Mike White explains decision to not opt-out of the NIT

Not every program that missed the NCAA Tournament was interested in taking part in the National Invitation Tournament. However, Georgia wanted in because, as Mike White put it, his team is one that wants to take advantage of every chance that they have to take the floor.

White explained his team’s position on the matter while speaking with the media on Monday. He started by saying that other teams may have decided to not play in the NIT based on their own respective rosters at this point of the year.

“It’s probably based on their roster more than anything,” said White.

Several teams opted-out of invites to the NIT before and following the announcement of the tournament field. That group includes a fellow team in their conference in Ole Miss. It also features the likes of Oklahoma, Indiana, Syracuse, St. John’s, Memphis, and Pittsburgh.

As for Georgia, though, they want to play again in order to compete and for the love of the game. White says, because of that, they plan to be at or close to full participation when they start their appearance in the postseason against Xavier this evening in Athens.

“I just didn’t get the feeling that we’d have guys who would just decline the opportunity. Heck, we had practice today not knowing if we’d even have another opportunity. Guys still got after it,” White said. “We talked about it all year. We’ve got a team that likes to work, enjoys being between the lines and competing.”

“We would have played with five, you know, that wanted to play. Not surprisingly, though, I think we’ll be at full strength or at least near full strength,” said White. “We’ll learn more about that tomorrow.”

Georgia has a record of 17-16 after finishing toward the back of the SEC. The Bulldogs went 6-12 in conference play, including a stretch of 2-10 to end the regular season, after a 12-3 start to the year. They managed to advance in their first-round game in the SEC Tournament over Missouri but then went home after a close, 85-80 loss to Florida in the second round.

That most recent defeat is also another reason that the ‘Dawgs want to try to play again. They’d like to win something in this tournament or, at the very least, wipe themselves clean of their final game and last run of play.

“I’ll challenge our guys tomorrow to, obviously, take advantage of another opportunity,” said White.

“I mean another factor as to why we should be excited about it is because we lost our last one. You get an opportunity to get that taste out of your mouth, potentially,” White said. “I’m sure Xavier feels the same way and everyone else in this field.”