The #10-ranked Lady Dogs earned a #3 seed for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament – the program’s highest seed since 2007. Georgia returns to the tournament for the first time since 2018 and for the 34th time in program history. It’s coach Joni Taylor’s third trip to the tournament in six seasons at the helm, and the program is seeking its first Sweet 16 appearance under Taylor and its first deep tournament run since 2013. Usually a top-4 seed means that Georgia would be hosting the first two rounds of the tournament, but NCAA pandemic protocols have moved the entire tournament to the San Antonio, TX area. Georgia will head to Texas and remain in isolation there for the duration of their stay in the tournament.

Georgia received their high seed after a 20-6 season and a fourth-place SEC finish. They defeated eight teams in the NCAA tournament field and have won seven of their last nine games with losses coming to ranked Kentucky and South Carolina teams. Georgia beat Texas A&M and pushed South Carolina to the final minute in the SEC tournament, and they look very much like a team peaking at the right time. As you’d hope, the experienced senior class of four players leads the team and is largely responsible for the team’s success and better-than-expected results. Even with the strong starting lineup, Taylor will play a deep bench and has relied on bench contributions in big wins over Tennessee and Texas A&M. Team health is generally good, though guard Gabby Connally injured an ankle in practice recently.

The Lady Dogs will open the tournament on Monday at noon on ESPN2 against 14-seed Drexel. The Dragons won the CAA automatic bid by winning their conference tournament and upsetting top-seeded Delaware. Georgia should have a significant size advantage against Drexel. The Dragons have no player taller than 6’2″ on their roster. Jenna Stati and the other posts should be able to feast if they can stay clear of foul trouble, and Maya Caldwell could also have a big game around the basket in her newer role at the 4 spot. Drexel’s offense is led by guards Keishana Washington and Hannah Nihill. Washington had back-to-back 30-point games to lead Drexel to a CAA conference tournament title. Drexel, like Georgia, will look to be disruptive on defense. Opponents average over 18 turnovers per game against the Dragons, and Drexel gets nearly 17 points per game off those turnovers. Georgia has been turnover-prone this season, and unforced errors could keep the score down and keep an outmatched opponent hanging around. Georgia ideally will use their own stingy defense to create transition opportunities and not allow the Drexel defense to set up.

If Georgia advances, they’ll face the winner of 6-seed Oregon and 11-seed South Dakota on Wednesday. Oregon was a national contender a year ago behind national player of the year Sabrina Ionescu. The Ducks ended up with three of the top eight draft picks in the 2020 WNBA draft. The remaining cast played a tough shortened Pac-12 schedule this year and have a trio of single-digit losses to very good UCLA and Stanford teams. Injuries, especially to point guard Te-Hina Paopao, have seen the Ducks fall in the polls, but they’re a different team with everyone available. South Dakota is no pushover – they hung with South Carolina and Gonzaga and have won nine straight entering the tournament. Down the road Georgia could face national powers Louisville and Stanford.

SEC teams received seven of the 64 bids. They’ve had more bids in the past, but the seeding this year shows how top-heavy the SEC was. No SEC team is lower than a 7-seed, and six SEC teams earned a 4-seed or better. If chalk holds, the conference would have over a third of the Sweet 16 teams.