SEC Power Rankings Week 9

Well the expectation was that once the SEC entered conference play that we'd get some sort of clarity about the conference, and instead, a full on 4 alarm case of SECBASKETBALLFEVER erupted all over the place. Down was up, left was right, cats and dogs sleeping together, mass hysteria!

Kentucky lost in conference and have dropped out of the top spot for the first time in the history of this poll and received nary a first place vote from any of our voters. And of all the teams you'd expect to take the top spot, how many would have thought it would be A&M? This season, is nuts.

Tier 1

Sitting atop the standings for the first time in their history are the Aggies of A&M. They've been creeping up steadily all year long and after a good week getting wins at home over Arkansas and on the road at Mississippi State, they, for this week will reign supreme.

In second, the still undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks. This is crazy, Frank Martin has got his team going and playing crazy defense winning on the road at Auburn and now have a home date with former Tier 1 resident, Vanderbilt.

Coming in third is Kentucky. The Wildcats started the season with a home win over Ole Miss and then followed that up on Super Tuesday with a startling loss to suddenly competent LSU. Mind you, this is still a good team, but its freshman are playing more like normal freshman.

Rounding out Tier 1 are the suddenly good and healthy LSU Tigers.  LSU got a big road win at Vandy (where's the magic?!) and then passed their first big test with a big win over Kentucky that never seemed truly in doubt. A game in which Ben Simmons was very quiet...things are happening in Baton Rouge people!

Tier 2

Tier 2 is a mess, just a big giant mess of teams that no one knows what to do with. We've got three teams tied for 5^th in our standings with Alabama, Florida and Vandy all receiving the same number of points.  Bama may be living off their nonconference success and seem poised for a fall after a loss to Ole Miss. Florida meanwhile was able to handle Georgia and then got their doors blown off at Tennessee. If any of that makes sense, feel free to explain it to me. Vandy is struggling, losers of two SEC games in a row, one in overtime at Bud Walton where road teams don't win, and then a startling loss to LSU at home. The road does not get easier though as they head on the road to South Carolina.

Ole Miss and Georgia close out tier 2, both one point and two points down from the three teams tied for 5^th. Ole Miss took a loss to Kentucky (no real shame there) and then opened their new Pavilion in style with a Thursday night win over Alabama. Georgia on the other hand, took a loss to Florida on the road and then shot the lights out against Mizzou in a double digit victory that might have been over after the first 2 minutes of the game.

Tier 3

Living in Tier 3 we have Auburn, Tennessee and Arkansas. All three teams have conference victories and a conference loss. Of the three Arkansas appears the most likely to make the jump to Tier 2 status having lost a close game to Dayton and beaten Vanderbilt. Auburn has yet to win a road game, but head to lowly Mizzou tomorrow and Tennessee got a nice win over a Florida team that we're not sure what to make of.

Tier 4

Finally, closing out the Tiers we have perpetual cellar dwellers, Mississippi State and Mizzou. Both have lost their lone conference game, State to Texas A&M in the final seconds at home and Mizzou on the road to Georgia, in a game that was not pretty.  A close loss to A&M does look a lot nicer for State than the beating Mizzou took on the road to Georgia though.

The Rankings!

Team	Points	Ranking	Ranking Last Week	Change	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank
Texas A&M	95	1st	2nd	Up 1	1st	2nd
South Carolina	89	2nd	3rd	Up 1	1st	4th
Kentucky	86	3rd	1st	Down 2	2nd	3rd
LSU	75	4th	9th	Up 5	2nd	9th
Alabama	54	5th (Tied)	6th (Tied)	Up 1	5th	12th
Florida	54	5th (Tied)	5th	None	5th	13th
Vanderbilt	54	5th (Tied)	4th	Down 1	5th	12th
Ole Miss	53	8th	6th (Tied)	Down 2	4th	10th
Georgia	51	9th	8th	Down 1	6th	10th
Auburn	35	10th	11th	Up 1	7th	12th
Tennessee	32	11th	10th	Down 1	8th	12th
Arkansas	30	12th	12th	None	7th	12th
Mississippi State	18	13th	13th	None	7th	14th
Mizzou	9	14th	14th	None	13th	14th

Points were distributed 1st = 14, 2nd = 13, 3rd = 12, 4th = 11, 5th = 10, 6th = 9, 7th = 8, 8th = 7, 9th = 6, 10th = 5, 11th = 4, 12th = 3, 13th = 2, and 14th = 1

Will probably hang around with a lot of teams. (Anchor of Gold)

I've ranked them fifth before playing at Ole Miss tonight. So they'll almost certainly lose ugly and make me look foolish. (Dawg Sports)

Hey Bama fans, you're team is playing basketball...yes, the round orange ball game...what, or yes, see you Tuesday. (Rock M Nation)

