With conference play now underway, it is not too early to start thinking about the NCAA Tournament. SB Nation's Chris Dobbertean released his first "Bubble Watch" of the season and we find that Georgia has work left to do while currently Georgia Tech is on the outside looking in.
Looking at the SEC first, Dobbertean has Kentucky, Florida, and Vanderbilt as locks for the tournament. The Georgia Bulldogs are listed as a team with work left to do.
The Bulldogs didn't always look impressive during their non-conference schedule, but they took care of business for the most part, only losing to Notre Dame and Temple in Orlando. No shame there. Georgia currently has a 2-3 mark against the Top 50, which is workable, and a 9-0 mark against teams rated 150-plus, which illustrates an ability to not get stunned, an issue for recent Georgia teams. Neither Saturday's home win over Kentucky or Wednesday's loss at Vanderbilt should be a surprise, just a symptom of life in the tough SEC East. However, the Bulldogs' future road games will be more like the contest at Memorial Gym than any of the three places they've won on their travels (down Georgia Tech, poor Saint Louis, and Mercer) This week: at Mississippi (Sat.), Tennessee (Tue.)
Georgia's RPI of 48 will improve if the Bulldogs can keep their heads above water in conference play. That starts by getting the road monkey off of their back this Saturday in Mississippi and then taking care of business against Tennessee at home on Tuesday.
The ACC at this point looks like a one horse race with Duke the only lock for the postseason. Now there is no doubt that the conference will send several more teams to the tournament, but at this point not many have eliminated themselves. North Carolina leads a large group listed with work left to do as only Wake Forrest and Atlanta's own Georgia Tech appear to be out of contention.