Welcome to the Bulldawg Illustrated Hoops Report: Georgia vs. Texas. It’s like painting yourself into a corner. Which is exactly what the Dawgs have done.

In one week, we went from bubbling at “First Four Out” to somewhere between the Milky Way and Pluto, the star not the planet obviously. While the loss to A&M was painful, it was something we could overcome. However, the blowout loss to a very mediocre Alabama team was unacceptable. So now we’re 4-4 in the SEC. We must get to 10-8 in the conference and beat Texas this Saturday to have a legitimate shot at the Big Dance. This is totally doable, but the team has to play to their potential. That is something we’re not doing at the moment. If you don’t believe a run like this is possible, just indulge me for a second. Let’s try something new and look at things in a common sense way.

First thing I need to say, in case you’re new to our posts, is 95% of people that speak publicly about UGA Hoops are idiots on the subject. While I didn’t arrive at that number taking a scientific poll, I do stand by it based on anecdotal evidence over the years with random so-called fans.

There are two reasons these people are so wrong …

The first is people love to be negative. Everything sucks. It’s fun to say that. They don’t ever watch the Dawgs. In many cases, they just think we suck because Florida has been good. That’s literally the only argument a lot of the time.

The second is others will listen to the negative people I just mentioned and it becomes true in their mind. It’s a lot easier to have your opinion formed than pay attention to something. These folks can’t tell you that that not only is Yante Maten is one of the best players in the SEC, he’s also one of the best in the country according to people very knowledgeable about college basketball. They don’t know about the talent level on UGA’s roster or how good JJ Frazier can be. In short, they don’t know much.

So again, let’s do something very novel and look at this on a common sense level. UGA has ten SEC games left and we need at least six wins. We’ll be favored in four most likely. So we need to win the games we’re supposed to and pull off at least two upsets. Then the Dawgs are six points favorites against Texas on Saturday. So that’s a must win. If we do that, we’ll be in a position to get in. We may need a win or two in the SEC’s to make the NCAA, but that’s no big deal. As all the guys at your water cooler railing on the Hoop Dawgs can tell you that UGA and Kentucky are the only two schools to make SEC Tourney semi-finals the last three years. Actually, they wouldn’t know that. That would require actually paying attention. My bad. The flipside of my 6-4 scenario is we get lethargic and apathetic. We believe the naysayers. If that happens, we could easily go 4-6, or worse. in the case, we may not make the NIT.

So it’s late January and we’re playing bad basketball. The odds seem one-in-a-million we’ll be dancing. The good news? We’re saying there’s a chance! It starts Saturday. Get the W and move on. I promise the Stegasaurus will be insane. It’s a sellout and UGA is honoring Dominique. We’ve got a big group of thirsty people coming over on a bus. We know how important it is to get this train back on the rails. I am certain the team knows their backs are against the wall. I’m eager to see how they respond. There’s plenty of opportunities left on the schedule. So we only need to stay focused and take it one game at a time. Tell the naysayers we’re not buying their manure. You know we’re good enough to do this. So let’s go shock the world. And the water cooler. Go Dawgs!!