Tom Crean's Seat Should Heat Up if the Bulldogs Lose to Auburn Wednesday

As the losses accumulate for Georgia Basketball, it begs the question, at what point does the seat beneath head coach Tom Crean get a little warm?

Georgia fell to 0-3 in SEC play Saturday after an embarrassing loss to Arkansas. In just over two seasons, the Bulldogs are 8-33 against SEC teams. With Crean, Georgia has suffered four SEC losing streaks of at least four games.

The Bulldogs are looking to avoid a fifth such streak this Wednesday. Georgia hosts an Auburn team that is just 6-6 this season with conference losses to Arkansas, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Alabama. Auburn is the perfect opponent for Georgia to turn its season around.

That's the problem, Georgia has had several such games over the last two seasons. This narrative of Georgia failing to turn itself around rings true during its games as well.

Saturday was a great example. When Arkansas went on a run, Georgia was helpless to stop it. This was the norm in Georgia's comeback losses last season. Turnovers, untimely fouls and poor shooting have become the hallmarks of Georgia basketball in many of its losses.

That's an indictment of Georgia's leadership, and leadership doesn't get any higher than the head coach.

To say Crean hasn't matched expectations is an understatement. Crean espoused his past team's three-point shooting prowess, but Georgia has been one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the nation since Crean took over. The Bulldogs are yet to have a season ranked in the top 200 nationally in three-point shooting.

Recruiting was also supposed to improve, and it did in 2019 with the signing of Anthony Edwards, Sahvir Wheeler, Toumani Camara and Christian Brown. The Bulldogs ended the 2019 recruiting cycle with the No. 11 class in the nation.

Georgia's recruiting took a step back in 2020, missing out on the big-name prospects that were supposed to follow Edwards to Athens. JT Thor and Walker Kessler were the most glaring misses. Kessler's father Chad, uncle Alec and brother Houston all played basketball for Georgia. 2021 isn't looking much better at the moment.

From here on out, Georgia isn't just playing for a high seed in the SEC Tournament, or a spot in the NCAA Tournament, head coach Tom Crean's future is on the line as well. Crean's buyout after this season $7.2 million so Georgia may have to stick with Crean for another year.

But his buyout next year $3.2 million and if he can't turn the 2020-21 season around, he'll be on a short leash next season.