White said. “But college basketball’s about these young people gaining experience and developing on and off the court, and it’s just another opportunity to compete, right? To compete together, to compete against another institution.”

For White’s team this season, the chances of playing in the postseason seemed slim after their most recent outing. Last time out, Georgia fell to Florida in the second round of the SEC Tournament in Nashville, dropping to 17-16 on the season and 7-13 against competition from within the conference. With a NET ranking of 100, the Bulldogs were on the outside looking in at one of the league’s two auto-bids to the NIT, and players like graduate guard Noah Thomasson had starting thinking about what comes next.

“I thought for a moment that was it for my college career and it was time to start looking into what I’ll do professionally,” Thomasson said. “We had a gut feeling there was a chance we could play again, so I was trying to keep it in the back of my mind.”

The team’s leading scorer and his teammates were met with good news as things played out around the country over the weekend. With the decision made at Ole Miss to turn down any non-NCAA Tournament postseason opportunities, the door opened for Georgia to receive an NIT invite. That was one gladly accepted by the Bulldogs after the SEC got all eight of its expected teams into the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

“I think everybody’s excited about the opportunity to play again with this group,” Thomasson said. “It’s something that we couldn’t be more blessed with, and the chance to get to host and play at Stegeman, that’s another opportunity we can’t wait for. We’re excited.”

Only adding to the excitement is the fact that the Bulldogs have an opportunity to test themselves against non-SEC competition. Georgia went 10-3 in its non-conference slate this season, knocking off an NIT No. 1 seed Wake Forest, who would be UGA’s second round opponent should both teams win their tournament opener. Both White and Thomasson feel that there were positives to be taken from the trip to the Music City, and that the Bulldogs have potential to make some noise.

“Man, I love the way we finished the Missouri game, and I thought Missouri played really, really well early second half. The way we started that game though was about as well as we’ve played the first 15 minutes or so of that game. And then I thought we played really well against a Florida team that has got a chance to make a run,” White said. “… We were right there. You know, a couple of stops, a couple of made shots, a couple of made free throws, a couple of whistles, who knows? It could’ve ended a little bit differently, but I loved the fight from our guys. I thought we left it in Nashville.”

“I think we were playing well. Obviously we had some tough losses right before the tournament, but like Coach White said, the first 15:00 of that Missouri game I felt like we got back to playing really, really good basketball and guarding how we had been guarding before we started struggling,” Thomasson added. “Even in the Florida game, we were right there. We were right there the whole game. It was like a boxing match with two good fighters throwing punches and punches … I think we performed well against a team like Florida, a team that has an opportunity to make a big run, and they were a couple of plays away today from winning the SEC Championship. I think that’s something we have to look at and take into account, taking that momentum into the NIT.”

With the NCAA Transfer Portal opening on Monday, White said there will be some split duties for the coaching staff to handle business as far as building out the roster for the future while also preparing to play Xavier on Tuesday. Thomasson doesn’t think Georgia will have any opt outs though. In today’s day and age, it’s always a question that must be asked. In fact, he feels pretty confident that with a full squad (pending the return of Jabri Abdur-Rahim from a late-season foot injury), the Bulldogs can build some momentum, not just for this team to walk away from 2023-24 on a high note, but also for the program entering an important offseason.

“It’s a huge accomplishment. It’s something that a couple of us guys talked about when we came here, helping this program and doing whatever we could to take it in the right direction,” Thomasson said. “Even though it’s not the NCAA Tournament, the chance to play in the NIT, it’s something that last year’s team didn’t do and moving forward, hopefully next year’s team can make the NCAA Tournament. That’s what it’s about when you’re trying to build a program.”

“I think there’s a big difference between selling this spring — whether it be portal guys or high school juniors or sophomores or what have you — ‘Hey, we feel like we got better. We had a similar record but our league was better, our numbers are better,'” White added on the improvement of the program and how he hopes to sell that on the recruiting trail, trying to continue improving for the future. “You know, again, no one can take away the fact that we made the NIT. We made the postseason. It’s not the ultimate goal, but it’s a step in the right direction. We got better from Year 1, and Year 2 we went to the NIT. Now that’s if it ended right now. Hopefully — and I would assume Xavier and everyone else in this thing is optimistic about potentially making a run. You never know. We just hope to prepare well tomorrow. I think we will and hope to play well Tuesday night.”

Tip time for Tuesday’s night’s opening round matchup with Xavier is set for 7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. According to DraftKings Sportsbook, Georgia opens as a 2-point favorite over the Musketeers, who enter postseason play with a 16-17 mark overall after finishing ninth in the Big East. Information on how to purchase tickets can be found on the official Georgia Athletics website by clicking here.