NCAA Tournament 2011: Why Georgia Basketball Doesn't Deserve a Bid

For those who craft their opinions of college basketball through end-of-game box scores and numerous ratings systems, the Georgia Bulldogs' current tournament resume may not seem too bad.

But for the Bulldog faithful, who watched Georgia drop another SEC game this afternoon at the hands of Alabama, opinions of Georgia's worthiness of an NCAA tournament appearance might be different.

The Dawgs led the Crimson Tide—the SEC West Champions, who defeated Georgia last Saturday—by 14 points in the second half.

Things looked and seemed great to Georgia fans, mainly because most of them were likely claiming, "There is no way we blow this lead. We've done it too many times before. We can't. This time, things will finally go our way."

That was my optimistic thought, at least, as time starting to tick down in the SEC quarterfinal game. 

But, Georgia would once again prove to us their puzzling level of ineptitude.

Mark Fox's Dawgs blew the lead and lost to Alabama in overtime, 65-59.

As an isolated incident in a SEC tournament game, this may not seem so bad. However, Georgia's blown lead became the 10th double-digit lead erased by a Georgia opponent this season alone.

Also, Georgia has now failed to defeat any of the quality opponents on their SEC schedule, except for a seven-point home win against the youngest SEC team in Kentucky and a road victory at Tennessee, who boasts a pretty mediocre record for a "tournamnet" team.

Georgia lost both games to Florida, blowing leads in each. They lost both to Vanderbilt, with a double-digit lead blown in Stegeman Coliseum.

They blew leads against out of conference opponents, Notre Dame and Xavier.

And they nearly surrendered double-digit leads to Arkansas, Auburn and South Carolina. 

I haven't even mentioned the fact that Georgia had six non-conference games against weak opponents that were only won by one basket.

Despite a 21-11 record and a 10-8 conference mark in one of the toughest divisions in the nation, Georgia lacks what is, without a doubt, the most essential aspect of a team, come tournament time.

That aspect being: Can they win games?

Against bottom-tier opponents, Georgia did just that. But none of the teams Georgia defeated in conference play (again, minus Kentucky and Tennessee) will be dancing later this month.

All of the SEC teams who are currently considered tournament locks—Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Florida and Alabama—have proved their worth by beating one another.

Georgia, who undoubtedly will be sitting on the bubble this weekend, can't make that same claim.

The Dawgs may have competed mightily throughout a complicated trek of games, but they never once proved they could put away a game.

While other teams have flexed their muscles at least once during conference play, Georgia spent the entire conference schedule watching, as the opposing benches jumped around, high-fived and even laughed as they stomped out significant leads against one of the most talented teams in the conference.

For the most part, Georgia spent the final seconds of games waving their arms at refs and pointing fingers—including coach Mark Fox.

The irony here, is that this unbearable array of events, which has been torture to the Georgia fans, may fly over the heads of the selection committee on Sunday.

What the selection committee will focus on, is Georgia's RPI, strength of schedule, and overall record, which are good enough to put them in the field of 68 teams.

With hundreds of college basketball teams all fighting for one position, it's nearly impossible for even the likes of ESPN to see all of the details.

As a football school that's overshadowed—win or lose—by the Big East and even other SEC East teams, Georgia hasn't made a splash in the media all year; one would think with a 21-11 record that they would have, considering how down the program was a few years ago.

Ironically, however, publicity could have been the killer for Georgia.

If this team was UNC, Duke, UConn or Notre Dame, their consistent inability to put away teams and keep double-digit leads would no doubt be headline news week in and week out.

They would be the laughing stock of major college sports, and many would put aside their good record and notice just how incapable this team is.

But luckily for Georgia, the curtain that hangs between the media and SEC basketball might just save them.

It's been puzzling to see just how little broadcasters covering Georgia basketball games, have failed to mention the collapses Georgia has been a part of in the past two seasons.

As a matter of fact, they're rarely mentioned.

Today, as Alabama stormed back with an incredible late run, neither of the SEC Network commentators said a word about Georgia's past with blowing double-digit leads.

Brad Nessler was certain both teams had made a case for the NCAA Tournament.

Georgia fans may not feel the same way. Now that Georgia sits as the sixth prospective tournament seed from the conference, they may very well miss out on the big dance.

As tomorrow rolls around, most will likely still claim that Georgia's "specs" are too high-quality to keep them out of the tournament.

But, the NCAA tournament isn't about competing, hanging around and playing quality opponents.

The NCAA tournament is simply about winning and putting away a team as good as or better than you.

If that was the main gauge the selection committee used, Georgia would have been kicked out of the conversation days ago.

And they definitely would have been kicked out following today's loss.

If the Dawgs squeeze into the tournament, a lot of bad moods will be lifted. But until then, all Georgia fans can do is shake their heads at the pure incompetence this team has displayed when it comes to putting away games.