Georgia’s Mike White at work building on boost from NCAA Tournament selection

“We had a special year, and now we want to have a more special year next season, and the following, continuing to build,” White said.

“We want this to be a launching pad. ... We want to get back and be better.”

There’s work to do, as Newell and the two seniors also departing the program accounted for:

• 42.6% of team scoring

• 32.2% of rebounds

• 37.5% of assists

• 29% of blocked shots

• 34.4% of steals

To boot, UGA assistant coach Erik Pastrana announced earlier this week he’s returning to his home roots, taking a position at Miami.

White, who has a promising class of freshmen coming in led by top-100 recruits Jacob Wilkins (6-foot-7 forward) and Kareem Stagg (6-8 post), has a line to promising transfers but is starting out focused on retention.

“All of these guys have options, you know, just like all of our staff, year in, year out, it’s the current landscape,” White said.

“As much as you preach loyalty and you want continuity, you want these guys to take advantage of their options every spring and do what’s in their best interest.”

That said, there’s great optimism that team captain Silas Demary Jr. will return to lead a large portion of this season’s team to a deeper NCAA Tournament run after this year’s Bulldogs were eliminated by Gonzaga in an opening-round matchup.

“If we have as much continuity as I’m hopeful for, even if you lose a lottery pick-slash-first-round guy (Newell) it looks good,” White said. “I like that we can be older and perhaps have the most continuity as we’ve had in this rebuild effort here at Georgia.”

No doubt, White wants to maintain the team culture and buy-in that enabled the Bulldogs to close the regular season with four consecutive wins after a 2-9 stretch in which six losses were to top 10-ranked SEC foes on the road.

“Culture is action, and it’s how you carry yourself, how you respond to your teammates, coaches, positives and negatives,” White said, explaining the program’s resiliency and success amid a historically good SEC that’s set records with 14 teams in the NCAA tournament and seven advancing to the Sweet 16.

“It’s how you get along … your work ethic, it’s all action, and I think at the end of the day buy-in is a big factor.”

That’s where White’s leadership and messaging factors into the program’s significant process.

“Whatever any of us coaches are preaching to our team, our young people, the next step is for your guys, starting with the leadership … to buy in and hold each other accountable for that,” White said.

“For us, it was growth … simply one day at a time let’s get better, one practice, one film session, growth, growth, growth and we’re going to continue for that to be our mantra in this program.”

For now, that means securing, or retaining, talent for and from a Georgia roster that ranked as the second youngest in the SEC last season, per KenPom.com metrics.

“We’re going to get the best players that we can this spring to add to what and who’s going to return,” White said. “Then we’ve just got to figure out (our approach), whether that means we play incredibly fast, somewhat fast or in the middle, or if we’re set heavy, ball-screen heavy, or screens-off-the-ball heavy.

“We morphed a few times this year and then figured it out and made our run … I think our guards, certainly Silas Demary Jr., really benefited down the stretch.”

White noted how Georgia’s growth in the area of experience will especially benefit the team as many of the SEC teams still competing in the tournament are senior laden.

As difficult as it can be to watch the Big Dance proceed with his team in it, White is dutifully watching and taking notes on opponents, and perhaps even future Georgia players.

“Sometimes when you’re watching these gams on TV as a coach, and you’ve been knocked out, it’s a little bit easier to watch knowing you were a part of it,” White said. “When you’re not part of the NCAA tournament, it’s really hard to watch, but you’re watching for educational purposes.”

The lessons White’s Bulldogs learned this season were undeniable.

“If you asked me last June, if you could accomplished what you accomplished, would you feel good about the step the program made?” White asked rhetorically. “Absolutely … we broke a bunch of records, we ended a lot of streaks, we started some streaks, but most importantly we talk about the culture we instilled that was acted on by our young players,” White said.

“How resilient they were to finish as strong as we did is about as rewarding of a late-season run as I’ve been part of as a head coach.”