Georgia draws dangerous Saint Louis in NCAA opener

ATHENS — Some seasons end quietly, and some seasons arrive at a moment.

Georgia’s has arrived.

For the second consecutive year, the Bulldogs are in the NCAA Tournament. That alone says something about the trajectory. What happens next, beginning Thursday night against Saint Louis, will say something about staying power.

“We are playing a dangerous team,” Georgia coach Mike White said. “But we are a dangerous team also.”

That, in a sentence, is this game.

An 8-vs-9 matchup is the committee’s way of saying, “We’re not sure.” Georgia (22-10) and Saint Louis (28-5) come to Buffalo separated by a seed line, a handful of metrics and very little certainty. One wins, one goes home. No tiebreakers.

Georgia arrives as one of the nation’s most entertaining teams — and one of its most volatile. The Bulldogs average nearly 90 points per game, play at a top-20 tempo and have beaten the likes of Auburn, Kentucky and Alabama. When they’re right, they look like a team no one wants to see.

When they’re not, they can be scored upon in bunches.

“We are a good team. We beat a lot of good teams,” White said. “This team is very resilient … and this team has gotten better through the year.”

Improvement is real. So is the challenge.

Saint Louis doesn’t overwhelm so much as it out-executes. The Billikens shoot better than 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three and defend with an efficiency Georgia has struggled to match. They rebound. They share the ball. They don’t beat themselves often.

In other words, they are precisely the kind of team that tests whether Georgia’s strengths can hold up when the pace tightens and possessions matter more.

The contrast is almost too neat.

Georgia wants the game in the 80s, preferably the 90s. Saint Louis is comfortable anywhere — a track meet or a half-court grind — because it can shoot, defend and control the glass. The Billikens’ rebounding margin (+7.5 per game) isn’t just a number; it’s a warning.

If Georgia misses, Saint Louis tends to finish the possession.

If Saint Louis misses, it often gets another chance.

For Georgia, the path is familiar: play fast, make shots, apply pressure and trust the guards. Jeremiah Wilkinson is the leading scorer (17.0 points per game). Blue Cain scores and rebounds. Marcus “Smurf” Millender runs the show and shoots nearly 40 percent from three.

For Cain, last year’s tournament exit still lingers.

“Last year was a tough loss,” he said. “We have to be ready to compete from the tip and be locked in. If we do that, we can compete with anybody in the country.”

Millender, newer to this stage, frames it differently.

“It was really a surreal moment,” he said of hearing Georgia’s name called. “As a kid you dream of playing in the NCAA Tournament.”

Now comes the part no one dreams about — the part where dreams get tested.

White, in his third season rebuilding Georgia’s program, believes this is where his team is supposed to be.

“Our program is in a really good place,” he said. “Hopefully, we will be sitting up here having these conversations in the future.”

That’s the long view.

The short view is Thursday night.

Georgia has proven it can score with anyone. Saint Louis has proven it can beat almost everyone. One of those truths will hold. One will not.

That’s March.