ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Asa Newell spoke with confidence after Georgia's 79-68 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday when he proclaimed, “We're going to be dancing.”
It has been 10 years since a Georgia player could make that boast about the Bulldogs' NCAA Tournament outlook following their final regular-season game.
The Bulldogs improved to 20-11 overall and 8-10 in the Southeastern Conference with the win in one of many games on Saturday involving teams which may have been on the NCAA bubble.
Led by Newell, the freshman forward who scored 15 points against Vanderbilt, the Bulldogs' hopes for their first NCAA Tournament bid since 2015 were boosted by four consecutive wins to close the regular season.
The highlight was an 88-83 home win over No. 3 Florida on Feb. 25. The strong finish also included an important 83-67 win at Texas, another bubble team, on March 1.
Georgia entered Saturday's game with a No. 32 NCAA NET rating. It's possible the Bulldogs could have survived losses to Vanderbilt and in their SEC Tournament opening game against Oklahoma on Wednesday night in Nashville and still made the NCAA field.
The Bulldogs' goal was to remove any doubt. By beating the Commodores (20-11, 8-10), who appear set for the NCAA field, Georgia likely ended its decade-long NCAA drought.
“This is all I'll say about it: I would assume we're in," said Georgia coach Mike White. “I mean, we're good. We're good. Our whole league is good. And there’s going to be a bunch of teams in our league that make it and that do damage in the NCAA Tournament.”
The depth of the SEC only adds to the challenges of such teams as Georgia and Arkansas to break into the NCAA Tournament. Led by No. 1 Auburn, the SEC had three teams in the top five and eight in this week's AP Top 25 poll.
Calipari says Hogs are ‘most rewarding’
Arkansas (19-12, 8-10) boosted its postseason outlook by edging No. 25 Mississippi State 93-92 on Saturday in another SEC game with NCAA bubble implications.
Following the win, Arkansas coach John Calipari, who led Kentucky to the 2012 national championship, said this team has been special.
“I’ve coached and I’ve had teams overcome stuff but nothing like this,” Calipari said. “This team has been the most rewarding to me personally of any team I’ve coached. And we’ve won national titles and Final Fours. We don’t know where this is going. We don’t know. We hit a good shooting night and we can beat anybody.”
Demon Deacons bounce back
Wake Forest had lost four of six games and had seen its NCAA hopes fade before the Demon Deacons closed their regular season with an impressive 69-43 rout of Georgia Tech. Wake Forest improved to 21-10 but was only No. 72 in the latest NCAA NET ranking.
The Demon Deacons may need to make a run in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament to make the NCAA field.
Bubble team vs. bubble team
In a Big Ten matchup of two bubble teams, Indiana took a 66-60 home win over Ohio State. The Hoosiers were listed on Joe Lunardi's ESPN list of “last four in” before Saturday's win that put them at 19-12 overall and 10-10 in the conference. Ohio State fell to 17-14 and 9-11 in the Big Ten and had been on Lunardi's list of the last four byes in the projected NCAA field.
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