Basketball Opponent Previews: Georgia

Mike White looks to right the ship in his second year in Athens. How do they match up against the Tennessee Volunteers?

After an 11th-place finish in the SEC last season, Mike White has done his best to flip the roster and get this thing turned around at Georgia. Of the projected Top 10 contributors for the Bulldogs on Torvik, 7 of them didn't play for Georgia last season.

The continuity will be a question mark, but there's no question that the talent on the roster is better than it was last year. Will that be enough to make noise in the SEC? I have my doubts. But finishing sub-150 in KenPom again is much less likely.

There's a lot more of a reason to be confident in Georgia's backcourt than their frontcourt. The Bulldogs bring in Noah Thomasson from Niagara, return Justin Hill, and also bring in two freshmen in Blue Cain and Silas Demary Jr. who should be able to contribute right away. R.J. Melendez also could be a late breakout candidate after transferring from Illinois.

Thomasson was a near 20 points per game scorer in the MAAC last year and was in an extremely high usage role. The step up to the SEC for him might take some time, but he's used to being depended on. I also think Blue Cain has a chance to start for this team at some point. Cain was in my opinion, an underrated recruit that can score from multiple levels and has a very high basketball IQ. Not being extremely athletic might be what caused him to be rated lower.

R.J. Sunahara is another player I'm really excited for. Sunahara was the Division ll National Player of the Year and he did a little bit of everything last year at Nova Southeastern. Jalen DeLoach should be an effective 4 when it comes to rebounding and scoring inside and Russell Tchewa can rebound, but I'm not quite sure about his transition to the SEC.

How Tennessee will Matchup

Georgia last season was another SEC team that struggled to put the ball in the basket. They were 304th in 3-point percentage and 322nd in effective field goal percentage. As I mentioned in the previous articles, if you can't hit outside shots to counter Tennessee's best attribute, you're going to have a tough time beating them. Thomasson should help the cause, but I still don't think Georgia will be a good shooting team. The Vols meet the Bulldogs once this season and that will be on January 13th in Athens.

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