SEC Basketball Power Rankings: Tigers at the Bottom

If you’re keeping track, the rankings have been somewhat tumultuous in the 3-10 spots especially.

Auburn has had the biggest fall. I once had them at 6-1 and ranked 5th, but since then I’ve dropped them all the way to 13.

Alabama has had the biggest rise. I had them at 13 when they were 4-4, but now they are at 6 and really playing consistent basketball.

1) Kentucky (15-2, 5-0, RPI: 6) - Kentucky struggled at Vanderbilt going 1 of 9 from beyond the arc. More than half of Vanderbilt’s shots were from outside the 3-point line. Kentucky played a bad game, for them, and still managed to win both halves and shoot over 50% for the game. The Wildcats were lights out over Auburn.

2) Florida (14-3, 5-0, RPI: 3) - Florida needed overtime to beat Georgia. The most glaring statline is the bench scoring. UGA Bench - 5, FLA Bench - 55.

3) South Carolina (14-3, 4-0, RPI: 25) - No sweat with the easy wins over Tennessee and Ole Miss. South Carolina is currently undefeated, but they play Florida and Kentucky this week.

4) Georgia (11-6, 3-2, RPI: 38) - Georgia has challenged both South Carolina and Florida, and they will be dangerous for most SEC teams this season, but their schedule doesn’t shake out well for a lot of wins. They have to play Kentucky twice, Florida again, and South Carolina again. When they end the season at Arkansas, they may be fighting for every win possible.

5) Arkansas (13-4, 2-3, RPI: 39) - Did Arkansas let Kentucky beat them twice? I don’t know, but they couldn’t get any big stops against Mississippi State and took their first bad loss of the season. Playing Missouri heals all wounds, but they Hogs have to play at Texas A&M this week, which hasn’t been kind in recent years.

6) Alabama (10-6, 3-1, RPI: 66) - Losing to Florida won’t be a knock on anyone this season, and beating LSU won’t turn any heads. Alabama is running pretty steady right now.

7) Mississippi State (12-4, 3-1, RPI: 98) - This has been the best week of the season for the Bulldogs. Huge RPI jump, two wins in games they were favored to lose, and Ole Miss lost twice. I said it last week, this seam is scary. The best news for Arkansas fans is that The Bulldogs are now a top 100 RPI team, and they kept winning. The bad news for Bulldog fans is the play Kentucky on Tuesday.

8) Ole Miss (10-7, 1-4, RPI: 46) - Ole Miss has gotten blown out in the 1st half of games this SEC season. 200-131. Their only SEC win was over Auburn who only had them beat by 8 at half. If you’re wondering how a team that lost both games this week and is getting killed by so much in the 1st half, just get ready for the rest of these teams.

9) Tennessee (9-8, 2-3, RPI: 59) - Ole Miss’s saving grace was that all 4 losses came to the top 4 teams, but Tennessee’s loss to Arkansas pushes them just the tiniest bit below. They do get to play both teams directly ahead of them this week, so the competition should be much closer.

10) Vanderbilt (8-9, 2-3, RPI: 68) - I alluded to this in the Kentucky writeup, but Vanderbilt shot 29 three pointers and only made 8 in their loss to Kentucky. Even though they looked “good” against Kentucky, Vanderbilt lost their next game. So far, Kentucky’s SEC opponents have all lost their next game after losing to the Wildcats.

11) Texas A&M (9-7, 1-4, RPI: 81) - 30-point win over LSU this week. Only Wake Forest and Wichita St. have managed to blow out the Tigers by more this season, but I imagine that won’t be the last blowout for the Tigers. The loss in Starkville was “close”, but 8 points feels like 18 points against the Bulldogs.

12) LSU (9-7, 1-4, RPI: 116) - If your mascot is a Tiger, you’re at the bottom of the SEC, and you can apparently only beat other Tigers.

13) Auburn (11-6, 1-4, RPI: 82) - Auburn took advantage of having Missouri on the schedule this week and got their first SEC win.

14) Missouri (5-11, 0-4, RPI: 259) - TGfM - Thank God for Missouri. The Tigers kept it close hosting Auburn and actually fought back against a huge lead in Fayetteville, but ultimately, it’s an 8 game losing streak.