Welcome back to the SEC Power Rankings where Kentucky continues to be the class of the conference and the rest of the league does things to embarrass everyone else. Any movement at this point in the rankings seems to be a direct reflection of a loss and usually a bad one bumping what would be mid pack teams in other conferences towards the top of our polls. South Carolina, not included!
Let’s just jump straight into the breakdowns as outside of the top 3 teams in the rankings, and the bottom two no one really has a surefire place to peg teams four through twelve.
Tier 1
Tier 1 remains consistent at the top with Kentucky receiving all of our first place votes for the third straight week in a row. At this point, the team most likely to challenge them is our second place team, South Carolina. SC has not lost this season, as they hadn’t at this time last year, however this year the quality of the wins are much better and will look great on the Gamecocks’ resume in March. While Big Blue faces a big test in #11 UCLA and Lonzo Ball tomorrow, SC will be back at the cupcake buffet, so perhaps we see some movement next week. Rounding out the top three are the Gators, who in their first true test of the season went down to a very good Gonzaga team after leading for the first half. Not a bad loss to be sure, but the Gators do not have the wins SC does at this point and time.
Tier 2
In Tier 2 we’ve still got three teams and what all three teams have in common is that our voters do not know what to make of them. A&M, Georgia and Arkansas are all supposed to be playing better basketball than they’ve shown this season, but all have some losses on their resume that won’t allow them to distinguish themselves from each other come March, and as we know relying on the SEC season to bail out your schedule isn’t going to get it done. None of the three will be testing themselves this week, outside of Arkansas’ home game with Houston on Tuesday night.
Tier 3
It’s been said before and it will be said again, welcome to the middle. Tier 3 is very close in terms of points between Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss and Bama, but none have done anything to distinguish themselves from the other. The best element on anyone’s resume at this point is Ole Miss’ close loss to Creighton, that’s completely hampered by getting beat by Middle Tennessee State (hey Mizzou!). Auburn is still figuring themselves out, no one can trust LSU and Alabama is here because someone has to be. If the SEC is to get to a percentage of teams from the conference that would be deemed respectable for the tournament, someone in this group is going to have to get a good win over the next month.
Tier 4
Tier 4 where you’re not terrible, but you’re not all that good either. Living in this neck of the SEC woods is Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. Outside of a loss to Bucknell (which could be less terrible as the season goes on), Vandy has done what you would expect from a team with all their talent gone and a new head coach in place. On the other hand State has taken some bad losses and appeared to lose Quinndary Weatherspoon for the season, but now he’s back, so who knows what that does for State, aside from raise their ceiling.
Tier 5
The crap part of the rankings, remain the land of the Volunteers and the Tigers of the Midwest. Both tied for last place at 11 points (or tied for 13th if you wish), and while both have played worse than other teams in the conference, what you can say for UT is they do not have a bad loss on their resume, Mizzou on the other hand does. Really, both teams are not playing attractive basketball, and something’s going to have to click in the near future to give their fans some hope.
Team | Points | Ranking | Ranking Last Week | Change | Highest Pick | Lowest Pick | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kentucky | 84 | 1st | 1st | None | 1st | 1st | ||||||
South Carolina | 77 | 2nd | 3rd | Up 1 | 2nd | 3rd | ||||||
Florida | 73 | 3rd | 2nd | Down 1 | 2nd | 3rd | ||||||
Texas A&M | 57 | 4th | 4th | None | 4th | 9th | ||||||
Georgia | 55 | 5th | 8th | Up 3 | 4th | 8th | ||||||
Arkansas | 50 | 6th | 5th | Down 1 | 4th | 10th | ||||||
Auburn | 45 | 7th | 6th | Down 1 | 6th | 12th | ||||||
LSU | 44 | 8th | 9th | Up 1 | 5th | 9th | ||||||
Ole Miss | 40 | 9th | 7th | Down 2 | 5th | 11th | ||||||
Alabama | 38 | 10th | 10th | None | 7th | 10th | ||||||
Vanderbilt | 25 | 11th | 11th | None | 6th | 14th | ||||||
Mississippi State | 20 | 12th | 12th | None | 11th | 13th | ||||||
Mizzou | 11 | 14th (Tied) | 13th | Down 1 | 12th | 14th | ||||||
Tennessee | 11 | 14th (Tied) | 14th | None | 12th | 14th |
Points were distributed as follows: 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
This looks suspiciously like a team coached by Anthony Grant right now... (Anchor of Gold)
They are better than the back end of the conference, maybe. (Dawg Sports)
To the Bama basketball fans, I salute you, holding out against the behemoth that is national signing day in February, good on you! (Rock M Nation)
