NCAA Basketball Power Rankings: Penn State soaring, LSU falls

LSU entered this past week on a 10-game winning streak and had soared up my power rankings. There was essentially only one thing that the Tigers possibly do in conference play to drop significantly in one week. The issue, though, is that they did just that by losing on the road to Vanderbilt. The Commodores had not won a conference game since 2018 heading into that contest but they exposed the Tigers’ defensive weakness en route to a victory.

LSU then responded with plenty of effort on the road against Auburn later in the week but struggled down the stretch and lost in overtime.

This second result is nothing to be truly ashamed of considering Auburn is one of the better teams in the nation. Losing at Vanderbilt, though…well that is a “yikes” moment. I still believe that this is a very good team but dropping back-to-back games does warrant slipping in my rankings.

Like many other teams in this piece, LSU’s issues are on the defensive end of the floor. With Skylar Mays and a strong frontcourt leading the way, the Tigers boast one of the better offenses in the country. They pound the inside well and attack the glass ferociously. Defensive woes, though, continue to haunt them and that was most evident against Vanderbilt.