Mike White stresses difficulty of going through SEC schedule
Georgia has lost seven of its last eight games, floundering after looking like a potential NCAA Tournament team at one point earlier in the season. Coach Mike White is searching for answers.
But the bottom line is that the SEC is just an incredibly difficult league.
“It’s just been an incredible, what, five weeks? It seems like just about every game we play an NCAA Tournament team,” Mike White said.
In the last eight games, Georgia has rarely been favored to win. The team did knock off lowly Vanderbilt, snapping a six-game losing skid. But for the most part, the going has been tough.
White alluded to that fact.
“I want to say South Carolina at home, maybe we were favored, maybe we weren’t by a point,” he said. “Maybe they were favored. And there are a lot of games where you’re a significant dog, underdog, against really, really good competition.”
Auburn toasted Georgia over the weekend, blowing the Bulldogs out 97-76 in game that was never really all that close. It was the first time in a few weeks that Georgia had been truly blown out, after a series of close calls during the losing skid.
Blowouts haven’t been the norm; Georgia has been competitive just hasn’t been able to break through consistently.
White offered a silver lining of sorts for his team, knowing his team has to find a way to become more competitive to get where they want to go.
When Georgia eventually figures it out as a program, the Bulldogs will be battle-tested.
“It’s a great league to be in right now,” Mike White said. “We obviously are more competitive. We want to be even more competitive. We want to get in the upper half of this league. We plan on being there. But there are so many teams in this league first off that are going to make the tournament.”
After seeing Auburn in person for the first time this season, White offered a little more.
“There are more than a couple, there are a few (teams), that, like Auburn, that have a realistic shot of making a deep run,” White said.