Analysis: As Georgia enters its final stretch, wins become a necessity

ATHENS -- Time is of the essence.

Only 10 games remain until the end of Georgia's regular season and the Bulldogs (11-8, 4-4 SEC) haven't put the kind of NCAA Tournament resume many thought they would have by this point.

In reality, a close five games going the other way would make this season completely different. Georgia lost to Chattanooga 92-90, to Seton Hall 69-62, to Kansas State 68-66, to Mississippi 72-71 and to LSU 89-85. All five of those games were winnable. Georgia head coach Mark Fox and his team have to be kicking themselves for dropping those games -- or even, say, three of them -- at this stage of the season.

If Georgia won all five of those games, it's more than likely ranked and sitting with a 16-3 overall record. Instead, this team is at the point where each loss sets it back further in its goals, and Georgia needs to turn around its recent misfortune and start stockpiling some wins.

So what do the Bulldogs need to get into the big dance for the second consecutive season?

To be absolutely safe, Georgia needs to go 9-1 during this final stretch. That's a tough task (and not likely to happen), but stranger things have occurred. The remaining schedule does appear to make it seem possible, too.

In order, here is who Georgia plays to close the season: South Carolina, Auburn, at Kentucky, at Mississippi State, Florida, at Vanderbilt, at Auburn, Mississippi, at South Carolina and Alabama.

Truth be told, Georgia has enough on the roster to compete and beat each of these opponents except Kentucky, which is the only team that, from top to bottom, is deeper and more talented. That game is on the road, too, and Georgia has only one win away from Stegeman Coliseum this season. Of course, the game itself has to be played. Georgia very well could upset the Wildcats as Fox's teams have played them tough throughout his tenure in Athens.

But Georgia will have a great shot in its other nine games as long as it plays to its full potential.

A season sweep of South Carolina would go a long way, considering the Gamecocks picked up a bunch of wins against a soft non-conference schedule and have received some love from various AP poll voters. Winning 19 games, to this point, has done enough to put South Carolina in the top 30 of the RPI. So those are two huge wins Georgia could pick up in its tourney quest.

Georgia has a revenge game against Florida and could defeat a team that just blew out West Virginia, as long as it contains the Gators from long range. Florida shot the ball poorly from the 3-point line to start the year but has since picked it up -- beginning with the first Georgia-Florida meeting Jan. 2 in Gainesville, Florida.

Vanderbilt has been a disappointing team this season, so two wins could be in the making there. Mississippi State and Auburn should produce three wins overall, although Bruce Pearl is a good enough head coach to have the Tigers play above their talent level.

Georgia should have had Mississippi the first time and very well could upend the Rebels when they come to Athens.

So the makings are present for a Georgia run down the stretch. If Georgia can't get to 20 wins in the regular season, perhaps 18 is the magic number, but with two additional wins coming in the SEC Tournament. In that scenario it would put the Bulldogs at 20-11, which could be good enough for the powers that be.

The conference is much stronger than people expected, considering that Florida and Texas A&M posted double-digit wins over West Virginia and Iowa State, respectively, in Saturday's Big 12/SEC Challenge. And LSU, a team Georgia nearly came back and defeated Tuesday, should have knocked off top-ranked Oklahoma but came up short thanks to yet another coaching meltdown from Johnny Jones. Tip to Jones: Run the offense through Ben Simmons, even if he tells you he'd rather be a facilitator down the stretch of close games.

It's now time for Georgia to get it together and impress the NCAA Tournament committee during this final 10-game stretch of the regular season. Time is beginning to run out on Georgia's chances of reaching a second consecutive tourney appearance but a late surge can get the Bulldogs back in the conversation.

This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Analysis: As Georgia enters its final stretch, wins become a necessity ."