Georgia enters this week battling through five straight games against AP Top 25 opponents in the Southeastern Conference.
Only now, the Bulldogs have a national ranking of their own for the first time in 14 years.
The Bulldogs cracked Monday’s poll at No. 23 after wins against then-No. 6 Kentucky and then-No. 17 Oklahoma last week. Things don’t get easier this week: they visit No. 6 Tennessee on Wednesday then return home to host No. 1 Auburn on Saturday in their debut as part of the AP Top 25 national schedule.
“The response for a young team after being No. 6: it was pretty good,” coach Mike White said after the Oklahoma win. “It needs to be great. Coming into this week, it’s got to be great.”
White, in his third year after stops at Florida and Louisiana Tech, has a team that has improved each year in KenPom’s primary offensive and defensive efficiency metrics. Most notably, the Bulldogs (14-2, 2-1 SEC) have gone from 132nd in adjusted defensive efficiency in his first year (103.1 points allowed per 100 possessions) to 16th entering this week (94.0).
Five-star freshman forward Asa Newell leads the team in scoring (15.4) and rebounding (6.8), while his 58.1% shooting is third-best among all Division I freshmen.
White bolstered the roster through the transfer portal to add fifth-year graduate guards in Dakota Leffew (Mount St. Mary’s) and Tyrin Lawrence (Vanderbilt), and third-year forward RJ Godfrey (Clemson) — providing veteran help to go with returning sophomores Silas Demary Jr. and Blue Cain in the primary rotation.
The combination has worked. Georgia is coming off its first back-to-back wins against ranked opponents since 2006-07. And Monday marked the Bulldogs’ first AP Top 25 appearance since spending a week at No. 24 in January 2011 — and that had been the only time since the end of the 2002-03 season.
“We’re just trusting the process,” Newell said after the Oklahoma win. “We don’t really get too high, get too low. We’re trying to just raise the standard at Georgia basketball.”
Wounded Tiger
As for Auburn, the Tigers moved to No. 1 for only the second stint in the program’s history Monday, the other time coming for three weeks in 2021-22.
Yet it’s unclear how quickly standout forward Johni Broome will be ready to play after suffering a sprained left ankle in a weekend win at South Carolina. The school announced Sunday that the preseason Associated Press All-American wouldn’t need surgery.
The Tigers (15-1, 3-0 SEC) host No. 15 Mississippi State before visiting Georgia.
Top-10 tussles
There are two top-10 matchups this week: No. 9 Kansas visiting No. 2 Iowa State and No. 4 Alabama visiting No. 8 Kentucky.
In the Big 12, Kansas spent the first five weeks of the season at No. 1, while Iowa State has spent the weeks since as that league’s highest ranked team. Their first of two meetings comes Wednesday,
And in the SEC, the Crimson Tide follows a home game with No. 21 Ole Miss (Tuesday) before heading to Rupp Arena on Saturday.
Rankings variations
The AP Top 25, KenPom, Bart Torvik, Evan Miyakawa and NET rankings agree on Auburn, Iowa State, Duke, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Kansas and Houston as top-10 teams. Three of those agree on Auburn at No. 1, while Torvik has Houston at No. 1 and Miyakawa has Duke at No. 1.
All four rankings have the Blue Devils in the top four.
But there are notable differences with the AP Top 25 lower on four teams: Gonzaga, Illinois, Michigan and Arizona.
The 16th-ranked Zags and 20th-ranked Wolverines were both 11th or higher in all four of the other rankings. The 19th-ranked Illini stood at No. 9 in the NET and Torvik, No. 13 in KenPom and No. 14 in Miyakawa as of Monday. And the unranked Wildcats ranked between 12th and 18th for the other rankings.
Watch list
The first four teams outside the poll — St. John’s, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Arizona — have all been ranked this year. Of that group, the Big 12’s Mountaineers and Wildcats have the best games to help boost them back in the poll.
West Virginia, which spent last week at No. 21, visits No. 10 Houston on Wednesday before hosting Iowa State on Saturday. Arizona, which opened the year at No. 10, faces No. 25 Baylor on Tuesday.
Also, pay attention to Louisville’s solid start under first-year coach Pat Kelsey. The Cardinals have two games to sustain momentum with a trip to Syracuse and a home game against Virginia.
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
