Thoughts on UGA's New Permanent Hoops Opponents

The SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Florida are in full swing. Today, we learned that starting this season every team will now have three permanent opponents as opposed to two in hoops, according to Seth Emerson now of the AJC. It will still be an 18 game conference schedule and UGA will now play a home-and-away series annually with the Auburn Tigers, the Florida Gators, and the South Carolina Gamecocks. Though these are major football rivalries, what do this mean for Mark Fox’s team going forward?

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Men’s hoops seem like they are at an all-time competitive high in the SEC. The league sent five teams to the Tournament last spring and four marquee coaches now join the ranks of the Southeastern Conference. While the Dawgs are fortunate to not draw Kentucky twice annually, does having six games between Auburn, Florida, and South Carolina help UGA’s RPI or hurt their tournament resumes?

Florida under Billy Donovan won two national titles with the likes of Al Horford, Corey Brewer, and Joakim Noah, but Donovan has left for the Association with a new Oklahoma City gig. Beating Florida in the past was a tall order for UGA and always was a quality win should the Dawgs come out on top.

Michael White comes over from Louisiana Tech to coach a Gators team that fell off the face of the Earth in 2014-15. From a Final Four in 2014 to below .500 in 2015, White looks to transition UF into the next era of Gators basketball. Though he never took the LA Tech Bulldogs to the Tournament, White has been an up-and-coming men’s coach for some time. It will be interesting to see if Florida can stay as a major player in the SEC for men’s hoops.

Auburn did a great job bringing Bruce Pearl back to the SEC last year. When he was coaching the Vols in Knoxville, Pearl had his team Tournament bound nearly every year. Dawgs fans got just as fired up over defeating Tennessee in the Pearl Era, much like they do when playing UK. The Tigers made some serious noise in the SEC Tournament despite being a sub-.500 team.

Feb 28, 2015; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs guard Kenny Gaines (12) controls the ball against the Missouri Tigers during the game at Stegeman Coliseum. Georgia defeated Missouri 68-44. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Like UGA, Auburn has historically been more invested in its football team than its basketball team, but both teams want to become major players in the new-look SEC. I think this is going to become a fierce hoops rivalry for our Dawgs, as both teams are well coached and with better recruiting can become Tournament staples. It might take a few years for Pearl to install his brand on the Plains but I think playing Auburn twice annually should boost Georgia’s RPI for years to come.

South Carolina is an interesting team. Frank Martin took K-State to the Tournament before coming to Columbia, but has struggled to make the Gamecocks relevant in SEC play. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t a good coach or South Carolina is inferior to UGA on the court. In fact, USC beat UGA twice last year in conference play. This annual pairing is really the wild card for the Dawgs. South Carolina can just as easily succeed as it can falter under Martin. While losing to the Gamecocks last year was a bad loss according the Committee, I feel that USC is trending in the right direction.

Overall, the SEC is in a good place for men’s hoops. Only Missouri seems to have major issues now. The coaching credibility in this conference is at an all-time high. Though Mark Fox is not John Calipari, having to coach against the likes of Pearl, Arkansas’ Mike Anderson, and Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings for years has made him a better coach. Now that White, Ben Howland (MSU), Avery Johnson (Alabama), and Rick Barnes (UT) join the SEC, it may not matter so much who the annual opponents are as most teams now have top-tier coaches.

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Thoughts on UGA’s New Permanent Hoops Opponents

By John Buhler | May 28, 2015