SEC Basketball: Auburn rises, Texas A&M falls in latest power rankings

The college basketball season is only a week old and there have already been some of the best games we’ll see all season. The SEC has already proved that it is one of the top conferences in the country, even with a couple of upsets on opening night. But not everything has gone as planned for all of the schools. Five teams in the conference have already dropped a game this season; some were expected, but a couple were shocking upsets.

Luckily for all of the SEC schools, it’s still early in the season and any losses that occurred at this point can be forgotten about if those teams can win some games moving forward. Here are the SEC power rankings after the first week of games. 

16. South Carolina Gamecocks

South Carolina was one of the teams that dropped a game on opening night, falling to North Florida 74-71 at home in an upset that few saw coming. The Gamecocks bounced back in a big way in the second game of the season, dominating South Carolina State 86-64. South Carolina is averaging 78.5 points on the season but has struggled to score the ball efficiently, especially from three. The Gamecocks have made only 30 percent on the year, and if South Carolina expects to win games moving forward it will need to be more efficient. 

Through the first two games, Collin Murray-Boyles has lived up to the preseason hype. So far this season he is averaging a double-double, 17 points and 11.5 rebounds per game. Jacobi Wright has also been impressive on the offensive end of the court, averaging 16 points per game. 

South Carolina will have a couple of chances to pick up wins this week. The first one is Towson, a game the Gamecocks should easily win. But the second game of the week is against a tough Indiana team. South Carolina cannot afford to drop another game to a Mid-Major team this early in the season. If they do then the Gamecocks might find itself at the bottom of the power rankings moving forward. 

15. Missouri Tigers

Missouri also dropped the first game of the season. The Tigers held a double-digit lead on the road at Memphis before the offense completely fell apart. Mizzou ended up losing the game 83-75. This was a game Missouri should have won, but the loss wasn’t really a surprise since Memphis was favored to win. Missouri took down Howard in its second game, beating the Bison by 15 points. 

Tamar Bates, Anthony Robinson, and Mark Mitchell have been good in both games this season, averaging 12 or more points. But Missouri will need to figure out the three-ball if it expects to take down any conference foes. So far post scoring is carrying the Tigers on offense. Mizzou is making an impressive 64.5 percent from inside the arc. 

One big trend that carried over from last season was the Missouri offense going cold in the second half of games. This might cost the Tigers quite a few games this season, but luckily for Missouri the next few opponents are fairly weak and the Tigers should pick up some wins. But until Mizzou can take down a quality opponent it will be hard to rank them much higher than the bottom few spots in the conference. 

14. Vanderbilt Commodores

Vanderbilt only had one game last week, but it won that game by nearly 40 points. The Commodores scored 102 points in the win over Maryland-Eastern Shore, the most points scored by a Vanderbilt team since the 2018-19 season. 

Devin McGlockton was unstoppable in the win, going 10-10 from the floor and finishing with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Jason Edwards added 19 points of his own to help lead Vanderbilt to 1-0 for the first time since the 2021-22 season. The Commodores, like any SEC teams this season struggled from three but made an incredible 73.7 percent from two.

It’s hard to tell if the offense is for real this season for Vanderbilt, or if the Commodores simply took advantage of a team with a bad defense. Vandy has three opportunities to move up the ranks this week, with its biggest game being against California on Wednesday. If the Byington offense works this well moving forward Vanderbilt should quickly move up the rankings and be a real problem in the SEC. But until we see if this was a one-off performance or not I’m hesitant to rank Vanderbilt much higher. 

13. Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma also only had one game this past week, but the Sooners put together solid performances on both ends of the court to take down a struggling Lindenwood team. The 93-60 win was the largest margin of victory to open a season for Oklahoma under Porter Moser. 

Much like Vanderbilt, it’s hard to know if the strong offensive performance is something to expect from this Oklahoma team or if it was because of a bad Lindenwood offense. But either way, it’s refreshing to see a big offensive output from a Moser lead team. The 22 points from Jalon Moore should provide a little hope for the Sooners moving forward. I wasn’t sold on Oklahoma’s roster this offseason, but offensive performances like Moore’s will only help Oklahoma this season. 

I don’t know if both the offense and defense will continue to be as dominant moving forward, but the Sooners have two very winnable games this week. Oklahoma doesn’t have a real test until the end of the month but if Porter Moser can keep this team going then the Sooners won’t be ranked this low for long.