The Southeastern Conference is expected to release its full basketball at the end of the week. But Athens-Banner Herald reporter Marc Weiszer was able
to obtain a draft of Georgia’s SEC basketball schedule through an open records request.
It reveals that for the second straight year, Florida and Georgia will only play once this season. This time, it’s in Athens, Ga., on Jan. 17.
When the SEC expanded to 14 teams in 2013, it instituted an 18-game schedule with only one guaranteed permanent home-and-home rival. Florida’s rival is Kentucky. At the SEC spring meetings, basketball coaches voted to extend the scheduling to three permanent rivals in 2016. Georgia coach Mark Fox would like to see the Gators as one of Georgia’s three rivals.
Florida-Georgia doesn’t conjure up memorable games from a hoops standpoint, but it’s still a border rivalry that should be preserved in all sports. The two schools have played against each other 207 times in basketball since 1923. It will be the first time since 1944 that Georgia won’t play on UF’s campus.
