SEC Basketball: Final 2019-20 power rankings for end of the season

By Dakota Cox | Mar 23, 2020

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - NOVEMBER 12: John Calipari the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats reacts to a mistake by his team in the first half in the game against the Evansville Aces at Rupp Arena on November 12, 2019 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

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CINCINNATI, OHIO – NOVEMBER 12: Xavier Pinson #1 of the Missouri Tigers (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

11. Missouri Tigers

It’s been a tough few years for Missouri. They played each of their past two seasons without their superstar player, and they didn’t have one to begin with this year. You would’ve thought that playing without the Porter stars the past two years would have prepared upperclassmen for this moment, but apparently not. Their leading scorer had less than 13 points a game.

Woes began before conference play even started. A loss to Xavier is fine early in the year, but three straight losses to Butler, Oklahoma, and Charleston Southern put the Tigers behind the 8-ball with a lot of ground to cover once they started playing SEC teams.

Predictably, that ground was not covered. They opened SEC play by losing five of their first six games, following it up with a loss to West Virginia in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

On the bright side, this team was competitive late in the year. They beat a ranked Auburn team and kept it close against LSU. They also beat Alabama, but that team was already defeated in their own minds.

I’m not sure where they go from here, but I doubt that this team will accept another season this bad without some major structural changes to the team. They have faith in Cuonzo Martin but don’t expect his leash to be incredibly long.

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