We won't know much of anything about this team until Texas, and Mike Anderson better hope they haven't gotten fat eating so many cupcakes before Shaka Smart rolls into Bud Walton. (Dawg Sports)
Arkansas basketball is to the road, as SEC Network announcers is to canned meat. (Rock M Nation)
Moses Kingsley being voted preseason POY is starting to look like the SEC media doesn't know what the hell they're talking about. (Anchor of Gold)
Looks like Bruce Pearl's hard work on the recruiting trail is finally paying off and that's all it is, hard damn work, nothing else. (Red Cup Rebellion)
Auburn may be slowing down after a great start. Saturday's trip to UAB would be a great time to rediscover their potential. (College and Magnolia)
Still a weird dichotomy between advanced stats and the eye test here. (Anchor of Gold)
Florida is #3 in the RPI and playing like that's not too crazy of a ranking. (College and Magnolia)
Wins over Miami and Seton Hall are nice, and the loss to the Zags not so much. If this team can start hitting more 3s, they become much more dangerous. (Dawg Sports)
Florida is Florida and always seems to be just fine. (Red Cup Rebellion)
Thanks to their midweek game I got to learn that one of Morehouse's players has a mom who's on Real Housewives, in "information I never really wanted to know." (Anchor of Gold)
Freshman Jordan Harris looks ready to take on a prominent role off the bench, and Sunday's marquee matchup with Marquette looms large when it comes to a Dance resume in March. (Dawg Sports)
Can Yante Maten and the other guys beat Marquette? If they don’t they’re going to have to do some serious work in the SEC to get a sniff at March and you don’t want to count on the SEC to help your resume. (Rock M Nation)
Kentucky is a cheat code. (Red Cup Rebellion)
They might be in trouble if Malik Monk got hurt, otherwise this team is gonna roll. (Dawg Sports)
Just once I’d like to have to think about putting someone else in the top spot, but it won’t be anytime. Even a close loss to UCLA tomorrow would be better than most of the conference’s wins at this point. (Rock M Nation)
Johnny Jones is usually good for trashing an actual good team once or twice a year, but that's normally followed by "blow winnable game against team they have no business losing to" in the band's set. (Anchor of Gold)
I like the talent. There's one thing I don't like about this team, if only I could put a finger on what was wrong here. (Dawg Sports)
They beat Houston, so I have to assume someone else coached this team other than JJ. (Rock M Nation)
Mississippi State looks great against guys who are going pro in something other than sports. (College and Magnolia)
(insert joke about Mississippi medical doctors not knowing difference between "out for the season" and "out for a week") (Anchor of Gold)
Based on Weatherspoon being back I’m going to have to assume the team doctors also went to State to get their degree in meteorology. (Rock M Nation)
I'm not going to lie, I just put the bottom 4 in alphabetical order. They're all equally awful. I comes before O. And M comes before T. (Dawg Sports)
Please let this team split games involving teams with Kentucky in their name at home this season. (Rock M Nation)
Their basketball team is making me think they're trying TOO hard to be an SEC school. (Anchor of Gold)
Should get together with Missouri's football team and start a "we lost to MTSU" support group. (Anchor of Gold)
Has ole miss found balance on offense? Maybe. But they still play zero defense. (Red Cup Rebellion)
I was going to put them a lot higher than 10th, and then Middle Tennessee St happened. I love Andy Kennedy. (Dawg Sports)
I couldn't think of a clever joke about Blue pills and Cocks so I went with this. (A Sea of Blue)
Frank Martin is on a mission to challenge Kentucky and Andy Kennedy's suit game. (Red Cup Rebellion)
Oh, South Carolina . . . don't make me believe again. (College and Magnolia)
Didn't play last week, I almost forgot how bad they are. (Anchor of Gold)
I'm not going to lie, I just put the bottom 4 in alphabetical order. They're all equally awful. M comes before T. And T comes before V. (Dawg Sports)
West Virginia forced 40 turnovers in a 40 minute game this past week, and yes, that has nothing to do with Tennessee, but damn, that’s incredible..so, the more you know or something. (Rock M Nation)
Teams from Los Angeles are, apparently, their kryptonite. (Anchor of Gold)
Is Kevin Sumlin coaching the basketball team now, too? (Red Cup Rebellion)
DJ Hogg and Tyler Davis should make a team higher than seventh, but there's something about this team that reminds me of LSU. I just can't get why. (Dawg Sports)
Welcome to 2016 where Vandy's win over Tennessee State was impressive and crucial. (College and Magnolia)
That loss to Bucknell looks, uh, slightly less embarrassing a week after the fact. (Anchor of Gold)
By the end of this year, Vandy will be the team people are talking about in 2017-2018 as a potential breakout candidate.
That will do it for this weekend, enjoy Bama and Texas tonight and Kentucky v UCLA tomorrow mid day!