ESPN bracketologist ‘still high on Bulldogs’ to reach NCAA field after loss to Tennessee

ATHENS — Georgia still looks like a future NCAA basketball tournament team to Joe Lunardi, the ESPN pundit who has projected the field since 1995.

Tennessee handed Coach Mike White’s Bulldogs a 74-56 loss Wednesday night in Knoxville in a game UGA led 26-25 at the half.

RELATED: Second-half torches Georgia at Tennessee

The no. 6-ranked Vols (16-1, 3-1 SEC) used a 19-3 second-half spurt to pull away from No. 23 Georgia (14-3, 2-2 SEC), which now prepares to host No. 1-ranked Auburn in Stegeman Coliseum on Saturday.

The Bulldogs were coming off back-to-back home wins over ranked opponents, after beating then-No. 6 Kentucky and then-No. 17 Oklahoma.

“I think SEC fans have to get used to this roller coaster,” Lunardi, who attended the UGA game in Knoxville, said on the SEC Network.

“I think we’re going to see even the top teams in the conference take losses because … not only the top half of this league, but the top three quarters of this league are all NCAA Tournament caliber.”

Lunardi said after the Bulldogs’ loss to Tennessee that Georgia still figures to make the NCAA Tournament field — for what would be the first time in 10 years.

Lunardi’s latest “bracketology” had Georgia protected as a no. 7 seed against a no. 10-seed North Carolina in Raleigh.

“On the road (SEC teams) are going to have a hard time racking up Ws,” Lunardi said. “That’s what made Mississippi’s win (at Alabama) and Missouri’s (win at Florida) earlier this week so impressive, and Georgia’s first half (at Tennessee).”

Yes, the Bulldogs ended up losing by double digits, but so did the previous nine opponents who faced the Vols in Thompson-Boling Arena this season.

“I’m still high on the Bulldogs, so good,” Lunardi said. “I don’t know if they have enough offensive weapons to really make a dent in March, but they should be in the tournament.”

Georgia’s big problem in the loss to Tennessee was turnovers — UGA committed 19 of them, with just nine assists while shooting just 37.7 percent from the field, including 28.6 percent shooting from beyond the 3-point arc.

“This (Georgia) is a team that was picked 12th in the preseason in the league and maybe (the SEC) will send 12 to the NCAA Tournament when all is said and done.”

White has gone radio silent on any talk of the future or goals for making the NCAA Tournament, wanting his team to focus on the present.

But Georgia’s ability to break into the Top 25 was “historic” in the mind of Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, who suggested it was a feat to embrace.

Pearl and Lunardi acknowledge that there is historical significance to the SEC’s current basketball power.

“I’m very, very bullish (on the SEC), it’s just math now, when teams play, somebody has to lose,” Lunardi said. “That means some resumes are going to take hits, and we’re going to be looking at teams on the bubble from the SEC that look different than previous great teams.

“I’ll take 7-11 or maybe 6-12 (records) in conference play, because of the wins you can still pile up — it’s up to (the NCAA basketball selection committee) to analyze all that.”

Lunardi notes that the NCAA Tournament selection process is only two months away.

Georgia basketball obviously has a long way to go before then and needs to win a lot more games to stay in contention.

The Bulldogs opened their SEC season against teams ranked No. 23 (at Ole Miss), no. 6 (Kentucky), no. 17 (Oklahoma) and no. 6 (Tennessee) with no. 1 Auburn on deck.

Here’s what’s on the Georgia schedule after they face the Pearl’s Tigers at 1 p.m. on Saturday:

January 22 in Arkansas

25 January at no. 5 in Florida

January 28 vs. South Carolina

1 February at no. 4 Alabama

February 5 vs. LSU

February 8 vs. Mississippi State no. 15

11 February at no. 11 Texas A&M

February 15 vs. Missouri

22 February at no. 1 Auburn

February 25 vs. No. 5 in Florida

March 1 in Texas

March 4 in South Carolina

March 8 vs. Vanderbilt

SEC Tournament, March 12-Mar. 16, Nashville