SEC Basketball: Conference makes major progress in week two

After successful weeks from Florida, South Carolina and Texas A&M, the SEC basketball league is trending upwards…at least for now.

The SEC came into the 2016-17 college basketball season with a reputation as the worst Power Five conference in America. With just one team looking like a lock for the NCAA Tournament (the Kentucky Wildcats), the SEC had the looks of a glorified mid-major.

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But after week two of the new college hoops campaign, the league has actually been rather impressive, which has helped boost their credentials and RPI moving forward.

In week two alone, South Carolina, Florida and Texas A&M have all looked the part, while teams like Ole Miss and Auburn have played well in spurts.

The Gamecocks had the best week of the bunch as they knocked off two top-25 teams in a matter of four days. First, Frank Martin’s team limited a talented Michigan offense to just 46 points in a win over the Wolverines in Columbia. Then on Saturday, they traveled to the Barclays Center, where they defeated the Syracuse Orange by 14 points.

South Carolina has a terrific backcourt that consists of Sindarius Thornwell, Duane Notice and P.J. Dozier, but their defense, in particular, has been beyond impressive. In the two games against Michigan and Syracuse this past week, the Gamecocks gave up a combined 96 points and limited both teams to under 33 percent from the field overall.

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In fact, Michigan shot just 19 percent from the field and eight percent (!!) from beyond the arc.

The Gamecocks won 24 games last season, but lacked the quality non-conference victories to earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament. So far this year, they have earned two massive wins that will help boost their resume when March comes around.

While South Carolina was the team of the week in the SEC, the Florida Gators weren’t far behind. They looked like an NCAA Tournament team in the Advocare Invitational, as they defeated a good Seton Hall team by five, barely lost to 11th ranked Gonzaga and beat the Miami Hurricanes by nine.

In their two wins this week, the Gators received production from numerous different contributors. Against Seton Hall, KeVaughn Allen and Charleston transfer Canyon Barry combined to drop 41 points. Days later, Kasey Hill led the Gators with 16 points, while Keith Stone dropped 15 and eight to beat Miami.

Balance is key, and if the Gators can find their offensive consistency for the rest of the season, that puts them in a position to finish second in the conference standings.

Meanwhile, Texas A&M lost to UCLA in the Wooden Legacy final on Sunday night. However, they also earned a win over Virginia Tech, who should be a tournament team.

A&M also kept the game close against the 14th ranked Bruins and had a chance to win the game down the stretch. Tyler Davis has played terrific basketball, but if the Aggies can get more effective play out of D.J. Hogg and JC Hampton, they have a chance to be a top-25 squad.

And then there’s Ole Miss and Auburn. The Rebels don’t have a quality win yet this season, but Miami transfer DeAndre Burnett is averaging 23.2 points per game. While the Tigers don’t have a scorer like Burnett, they did beat a veteran team in the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Cancun Challenge.

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It’s unknown as to whether the SEC will continue their successful early season play. It’s too soon to start praising them as a conference that is expected to receive more than two-to-three bids. However, this is excellent progress for a league that wasn’t projected to beat teams like Michigan, Syracuse and Virginia Tech at the beginning of the year.

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