Mike White has the Georgia Bulldogs arriving right on time in year four, as UGA's rev-sharing has reached the hardwood and the wins are piling up because of it. While White left a championship situation with the Florida Gators for a less proven product in Athens, things are coming together during the 2025-26 season, White's fourth with the Dawgs.
Busting Brackets' Joey Loose has Georgia as his No. 18-ranked team in the country through January 3, believing the program is more impressive than its recent near-losses to the Auburn Tigers and Long Island Sharks indicate.
"We were almost left scratching our heads back on Monday, as Georgia trailed at the half before coming away with an 89-74 win over Long Island. Marcus Millender led the way with 14 points and 6 assists off the bench as the Bulldogs did enough in their last nonconference matchup. The Bulldogs then survived a chaotic ending in a 104-100 overtime win against Auburn in their SEC debut. Jeremiah Wilkinson had a career day with 31 points and 6 rebounds," Loose wrote.
"Say what you want about the resume or the previous matchups but Georgia is taking care of business this season and Mike White’s crew won’t feel bad about that. The potential is high for this physical group of Bulldogs and this could be an SEC contender if they truly have put those shooting woes in the rearview. Looking ahead, it’s a pair of road games and the first real conference test at Florida just a couple days from now."
Georgia has surpassed Auburn in football and basketball
The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry has become very one-sided.
With the Dawgs making the College Football Playoff this past fall and looking like a strong contender to make their second March Madness in three years, the needle is moving in the right direction for UGA athletics.
Not the case for the good guys.
Auburn football was a disaster for the fifth year in a row in 2025. Steven Pearl appears to have an uphill climb to return the Tigers to the national relevance that his father Bruce had the program reveling in.
Even though UGA was favored to win, it still stung to see Kevin Overton's game-tying buzzer-beater at the end of regulation result in a 104-100 overtime loss at Stegeman Coliseum.
The Tigers needed this one. Auburn has been short on signature victories since the Elite Eight in the NCAA's two main revenue-producing sports.
In general, they've been losing more than winning against Georgia for far too long now.