Georgia Bulldogs Basketball: NCAA Tournament Hopes Fading After Loss To Xavier

It isn’t the end, but it’s damn close.

After its uninspired performance in a 65-57 loss to Xavier on tonight, the Georgia Bulldogs can see the sun setting on what appeared a month ago to be a potentially magical season.

It was a month ago today that the Georgia Bulldogs completed an impressive 77-70 upset over the then-No. 11 ranked Kentucky Wildcats, sending it to its first top-25 ranking in eight years.

Nine games and five losses later, the team is left reeling, struggling to find where it all went wrong.

That’s not a difficult task when it comes to tonight’s performance.

Despite the importance of the game, the Dogs appeared sluggish, often missing easy lay-ins and carelessly turning the ball over.

The team shot just 39 percent from the field—including making just two of 13 from behind the arc.

Most surprisingly, the typically reliable Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie appeared less-than-adequate. Thompkins fouled out and Leslie—aside from a crowd-raising dunk—contributed little on offense.

In a season that is teetering ever-so-precariously on the brink of making it or breaking it, this was a must-have for the Dogs.

And they stepped in it.

Forget that the team has not experienced a bad loss all season. Forget that two of its losses came in double-overtime and one came as a result of an official error.

When it loses every close or important game that it has, it gives the tournament selection committee no reason to award it with a postseason birth.

Coming into tonight’s contest, Georgia was a bubble team, seeded No. 10 in ESPN bracketology expert Joe Lunardi’s projections.

Now, it’s uncertain whether the team will even be in the field of 68.

The question isn’t so much how the Dogs got to this point, it’s how they are going to manage to win a bid to the NCAA Tournament with just a month until Selection Sunday.

From here, the path doesn’t get any easier. Georgia must play on the road against South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and Alabama as well as home contests against Vanderbilt and the Gamecocks.

With its loss to Xavier, the pressure is on for the Bulldogs to perform well in these conference matchups.

While there are certainly enough opportunities to make up for past transgressions, there is very little margin for error left.

In the end, it may take a run in the SEC tournament for Georgia to have a chance at seeing its NCAA dreams to fruition.

There is no doubt this is a team capable of making that happen. When performing at its highest level, Georgia’s starting five is as good as any in the conference and better than most in the country.

It has three potential pros in Thompkins, Leslie and point guard Gerald Robinson.

Talent alone isn’t enough to impress the selection committee, nor are close losses.

In the end, the Dogs must prove they are less bark and more bite.

Right now they appear to be nothing more than puppies with tails between their legs.

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