Georgia men’s basketball has life beyond the SEC conference tournament for the first time since Coach Felton’s debut in 2003-2004.

They will host Fresno State as the #4 seed in the South bracket in the NIT. Should they win, they would play the winner of the Air Force / Austin Peay game. We’ll have times and ticket information as soon as we get them.

The NIT field, though not the NCAA field of course, still has plenty of decent teams. Squads like Akron, Clemson, Syracuse, and FSU who just missed out on NCAA bids will be competing for the trip to New York.

There are four SEC teams in this NIT field: Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State.

Georgia had a tougher time against this field than the NCAA field: they are 1-3 against NIT teams with the sole win coming against Mississippi State.

Fresno State is 22-9 overall and 10-7 in the WAC. They have two wins over NCAA-bound teams, Creighton and New Mexico State, and they’ve beaten Utah State who joins us in the NIT field. They finished well after being left for dead midway through the season.

A February 1st loss to Hawaii had them at 15-7. Starting guard Ja’Vance Coleman was kicked off the team. Backup point guard Tyson Parker broke his hand. Instead of packing it in, they played better. They have won seven of nine to finish the season, and their only two losses since have been by a combined eight points to NCAA-bound Nevada and Boise State. They have won four straight road games entering the postseason.

They are led by a trio of athletic big men. 6’6″ swingman Quinton Hosley is the leading scorer at around 14 ppg. He can put it up from outside and gets around nine rebounds a game. He was ejected from the WAC Tournament loss to Boise State, but he won’t miss any more time because of it. 6’8″ forward Dominic McGuire will be a tough matchup. He can bang inside to the tune of 10 rebounds a game and 110 blocks this year but can also step outside. 6’9″ forward Hector Hernandez puts up the most three-pointers of anyone on the team. Point guard Kevin Bell is capable enough running the show. He has a solid assists/turnover ration over 2.

You see immediate matchup issues as Takais Brown and Georgia’s other wings and forwards will have to chase these guys all over the court. Depth is obviously an issue; they don’t go very deep at all especially after the midseason losses.