The Bulldogs are back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 10 years and will face Gonzaga in the first round of the Midwest Regional Thursday in Wichita, Kansas.
Georgia, with a record of 20-12, earned the No. 8 seed in the Midwest while Gonzaga, 25-8 and the champion of the West Coast Conference, was seeded ninth.
Gonzaga is in the NCAA Tournament for the 26th consecutive year, the second-longest active streak behind Michigan State at 27. On the other hand, Georgia has some strange (but true) facts in its NCAA Tournament history — something Mike White and his crew hope to keep in the past as it continues its 2024-25 journey.
- The 1983 team made the first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history and advanced all the way to the Final Four. The Bulldogs accomplished that feat the year after the best player in program history (Dominique Wilkins) left Athens for the NBA.
- The 1983 team won three games en route to the Final Four. There have only been four wins in the NCAA Tournament by the program in the 41 seasons that followed — and two of those (one in 1985 and the other in 2002) were later vacated by the NCAA.
- The two non-vacated wins (still in the record books) came in 1996 as Tubby Smith led the Bulldogs to the regional semifinals before losing to Syracuse.
- The last win — which was later vacated in the wake of academic scandal under coach Jim Harrick — came in 2002, an 85-68 victory over Murray State in the first round of the East Regional.
- Current Georgia State coach Jonas Hayes had 14 points and 14 rebounds in that victory. His twin brother Jarvis, Jonas’ assistant at Georgia State, had 31 points in what would be the final win of their first season in Athens after transferring from Western Carolina.
- Georgia qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2008 after winning the “SEC tornado tournament” in Atlanta. The Bulldogs were the 14th seed in the West and led No. 3 seed Xavier by nine at halftime before eventually losing 73-61.
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