The Hogs could easily hit 3-1 in conference before a gut check LSU/Kentucky/Georgia/A&M stretch. (Good Bull Hunting)

Forced 26 turnovers and barely beat Vandy, which tells you how good they are at everything else. (Anchor of Gold)

How did they beat Vandy, when they couldn't beat Mercer or Akron at home? #SECBasketballFever (Dawg Sports)

Beat Tennessee, lost to South Carolina. They are playing spoiler this season now. (Dawg Sports)

Auburn is three guards down and looking for answers inside. They're still a tough out but need to get healthy if they want to play in the NIT. (College and Magnolia)

Auburn is one injury away from having to call out into the stands for someone to fill out the starting 5. (Rock M Nation)

Florida got absolutely waxed by Tennessee, so they take a dip.  (Fox Sports Knoxville)

The Gators brought knives to the gun fight in Knoxville. Knives don't win gun fights. (Good Bull Hunting)

The RPI loves Florida and I really don't get it. Good losses are still losses. Losses to Tennessee don't even fall in the category of good losses. (College and Magnolia)

They don't suck. But there's really nothing special about them, either. (Anchor of Gold)

If they can win on the road at Ole Miss this weekend, it'll bode well for their NCAA chances going forward. Lose and it becomes much tougher. Fox seems to be figuring out his rotation, and Yante Maten is looking like an elite college big, so the team could be poised to go on a run. (Dawg Sports)

Not every team will leave the Dawgs wide open from the three point line...(Rock M Nation)

Kentucky's loss to LSU was more about the process than the result. The Wildcats looked meek on the road. (Good Bull Hunting)

John Calipari gets owned by Johnny Jones... yeah, this is gonna be a strange year. (Anchor of Gold)

As much as we rag on Johnny Jones, you can't lose to him without taking a hit. They are probably still the favorites to win the conference, but it's not by a lot right now. (Dawg Sports)

What LSU did to Kentucky didn't look like a fluke. LSU's supporting cast is stepping up and are relying on Simmons less. Could this be the team we thought they were in November? (College and Magnolia)

LSU pounded UK, so they move up. (Fox Sports Knoxville)

Crazy high ceiling. Crazy low floor. They are capable of literally anything. (Good Bull Hunting)

On a different day they win that opener against A&M. (Good Bull Hunting)

Ben Howland goes matchup zone, defense suddenly exists. (Anchor of Gold)

State is starting to figure things out, look out for Ware down the line. (Rock M Nation)

Georgia just welcomed them back to reality after two blowout wins over cupcakes. (Anchor of Gold)

Saturday's game with Auburn is must win, literally, I'm not joking, they HAVE to win, otherwise, things get ugly quickly. (Rock M Nation)

Another ugly loss to a P5 squad. They need one (or both) of the Auburn/Arkansas home games before their schedule spirals quickly out of control. (Good Bull Hunting)

Don't feel bad Ole Miss, I'm not buying anybody else either. (College and Magnolia)

Home games tonight vs. Bama and Georgia on the weekend could push them to top of the middle tier, or drop them down to the bottom pack. (Dawg Sports)

Slow start against Bama in the brand new arena, but that's be expected when your game plan at home is to anticipate having to make outlet passes when the power goes out. (Rock M Nation)

South Carolina is undefeated and looks surprisingly solid. (Fox Sports Knoxville)

Just keep winning. Just keep winning. Just keep winning, winning, winning. (Good Bull Hunting)

Kentucky loses to LSU, Aggie almost blows one to Miss State . . . whatever, South Carolina's #1 until they lose. (College and Magnolia)

Lost to Auburn, but beat Florida. Home or road matters so much in conference play. (Dawg Sports)

Admiral Schofield is emerging as another weapon on offense. That defense, though...(Anchor of Gold)

Think they may have exposed Florida a little bit this past Wednesday...(Rock M Nation)

Davis has given them good minutes inside to go with the elite pair of scorers in House and Jones. (Dawg Sports)

A&M took care of business at home but looked terrible on the road in an ugly win at MSU. An effort like that will not be enough at surging Tennessee. (Good Bull Hunting)

We'll give them a pass for struggling to beat MSU since Danuel House didn't play. (Anchor of Gold)

Potential is quickly becoming a four letter word in Nashville. (Good Bull Hunting)

0-2, but that was against Kevin Stallings' kryptonite: Johnny Jones (somehow) and Bud Walton Arena. (Anchor of Gold)

Looking to end the losing streak at South Carolina...yeah...that doesn't look promising. (Rock M Nation)

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And that will wrap up this week's SEC Power Rankings. Honestly, the past week has been nuts, and with the schedule we have coming up this weekend, things could get even nuttier. Let's hope so!

Enjoy the games everyone!