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Mike White said Georgia basketball staff 'racked our brains' on NCAA Tournament showing Mike Whites fourth season as Georgia basketball coach included the programs first back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 24 years, a school record for regular season wins and its highest March Madness seed since 2002.
It also ended with an embarrassing 102-77 pasting by Saint Louis in an NCAA first round game in Buffalo in a game the Bulldogs were down by 40 with 4:17 to go.
We didnt act like we wanted to be here, guard Jeremiah Wilkinson said afterwards.
Wilkinson, the teams top scorer, transferred to Arkansas, center Somto Cyril left for Miami, forward Jake Wilkins and guard Jordan Ross moved on to Cal and Dylan James to George Washington.
Nearly four months later, White on Tuesday July 14 addressed what went into his team's showing in what was the largest loss by an SEC team in an NCAA round of 64 games since 2011.
As you prepare for the end of the season and the portals right around the corner, we have racked our brains as a staff, with other staffs, Ill continue to evaluate it and investigate it all season, White said.
How do you keep guys locked in all season to being a 2026-2027 Georgia Bulldog until the ball stops bouncing? And then lets figure out what were doing next.
White said the landscape of college basketball now with agents in players ears about very, very lucrative options at other places, makes it challenging for them to focus on preparing for the game at hand.
Its at every level, White said.
Its prevalent in the NBA.
Were talking about 19-year olds being able to handle that, not 30-year old professionals, 19-year old that are juggling classes at the same time and its the first time theyve been through it.
Ive got to do a better job at managing that.
White said he didnt press the right buttons even though he talked to the team during the year about not getting distracted but he said there has to be a level of accountability for the players.
Im going to challenge our guys again and maybe even talk about I even more, said White, who led Georgia to a 22-11 record last season and a No.
8 tournament seed.
Guys, lets stay locked in with one another to finish as strong as we can.' Georgias lopsided loss to Saint Louis followed an 89-68 NCAA Tournament first round exit to Gonzaga the previous year when the team held shorter practices.
White said that result led him to go into this past Marchs NCAA Tournament by holding longer practices.
We might have got after it too much, he said.
"I just thought a couple of days off, we exited the SEC Tournament a little bit early (after a loss to Ole Miss), we had a little bit more extra time on our hands and we really got after it.
And our guys responded well.
We practiced hard, we practiced long and we played tired.
Georgia returns four players who all started in the NCAA Tournament game: guards Marcus Millender and Blue Cain and forwards Kanon Catchings and Kareem Stagg.
The Bulldogs have nine newcomers including transfer guards Freddie Dillione (Penn State) and Kemauri Millender (New Mexico JC), forwards Brady Dunlap (Saint Louis) and Andrew Osasui (St.
Bonaventure) and center James Scott (Ole Miss), Georgia joins Florida and Colorado with four season-ending starters returning this season among power programs.
Getting guys to join that returning corps was part of our recruiting pitch, White said.
They like Georgia.
They like playing with one another.
They were part of recruiting their teammates this spring and summer.
White said Georgia has exceeded expectations each of his four seasons.
Were anticipating, he said, doing that again.
Well be picked in double digits (in the SEC) again and we anticipate being better than that.